Dive into Philippians chapter 3 in part 5 of The Keys to Living Happy. Ashley and Carlie explore leaving our past behind so that it won’t prevent us from the abundant life ahead.
Transcription
Announcer: Why live a normal life when you could be living the abundant life? Welcome to the Abundant Life Program with Ashley and Carlie Terradez.
Ashley: Hello, and welcome to Abundant Life Program. We’re so glad you joined us today. My name is Ashley Terradez and this is my awesome wife, Carlie.
Carlie: Hey.
Ashley: And we’re glad you joined us in the lounge. We’ve got a great program for you today. And we’re excited that you’re here. We’re actually looking in Philippians, and we’re looking at life lessons in Philippians that are going to help you live the abundant life, praise God.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: There’s going to be some tips from Paul himself, the apostle Paul, on how to live the abundant life, praise God.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: But before we do that, I want to tell you about our website. You can go to terradez.com. We have a store there and we have all different types of things. This is Carlie’s latest teaching series called Dress-
Carlie: Well, you’re on that one too.
Ashley: Me and you. This is me and you, yeah. Okay, we’re both on this one.
Carlie: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Ashley: I think you teach a little bit more than me, but it’s both of us on here. This is called Dress for Success. It’s not about fashion. It’s not about what you wear. This is about the arm of God, Ephesians six, and this will really help you. There’s all sorts of teachings on here. I teach on how to hear the voice of God more clearly. How to hear the voice of God in a way that you can really interpret it clearly. There’s teaching on faith, right?
Carlie: Yeah.
Ashley: On healing, on all sorts of things. This will really bless you. It’s in our store.
Carlie: Spiritual gifts [crosstalk].
Ashley: There’s nine CDs, nine lessons on here. How to flow in the spiritual gifts. Great. So Dress for Success. You can get it today at terradez.com. Praise the Lord. So we are looking at Philippians, we’re in Philippians three at the moment, Philippians three, verse 13 we’re going to look at today, and let me read this to you. This is Paul speaking, Philippians three, verse 13. If you’ve got your bible, it says, “Brethren. I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things, which are indeed ahead.” Again, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended.” A little bit like I haven’t arrived, but I’ve left.
Carlie: I like how it says, it’s in the amplified, actually. It says, “I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own yet. But one thing I do, it is my one aspiration, forgetting what lies behind, and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on towards the goal to win the supreme and heavenly prize, to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upwards.”
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: This is so key. There are so many… The older we get, the more life we’ve traveled, right? And in some ways that accumulates good and bad experiences, obviously, but this is a really important piece of advice that Paul has given the Philippian Church here. We can look back, and we can look back at our lives, and we can see good things that have happened, we can see bad things that have happened. But at some point we need to stop letting those things hold us in the past and affecting our… From affecting our future.
Ashley: Mm-hmm (affirmative). That’s good.
Carlie: And I think all of us have struggled with this to a degree, whether we’ve come from bad beginnings or good beginnings, whatever’s happened, but there’s a number of things in here. Forgiveness is a huge piece of it.
Ashley: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Carlie: Right? But also our own heart can condemn us.
Ashley: Right. Yeah.
Carlie: And if we’re not careful, we can let our past failures or negative experience hold us and keep us as being victims. And that past, that victim mentality, will never lead us into a place of victory.
Ashley: Amen. That’s true.
Carlie: Which we are called to.
Ashley: That’s true. What Paul is saying here is, I forget what’s behind me. And it’s so key to do this. This is going to really help you live the abundant life. If you’re hanging onto the past, like Carlie said, good or bad, and you just, you’re always living in the past. You know what? That’s not going to help you live the abundant life. You really need to get hold of this and realize, you know what? His mercies are new every morning. Praise God. Every morning, his mercies are new every morning. And it’s amazing how you can… You know what? You can just move forward and God will give you the mercy and the grace to forget the past, and actually press on towards the prize, praise God. Press on towards the future. Amen.
Carlie: Right. I’m thinking of a story, King David. He found himself in an affair. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead of going out when it was time for the men to go to war, he was standing on his rooftop, looking out over the town. And that’s when he saw Bathsheba taking a bath, right? He found himself in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Ashley: Right, wrong place at the wrong time.
