June 12, 2025 • 26 mins
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Walking out of our past and into our future requires faith and complete trust in who God says we are, regardless of what our past experiences or mistakes might tell us. God specializes in hard cases and has a unique plan for each of us that was established before the foundation of the world.
In this episode I invite you to find out who you are in Christ, get into the Word, and hold onto those promises by faith. Decide to believe what God says about you rather than what your mind, the enemy, or others tell you. Let go of your past and embrace the future God has for you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Audrey (00:00):
Hi, friend, welcome back to Grace From my Home.
I'm so glad you've joined meagain this week.
This week is the fifth andfinal episode of our five-week
replay series where I've beengoing back to some of my most
popular episodes and playingthose again, because I have a
lot of new listeners who haveperhaps not heard them, and also
(00:22):
it's been a great reminder forme.
It's been a great way for me.
It's been a great way for me tosee how I've grown over the
last three years, and also areminder of these principles.
Because, you know, god gives usprinciples to live by, and
those principles don't change.
We change, we change and grow,but those principles remain the
same, and so sometimes we forget, we forget where we've come
(00:44):
from, we forget how we've grown,we forget how faithful God has
been, and sometimes we evenforget his principles.
And so this has been a greatreminder for me and I hope it
will be for you also.
Today's episode is calledWalking Out of your Past and
Into your Future.
You know, we all have a past.
We all have a past.
We all have things in the pastwe wish were different, things,
(01:06):
we wish we could change, and wecan't, and sometimes those
things can hold us back from thefuture that God has for us.
There's nothing that God can'tredeem or heal.
And you may say well, audrey,you don't know my past, you
don't know my story, that'sright, I don't.
But I do know God, and I knowthat he specializes in hard
(01:29):
cases and that he loves us andthat he had a plan for us before
the foundation of the world.
And nothing can stand betweenus and God unless we let it.
So I hope that today is anencouraging word for you.
I hope that it helps you toremember the goodness of God,
that he's on your side, that hewrote your story, he's still
(01:50):
writing it, and that he loves toheal, he loves to redeem, he
loves to forgive, he loves tohelp us to move on.
I hope you have a great weekuntil until we talk again.
God bless, enjoy.
Hello, friends, it's so good tobe back here with you guys this
week, and I hope that today'spodcast episode is encouraging
(02:20):
to you and something that youwill consider sharing with a
friend, my youngest son, I think.
I told you guys last week.
He had his first Rubik's Cubecompetition this past week and
it was on Sunday and we drove toRaleigh together, spent a night
in a hotel and just had someMama Caleb time.
It was really sweet.
We watched a movie together andhe went to his first
(02:44):
competition.
And let me tell you, I justdidn't know I guess there's
something out there foreverybody but this Rubik's Cube
thing is like a big deal.
I mean there was a nationalaward, there was like a national
record holder there for one ofthe Rubik's Cubes.
You know there's all differentkinds of Rubik's Cubes and so
when he went up to compete,everybody had their phones out
(03:06):
and it was just.
It was something I had aneducation in myself.
I also got to meet some otherpeople from not too far from
here in North Carolina who werehomeschoolers.
That was a blessing and got tospeak with them and just share.
And you know it's good for mamato get out sometimes.
(03:28):
Sometimes it's easy to be, youknow, here and just kind of got
my nose to the grindstone, andsometimes it's good to go out
and meet other people.
So that's what our kids do,isn't it?
They force us to get to meetnew people, to do new things,
force us to get to meet newpeople to do new things.
And speaking of doing newthings.
(03:53):
I just got back Sunday andleaving Thursday, which is
tomorrow, my time to go to Texas.
My sister and I are flying outto Dallas, texas tomorrow, to
Texas Coffee School, tomorrow toTexas Coffee School.
Now, this is not something Ihave shared with you guys before
, but our church is opening acoffee house, a coffee bar, in a
(04:14):
town not too far from us, andwe're doing it as an outreach.
We just believe that there arepeople in that town who will
respond to an invitation tocoffee before they would respond
to an invitation to church, andwe want to make a place for
them.
We want to make a place wherepeople can come, relax, enjoy
(04:38):
and where we can be hospitableto them and hopefully make
friends, and make friends forJesus, because as we make
friends with people and he livesinside of us, then we can share
him with them.
So that's our goal.
But all that to say, my sisterand I have no idea how to do
(05:00):
that, what that looks like, andso we're going to Texas Coffee
School next week, where they aresupposed to teach us everything
from how to make espresso tohow to run a coffee business.
