Get Back Up, Shake Off the Past, and Get On With Your Life

FROM THE INSPIRATIONAL BOOK
“ARE YOU READY TO RECEIVE THE LOVE YOU DESIRE”

Ladies, one day I was throwing a “pity party” for myself, (oh yeah I had a few of them) and I had invited some major players to attend.  My guest list included Old Man DEPRESSION and of course he couldn’t come alone, so he brought his date MS. OPPRESSION along for fun.  MR. HE TICKED ME OFF was there.  SISTER GONNA GET EVEN stopped by , oh and my COUSINS WHY DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME?, and NOBODY CARES ABOUT ME  dropped by to liven things up.

You see I was having one of those days when I felt like life had done me wrong, and it seemed like I couldn’t get past this point.  There was a lot going on at this party.  Oh yeah!  A lot of crying, a lot of feeling sorry for myself, a lot of reflecting on the many mistakes I had made, and a lot of kicking myself for taking so long to recognize when to end a bad relationship.  The party was going very well or so I thought, until the Lord showed up.

Isn’t it just wonderful how our Saviour shows up and crashes a party?  Crash it, He did.  He began to minister to my spirit and told me stop feeling sorry for myself and get back up.  He said the door on that life was closed, and I needed to get back up, because I still had work to do.  Well, I’m going to be honest.  I know what He said to me was true, but I just didn’t feel like doing what He said.  Not right then anyway.  I needed my pity party to go on just a little longer.  After all I felt I had a lot to grieve about, and I wasn’t through.  Yet, the Lord didn’t give up on me (PRAISE THE LORD!) and continued to hang in there with me and ministered to my grieving soul.  Then He led me to the second book of Samuel chapter 12.  So I did, and I started reading at verse 16, and then the Lord gave me a short history lesson about a “man after His own heart” and how he got back up after making some serious mistakes.

So now ladies I want to give you the same lesson that was given to me that day, and pray that it will minister to your spirit and cause you to GET BACK UP, SHAKE OFF THE PAST AND GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE so you can free yourself from your past and get ready to receive the love God has waiting for you.


THE LESSON:
My, my, my look at My servant David: standing on his balcony looking far too long and the wrong way at another man’s wife.  What follows after he sees this beautiful woman is a night of sin, and it only gets worse from there.  Next there’s an unplanned pregnancy, (yes, what’s done in the dark will come to light) a failed cover up, murder, a royal wedding, public exposure, and a dying child.  (This sounds like a soap opera doesn’t it?  I couldn’t make this up if I wanted to.  This is in the bible; you got to read it).  Let’s continue talking about David.

David, deeply sadden covered in sackcloth and ashes, lies on the palace floor pleading for the life of his newborn child.  For a whole week he prays, cries, mourns, doesn’t eat and then… it’s over.  “Is the child dead?” he asks.  Yes.  The Lord told me to pay close attention to what His servant does next.  (How David was able to do this still amazes me).  “David rises up from the ground, washes, anoints himself, and changes his clothes; then he goes into the house of the Lord and worships.”  The Lord said, “See He worshipped Me.  After all he has done.  He understands what he needs to do, worship Me.  He is still a man after My heart”!  Isn’t he something?  No matter what David had done deep down in his heart David was still a man seeking God’s heart. 

Facing circumstances he couldn’t change, receiving forgiveness he never could have earned.  Learning a lesson he’d never forget.  David somehow found the strength to close the book on the past and moved on.  Yes, he couldn’t change what had happened in his past.  So he got up, took a bath, anointed himself, worshiped the Lord, and moved on.  As I said before, I am amazed at how he found the strength to do it, but he did.

So I say to you, isn’t it time for you to GET BACK UP, AND GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE?

In Psalm 51, David prays, “Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.  Create in me a pure heart, O God.”  And I answered his prayer.  “I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.”
The Lord said to Me:

He said, “Yes, your sin offends Me, but your unwillingness to repent and receive My forgiveness offends Me even more!  And that’s what you do when you remain stuck in Your failures.  I don’t want you to remain stuck, feeling sorry for yourself.”  Oh how the Lord was crashing my pity party.  And He continued to minister to me.  He was not letting me give up.

“I never intended for you to live life wasted on your past mistakes.  You made a mistake.  So what?  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; GET BACK UP.  Don’t allow the enemy to hold you captive to your past mistakes.”  Shake the devil off, tell him so what!  GET BACK UP.   “The way to honor Me after any failure is to do what My servant David did, GET BACK UP, changed, corrected, redirected, and carry the message of Grace to others who’ve failed!  Now GET BACK UP, SHAKE OFF THE PAST, AND GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE.” 
 
