‘Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of you who are mature be thus minded and if in anything you are otherwise minded, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold trust to what we have attained.” Philippians 3:13-16
The great mercy of God allows all souls to look forward not ‘to what lies behind’. This is contradictory to what the voice of the enemy tries to tell through the world. The enemy desires the soul to look back and linger on its past sins and failures. He wants the soul to see these and feel itself unworthy of God’s love and mercy. The sins of the past may be huge and as dark as night, but the mercy of God is like the sunrise.
Imagine it this way. The hot summer night passes with severe thunderstorms and rain. The sky is lit by lightning and at times the winds blow heavily. Which each blast of thunder, the earth seems to shake. The storm keeps you awake. As the storm persists, anxiety grows within. You start to worry about things outside even the power of the storm; I have to get up in a few hours, I’ll be tired all day, I have that big meeting and so on. The storm slowly moves on and the air quiets. When you awake, you see the brilliant sunrise on the horizon. You look up at a crystal blue sky and down at the damp ground that shows bright flowers and crisp green grass. You feel the joy of the promise of the coming day. As you look up to the sunrise, you feel the warmth of the rising sun upon your face and can feel its light shining through even your closed eyes.
That is what our growth towards God can be like. The ‘night’ of our lives can seem frightful. The sins we’ve committed and the memories can seem to shake us as they linger like the rolling thunder. But, God’s promise to us is the bright sunrise! He promises that if we keep our eyes forward, not lingering on even the worst storms of our past, that the day will be brilliant and the future will hold a great flourish of new life. This is a great mercy of God.
Despite the sin or failures of our past, God’s mercy gives us new every day a bright hope in the warmth of His love. All we must do is accept it. We must look up to the Son, spread wide our hands, lifting them in praise to God’s glory. We can then linger within the warmth that is His presence in our life.
I’ve done things in my life that I regret terribly. For many years, I allowed those past sins and regrets to define who I was. Then, I found Divine Mercy and I was set free. His Mercy seeped into my soul like the rain upon the dry cracked soil. I thirstily soaked it up, wanting to be flooded by His Grace. God did not leave me disappointed at all. The immensity of His cleansing rain of Mercy has washed away all guilt that I had held onto.
Now, I know who I am now. I am a child of God. The enemy has no holds on me any longer. The ‘Victory in Spiritual Warfare’ workshops of the Campbells and ‘Unbound’ have broken all the chains of the past that for so long held me back. All I see now is a future day that is bright and crystal clear. Even when I sin now and a cloud passes that view, I know that if I stay the course and hold true to the ‘upward call’, the sun will soon shine brightly upon my face. The bright sunrise in my image is nothing compared to the brilliance of what lies ahead in Christ Jesus.
What the enemy tries to use as fear, God turns to His use. That storm that enemy intends to fill your heart with fear, God turns into a beautiful sunrise with lush growth. Don’t let the enemy bind you and keep your eyes fearfully on the storms of the past or even the present storms. Focus ahead on the promise of the new day in Jesus and let the SON rise in your heart. It doesn’t matter who you were or what you may have done. His Mercy is quick to come to the soul that calls.
Do this exercise. Close your eyes, lift your chin. Open your hands and extend them outward to your sides, slightly elevated. Smile. And, say, “I renounce all the storms and sins of my past life and today I look toward the bright future that God the Father has in the forecast for me. Today as the warmth of His Divine Mercy falls upon me and cleanses me, I lean forward into the embrace of Mercy’s outstretched arms. With hands held high, I ask you to lift me into Your arms, Father and I praise You for Your Mercy. Let my arms only close to embrace You.”
Find this difficult, reach out to me or your priest. Jesus is waiting, let nothing hold you back. Step out in courage today.