So please keep us in yourprayers.
We're excited about that Also.
One more thing A few weeks agoI did a podcast episode on how
(05:22):
to start family devotions and itwas very popular, which was a
blessing to me, of course, butit made me think that you know
you guys must like that topicand maybe want some more
information on that.
So I put together a list ofdevotional resources that I've
used for our family devotionsover the years, everything from
(05:45):
when my kids were toddlers upuntil teenagers.
I've only put I only includedthe things that I really liked.
We've tried a lot of stuff,didn't like it all, but the
things that spoke to us that wereally liked, and I put that out
as a blog post on my blog andso if you're interested in that,
you can go to graceformyhomecomand you can look for my latest
(06:09):
blog post, which it's somethinglike our family devotional
resources or something like that.
But if you, if you'reinterested in that, please go
check that out and, while you'rethere, subscribe to my blog,
because I send out emails weeklyto my subscribers and if you
like the kind of things I talkabout here, then you will like
(06:30):
that email list, you'll like tobe on the email list and I
really appreciate that.
Thank you for your support.
This week I wanted to talk withyou about walking out of your
past and into your future, and Icould do an entire series on
this.
This is a huge topic for ashort podcast, so I'm just
(06:54):
really barely going to dip mytoe in right now.
But I wanted to talk with youabout this because I think this
is something that trips us up.
You know, it's hard to moveforward when we are hooked to
the past.
It's hard to believe for goodthings when we're focused on bad
(07:16):
things, and I just think thisis something that we, as moms,
really need to be careful aboutor really need to be aware of.
And what I mean is, you know,when we become a Christian, we
become born again, we become anew creature in Christ.
(07:36):
You know, the gospel is goodnews, and sometimes I think that
we live in such a negativesociety.
We live in a society wherepeople make false claims and
false promises all the time.
You know, we believe verylittle of what we hear on the
media or on TV, or you know, wejust we know.
(07:58):
We know that people lie andthey exaggerate, and so
sometimes, when we hear aboutwhat God has done for us, it can
be hard to believe because it'sso good.
But I want to tell you it is sotrue and the more you get into
the word, the more you get intothe Bible and you see what God
(08:21):
has done for us, what God hasplanned for us, what God has
promised us.
It is awesome, it is exciting,it is the best thing going.
And you know, as a mom, that'swhat I wanted my kids to see,
because I really did.
You know, growing up feel likethat.
You know, if I'm going to serveJesus, I've just got to give up
(08:42):
everything.
You know it's going to.
If I'm going to serve Jesus,I've just got to give up
everything.
You know it's going to be sucha boring life to serve Jesus.
You know I'm going to be themost sacrificial person and guys
, that is just so, not true.
And I never wanted them to havethat mental picture.
I wanted them to see thatserving God is exciting and
(09:03):
fulfilling.
God is exciting and fulfillingand it is a wonderful life
because that's what we werecreated to do.
And God is anything but boringand he's not strict the way we
count strictness.
You know he protects us.
But for every road that he says, don't go down that road.
Go down that road.
There is always a better paththat is full of good things.
(09:27):
And so we, as Christians, needto get into the word, we need to
get into the Bible so we cansee what God has prepared for
those he loves.
You know, it says that no eyehas seen, no ears hurt.
You know, neither has itentered into the mind of man
what God has prepared for thosewho love him.
(09:48):
He's revealed it to us by HisSpirit.
Right, so we can get in thatWord and by the power of the
Holy Spirit, he opens up oureyes and we see that we were
created for so much more thanthis world can offer us.
I mentioned this on one of thepodcasts that I did a while back
(10:10):
, the month of December.
I just read through Ephesians.
I couldn't figure out what toread.
I don't know if you ever havelike a law where it's like you
know, I didn't have a devotion Iwas working on, I didn't have a
book I was reading, and so formy quiet times, I thought, well,
what am I going to read?
I just feel like I'mfloundering, you know.
And I just thought I'm going toread Ephesians because, as a
(10:36):
young Christian.
Ephesians was very instrumentalin helping me figure out what
God thought of me and what herequires of us, and so I thought
I'm just going to readEphesians over and over again
until the month is out.
You know that's going to be mymonth for Ephesians, and I did,
and it was renewing, it was sogood and it reminded me of all
(10:59):
the good things God has preparedfor us.
So if you're looking forsomething to read, I encourage
you to go to Ephesians.
Read Ephesians 1, 2, and 3.
And it just talks about how hesees us.
