Living Guilt Free
hi this is Victoria thank you so much for downloading this podcast I believe God has amazing things in your future I hope you enjoy this message
green curry that's today about remembering remembering the good remembering the things that are helpful to us you see so many times in life there's negative things that happen to us maybe a sad childhood maybe a divorce some negative words have been spoken in your in your life and those are the things we don't want to remember we want to remember what is beneficial and what is good have you ever been mowing the lawn or maybe washing the dishes driving down the street and all of a sudden a memory from the past get your thoughts man it came out of nowhere or maybe something that happened two weeks ago at work just kind of runs right into your thought life and it makes you feel sad or lonely depressed maybe those negative thoughts made you even feel fear for a moment fear of what would happen in the future
you think that's what negative thoughts do to our life they stop us they're intended to cause us to pause to not walk in faith and victory so that's why I want courage is so much to remember what we're remembering
let's remember the good the apostles wrote many times in the New Testament they wrote things like this I am writing to remind you I am riding to remind you again
Paul put it put it this way he said I never get tired of reminding you and 2nd Peter Peter said that because I'm writing you to letters to letters to remind you you see that you knew the power in remembering the right thing they knew that it could transform your life when you remembered what God has said and when you remember what God has done so we need to remember it's easy to put our minds on autopilot but we have to know that there's transforming power and it's worth using our time and energy to focus on what we're remembering the Old Testament God commanded his people the children of Israel he commanded them to take time out from their busy schedules several times a year to celebrate festivals he call them kinds of remembrance that he wanted them to stop
bright what he had done now can I tell you this this wasn't a suggestion by God
it wasn't something that was optional God required them to take time to stop and remember the miracle how he parted the Red Sea how he bought water out of the rock Amana came down from heaven he wanted them to pause and remember the Wonders that he had done the marvelous season he has performed you know why he wanted them to do that because they're a lot like us today they get busy doing life and sometimes when we're so busy doing life we have a tendency to forget and in that busyness in in those struggles and in those places of trying to make things happen we find ourselves thinking if I don't make this happen it's not going to happen I got to get this done I got to do this I got to do that and we struggle and we struggle
and we forget we forget who's in control we forget who we can depend on if we forget who can do things that we can't do we forget the miracle that God has done in our life so often we forget what we should remember our victories our success the good times you think some people feel guilty if they're having fun sometimes we remember what we should forget the pain at the heartache the loneliness
you think we can't allow the things of the past to control our life God doesn't remember those past mistakes he doesn't even remember the things that people spoke into your life all he knows if he wants you to move forward today he wants you to remember the good remember what he has done see when we don't use the power of remembrance for our favor and it weakens our life let's remember the good so that we can strengthen our life we need to choose to rewrite our history that you say how do you do that these things really happened in Victoria you're saying I should be in denial no I'm not saying you should be in denial I say and you should choose your pieces to create your God story
you create your God story
you don't have to let your past create the story in the history for you God has already done away with your past the only way not to let that pass be the path it's not live in the past
you say you can't live in the past if you want to get away from your past you have to understand today is your future the past is the past but today is your future what are you going to remember what story are you creating for your life
the song that said I remember what the Lord has done I remember His Marvelous works why because he had to bring something that was from the past which was a miracle have. It helped him before he had to bring it into the future so that he could get through the difficult time he was going through so he can get through any doubt or any unbelief that was trying to stop him but that's our choice today we can either take a piece of the Gods story and bring it into our future or we can take a piece of something that's not going to help us that God has already taken care of and bring it into our future see what are you remembering is so very important today the Bible record. Also told his people to put down memorial stone
stones of remembrance he said put these Stones down so you can remember the specific victories that I have given you the things that I helped you with see these were so that they could remember as they passed by as they live their life they put down these memorial stones not only for themselves but God said I want you to put these down for future generation I want them to see how I work in your life do you have any memorials done
do you have some things in your life cuz I can tell you this today you wouldn't be sitting here if God hadn't done great things in your life you have memorial stones you have victories you know maybe there's a job that you're going to every single day and you can certainly say God I wouldn't have this job if it wasn't for you
maybe you had student loans that you've been paying on for a long time and it's been difficult it's been rough but you finally got him paid off maybe your car is a big old memorial stone and you're saying God thank you for this car this is my Memorial spelling of your goodness of your mercy and your favorite in my life
see when we look around we can see these
places and spaces in our lives that God brought us Victory brought us success that's why he wants us to remember the good things he wants us to move them forward and create our God story
the mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner tell the story about how his father died when he was 13 years old and how his mother raised nine children all by herself and he tells about how she brought them to church and raise them in charge and how it was very important to her that they got in school and so she made sure they were in school because an education was very important to her to tell us how it was rough times were tough they couldn't always have what they wanted or even sometimes what they needed he said but the thing I remember about my mother is this she never complained she never told me how hard it was
she always said this Sylvester tomorrow will be a better day than today
tomorrow will be a better day than today has the best returner is a Harvard grad
when he became mayor of the city he gave his inaugural address and this is what he said he said today is evident what my mom always said was very true tomorrow will be better then today you see Sylvester's mother laid down on memorial stone a face of her children you see with her words and with her actions she directed God's goodness in their lie she laid down on memorial stone of Hope for his future but he always remembered you see often times we want to tell our children how hard it is and why they can't have this and how they shouldn't do that because they may end up like this
but can I suggest us today that we begin to bring those Bud pieces and lay them at the feet of our children let's create a god story for their future let's tell them how God got your throat and how he's going to get them through
you think those stones will create stepping stones for their future
we need directions to Memorial Stone we need to remember what we're remembering bring your God story for word so that'll energize and Infuse your life you see when you tell the next generation of the Deeds of the Lord and his mighty power it makes a difference in your family line it makes a difference for your future remembering God keeps is hopeful and it encourages us thought and prepares us for the faith to allow God to bring those good things in our lives amen amen he's an awesome God
thank you for listening to the Joel Osteen podcast help us continue to share the message of Hope with those all over the world visit joelosteen.com give hope to give a gift today
thanks so much for listening to today's message I hope you subscribe so you can receive the latest podcast to keep you inspired all through the week we're praying for you I know God's best is still ahead we'll see you next time