We are walking in today: Forgive Yourself--Recover Your Potential!!
Judges 11:26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover H5337 them within that time?
The Torah testifies...............
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The prophets proclaim..................
1 Samuel 30:18 And David recovered H5337 all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued H5337 his two wives.
The writings bear witness...........................
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1 Samuel 30:8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail
H5337 recover H5337 all.
Recovering Your Potential
It is always better to fail at something than to excel at nothing. Get up and try again.
A hush fell over the room as a petite, neatly groomed woman stepped to the podium. Unlike most of the others in the room, she was not clad in prison-issued attire. Yet she did not seem to be or to feel out of place. Those who watched her wondered at this, for they had observed many people in these weekly meetings. Most had a genuine desire to help the prisoners, but their actions and remarks often revealed that they were uneasy being there and that they did not truly understand what imprisonment did to a person. Although the prisoners were grateful for the concern and well-meaning of these visitors, they preferred those speakers who were comfortable within the prison walls. They often understood more accurately the particular needs and frustrations that prison life produced. Expectancy filled those who faced the woman on the stage.
Although they could not define why, they sensed that this speaker was different from the rest. She didn’t look any different, yet she was different. Perhaps it was the gentle compassion in her face as she looked out over the women who packed the small room. Perhaps it was her calm, assured manner that revealed an absence of fear or nervousness. Perhaps it was that she did not place any notes on the lectern. For whatever reason, the prisoners knew that this speaker was unlike the others who had come to encourage and strengthen them.
Her first words startled them. “I am one of you. I lived here for five years. I came here at the age of twenty, leaving behind my husband and my young daughter. Although it has been many years since my release, I still remember the intense loneliness and the consuming despair that filled my first days here. I can also hear in my mind the click of the gate behind me. I doubt those thoughts and feelings will ever leave me.
“I am here today because something very important happened to me here. I met the Yeshua HaMashiach, accepted His forgiveness for my past, and entrusted my future to His keeping. My life is very different because of Him. Through His love and mercy, and the support and encouragement of many brothers and sisters, I have finally forgiven myself for the wrongs that brought me here.
Today I am free because He freed me, and I bring to you the opportunity to find this freedom and forgiveness.
“When I first came here, I hated myself. All my life, my family told me that I would never amount to anything. I believed them.
When I landed in jail, I fulfilled their prophecies and my own expectations. I assumed that the rest of my life would continue to follow a similar pattern. I learned, however, that they were wrong, and I was wrong. Through the patience and faithfulness of those who helped me to survive within these walls and to make it on the outside, through my study of the Bible, and through my personal relationship with Yeshua HaMachiach, I have discovered that I am capable of far more than my family expected of me.
“This is true because The Most High created me for a special purpose and placed within me the potential to fulfill all that He planned for my life before I was born. The unfavorable circumstances that surrounded my birth did not change The Most High’s intentions, nor have the wrong choices, broken relationships, and painful experiences of my past destroyed who I yet can be. The talented, worthwhile person with distinct abilities that I have learned to see in myself was inside me all the time, but I had to discover her and release her from the guilt and self-hatred that consumed me throughout the early years of my life.
“I have also learned that my experience is not unique. The world is filled with men and women whose experiences parallel my own. Both in my counseling practice and after speaking engagements, I have spent hours listening to and sharing with people whose hearts and lives are as burdened as mine were when I first entered these walls. Yeshua HaMachiach has given me compassion for them and for you. He has also gifted me with the ability to express that love and concern in a wide variety of settings.
“Therefore, I come to you today as a friend who wants to help you become all that you can be. No matter what others have said about you, and what you have believed about yourself, you are a competent, gifted person. I know you may not feel that way, but your feelings are not accurate. You are the beloved daughter of The Most High, created by Him with meticulous care and endowed by Him with everything you need to bless yourself, your family, and, indeed, the entire world.
This potential hibernates within you, buried by the actions, attitudes, and lifestyles that brought you here, but it need not remain hidden. You can recover your potential.
“I share my story with you not because I have made it by society’s standards, but because I have a passion to free women like us—women who have been bound not only by prison walls but also by years of negative opinions, poor judgments, unhealthy relationships, detrimental environments, and adverse circumstances. I stand with you as one who has found the way to peace, happiness, and fulfillment. Perhaps my story can help you find that way as well.
“I was born...”
Few stirred throughout the lengthy story. Occasionally someone nodded her head in agreement or sighed from memories awakened by the storyteller’s words. At times tear-brightened eyes overflowed from pain remembered or hope renewed. These were largely unnoticed, for all were caught up by the story of one whose life in some ways paralleled their own and in other respects was quite different. Hopelessness, bitterness, resentment, anger, and despair were certainly part of her story, but they were not the dominant themes.
Woven within the story of what the ex-prisoner had been were glimpses of what she had become and yet hoped to be. There were no dramatic adventures or shocking disclosures, just the simple retelling of the changes in a life touched by the love and power of The Most High.