Carlie: And it ended up leading himself into in a place of affair. He shouldn’t have even been there, right?
Ashley: Right.
Carlie: But at the end of the day, he made some horrible mistakes, but God didn’t hold him in that place of failure.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: And I think we need to give ourselves a little break too, sometimes. Move on into the things that God has for us. And even though David made some mistakes, the scripture says that he was a man after God’s own heart. And I love that. That’s the grace of God, right there. God is not holding us accountable for our past failures.
Ashley: Amen. I’ve heard it said that one of the biggest acts of faith for David was to forgive himself. You know what? David, he actually did those things, like Carlie said, committed adultery. This is King David. You know what? He actually covered it up by lying and being deceitful, and having Uriah killed. So murder, you could say. And yet, after all that had done, he forgave himself. You know what? This is a big deal. David could have let that past hinder him, and say, “I can’t rule Israel. I can’t be a king. I can’t be a servant of God after all I’ve done.” I guarantee you, he felt bad about that. I guarantee you, he had a soft heart. He was sensitive to these things. You can read in the Psalms. You know what? This man had a big heart and he would have felt guilty.
He could have condemned himself. And I’m sure he struggled with this. But you know what? He forgave himself because God forgave him. He received God’s forgiveness. And he moved on, praise God, and become one of the greatest leaders that God had, praise God. Definitely one of the greatest leaders that we can read about today. So he forgave himself. He got rid of that past, forgetting those things that are passed, and forgave himself and moved on. Otherwise, those things in your past can hinder you. And I know people watching, there’s all sorts of things that you’ve been through, maybe from someone else has done to you, or maybe some that you’ve done yourself, and those things can hinder you. They can keep playing on your mind. Let me tell you, the devil loves to bring your past up and tell you about your past. Who do you think you are? What about this you did a week ago, a year ago, 10 years ago, 30 years ago? What about this? What about that?
And the devil will bring your past up, and you know what? Try and make you feel condemned, try and make you feel unworthy because of your past. The Bible says aggrieve your adversary quickly. You know what? If the devil brings your past up, you can agree with him. Say, “Yeah, devil, you’re right. I had these things in my past that I did or happened to me. But you know what? God’s forgiven me now. I’m a new creation. And let me remind you of your future.” And you can go to, I think it’s Revelations 10:20, and it tells you about the devil’s future. And you know what? How he’s going to just suffer day and night. You know what? Just remind the devil of his future and don’t worry about your past. But moving on from our past is so key if we want to experience the abundant life and we experience everything God’s got for us.
Carlie: It is. And it’s so true because even if it’s not our own mistakes, even if it is other people that have hurt us, that have wounded us, that we’re the victims, forgiveness is important because, while we are holding other people’s sins against them, we might feel justified in that. We may have been rightfully the victim. But if we got to move forward in the things of God, and really be free, we have to, at some point, recognize that what Jesus did on the cross, he paid for the forgiveness of sins, even for those people that have wronged us. However horrible those offenses may be toward us, when we hold somebody in unforgiveness in our heart, ultimately, the person that’s hurting the most is us.
Ashley: Yeah, that’s right.
Carlie: It’s like a cancer. And it says this in Proverbs that, when we hold those things on the inside, it’s like a cancer. It’s like these things, this anger, and hatred, and bitterness actually eat us up from the inside out.
Ashley: Yes, bitterness can rot the bones.
Carlie: Yeah, it rots the bones.
Ashley: And no, I agree. I had one person put it like this. Said, “If you’re holding unforgiveness over someone,” so if someone is wrong during the past, and you haven’t forgiven those people. And you’re holding that against them, it’s like drinking poison yourself, and hoping it’s going to hurt them.
Carlie: Right.