You know, it says that beforethe world were created.
You know, even Paul says, whenhe's writing it, he says, listen
, this was a mystery and inthese last days it's been
(11:21):
revealed.
And he has predestined us.
He's predestined you and he'spredestined you to stand before
him in love.
You know, without shame, that'shis plan for you, that's his
desire for you.
He wants you to come to himwithout shame and he has paid
(11:45):
the price, said that you can dothat.
Isn't that awesome?
Isn't that awesome?
You know he doesn't want us tocome before him so he can scold
us and he can correct us and hecan tell us all the wrong things
we've done.
He wants us to come before himand love, that we can be with
him, that we can enjoy himwithout the shame of sin,
because he's took it away.
But see, we have these minds.
(12:07):
When we are born again,instantly our spirit, man, is
regenerated.
We're born again, we're aliveunto God, but we live in the
same body and we have the samemind.
And that thing has to berenewed.
Our mind has to be renewed inthe truth of God's word, because
(12:28):
we don't know who we areoutside of God.
Now we read the word not justto find out who God is, but to
find out who we are, because theBible tells us who we are in
Christ.
When I was a brand new Christian, I was blessed enough to have a
group of older ladies who kindof took me in.
(12:49):
They let me hang out with them,and I say older, they were all
of them.
One of them was my grandmother,who is 95 today, still living
by herself.
But she had a group of otherfriends and they allowed me to
come in and they prayed with me.
They let me pray with them, butjust being around them was so
(13:12):
life-giving and I remember oneof them in particular, her name
was Miss Carolyn.
And Miss Carolyn said to meAudrey, find out who you are in
Christ.
You've got to find out who youare in Christ.
And I had no idea what thatmeant.
I thought, okay, but she was soadamant about it that I knew it
(13:33):
had to be important.
But I was a little embarrassed,to admit to her.
I had no idea what she meant.
I was like, ok, well, over theyears I was able to dig a little
and say you know what exactlydoes that mean?
And what she meant was what I'mtelling you.
You got to get in the word andyou got to find out what God
says about you, because if not,you'll believe what you think
(13:54):
about you and you'll believewhat people say about you and
what the world says about youand what the enemy says about
you.
So you need to know the truth.
The truth is what God saysabout you, and when you know
what God says about yousometimes it's too good to be
true you just think how couldthat be true?
I mean, I've done all thesethings.
(14:16):
How could God want thosewonderful things for me?
How could he say those great,those awesome things about me?
It's just me.
And that takes faith Because,see, we hear the truth.
But then by faith, we have tosay if God said it about me,
it's true and I'm going to walkin it.
And the only way to do that isby faith.
(14:39):
The only way it can be anawesome truth.
But unless I believe it in myheart and decide by faith that
I'm going to walk in that as ifit were true, even though it
doesn't feel true right now, towalk in that as if it were true,
even though it doesn't feeltrue right now, then that's the
only way that I can walk in therighteousness of God, because I
(15:00):
don't feel righteous and I don'tfeel worthy, but I'm going to
walk in freedom because hepurchased my freedom.
And see, when you walk infreedom, your kids are walking
right behind you in freedom andthey're seeing that serving God
is the most awesome thingbecause we're free.
We're free to love him, we'refree to serve him, we're free to
(15:24):
be who he created us to be.
And there's no better, nobetter thing going, let me tell
you, because where the worldlets you down, jesus does not.
It's not easy, it's not pie inthe sky.
It requires your life right, itrequires everything, but it's
worth it and it's fulfilling,and you're on a solid foundation
(15:49):
because he'll never leave us,he'll never forsake us, because
he'll never leave us, he'llnever forsake us, and he knows
what he created us to be and whohe created us to be.
And you know, I just love thatscripture in Ephesians.
Let me find it, ephesians 2.10.
For we are God's handiwork,created in Christ Jesus to do
(16:11):
good works which God prepared inadvance for us to do.
You know, if he prepared thoseworks in advance for us to do,
then ultimately I want to dothem.
I want to find out what worksdid he create me to do and I
want to do those.
And I don't want to let my ownpast, my own belief that you
(16:34):
know I can't do those thingsbecause of my past Keep me from
doing them.
If God called me to thesethings, then I believe that he
made a way me to these things.
Then I believe that he made away and I believe that my sins
are washed away and that theyare as far as the east is from
the west and they are buried inthe sea of forgetfulness,
(16:56):
because he created me to bebefore him in love.
And I know he created you to bebefore him in love too.
Amen, isn't that good.