Many women in that small room yearned for the trust and the contentment evident in the speaker’s words as they wondered whether their lives could also be redirected into the plans and purposes of the Creator. Was there hope for their potential yet to be revealed? As the speaker closed with a simple testimony to her current life in Yeshua HaMashiach, many hearts longed for the assurance that they too could experience changed, redeemed lives.
Change. The hope for something different. Each of us, at some point in our lives, has been dissatisfied with where we are and who we are. We have been keenly aware that life is not measuring up to our expectations. Some of you may still be there. Others of you, like the former prisoner, have found renewed hope in life. A life-changing encounter with The Most High through His Son Yeshua HaMashiach makes the difference. The Bible teaches us much about our need for this life-changing encounter and the path we must take if we would experience it.
Forgiveness
The journey to recovering your potential begins with forgiveness—The Most High’s forgiveness and self-forgiveness. The Most High’s forgiveness is an expression of His love for us. He offers it to all who confess their rebelliousness and accept His gift of new life through His Son, Yeshua HaMachiach. Becoming re-rooted in The Most High takes care of this first aspect of forgiveness. Self-forgiveness, however, is often more difficult. The Most High forgives and forgets our sin as soon as we confess it:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:8-12).
We, on the other hand, often hold ourselves accountable for our wrongs for a long time. Indeed, many who have accepted Yeshua HaMashiach as their Savior still think and act as though their sins are not forgiven. Such behavior short-changes potential because it again places ourselves above The Most High and His word to us. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we disbelieve what The Most High has said.
The speaker in the prison must have been guilty of some rather serious wrongs to land herself in prison, but her journey to happiness and wholeness began with her ability to accept The Most High’s forgiveness and to forgive herself. In a similar manner, the apostle Paul could have condemned himself forever for those who died by his hand (see Acts 7:54–8:3; 9:1-2). Praise The Most High, he did not!
Remember, The Most High’s promises are true and His power surpasses all other powers. If The Most High says your sins are forgiven, they are forgiven. You are freed forever from their penalty and their power over you. No one, including hasatan, has the authority or the right to change or dispute His decision.
The failure to forgive ourselves places us at risk for future sin. This is true because self-condemnation opens the door for hasatan and his forces of evil to work on us with doubt and guilt. Guilt prevents us from actively seeking The Most High’s power and wisdom because we are ashamed to enter His presence, and doubt enslaves us to feelings of powerlessness and unworthiness. Both deny the power and authority of The Most High in our lives and entice us to rely more on our feelings than the presence of The Most High’s Spirit within us. Both destroy potential.
Refuse, then, to allow self-condemnation to steal your potential in HaMashiach. If you have confessed your sin, you are forgiven and The Most High remembers it no more. Forgive yourself and move on. If you would love others and share your potential with them, you must first love and forgive yourself. This is an important step in the journey of recovering your potential.
It is always better to fail at something than to excel at nothing. Get up and try again.
A hush fell over the room as a petite, neatly groomed woman stepped to the podium. Unlike most of the others in the room, she was not clad in prison-issued attire. Yet she did not seem to be or to feel out of place. Those who watched her wondered at this, for they had observed many people in these weekly meetings. Most had a genuine desire to help the prisoners, but their actions and remarks often revealed that they were uneasy being there and that they did not truly understand what imprisonment did to a person. Although the prisoners were grateful for the concern and well-meaning of these visitors, they preferred those speakers who were comfortable within the prison walls. They often understood more accurately the particular needs and frustrations that prison life produced. Expectancy filled those who faced the woman on the stage.
Although they could not define why, they sensed that this speaker was different from the rest. She didn’t look any different, yet she was different. Perhaps it was the gentle compassion in her face as she looked out over the women who packed the small room. Perhaps it was her calm, assured manner that revealed an absence of fear or nervousness. Perhaps it was that she did not place any notes on the lectern. For whatever reason, the prisoners knew that this speaker was unlike the others who had come to encourage and strengthen them.
Her first words startled them. “I am one of you. I lived here for five years. I came here at the age of twenty, leaving behind my husband and my young daughter. Although it has been many years since my release, I still remember the intense loneliness and the consuming despair that filled my first days here. I can also hear in my mind the click of the gate behind me. I doubt those thoughts and feelings will ever leave me.
“I am here today because something very important happened to me here. I met the Yeshua HaMashiach, accepted His forgiveness for my past, and entrusted my future to His keeping. My life is very different because of Him. Through His love and mercy, and the support and encouragement of many brothers and sisters, I have finally forgiven myself for the wrongs that brought me here.
Today I am free because He freed me, and I bring to you the opportunity to find this freedom and forgiveness.
“When I first came here, I hated myself. All my life, my family told me that I would never amount to anything. I believed them.
When I landed in jail, I fulfilled their prophecies and my own expectations. I assumed that the rest of my life would continue to follow a similar pattern. I learned, however, that they were wrong, and I was wrong. Through the patience and faithfulness of those who helped me to survive within these walls and to make it on the outside, through my study of the Bible, and through my personal relationship with Yeshua HaMachiach, I have discovered that I am capable of far more than my family expected of me.