Ashley: It doesn’t hurt them. It’s going to hurt you. You’re the one that’s going to suffer for that. And God doesn’t want you to suffer. God doesn’t want you to be bound. God wants you to be free, and clean, and just not have anything in the past rule you. So you may have, and this is sensitive, you may have people in the past that have done terrible things to you, that have wronged you, ungodly things. And we’re not diminishing that. We’re not making light of that. But what we’re saying is, is Jesus has given you the power to forgive them. You know what? Jesus paid for their sin on the cross. So you can forgive them. You can let them free. You can forgive them. Whether they deserve it, you know what? Whether they even ask for your forgiveness. It doesn’t matter. I’ve heard stories of people bitter and holding unforgiveness with people who have died 20, 30 years ago, but they still have that bitterness. And it’s affecting them. We had a neighbor. I remember once we had a neighbor friend, and he was so bitter, it actually started to give him… You remember he had arthritis?
Carlie: He started getting more and more twisted.
Ashley: In the five years we knew him, that bitterness just started eating them up from the inside. Distorted his face. Distorted his bones. And he just became a really bitter person, and everything, it affected everything. It started off with just a little bit. But by the time, we knew him for five years, over that course of that five years, he become so bitter, everything in his life was just all about this offense and this bitterness. And it’s such a shame. So you don’t have to do that. You can make a choice to not be offended. You can make a choice to not hold that unforgiveness. You can make a choice to forgive. It’s tough. It’s not going to be easy. The good thing is though, you can do it. And the good thing is God’s given you the ability to do it. You can forgive people. And at first, you know what? It may be a daily, maybe an hourly thing, maybe a minute by minute thing. And you have to do it by faith. I forgive them, Lord. I forgive them, Lord.
Carlie: It starts with the church, for sure.
Ashley: And bit by bit, bit by bit, it’s going to get easier and easier. But the main thing is, Jesus already forgive them. He’s already paid the price to forgive them. And this might sound tough, but I’ve heard it put this way. If you’re not forgiving someone, if there’s someone in your life and you won’t forgive them, you’re basically saying that Jesus’s sacrifice for them wasn’t enough.
Carlie: Jesus isn’t holding those people accountable anymore, but you are.
Ashley: Yeah. And you need to add to the punishment. You need to add to what Jesus did for them. You know what? You think you’ve got something more to give than Jesus. That’s basically what it means. Like I said, I know it’s tough. I’m not trying to be insensitive. I’ve been there. I’ve held unforgiveness against people. It’s horrible. It’s not good. It’ll get on the inside of you.
Carlie: It hurts you ultimately, even more.
Ashley: Yeah, it can make a root of bitterness, and it can start with offense, before you know it, it can be bitter, and it can affect your relationships. It can affect your relationship with God. It can affect your relationship with your friends. Now, it’s not going to affect your salvation. It’s not going to affect how God sees you, but it can definitely affect how you relate to God, and how you relate to other people. So make sure you don’t hold unforgiveness in your heart. Make sure you’re not allowing that root of bitterness to grow up in your heart. And basically, forget your past. Let your past go. And that’s easy to say, let it go.
Carlie: I mean, I think it does sound flippant when you say, “Well, just forget your past.”
Ashley: Right.
Carlie: I mean, because honestly, you’re not going to wipe your memory out.
Ashley: Right.
Carlie: You’re not going to forget, literally, forget those things. Your brain is still remembering those things, but I think you can come, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is our comforter.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: It’s one of his names. He’s our comforter.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: And when we make that decision in our heart, Lord, you know what? I know that I’ve been holding such and such in…. I’ve held their sins against them, even though you haven’t. Holy Spirit, when we pray, Holy Spirit come in and be my comforter. And give the Holy Spirit permission to come into our hearts and maybe highlight some of those things in our hearts where we don’t even realize there’s a problem necessarily, but he’ll lead us into all truth. But it starts with that decision. And eventually I think we can come to a place where we can look back on our past memories, we haven’t forgotten them, but we’re not looking back with the same level of pain. Maybe we’ll have a memory, a recollection of them, but they won’t have the same pain and anguish associated with them than they once did. And this is really tricky because, especially with people that have been through all kinds of different traumatic things, this isn’t just a flippant thing we’re talking about. Well, we’ll just forget it and move on.
Ashley: Right.
