Brothers,

I’m using the old TURN 180 blog site to give you a word that God brought to me while watching a totally unusual video. I hope sometime soon to share what God revealed to me to the congregation and I will show the video at that time.  

During this unremarkable video, a member of a helicopter rescue team calmly states that a female hiker who has slid down the face of a cliff “has a good purchase.”  That statement immediately made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and I felt an overwhelming sense of revelation.  I knew what the man was saying because I’d read it many times whenever we would read Psalm 40.  The Psalmist was telling of how he’d become mired in clay (despair) and how God rescued him by putting his feet on solid ground. (hope)  All of us stumble and fall at sometime in our lives, and we find ourselves grasping for a purchase from which to keep us from falling to our doom.

Over many generations the word “purchase” has come to mean a foothold or solid footing. This is especially true in the military, and in mountain climbing.  It means a small foothold from which you can stand firm, but more importantly from where you can advance.  A foothold is never a permanent place.  You cant stay there forever.  It is only a temporary place of safety from which you can launch out to more solid footing.  Yet, the past often becomes a place we cling to instead of calling for God's rescue chopper.

I’ve been working this over in my spirit ever since I saw the video, and over the last two weeks Holy Spirit has been showing me how we become locked in place because we are unwilling or afraid to let go of our foothold. This can often be seen in people who cling to the way things used to be or even the way they are right now. This was what kept the religious leaders of Christ's day from accepting that He was the Messiah. Many people who are locked in the past, don't even realize it. They are like the Apostle Paul who during his first imprisonment was allowed to walk around freely, but under constant guard by Roman soldiers. It is a scary place to be in, when you think you are free, but you aren't.  Even as a church, we can become stuck in the past clinging to old forms, and traditions. We'll tell new people that "it's just not done that way."  Or, we'll wrap our arms around our past glories and worship them instead of the God who led us through them.  "We should have never done that..." or "I wish we still had that..."  or even "Why'd we let that/ them go?"  It's easier to bemoan the past than to embrace the moment.   

This morning I couldn’t go for my usual morning walk at six because of the flood of revelation He was giving me.  I sat up in my bed with pen and paper and wrote down the thoughts that were coming into my spirit. After I felt a release, I texted you guys with a condensed version of what I’d received, got dressed and went on my walk.  Because you all have my text message, I’m going to launch out with what I feel God wants us to know. This isn’t for just ONE person, but for all of us, myself included. When Bro. John prayed last night, he said that the awakening would not be like anything that has come before. It was then that I knew it was time to release what I’d been given.  

Spiritually, for those of us who claim Christ Jesus as our savior, it is all too easy to become locked up on dogma, and even worship the traditions of men. Carnally, it is also all too easy for us to become locked up by regrets for bad choices we’ve made in the past. Emotionally, it is all too easy to fear letting go of past hurts, and injuries due to careless words, or actions.  Jesus says; Let Go!!!! He’s got you wrapped up in His arms, and He won’t let you fall!  Every one of us has made, and will make bad or stupid decisions. Sometimes it's because we don't listen to Holy Spirit, well...actually it's always because we don't listen to Holy Spirit. The beautiful thing is, God isn't surprised by, and isn't scared of anything we do, or don't do. His plan will unfold.  We can only lament the fact that we didn't get to be a part of what He wanted to do, or even miss the thing He did with what we perceived as failure.  I kinda think the entire Bible is a record of what He can do with our mess. 

When we become locked up in the past, we can’t see ourselves moving up or down. Like the woman who’d slid down the side of the cliff, you can only look up and see where you slid down from, or look down and see nothing but death and destruction below.  Jesus is your rescuer!! He is right in front of you telling you not to be fearful, but to relax and rest in Him. The problem is that we can be lulled into a false sense of security because we have a footing, but that footing is tenuous at best. You can’t stay there forever! The rock you are standing on is far below where you fell from even though it offers you a small amount of hope. You become imprisoned by the fear of letting go. You will die there if you don't accept your rescue. Instead of trusting the creator of Heaven and earth, you have convinced yourself that what has worked for you in the past will continue to work for you in the future. Even with Jesus telling you to trust Him, you cling to the emptiness of your past.  

I am here to tell you that when you focus on your past mistakes, broken dreams, and bashed hopes, you will never be happy. The tragedies of your past do not limit what God can, and will do right now. You have to let go, and trust that God has you. None of us can go back in time and redo anything!  Remorse is fine, and Godly sorrow is the solution to your past, but regret is a prison that keeps you from living every moment with joy, and hope.  

The Lord revealed to me that I too was locked up on a cliff face trying to hold on to what I’d known.  In my case it was mourning Glenda that had me all locked up. This is where He revealed to me that sometimes we cling to good things in the past and refuse to move on because we can’t imagine anything being better than where we are right now.  There isn’t a day I don’t think about Glenda, and all the good things she did, and the wonderful person she was. It wasn’t until I told a Chaplain I walk with in the morning that I would give anything to have her back again. 

"But you can't have her back again can you?"  He asked.  "You had a lot of years together, and it's normal to miss her, but you want something that you can't have. Sounds like you're stuck." It was right at that moment that I realized I’d become locked in the past just as much as that woman in the video. I’d become afraid that people wouldn’t think I loved her enough if I didn’t mourn her intensely.  A good thing in the past had become my prison, and kept me from living the good things I have right now. 

So, how do you know if you’re living in the past?  What are the clues to help you let go and trust Jesus to carry you off of your purchase?  Actually they’re pretty easy clues. Your conversations consist of:  “I wish I’d never…”  fill in the blank with whatever you wish you’d never done, or said.  I promise you that YOU CAN’T go back so it is fruitless to live in your land of wishes.  The inverse of this statement is: “I wish I’d had…” If you didn’t do it or say it, and you wish you had, then you are locked up on that moment.  Regrets reveal your lack of faith in Holy Spirit’s leading, and a lack of trust that God can work all things for your good.  Regret is simply a lack of faith.  Without faith it is impossible to please God. It’s a rock you can’t get yourself off of. HOWEVER, I promise you that Jesus is ready to put a rescue harness around you and take you back to where you fell from if you trust him and let go of the past. One of the greatest obstacles to the gospel being preached is the imprisonment of God’s people to the past.  It is impossible for a prisoner to preach freedom to the lost, if they are both in the same cell. We need to be a church that is free indeed. Many Christian's lives are often dictated by the past, instead of being led by Holy Spirit who knows our steps, and our hearts.

As a final offering of hope, I want everyone to know that I never want to diminish the power of remorse, or Godly sorrow.  “Godly sorrow leads to repentance, and repentance leads to salvation.”  Oh, wait a minute, that’s a scripture verse; 2 Corinthians 7:10.  

Mourning over your past sins and mistakes was never intended to be a continual state of mind. “There is now, NO CONDEMNATION, to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh (the past), but after the Spirit.” (NOW!)  Romans 8:1

Rejoice brothers, let go of your tenuous purchase and find freedom standing on the the ROCK of your salvation, JESUS CHRIST!