The word
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God told Abraham in Genesis 12 to leave behind everything, to leave his country, his family, his land, everything he had ever known, and that he would tell him where he was going and that he would make him a great nation. So Abraham in total faith, not even knowing where he was going, set out, left everything behind, and he was obedient to God. And then it says in Genesis 15:1 ISV, sometime later, a message came from the Lord to Abram in a vision, don't be afraid, Abram. I am your shield.
Your reward will be very great. So sometime later here was 15 years later. 15 years of Abraham not having God's reassurance, not having any confirmations, no heavenly visitations or prophetic words, nothing. And then it was 10 more years after that until Abraham and Sarah finally had their promised son Isaac. Do you know how much questioning, how much longing and aching and wrestle and pain and confusion and agony that they probably went through during that long amount of time.
So much so that they made the mistake that most of us usually do in a season like that. They took it into their own hands and they tried to control the situation and make the promise of God happen in their own will, in their own power, in their own understanding. And then they birthed Ishmael, which continues to be a source of extreme conflict and destruction in the entire world even to this day so many years later. So, a lot of us have had major mistakes, made major mistakes in our period of waiting.
And like Sarah and Abraham did, we have faced consequences because of that. But I'm going to read to you what I feel like the Lord wants to tell you today. Your decisions of the past don't rule your future. Jesus does.
Jesus is the ruler of your future. Your decisions are not bigger than him. Your decisions don't decide the rest of your life. He does.
You are sanctified by his blood. He died like he did so you could live the rest of your life sanctified. He is restoring your past. He is washing it.
His blood is powerful enough to remove everything. He made you holy once and for all, knowing the decisions that you would make. He isn't surprised. He made provision for all of it with his blood.
He uses all things. He works all things together for the good. Your past does not dictate your future. Your decisions do not dictate your future.
Jesus does. There is sin, but now there is not consequence as in punishment. There is blood so you can walk free. Nothing is bigger than Christ crucified on the cross and his blood poured out for you.
And I want to remind you of Romans 4:13 that says, "Clearly, God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God's law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. It was by faith in God that Abraham received the promise." And I also urge you to study Romans 5 for more truth on how we have been and are forgiven and made right by faith in Jesus. So if you have sinned, fallen short, or made some really, really big mistakes, scripture says all fall short of the glory of God. But his grace empowers us not to continue in sin, but to overcome it.
So if you need to repent, turn away from sin, trust that Jesus's sacrifice was enough, and receive the totally clean blank slate for your future that Jesus died for you to have. And I want to end this with a Bill Johnson quote I heard that went something like this. There are prisoners and there are captives. Captives are in prison because of something done to them.
Prisoners are in prison because of something they did. Jesus wants all free. So if you need practical help with getting this really into your heart, this truth, this revelation, living it out in your daily life, the links for my coaching are in the caption of this video. And don't forget to share with a friend that needs encouragement.