Carlie: Right? People go through years of counseling to get over some of the really big deals in life. But when we start by allowing our heart to be healed by the Holy Spirit, there’s something supernatural that happens in our heart that the natural world can not understand.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: There is a supernatural healing that can take place at a heart level. And it starts with a decision though, the Holy Spirit’s a gentlemen. He isn’t just going to come in and trample all over you. We have to choose to repent for having that unforgiveness, even if we’re the victim, and invite him to come in, and let that healing take place. And forgiveness, our forgiveness of somebody else is not dependent on whether they’re even sorry.
Ashley: Right.
Carlie: This is really important. Like we said, unforgiveness in our hearts, it’s like bitterness, like a rot, like a cancer in the bones. But ultimately, when we allow the Lord to come in and heal our hearts, that’s a decision that takes place first in us. But it isn’t dependent on whether that person, that offender, is sorry. It’s as much as important for our own hearts to release that forgiveness towards that person, than it is for that offender to be forgiven.
Ashley: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Carlie: Right? We’re talking, in James, it says, “Confess your sins one to another, that you may be healed,” right? Because you know what? Our sin, our offenses between us and God are dealt with.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: But at a human level, a relational level, person to person, that’s something that we need to talk about. We need to be open and people need to express those things, and let them out. So how do we begin to forgive a person that’s wronged us? It’s interesting because Philippians 3:13 follows Philippians 3:12, right?
Ashley: Well, that’s deep. That’s deep.
Carlie: I know that’s deep revelation. I’m going to back up a little bit more into Philippians 3:10, okay? So following nicely, the previous few verses, and I’m going to read it again from the amplified, as Ashley says, this is the women’s version because it has more words, okay? But this is good. I like how he says this. So this is how we begin to forgive people. It says, “For my determined purpose is that I might know him, Jesus. That I might progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with him, perceiving, and recognizing, and understanding the wonders of his person more strongly and more clearly. And that I may, in some way, come to know the power outflowing from his resurrection.” This is really key. This is putting the great… I love it. I’m stealing this from Pastor Greg Moore. He says, “We need to come to a place where we value the cross greater than our loss.”
Ashley: Amen, that’s good.
Carlie: This is huge. When we put the sacrifice of Jesus above what we feel like we’ve lost, or what’s happened behind us.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: It says, “That I might come to know the power outflowing from his resurrection, which exerts over believers. And that I may so share his sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit, into his lightness, even to his death, in the hope that if possible, I may attain to the spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead, even while in the body.” In other words, while we start to place more value on what Jesus did on the cross, and draw on the power of the Holy Spirit to be our healer, it will lift our heart out of that place of hurting and pain, into a place of healing and wholeness. This is huge. In verse 12, it says, “Not that I have now obtained this ideal or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of, and grasp, and make my own that for which Christ Jesus, the Messiah, has laid a hold of me, and made me his own.” That as we start to value the cross greater than our loss, it changes us from the inside out. And then verse 13, “I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own yet. But at one thing I do, that is my aspiration, and that is forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: The first step to forgiveness comes with letting Jesus in on our situations.
Ashley: Amen, isn’t that powerful?
Carlie: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Ashley: That was good. And he wants to comfort you. He wants to comfort you. And he’s given you the ability, whether you realize it or not, he’s given you the ability to forgive. He’s given you the ability to be able to forgive. And for that hurt to go away. If he didn’t, then he wouldn’t have told you to do it. People say, “If Jesus said it, if Jesus asked you to do it, that means you can do it.” He’s giving you the ability to do it. When he says, Jesus says, “Do not fear,” that’s because we have a choice to fear or not. And we don’t have to fear. When he says, “Forgive your brother,” you know what? We have the power to forgive our brother or to forgive our sister. This is Matthew 18, verse 21. It says, “Peter came to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often should I forgive my brother who sins against me?'” And he says, “What about seven times?” That’s a lot, right? Seven times.
Carlie: That seems like a good number.
