"I'm not able to succeed today because I was abused."
"I'll never forget what happened to me as a child."
I'm not taking lightly the fact that many people have been abused verbally, physically, and sexually. It is a very traumatic experience. But the sad thing about it is that many of these people were abused at a very early age and are now grown adults, even grandparents, and they are still carrying this hurt around with them. My advice is to get over it once and for all!
Many people use these experiences as excuses as to why they cannot succeed in life.
"Well, you don't know what I've been through. You don't know my past."
"If you'd gone through what I went through, Brother Jerry, you wouldn't be so bold!"
How do you know I haven't been through a few things? I don't major on my past. I major on my future and my future is bright in God. And so is yours. I've had a few things that tried to hold me back, but I refused to major on that. Instead I'm going to major on what the Lord has done and is doing in my life.
It's time to get over the past. It's time to get over some hurdles, break some barriers, and remove bondages in your life. Deuteronomy 1:6,7 says, "The Lord our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying, 'Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: turn you and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites.' "
In other words, "You've been on this mountain way too long." Sometimes God has to absolutely jerk the slack out of us in order to get us off that "mountain" and move on to the next level with Him. The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy, "Be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine." Everybody wants to be exhorted, but sometimes you have to be rebuked. Sometimes you need to have reproof. Sometimes God has to get in your face and say, "You've been on this mountain long enough. Get over it!"
You can't allow bad experiences to hold you back for the rest of your life. Satan is hoping that this painful past will distract you from ever being what God has called you to be. Your future is too valuable to allow the devil to steal it from you. God has a wonderful plan for your life. He says in Jeremiah 29, "I know the thoughts I have toward you, they are good and not evil, to give you an expected end." God has a wonderful future in store for you, but you can sit around and murmur and complain and absolutely be robbed of what God has for your life.
God does not want us camping out on mountains of defeat and past experiences nor does He want us camping out on previous victories and say, "That's all there is. I have arrived."
I've had a wonderful time serving the Lord, and living by faith, but there are many more victories ahead. The best is yet to come!
God's not going to allow you to establish a comfort zone with your faith. He wants you to stretch your faith. Don't keep talking about past years. There are some great things to be accomplished in your life this year.
Just as God said to the children of Israel, He is saying to us today that it is time for us to move to the next level. He's planned some exciting things for your life, adventures in faith like you've never experienced before. This is the time to get so deeply committed to God that no one, including Satan, could possibly distract you and keep you from enjoying God's best.
Your journey of faith is not nearly over. Yes, there will be opposition. Yes, there will be adversity. Yes, there will be more tests. But thank God, He is still on your side and no weapon formed against you shall prosper. Keep moving forward!
Don't allow the fear of failure to rob you of your forward progress. The fear of failure is probably the number one reason why so many of God's people fail to experience God's best in their lives. "What if I step out and fail?"
Well, you just join the rest of us. We've all made mistakes. We've all experienced setbacks, but we refuse to call ourselves failures. There is a difference. Even winners get knocked down from time to time, but the difference between winners and losers is that winners always get back up. Losers quit.
The Bible says in Psalm 37:23, 24: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And he delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholds him with his hand."
The most natural thing for you to do when you fall (or make a mistake) is get up, brush yourself off, and go on. Keep going forward. You've got to let go of your past. Don't let hurtful experiences keep you from being a success. Fear is something you move through, it is not something you run from.
Just as faith is the result of meditating God's Word, fear is the result of meditating on Satan's word. Satan is a liar. The Bible says that he is the father of all lies, and he cannot tell the truth. It is equally impossible for God to tell a lie. He is the truth.
Satan can only pervert, camouflage, and distort the truth. So, whatever he's saying to you about your past, present or future, just laugh in his face and say, "I know where that came from, the father of all lies!"
Why listen to him? Rebuke him, and move out in faith knowing that God has promised that He'll never leave you nor forsake you. Sometimes you need to approach the Word of God like you have never heard it before, and let it explode in your spirit like it did the very first time you heard it.
It could be that you've let some revelations slip. Most of the time, when you are not getting the victory that you know belongs to you, you've probably neglected a basic truth. And in most cases, it's your mouth!
What is coming out of your mouth? Are you constantly telling people how bad your life was? Do you still voice your dislike towards a person who has hurt you? This was one of the major reasons the children of Israel constantly fell. They wouldn't let go of the past. God got them out of Egypt but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of them.
You and I don't have any business living in bondage. We are free. It's time for us to leave this mountain and go to the next level. We don't have another 40 years to waste. The time is short. God's ready to do some big things.
The greatest victories, the greatest blessings, the greatest manifestations of God's glory are on the next plateau. I know there are people in the Body of Christ who won't go to that next level because they are going to hang around the same mountain that they are on right now because they can't let go of their past.
Make up your mind that you're not going to let anything hold you back. God is wanting us to move on. Get over whatever it is that has held you back.
Forget the past. Forgive those who have hurt you. Get over it! Get over the previous mistakes. Get over the negative reports, and keep pressing in until you're right in the middle of God's best for your life.
It's time to go to the next mountain! It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks about you. God sees you as crowned with glory and honor, and He has an exciting future planned for you.
So, whatever is holding you back, get over it! God has too much in store for you to allow the devil to rob you of it. It's a new day, so let's go to the next level and enjoy the journey.
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Dr. Jerry Savelle was an average, blue-collar man who was struggling and needed God's help. While he considered himself a "nobody," when he became a believer God told him not to worry about it because He was a master at making champions out of nobodies. God has since taken Dr. Savelle from being a constant quitter to a man who knows how to stand on the Word of God until victory is experienced. Because of the life-changing combination of God's faithfulness and Dr. Savelle's "no quit" attitude, his life is totally different than it was thirty-eight years ago.