Now God wants you to walk infreedom, the freedom to let go
of your past and to walk intoyour future, and sometimes that
(17:16):
means you have to forgiveyourself.
You know God has forgiven youand there are things you have to
forgive yourself from and youhave to say you know what.
That was the past and I'mwalking into the future.
I'm going to be that newcreature that God said he's made
me and I'm going to choose tobelieve him above my feelings
(17:39):
and I'm going to, evenimperfectly, I'm going to serve
him in freedom.
Years ago, I heard a testimonyof a lady who had not been an
ideal citizen in a community.
She had a bad reputation and,by the grace of the Lord, she'd
(18:02):
come to this church that was inher neighborhood.
She had had an awesomeexperience and God saved her,
set her free and she was just atestimony in herself about the
goodness of God and how God cantake somebody who was so far
from him and just turn themaround instantly.
(18:24):
Who was so far from him andjust turned them around
instantly, and she lived a lifebefore the community that
everyone was like, wow, you know, god has really done a work in
her and God put in her a giftfor teaching.
She had an awesome gift forteaching, but those of her
(18:48):
church who remembered her pasthad a hard time receiving her
teaching because they rememberedher past and, though Jesus had
forgiven her and Jesus hadcalled her from the foundation
of the world, they had a hang up.
And they had a hang up and shetold her story.
(19:09):
It was such a story of gracebecause she said, you know, I'd
grown, these people had loved me, but I got to a plateau where
they couldn't allow me to teachbecause of my past and I knew in
my heart I'm going to have toleave here.
She said, and I left in loveand I told them I love you,
(19:29):
thank you for loving me, thankyou for sharing the gospel with
me, thank you for helping me.
But I believe that God hascalled me to teach and that
there is a group out there thatneed what I have and I'm going
to go find them.
She left with grace, she leftwith love, but she chose to
(19:56):
believe what God said about herand she chose to let go of her
past and walk into her future.
And guys, that's what we haveto do.
We have to put what God saysabout us above even what we
think about us, and we have tosay I believe it says in Hebrews
11, starting in verse 14,people who say such things show
that they are looking for acountry of their own.
(20:19):
If they had been thinking of thecountry they had left, they
would have had an opportunity toreturn.
Instead, they were longing fora for us, and he has prepared a
(20:39):
future for us.
And when we find out who we are, when we choose to believe that
, when we choose to walk out ofthe past and walk into that
future, that is faith.
And he is not ashamed of us.
He's not ashamed of our past.
He knows our past.
(21:00):
He's not ashamed of our present.
We make mistakes every day.
He's still not ashamed of us.
He loves us and he believes inus because he knows what he's
put inside of us.
But we have to let go of thosethings that are not serving us
well in this season of our life.
(21:20):
We have to let go of thenegative things we think of us.
We have to let go of the shameand guilt.
We have to let go of thenegative things we think of us.
We have to let go of the shameand guilt, we have to let go of
the regret.
We have to forgive ourselvesand forgive others and we have
to move on if we're going to dowhat God has called us to do.
It says in Hebrews 2.11, forboth the one who sanctifies and
(21:44):
those who are sanctified are ofthe same family.
So Jesus is not ashamed to callthem brothers.
See, he's not ashamed of us.
He's the one who sanctified usand we're in his family.
Now We've been adopted into thefamily of God and he is not
ashamed to call us his brothers,his sisters, into the family of
(22:05):
God.
And he is not ashamed to callus his brothers, his sisters.
So if Christ is for us, if Godis for us, who can be against us
?
He speaks good things over youand he wants you to believe
those things.
So I encourage you today findout who you are in Christ, get
in the word, find the thingsthat are so good that they seem
(22:26):
too good to be true, and hold onto those things by faith.
Walk in them, Decide thatyou're going to believe what God
says about you and not whatyour mind tells you or not what
the enemy tells you or not whatother people tell you, and walk
it out.
Become the person God calledyou to be, let go of your past
(22:49):
and embrace your future.
He has such good plans for us.
He loves us so much.
He's a good, good father.
Amen.
Father, we thank you today thatyou care about us.
That, lord, we're not justfloating.
You made us for a purpose, fora plan, and we want to be in
that.
And, god, I pray that you wouldlead our footsteps, that you
(23:18):
would direct us, that, lord, youwould guide us when we get off
the path, that you'd bring usback.
And, lord, most of all, thatyou would be Lord, our father,
that Lord when we just needsomebody to talk to, when nobody
else understands, lord, what'sgoing on in our heart or in our
lives.