Ashley: Seven times. It’s a complete number. Someone wrongs you, after the seventh time, it’s like, “No, I’m not going to forgive you anymore.” And Jesus said, “I don’t say seven times.” This is Jesus, he said, “I say 70 times seven.” You know what Jesus was saying here, basically, we always need to forgive people who come against us. Now, remember this, forgiveness is a choice. You can choose to forgive people, and you can give people forgiveness if you like, even if they deserve it or not, you can give it forgiveness. But trust is different. This is what some people get confused. They say, “Well, I’m just going to forgive and then trust them again.” Now trust is earned. So forgiveness is given, but trust is earned. And if someone breaks your trust, that doesn’t mean you should, all of a sudden, give them trust again. If someone lets you down, you don’t just give them that trust back again.
So trust is earned and that’s absolutely fine, but forgiveness is given. And really forgiveness, if you hold something against someone, then it’s going to affect you worse than it’s going to affect them. So forgive them people. Whatever they do to you, always forgive them. Always let them go. Always forgive them because he’s going to be the best for you in the long run. And if you hold onto them things, you’re not going to be able to experience the full abundant life that Jesus has for you. But trust, having to trust those people, trust needs to be earned. And that takes time. And that takes proof. And that takes action. You need to see a change in behavior before you trust someone again. And we could be talking something, a huge deal here, or we could be talking about something small. It’s the same principle. It’s just, obviously, there’s pain and hurt involved when it’s something bigger. But something small, you know what? They still need to earn trust. If someone breaks your trust, they still need to earn your trust back again.
Carlie: Right. And I think we talked about this in one of our previous programs, but we talked about Corinthians, first Corinthians 13, the love chapter. It says love keeps no record of wrong.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: And we can develop an attitude of forgiveness. So we keep a short account with people. So maybe husband and wife might have an argument. Maybe you have an argument with your spouse. I know, right? Gosh. But you know when you’ve really forgiven somebody, when you’re not bringing up past arguments.
Ashley: Oh, yeah. [inaudible].
Carlie: Or past offenses, right?
Ashley: Last week, you said this to me.
Carlie: We need to keep no record of wrongs.
Ashley: Right.
Carlie: So forgiveness, and I’m not talking about… I’m talking about little everyday things that just happen.
Ashley: I want to say, when we argue, I always get the last word.
Carlie: Yes, dear.
Ashley: In any argument, I get the last word, and that’s yes, dear. So bad.
Carlie: Oh, my goodness.
Ashley: Dad jokes are coming out now.
Carlie: Dad jokes are coming out. But keeping no record of wrong, and choosing to believe the best of every person.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: When we walk in this attitude of forgiveness, it’s keeping a short account. It’s not dragging up past conversations that we’ve already talked about, and it’s water under the bridge, and we’ve moved on from that. Ladies actually are really good at this, keeping that really long record. “Hang on a second. Let me just bring up what you did last year.” Love doesn’t do that.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: Love walks in forgiveness. It is not rude. It’s not puffed up. It believes the best of every person. And that’s part of forgiveness, is allowing somebody space to move on and start over.
Ashley: Amen. In Proverbs 11:13, Proverbs 11:13, it says, “A towelbearer reveals secrets. But he who is of a faithful spirit, conceals a matter.” And it’s talking about it’s godly to conceal a matter, like Carlie said. And you know what? Don’t bring up all mistakes, and don’t bring up all the past things and everything else. There’s no need to do that. It’s just going to lead to more strife and more issues. You know what? Where possible, conceal people’s mistakes, cover for them if you have to. But certainly don’t bring up these things when it comes to arguments, and when you have a disagreement. Don’t bring up past mistakes and past things. That’s not going to bless anyone. And God certainly doesn’t do that. Praise God, aren’t you glad that God doesn’t bring up your past mistakes all the time? Praise God. He doesn’t do that. He forgives us, praise God. And it’s powerful to have that forgiveness. So treat others as you want to be treated. And you know what? Don’t do that. It’s the devil who brings up the past mistakes. The devil’s a… What’s the word he uses?
Carlie: Accuser of the brethren.
