Win the Day #2 | Kiss the Wave

If you can own the idea that today is the only day you actually have

  • Pray today
  • Read your Bible today
  • Hug your spouse today
  • Speak lovingly to your kids today
  • Exercise for a few minutes today

String a bunch of those days together and things start going in the right direction for you. To Win This Day, we have to learn to process Yesterday well. It’s hard to let go of present tense concerns and future tense anxieties but nothing is harder than letting go of past tense pain.

Some yesterday experiences have been good & valuable. Always remember the good things.

Remembering God’s faithfulness in the past helps me trust His faithfulness for Today. Some yesterday experiences have been painful… maybe you made a bad choice… maybe someone did you wrong.

We do have to learn to let go of the past. Past failures and past successes, In order to Win This Day.

Kiss the wave

I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages.

  • Charles Spurgeon

At 22 years of age Charles was  preaching to 10,000 people and someone yelled “fire”. Some were trampled underfoot and killed. 7 died and 28 were seriously injured.

He already fought depression…  But this event nearly ruined him inwardly.

We have to learn to Kiss The Wave. 

We don’t necessarily like what happened, but we have to process it well.

One person owns his or her pain while the other person is owned by it. 

One person becomes better while the other person becomes bitter.

You may not be responsible for what happened in your past but you are response able. Kiss the wave = Don’t waste your sorrows.

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but  the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever

There are some things you may not ever figure out why. But you can learn to trust God with them.

Sometimes modern believers tend to trust in therapy more than in mystery.

  • Kathleen Norris

Move past your past by Kissing The Wave.

Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead

Forget what lies behind. We all have a past.

You cannot walk into your future carrying all the baggage of the past:

  • Past sins
  • Past failures
  • Past successes
  • Past victories
  • Things done to us
  • Betrayals 
  • Abuses 
  • Things we wish we had done better
  • Things we wish we had done different

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

  • Maya Angelou

When you know better, you can do better. Decisions we’ve made that we would take a different track now… Opportunities we missed… Stupid things we said. Words can’t be taken back, so be careful!

We all make mistakes.

Why is learning to rebound from your mistakes so important? Because otherwise, your mistakes are going to get in your head. You’ll ruminate on memories of failures and things you wish you could take back. Once these things get in your head, they’ll start affecting your performance and your habitual thought patterns. You’ll move into the future, but you’ll be reflecting on your mistakes the entire time.

This will cause you to move through life defensively instead of offensively. You won’t be able to give your all to what’s in front of you, because you’ll still be occupied with what’s behind you. This is all because you didn’t rebound in a way that gave you closure and peace about the past! You won’t have the kind of margin that you want in the present—the ability to try new things, to take chances, to innovate and be creative.

  • Dr. Sam Chand

Paul says: Forget the past and look to what lies behind. Some things we need to remember to forget. Some things we need to remember to remember.

Don’t stop remembering:

  • God’s goodness
  • God’s promise
  • God’s faithfulness 

Genesis 41:51 Joseph named his firstborn  Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household

Genesis 41:52 He named the second  Ephraim, “For,” he said, “ God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.

Here’s how Joseph Kissed The Wave:

Joseph forgot his troubles he didn’t carry them around with him. He Kissed the wave in his affliction.

Yes, I experienced affliction and heartache. But God is bigger and better than that.

Psalms 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And  forget none of His benefits

Some of our past just needs to move into the ‘Forget about that’ category or the ‘Quit bringing it up again’ category.

But some of our past needs a healing touch. We do need to stop carrying it around. But it’s in a different category than just stop remembering it.

We all have this stuff that has made a:

  • Ding
  • Dint 
  • Scar
  • Left a mark
  • On our soul

It’s shaped us… Sometimes for better, sometimes not.

Isaiah 42:3 A bruised reed He will not break 

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; 

He will faithfully bring forth  justice

The dings make you beautiful. How do we deal with our past well?

Apply Grace Liberally

Grace & Healing & Forgiveness are close neighbors:

  • Receive God’s grace & forgiveness
  • Forgive yourself
  • Forgive others 

We learn pain‘s lessons by asking a brave question: 

What have you come to teach me?

2 Corinthians 12:7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the  revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a  thorn in the flesh, a  messenger of Satan to  torment me — to keep me from exalting myself!

2 Corinthians 12:8 Concerning this I implored the Lord  three times that it might leave me.

2 Corinthians 12:9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for  power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather  boast  about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

2 Corinthians 12:10 Therefore  I am well content with weaknesses, with  insults, with  distresses, with  persecutions, with  difficulties,  for Christ’s sake; for  when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul asks for this thing to be removed. He says, “God, take the pain away.”

God says my grace actually flows in through your pain, your weakness, your inability.

God’s grace, His power (dunamis), is released in my weakness.

Every one of us is trying to create a wall of security  around ourselves

  • A place of security
  • Health
  • Finances
  • Love
  • Home
  • Car, clothes, food

This is natural and good. There is an enemy is trying to punch holes in that wall. Every hole is an opening for the grace of God to come flooding in.

Kiss the wave means to forgive.

Kiss the wave means To learn the lesson.

Kiss the wave means To exchange my weakness for His strength.

To Win This Day we do need to learn to Kiss The Wave that throws us against the Rock of Ages.