That Lord, we would trust youwith our hearts and come to you
in prayer.
Father, I thank you for mysisters that are listening.
(23:39):
I thank you, lord, that you'rewith us today and every day.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Hi, friend, welcome back to Grace From my Home.
I'm so glad you've joined meagain this week.
This week is the fifth andfinal episode of our five-week
replay series where I've beengoing back to some of my most
popular episodes and playingthose again, because I have a
lot of new listeners who haveperhaps not heard them, and also
(00:22):
it's been a great reminder forme.
It's been a great way for me.
It's been a great way for me tosee how I've grown over the
last three years, and also areminder of these principles.
Because, you know, god gives usprinciples to live by, and
those principles don't change.
We change, we change and grow,but those principles remain the
same, and so sometimes we forget, we forget where we've come
(00:44):
from, we forget how we've grown,we forget how faithful God has
been, and sometimes we evenforget his principles.
And so this has been a greatreminder for me and I hope it
will be for you also.
Today's episode is calledWalking Out of your Past and
Into your Future.
You know, we all have a past.
We all have a past.
We all have things in the pastwe wish were different, things,
(01:06):
we wish we could change, and wecan't, and sometimes those
things can hold us back from thefuture that God has for us.
There's nothing that God can'tredeem or heal.
And you may say well, audrey,you don't know my past, you
don't know my story, that'sright, I don't.
But I do know God, and I knowthat he specializes in hard
(01:29):
cases and that he loves us andthat he had a plan for us before
the foundation of the world.
And nothing can stand betweenus and God unless we let it.
So I hope that today is anencouraging word for you.
I hope that it helps you toremember the goodness of God,
that he's on your side, that hewrote your story, he's still
(01:50):
writing it, and that he loves toheal, he loves to redeem, he
loves to forgive, he loves tohelp us to move on.
I hope you have a great weekuntil until we talk again.
God bless, enjoy.
Hello, friends, it's so good tobe back here with you guys this
week, and I hope that today'spodcast episode is encouraging
(02:20):
to you and something that youwill consider sharing with a
friend, my youngest son, I think.
I told you guys last week.
He had his first Rubik's Cubecompetition this past week and
it was on Sunday and we drove toRaleigh together, spent a night
in a hotel and just had someMama Caleb time.
It was really sweet.
We watched a movie together andhe went to his first
(02:44):
competition.
And let me tell you, I justdidn't know I guess there's
something out there foreverybody but this Rubik's Cube
thing is like a big deal.
I mean there was a nationalaward, there was like a national
record holder there for one ofthe Rubik's Cubes.
You know there's all differentkinds of Rubik's Cubes and so
when he went up to compete,everybody had their phones out
(03:06):
and it was just.
It was something I had aneducation in myself.
I also got to meet some otherpeople from not too far from
here in North Carolina who werehomeschoolers.
That was a blessing and got tospeak with them and just share.
And you know it's good for mamato get out sometimes.
(03:28):
Sometimes it's easy to be, youknow, here and just kind of got
my nose to the grindstone, andsometimes it's good to go out
and meet other people.
So that's what our kids do,isn't it?
They force us to get to meetnew people, to do new things,
force us to get to meet newpeople to do new things.
And speaking of doing newthings.
(03:53):
I just got back Sunday andleaving Thursday, which is
tomorrow, my time to go to Texas.
My sister and I are flying outto Dallas, texas tomorrow, to
Texas Coffee School, tomorrow toTexas Coffee School.
Now, this is not something Ihave shared with you guys before
, but our church is opening acoffee house, a coffee bar, in a
(04:14):
town not too far from us, andwe're doing it as an outreach.
We just believe that there arepeople in that town who will
respond to an invitation tocoffee before they would respond
to an invitation to church, andwe want to make a place for
them.
We want to make a place wherepeople can come, relax, enjoy
(04:38):
and where we can be hospitableto them and hopefully make
friends, and make friends forJesus, because as we make
friends with people and he livesinside of us, then we can share
him with them.
So that's our goal.
But all that to say, my sisterand I have no idea how to do
(05:00):
that, what that looks like, andso we're going to Texas Coffee
School next week, where they aresupposed to teach us everything
from how to make espresso tohow to run a coffee business.
So please keep us in yourprayers.
We're excited about that Also.
One more thing A few weeks agoI did a podcast episode on how
(05:22):
to start family devotions and itwas very popular, which was a
blessing to me, of course, butit made me think that you know
you guys must like that topicand maybe want some more
information on that.
So I put together a list ofdevotional resources that I've
used for our family devotionsover the years, everything from
(05:45):
when my kids were toddlers upuntil teenagers.
I've only put I only includedthe things that I really liked.
We've tried a lot of stuff,didn't like it all, but the
things that spoke to us that wereally liked, and I put that out
as a blog post on my blog andso if you're interested in that,
you can go to graceformyhomecomand you can look for my latest
(06:09):
blog post, which it's somethinglike our family devotional
resources or something like that.
But if you, if you'reinterested in that, please go
check that out and, while you'rethere, subscribe to my blog,
because I send out emails weeklyto my subscribers and if you
like the kind of things I talkabout here, then you will like
(06:30):
that email list, you'll like tobe on the email list and I
really appreciate that.
Thank you for your support.
This week I wanted to talk withyou about walking out of your
past and into your future, and Icould do an entire series on
this.
This is a huge topic for ashort podcast, so I'm just
(06:54):
really barely going to dip mytoe in right now.
But I wanted to talk with youabout this because I think this
is something that trips us up.
You know, it's hard to moveforward when we are hooked to
the past.
It's hard to believe for goodthings when we're focused on bad
(07:16):
things, and I just think thisis something that we, as moms,
really need to be careful aboutor really need to be aware of.
And what I mean is, you know,when we become a Christian, we
become born again, we become anew creature in Christ.
(07:36):
You know, the gospel is goodnews, and sometimes I think that
we live in such a negativesociety.
We live in a society wherepeople make false claims and
false promises all the time.
You know, we believe verylittle of what we hear on the
media or on TV, or you know, wejust we know.
(07:58):
We know that people lie andthey exaggerate, and so
sometimes, when we hear aboutwhat God has done for us, it can
be hard to believe because it'sso good.
But I want to tell you it is sotrue and the more you get into
the word, the more you get intothe Bible and you see what God
(08:21):
has done for us, what God hasplanned for us, what God has
promised us.
It is awesome, it is exciting,it is the best thing going.
And you know, as a mom, that'swhat I wanted my kids to see,
because I really did.
You know, growing up feel likethat.
You know, if I'm going to serveJesus, I've just got to give up
(08:42):
everything.
You know it's going to.
If I'm going to serve Jesus,I've just got to give up
everything.
You know it's going to be sucha boring life to serve Jesus.
You know I'm going to be themost sacrificial person and guys
, that is just so, not true.
And I never wanted them to havethat mental picture.
I wanted them to see thatserving God is exciting and
(09:03):
fulfilling.
God is exciting and fulfillingand it is a wonderful life
because that's what we werecreated to do.
And God is anything but boringand he's not strict the way we
count strictness.
You know he protects us.
But for every road that he says, don't go down that road.
Go down that road.
There is always a better paththat is full of good things.
(09:27):
And so we, as Christians, needto get into the word, we need to
get into the Bible so we cansee what God has prepared for
those he loves.
You know, it says that no eyehas seen, no ears hurt.
You know, neither has itentered into the mind of man
what God has prepared for thosewho love him.
(09:48):
He's revealed it to us by HisSpirit.
Right, so we can get in thatWord and by the power of the
Holy Spirit, he opens up oureyes and we see that we were
created for so much more thanthis world can offer us.
I mentioned this on one of thepodcasts that I did a while back
(10:10):
, the month of December.
I just read through Ephesians.
I couldn't figure out what toread.
I don't know if you ever havelike a law where it's like you
know, I didn't have a devotion Iwas working on, I didn't have a
book I was reading, and so formy quiet times, I thought, well,
what am I going to read?
I just feel like I'mfloundering, you know.
And I just thought I'm going toread Ephesians because, as a
(10:36):
young Christian.
Ephesians was very instrumentalin helping me figure out what
God thought of me and what herequires of us, and so I thought
I'm just going to readEphesians over and over again
until the month is out.
You know that's going to be mymonth for Ephesians, and I did,
and it was renewing, it was sogood and it reminded me of all
(10:59):
the good things God has preparedfor us.
So if you're looking forsomething to read, I encourage
you to go to Ephesians.
Read Ephesians 1, 2, and 3.
And it just talks about how hesees us.
You know, it says that beforethe world were created.
You know, even Paul says, whenhe's writing it, he says, listen
, this was a mystery and inthese last days it's been
(11:21):
revealed.
And he has predestined us.
He's predestined you and he'spredestined you to stand before
him in love.
You know, without shame, that'shis plan for you, that's his
desire for you.
He wants you to come to himwithout shame and he has paid
(11:45):
the price, said that you can dothat.
Isn't that awesome?
Isn't that awesome?
You know he doesn't want us tocome before him so he can scold
us and he can correct us and hecan tell us all the wrong things
we've done.
He wants us to come before himand love, that we can be with
him, that we can enjoy himwithout the shame of sin,
because he's took it away.
But see, we have these minds.
(12:07):
When we are born again,instantly our spirit, man, is
regenerated.
We're born again, we're aliveunto God, but we live in the
same body and we have the samemind.
And that thing has to berenewed.
Our mind has to be renewed inthe truth of God's word, because
(12:28):
we don't know who we areoutside of God.
Now we read the word not justto find out who God is, but to
find out who we are, because theBible tells us who we are in
Christ.
When I was a brand new Christian, I was blessed enough to have a
group of older ladies who kindof took me in.
(12:49):
They let me hang out with them,and I say older, they were all
of them.
One of them was my grandmother,who is 95 today, still living
by herself.
But she had a group of otherfriends and they allowed me to
come in and they prayed with me.
They let me pray with them, butjust being around them was so
(13:12):
life-giving and I remember oneof them in particular, her name
was Miss Carolyn.
And Miss Carolyn said to meAudrey, find out who you are in
Christ.
You've got to find out who youare in Christ.
And I had no idea what thatmeant.
I thought, okay, but she was soadamant about it that I knew it
(13:33):
had to be important.
But I was a little embarrassed,to admit to her.
I had no idea what she meant.
I was like, ok, well, over theyears I was able to dig a little
and say you know what exactlydoes that mean?
And what she meant was what I'mtelling you.
You got to get in the word andyou got to find out what God
says about you, because if not,you'll believe what you think
(13:54):
about you and you'll believewhat people say about you and
what the world says about youand what the enemy says about
you.
So you need to know the truth.
The truth is what God saysabout you, and when you know
what God says about yousometimes it's too good to be
true you just think how couldthat be true?
I mean, I've done all thesethings.
(14:16):
How could God want thosewonderful things for me?
How could he say those great,those awesome things about me?
It's just me.
And that takes faith Because,see, we hear the truth.
But then by faith, we have tosay if God said it about me,
it's true and I'm going to walkin it.
And the only way to do that isby faith.
(14:39):
The only way it can be anawesome truth.
But unless I believe it in myheart and decide by faith that
I'm going to walk in that as ifit were true, even though it
doesn't feel true right now, towalk in that as if it were true,
even though it doesn't feeltrue right now, then that's the
only way that I can walk in therighteousness of God, because I
(15:00):
don't feel righteous and I don'tfeel worthy, but I'm going to
walk in freedom because hepurchased my freedom.
And see, when you walk infreedom, your kids are walking
right behind you in freedom andthey're seeing that serving God
is the most awesome thingbecause we're free.
We're free to love him, we'refree to serve him, we're free to
(15:24):
be who he created us to be.
And there's no better, nobetter thing going, let me tell
you, because where the worldlets you down, jesus does not.
It's not easy, it's not pie inthe sky.
It requires your life right, itrequires everything, but it's
worth it and it's fulfilling,and you're on a solid foundation
(15:49):
because he'll never leave us,he'll never forsake us, because
he'll never leave us, he'llnever forsake us, and he knows
what he created us to be and whohe created us to be.
And you know, I just love thatscripture in Ephesians.
Let me find it, ephesians 2.10.
For we are God's handiwork,created in Christ Jesus to do
(16:11):
good works which God prepared inadvance for us to do.
You know, if he prepared thoseworks in advance for us to do,
then ultimately I want to dothem.
I want to find out what worksdid he create me to do and I
want to do those.
And I don't want to let my ownpast, my own belief that you
(16:34):
know I can't do those thingsbecause of my past Keep me from
doing them.
If God called me to thesethings, then I believe that he
made a way me to these things.
Then I believe that he made away and I believe that my sins
are washed away and that theyare as far as the east is from
the west and they are buried inthe sea of forgetfulness,
(16:56):
because he created me to bebefore him in love.
And I know he created you to bebefore him in love too.
Amen, isn't that good.
Now God wants you to walk infreedom, the freedom to let go
of your past and to walk intoyour future, and sometimes that
(17:16):
means you have to forgiveyourself.
You know God has forgiven youand there are things you have to
forgive yourself from and youhave to say you know what.