Ashley: Accuser of the brethren is the word I was looking for. Accuser. The devil’s an accuser of the brethren. I’m telling you, he comes along, and he brings up all these past things. You know what? God’s forgiven you of those past things. Therefore, your sins are as far as from the east is from the west. So you can let it go, praise God. Forgive yourself, forgive others, and move on. And like we said, we’re not saying that flippantly. We know some people have had traumatic past things happen to them, violations and that. But I’m telling you, God, through his Holy Spirit, can give you the power to do that. Some of the greatest miracles I’ve seen, I’ve seen people around me walk this out, praise God. And it’s a miracle. It’s the power of God to be able to walk this out and to be able to forgive others when it’s seemingly unforgivable.
Carlie: Amen. And I want to read this scripture. This is a Proverbs 13, verse 12. It says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Sometimes we can think, especially in the area of healing, actually, people have maybe have been for prayer for something multiple times. 100 people have prayed for them. And so next time the opportunity comes for prayer, they’re like, “Well, it didn’t work past 100 times.” This isn’t just about forgiveness, but letting go of past negative experiences, where we were almost… I think we can inoculate ourselves to believe in God sometimes, because we look back and think, “Well, it didn’t work then.”
Ashley: Right. So we’re letting the past experience dictate the future, and saying, “It didn’t work then. I had this happen before it didn’t work then.” We can almost let the past successes also dictate the future. And say, “This is-”
Carlie: Exactly. You can’t live off of old manner.
Ashley: Right. That’s good.
Carlie: Past success.
Ashley: Fresh bread every day, right?
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: So yeah, it could be negative. It could be positive. But you don’t want to be living off. But now, rehearse your victories. You’ll hear us teach this. Sound memorials when God does things in your life. Remember the good times. But don’t live there, and don’t let them times dictate the future. Somebody people say, “Well, this is how it’s happened in the past.” And they limit God, and they said, “This is how it can happen.” No, God can do things differently than he has before, praise God. So don’t get limited to the past. And certainly don’t get limited to negative past experiences, praise God. God’s mercies are new every day. He’s got new things for you, praise God. And he doesn’t want you to being stuck in looking back into the past.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: Look forward.
Carlie: Keep the finish line in sight, press on towards that goal.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: We have to reach forward and keep moving. I remember once when I was in high school, I used to run hurdle races.
Ashley: This is really funny. She’s obviously got the stature for hurdle jumping.
Carlie: Yeah, you can’t see me sitting down, but I’m only five foot tall. there’s no [crosstalk].
Ashley: Five foot zero.
Carlie: Five foot nothing, right? And so my teachers, maybe I was really springy or something.
Ashley: Springy.
Carlie: I don’t know. But they used to put me in for the high jump, and the long jump, and the hurdles.
Ashley: Maybe they had a sense of humor, that’s what it was.
Carlie: I don’t know. Maybe that’s what it was. But when you start training for hurdle races, they don’t start you on the big hurdles. They start you, in my school anyway, they started you like, “Here’s a little bit of bamboo on the floor. Just run over it.” Right?
Ashley: Right.
Carlie: And then gradually, the hurdles get bigger and bigger, because some of those hurdles are pretty high, especially for a short person. And you’d think in your mind, in your mind, you would have already determined, “There’s no way I can get over it.”
Ashley: Right.
Carlie: You see, it’s too big of an obstacle. So they ease you into it. But what happened, as I was training for hurdles and stuff, and we used to do the 100 meter sprint. It was like the fast short race over the hurdles. But if you hit the first couple of hurdles, when we get halfway through, you start clipping all of the other hurdles. It’s like you gather momentum, you hit every one of them. And there’s something that happens in your brain. If you start smacking your knees on those hurdles-
Ashley: Or in your case, maybe your forehead. Your forehead.
Carlie: Thank you, yeah. But that disappointment does something, that past pain does something to your confidence. And so, as you run out the next hurdle, you probably don’t put as much enthusiasm into it, because you’re remembering that you just hit the one before. And this happens in life. People have sometimes let their past negative experiences knock their confidence when they’re moving forward. And so maybe they don’t give all of their passion or all of their enthusiasm. And they just lose a little bit momentum. And my gym teacher gave me a really crucial piece of advice that I’ve always remembered. And she said to me, “You know what? You don’t look at the hurdle. You don’t look at the obstacle in front of you. You look way beyond there. You have to keep the finish line in sight.” Rather than the obstacles that are laying in your path, you look over the top of them to the finish line. You look, not where you are now, but where you want to be.