My pity party was over!  Jesus had come in and ran off all of my guests and left me standing there praising His Holy Name!

IT’S YOUR TIME TO GET BACK UP!

Now get back up on your feet!  Stop worrying about it!  Forget it!  It’s in the past; you can’t change it, and you can’t take it back.  It’s in the past, and there is nothing you can do about it, except forget it!  Let it go, shake it off!  Move on!  Forget it!

Who really lost in this situation?  Do you really want to be with someone who doesn’t want you?  Do you want someone who is not worthy of you, who doesn’t appreciate what you have to offer, who can’t see that they are blessed to have you?  NO!   Do you want friends who smile in your face and talk about you behind your back?  Are you saying you really want someone like that?  NO!  Do you want to stay where you are not wanted?  No, that’s not what you want.  No child of the King would want such a thing in their life.  God wants and has so much more in store for you. You deserve better.

However, each time you allow the enemy to torment you with your past failures, whether its relationships or other issues, you are telling him that you miss what you had and you missed being treated that way.  Half a man is better than no man, you say?  Oh yeah, what half did you have?  Can’t you do better (or worse) all by yourself?  FORGIVE THEM; FORGET THE SITUATION AND MOVE ON!  GOD has something better for you.  Tell the enemy SO WHAT!  So what you left me, so what I lost the car, so what I lost the house, so what I lost the job, so what I am on welfare.  GUESS WHAT?  I’M STILL HERE!
Then tell the enemy NEVERTHELESS, My God will avenge me speedily.  NEVERTHELESS, My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, NEVERTHELESS, for greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.  I am waiting on the Lord; I am of good courage, and He will cause this to work out for your good!

You’ve finally gotten to a place where you are starting to feel good about yourself again.  Now here comes the enemy trying to come back at you with old stuff.  Don’t worry about him, keep reaching forward.  Don’t look back, keep pressing forward.  Put everything you’ve got into it and PRESS!  Press your way towards the prize that God has for you.  His plans are to see you prosper.

PRESS your way!  Be fearless at this point.  In the name of Jesus, PRESS your way.  Nothing can stand against the name of Jesus.  No circumstance, no failure, no sin, no sickness.  PRESS your way; you’ve come too far to stop now.  PRESS!  You are not going to take it anymore, PRESS!  Press your way past those hurt relationships and all the abuse, because God has promised you something new.  So press your way past the failures of your past, because there is no failure in God.

Think of that problem as a cotton shirt that you left in the dryer too long.  That shirt has some of the worst wrinkles you have ever seen.  You’ve got the iron in your hand, turn up the heart (the Word of God), put some heavy starch (prayer) on it, and PRESS!

Press your way through every obstacle the enemy tries to place in your way.  The Lord says if you shrink back, His soul has no pleasure in you, and you don’t want to upset God.  So come on PRESS!
I don’t care how many times you’ve been hurt, PRESS!
I don’t care how many times the door has been closed in your face, PRESS!
I don’t care how many times you have been turned down PRESS!
I don’t care if you think they are going to laugh at you PRESS!

You are almost there, don’t stop now.  I know the enemy is tugging at your tail, trying to make you fall.
Look up!  Look up to the hills!  Here comes the hand of God to help out!  He’s blocking the enemy with darkness, and the light is shining through on your side.  His hand is reaching down parting the way, pushing back the waters (the circumstances, the pain, the hurt, the tears) before you.  Keep on pressing.  Keep on calling His name, Keep on praising Him.  Every place where your feet shall tread is yours, every promise God made in His word is yours, and PRESS your way, God is working it out.

By now, you should be feeling the way opening, feel the hand of God with you.  Walk on through, don’t look back, and walk on through.  Feel the pressures of the past fall off you, feel your mistakes turn into victories, and see the light breaking through.  Keep going, don’t stop, you are almost there.  There is no denying it, you coming out of it.  You almost at the other side, you can see the lily in the valley.  Now feel the peace of God consume you as you move onto what God has prepared for you, a place flowing with milk and honey.  

SAY GOOD-BYE TO YOUR PITY PARTY.  Tell him DEPRESSION AND OPPRESION DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE.

NOW GET BACK UP!

ALSO READ: FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH