Recently, I took my mom on a drive through some areas that I had not been to in a while. These were towns that I remember passing through when I was young. We shared how we knew so and so that lived there and began to ask one another how certain people were doing now. All in all, it was a good time with just my mom, myself, and a couple of milkshakes. Not bad for an afternoon.

As I was driving and looking around, I began to see house after house where no one lived in anymore or were just run down. I began to get sad over the obvious demise of things from my past. Then, as clear as could be, I heard the distinct voice of Holy Spirit remind me, YOU CAN’T GO BACK. I was clearly advised that those things were gone and its time to move on. Change is good…or so I’m told. Few people like change when it is happening but if it’s a good change, then we are glad once it’s over.

I have grown up in church. I am blessed to have a rich spiritual history. My dad was a man of God who preached the Word and lived it. I grew up listening to my mom sing the old hymns of the church and my dad seemed to always be whistling them. I have always been surrounded by ministers and missionaries alike. I have been a student of the Word for as long as I can remember. Things were not always perfect but I don’t regret the past. All around me there were people who loved me. It seems that just the same as the buildings of my past, some of the people who were there have gone on to be with our Savior.

One that stands out in my mind is Grandma. She wasn’t my actual grandmother but we all called her that. Every day, twice a day, you could find her kneeling by her rocking chair praying for everyone and their brother, all while her cat sat there patiently while she called out to God. Another lady who was also called Grandma…or more like Gandma, was a woman of faith who spoke the Word of God like she meant it…and she did! God has placed some outstanding saints in my path who taught me the Word and how to live it.

For all of the things that I have learned, there is a new revelation of those truths. It’s not that they were wrong, but more like I am learning new dimensions. They were good learning tools that helped me to get where I am today. The dear saints of old knew how to touch heaven and weren’t afraid to stay until you were “prayed through.”

Back to my trip, some of the sights that I saw brought up pains from the past. Disappointments and failures….memories of a past that no longer have a right to me. I can honestly say that I don’t feel like they have a hold on me. They are in my memory, but I am not subject to them. They may have been a reality but I will not be bound by any of them.

What is so cool is that a day or so after all of this happened, I was reminded of something else from my past; something more recent. Immediately my thoughts went to my mistakes and how I’ve been hurt and hurt others. Without a second thought, I said “I CAN’T GO BACK.” You see, once those things have been put in your past and covered with the blood of Jesus, they no longer hold a right to you unless you give them a right. There is therefore NOW no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

Friends, don’t let the past overtake you. Don’t go back to the past. Be healed from your past by allowing the Great Physician to expose it and placing His nail-pierced hand upon it. Once He has healed it, don’t go back to it. Stand therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made you free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Galatians 5.1

You are free today. You don’t have to go back. You won’t leave here like you came in Jesus name.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5.17