Ashley: That’s good.
Carlie: This is really important. Somebody needs to hear this today. Stop looking at the obstacles that are right in front of you, of all the reasons why it won’t work for you, but look where you want to be. Look at the finish line beyond the hurdles. Amen?
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: And it will keep the goal in sight.
Ashley: That’s awesome. Praise God.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: That’s really good. So yeah, receive that. That speaking, you receive that, you can do that. You can make the decision right now, say, “Lord, I don’t want to live in the past. I don’t want to live in this, right now, where these obstacles are. I want to look to the future. And you’ve given me visions. You’ve given me goals. You’ve given me dreams.” Start looking into those things, praise God, rather than right now, the limitations. Amen?
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: So as Paul says, you know what? Forgetting your past. Press on towards the goal, praise God, and the Holy Spirit, God will help you with this. He’s your comfort. He can help you with this, praise God, and you can do it. You can forgive and you can forget, praise God, the past and you can move on. Amen?
Carlie: I think it’d really important to lead people in almost like a prayer of forgiveness. Would you do that for us?
Ashley: Amen. Yeah. Father, God, I thank you, Lord, that you want us to forgive. I thank you, Lord, that you want us to be free and you don’t want us to be bound by anything. So right now, Lord, we make a decision, every person listening and watching, you know who you are. You know what? You can feel it, your heart’s beating. You know who you are. We forgive these people in our past right now in Jesus’ name. Just make that decision wherever you’re watching or listening from right now.
Carlie: We chose to forgive.
Ashley: Just make that decision. You know who these people are. Just imagine forgiving them right now. And they’ll be repent. I’m not forgiving them in the past. But right now we make the decision to forgive those people and set them free. Whatever they’ve done to us, we forgive them right now. I thank you, Jesus. You’ve paid the price for their sin. You’ve paid the price for their forgiveness. And right now, we forgive them. We let them go. And we thank you, Lord. We’re not going to let their pass hinder our future any longer. We refuse to let our past hinder our future. And I thank you, Lord. You’ve got new things for us and you’ve got new places for us to go. Praise God in Jesus’ name. So I thank you, Lord. You’ve given us the power to forgive in Jesus’ name.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: Amen.
Carlie: Thank you, Lord.
Ashley: Praise God. Well, if you need us, you can contact us and our website, terradez.com, press contact. We’d love to help you if you need any help with this. But you know what? God’s given you the ability to do this, praise God. And he’s given you the ability to live the abundant life, the free life. So go ahead and go for it. Press forward towards the prize that’s ahead of you, praise God. And we look forward to seeing you next time. But why live a normal life, praise God, when you can live an abundant life? We’ll see you next time.
Announcer: To order your copy of this teaching, visit our website, terradez.com.
Ashley: Hey, I want to thank the partners of Terradez Ministries. You know what? If you’re a partner with this ministry, you’re enabling us to spread the gospel, literally around the world. We have people giving testimonies from all over the world about how they’ve been set free by these programs and by these teachings. So we want to thank you if you’re a partner with us. If you’re not a partner with ours, we’d love to invite you to partner with us. You know what? Partners catch more fish.
Carlie: Amen.
Ashley: You know what? When Jesus told the disciples to cast their net over the other side, praise God, they caught so many fish, they had to call partners to help receive it. We believe we have the spirit of increase on this ministry. We’ve got a big vision and we need some partners to help us with that. So we believe God’s going to give seed to sewers. So if you want to partner with us, go to terradez.com/give, and you can find out how you can partner with us today. We’d love for you to join us.
Announcer: Coming up next on the Abundant Life Program.
Ashley: This is the almost too good to be true gospel, praise God. You know what? Jesus paid the price. And through our relationship with him, we get the spoils. Amen. And now we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. So this is real for you. If you’re born again today, I don’t care if you feel it or not, you can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you.