“This is true because The Most High created me for a special purpose and placed within me the potential to fulfill all that He planned for my life before I was born. The unfavorable circumstances that surrounded my birth did not change The Most High’s intentions, nor have the wrong choices, broken relationships, and painful experiences of my past destroyed who I yet can be. The talented, worthwhile person with distinct abilities that I have learned to see in myself was inside me all the time, but I had to discover her and release her from the guilt and self-hatred that consumed me throughout the early years of my life.
“I have also learned that my experience is not unique. The world is filled with men and women whose experiences parallel my own. Both in my counseling practice and after speaking engagements, I have spent hours listening to and sharing with people whose hearts and lives are as burdened as mine were when I first entered these walls. Yeshua HaMachiach has given me compassion for them and for you. He has also gifted me with the ability to express that love and concern in a wide variety of settings.
“Therefore, I come to you today as a friend who wants to help you become all that you can be. No matter what others have said about you, and what you have believed about yourself, you are a competent, gifted person. I know you may not feel that way, but your feelings are not accurate. You are the beloved daughter of The Most High, created by Him with meticulous care and endowed by Him with everything you need to bless yourself, your family, and, indeed, the entire world.
This potential hibernates within you, buried by the actions, attitudes, and lifestyles that brought you here, but it need not remain hidden. You can recover your potential.
“I share my story with you not because I have made it by society’s standards, but because I have a passion to free women like us—women who have been bound not only by prison walls but also by years of negative opinions, poor judgments, unhealthy relationships, detrimental environments, and adverse circumstances. I stand with you as one who has found the way to peace, happiness, and fulfillment. Perhaps my story can help you find that way as well.
“I was born...”
Few stirred throughout the lengthy story. Occasionally someone nodded her head in agreement or sighed from memories awakened by the storyteller’s words. At times tear-brightened eyes overflowed from pain remembered or hope renewed. These were largely unnoticed, for all were caught up by the story of one whose life in some ways paralleled their own and in other respects was quite different. Hopelessness, bitterness, resentment, anger, and despair were certainly part of her story, but they were not the dominant themes.
Woven within the story of what the ex-prisoner had been were glimpses of what she had become and yet hoped to be. There were no dramatic adventures or shocking disclosures, just the simple retelling of the changes in a life touched by the love and power of The Most High.
Many women in that small room yearned for the trust and the contentment evident in the speaker’s words as they wondered whether their lives could also be redirected into the plans and purposes of the Creator. Was there hope for their potential yet to be revealed? As the speaker closed with a simple testimony to her current life in Yeshua HaMashiach, many hearts longed for the assurance that they too could experience changed, redeemed lives.
Change. The hope for something different. Each of us, at some point in our lives, has been dissatisfied with where we are and who we are. We have been keenly aware that life is not measuring up to our expectations. Some of you may still be there. Others of you, like the former prisoner, have found renewed hope in life. A life-changing encounter with The Most High through His Son Yeshua HaMashiach makes the difference. The Bible teaches us much about our need for this life-changing encounter and the path we must take if we would experience it.
Forgiveness
The journey to recovering your potential begins with forgiveness—The Most High’s forgiveness and self-forgiveness. The Most High’s forgiveness is an expression of His love for us. He offers it to all who confess their rebelliousness and accept His gift of new life through His Son, Yeshua HaMachiach. Becoming re-rooted in The Most High takes care of this first aspect of forgiveness. Self-forgiveness, however, is often more difficult. The Most High forgives and forgets our sin as soon as we confess it:
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:8-12).
We, on the other hand, often hold ourselves accountable for our wrongs for a long time. Indeed, many who have accepted Yeshua HaMashiach as their Savior still think and act as though their sins are not forgiven. Such behavior short-changes potential because it again places ourselves above The Most High and His word to us. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we disbelieve what The Most High has said.
The speaker in the prison must have been guilty of some rather serious wrongs to land herself in prison, but her journey to happiness and wholeness began with her ability to accept The Most High’s forgiveness and to forgive herself. In a similar manner, the apostle Paul could have condemned himself forever for those who died by his hand (see Acts 7:54–8:3; 9:1-2). Praise The Most High, he did not!
Remember, The Most High’s promises are true and His power surpasses all other powers. If The Most High says your sins are forgiven, they are forgiven. You are freed forever from their penalty and their power over you. No one, including hasatan, has the authority or the right to change or dispute His decision.
The failure to forgive ourselves places us at risk for future sin. This is true because self-condemnation opens the door for hasatan and his forces of evil to work on us with doubt and guilt. Guilt prevents us from actively seeking The Most High’s power and wisdom because we are ashamed to enter His presence, and doubt enslaves us to feelings of powerlessness and unworthiness. Both deny the power and authority of The Most High in our lives and entice us to rely more on our feelings than the presence of The Most High’s Spirit within us. Both destroy potential.
Refuse, then, to allow self-condemnation to steal your potential in HaMashiach. If you have confessed your sin, you are forgiven and The Most High remembers it no more. Forgive yourself and move on. If you would love others and share your potential with them, you must first love and forgive yourself. This is an important step in the journey of recovering your potential.
Shema selah we have to forgive ourselves and accept the forgiveness that the Most High has given us, now is the time to walk fully in the potential that He has given us!!
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