That was the past and I'mwalking into the future.
I'm going to be that newcreature that God said he's made
me and I'm going to choose tobelieve him above my feelings
(17:39):
and I'm going to, evenimperfectly, I'm going to serve
him in freedom.
Years ago, I heard a testimonyof a lady who had not been an
ideal citizen in a community.
She had a bad reputation and,by the grace of the Lord, she'd
(18:02):
come to this church that was inher neighborhood.
She had had an awesomeexperience and God saved her,
set her free and she was just atestimony in herself about the
goodness of God and how God cantake somebody who was so far
from him and just turn themaround instantly.
(18:24):
Who was so far from him andjust turned them around
instantly, and she lived a lifebefore the community that
everyone was like, wow, you know, god has really done a work in
her and God put in her a giftfor teaching.
She had an awesome gift forteaching, but those of her
(18:48):
church who remembered her pasthad a hard time receiving her
teaching because they rememberedher past and, though Jesus had
forgiven her and Jesus hadcalled her from the foundation
of the world, they had a hang up.
And they had a hang up and shetold her story.
(19:09):
It was such a story of gracebecause she said, you know, I'd
grown, these people had loved me, but I got to a plateau where
they couldn't allow me to teachbecause of my past and I knew in
my heart I'm going to have toleave here.
She said, and I left in loveand I told them I love you,
(19:29):
thank you for loving me, thankyou for sharing the gospel with
me, thank you for helping me.
But I believe that God hascalled me to teach and that
there is a group out there thatneed what I have and I'm going
to go find them.
She left with grace, she leftwith love, but she chose to
(19:56):
believe what God said about herand she chose to let go of her
past and walk into her future.
And guys, that's what we haveto do.
We have to put what God saysabout us above even what we
think about us, and we have tosay I believe it says in Hebrews
11, starting in verse 14,people who say such things show
that they are looking for acountry of their own.
(20:19):
If they had been thinking of thecountry they had left, they
would have had an opportunity toreturn.
Instead, they were longing fora for us, and he has prepared a
(20:39):
future for us.
And when we find out who we are, when we choose to believe that
, when we choose to walk out ofthe past and walk into that
future, that is faith.
And he is not ashamed of us.
He's not ashamed of our past.
He knows our past.
(21:00):
He's not ashamed of our present.
We make mistakes every day.
He's still not ashamed of us.
He loves us and he believes inus because he knows what he's
put inside of us.
But we have to let go of thosethings that are not serving us
well in this season of our life.
(21:20):
We have to let go of thenegative things we think of us.
We have to let go of the shameand guilt.
We have to let go of thenegative things we think of us.
We have to let go of the shameand guilt, we have to let go of
the regret.
We have to forgive ourselvesand forgive others and we have
to move on if we're going to dowhat God has called us to do.
It says in Hebrews 2.11, forboth the one who sanctifies and
(21:44):
those who are sanctified are ofthe same family.
So Jesus is not ashamed to callthem brothers.
See, he's not ashamed of us.
He's the one who sanctified usand we're in his family.
Now We've been adopted into thefamily of God and he is not
ashamed to call us his brothers,his sisters, into the family of
(22:05):
God.
And he is not ashamed to callus his brothers, his sisters.
So if Christ is for us, if Godis for us, who can be against us
?
He speaks good things over youand he wants you to believe
those things.
So I encourage you today findout who you are in Christ, get
in the word, find the thingsthat are so good that they seem
(22:26):
too good to be true, and hold onto those things by faith.
Walk in them, Decide thatyou're going to believe what God
says about you and not whatyour mind tells you or not what
the enemy tells you or not whatother people tell you, and walk
it out.
Become the person God calledyou to be, let go of your past
(22:49):
and embrace your future.
He has such good plans for us.
He loves us so much.
He's a good, good father.
Amen.
Father, we thank you today thatyou care about us.
That, lord, we're not justfloating.
You made us for a purpose, fora plan, and we want to be in
that.
And, god, I pray that you wouldlead our footsteps, that you
(23:18):
would direct us, that, lord, youwould guide us when we get off
the path, that you'd bring usback.
And, lord, most of all, thatyou would be Lord, our father,
that Lord when we just needsomebody to talk to, when nobody
else understands, lord, what'sgoing on in our heart or in our
lives.
That Lord, we would trust youwith our hearts and come to you
in prayer.
Father, I thank you for mysisters that are listening.
(23:39):
I thank you, lord, that you'rewith us today and every day.
In Jesus' name, amen.
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