Harboring unforgiveness is nothing new, but it will keep us from seeing clearly, moving forward, or developing godly responses. We may not have the ability to forgive in ourselves, but we have the supernatural grace and ability in God to forgive the people who have wronged us.
Refusing to forgive is to remain selfish and fail to tap into God’s grace. We will never move into the dreams and desires God has placed in our hearts without letting the love of God rule our lives.
To remain focused on the past is to be a prisoner to hurt, disappointment, or failure. It is common for young people to shout out words like “I’ll never be like my parents!” Incredibly, when they become parents themselves, they do much of the same things they despised in their parents.
Why? Because we become what we focus on. If we fail to renew our minds according to God’s Word, we will revert to the training we have previously received — even if it was wrong.
If we will not let go of past failures and disappointments we will never embrace the person God’s declares us to be, or reach the place He wants to take us. Our meditation on the wrong things robs us of the power to become what God declared us to be.
We must purpose in our hearts to let God retrain our thoughts through His Word. We can learn new ways of thinking and acting. We can become more like our Heavenly Father than like anyone else.
Our attitude determines our altitude. A negative attitude will keep us grounded. A negative attitude always justifies itself. Proverbs 16:2 says, “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits” (NKJV).
A negative attitude will cause us to see things in life from the wrong perspective which will undermine our faith. The fear of what could happen will rule our thinking and steal our future. A negative attitude reflects our failure to grasp who we are in Christ, what He has done for us, and what He is doing in us now.
We can overcome negative attitudes with a daily decision to think the thoughts of God. We can make the quality decision that we will not allow the limitations that negative thinking brings in our lives. We can fill our thoughts with the Word of God and let the words of our mouths reflect the change in our hearts.
We can never justify our negative thoughts — but we can change them!
When we recognize these hindrances that can stop our progress, then we will begin to overcome them.
Our inner desires are the seeds of God’s dreams that drive our faith. Faith will take those dreams, embrace the promise of God’s Word, and make His plans come to life. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (NKJV).
Our reward is seeing all of God’s dreams come alive in us. It is time for us to reap the rewards that come to those who are diligently seeking the Lord.
