As we wrap up 2022, it’s important to really reflect on the year and how God has showed up and out in our lives. I personally think that journaling is the best way to document your year. When you journal daily it makes it easier to go back reflect on all aspects of your life from the physical, mental, emotional, and the spiritual. Seeing prayers come to pass and promises fulfilled really increases your faith. If you’re in need of a good journal I created a journal specifically for this reason. You can find the journal on amazon called “I wont be in the same place next year.”
One thing God has been impressing on my heart lately is the importance of not going backwards. Oftentimes, we get free from our bondage and forget how hard it was before God rescued us. I’m reminded of the time in 2015, when I had a strong desire to be celibate and focus on my relationship with God. I began to fervently seek God and His will for my life and once I did that Holy Spirit stepped in and many things started to fall away from me. I stopped drinking, smoking cigarettes and weed, and I stopped having sex outside of marriage. Gossiping made my stomach hurt, and honesty was mandatory.
I’ve always had vivid dreams since I was child and I’ve always seen and heard things before they came to pass. But, at this time it was with clarity and precision as I began to fast and pray. I was learning how to live righteously, and it felt good. I heard a sermon where the pastor said, “go to throne, not the phone” and immediately Holy Spirit put it on my heart that I could “text him too”. So, I stored “JC” in my phone under my number and would text like Jesus was a friend of mines. Slowly but surely, I would send the text, and Holy Spirit would respond in my “knower”.
As someone who has always picked the wrong people to be in relationships with (intimate or platonic) this was a relationship I was happy to be in.
In 2017, I became distracted and out of nowhere I can remember growing so weary that I’d never get married. The enemy was on me like white on rice. Or should I say like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour me, exactly like it says in 1 Peter 5:8 NIV. I went to a wedding that God clearly told me not to go to and because I was conflict avoidant at the time, not only did I go, I went and backslid. I mean if there was an Olympic medal for the backslide I would definitely have been a top contender.
From that day on it was like I was caught up in a whirlwind. Just getting thrown all over the place, completely out of control. That year I entered into one of thee most toxic relationships I had ever been in, in my entire life. When we make that decision to come out from underneath Gods protection and turn from living a righteous life the enemy and his minions are right there waiting with pleasure.
The Bible says “20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 2 Peter 2:20-21 ESV. Also, “then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.” Luke 11:26 NLT
One thing about the Bible, it. ain’t. lying! In 2018 Holy Spirit warned me that if I continue to live in such a way, I would regret it. Shortly after, I rededicated myself back to God and being abstinent. I ended the relationship and never spoke to that man again. Ever since then, and leading up to today God has developed my character, took me on some major faith walks and blessed me more than I could have asked or imagined.
Who I was in 2017 and who I am now, at the end of 2022, after allowing God to mold me, shape me, and prune me are two different people spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, it was a fight for my life to get to this place. I went through periods of extreme depression, suicidal thoughts, I gained massive amounts of weight and my health started to decline. BUT GOD. It was only by the grace of God that I am here today. Every time we decide to go back into sin we gamble with our life. The Bible says it’s better to have never known the path to righteousness than to know and turn your back on it.
As 2022 comes to an end Holy Spirit is warning like never before, with the blessings you’re going to receive in 2023 DONT GO BACK.
I don’t know what your “back” is but I do want you to join me in a little reflection on all that God has brought you out of and declare that you will give God your ‘YES’ and not go back to what God freed you from.
Change your environment, now that you have been freed from that addiction, you can’t afford to be around the same people, places, or things. Change your mindset. When God brings new Kingdom relationships into your life, you cannot go back to those old mindsets that kept you defensive and closed off. These are just two things that immediately come to mind. Whatever it is for you, know that God’s grace is sufficient but be wise, once you came to Christ you became a NEW creation. As God brings you out of the wilderness and into your promise land… don’t go back. I pray that your New Year is fruitful in the name of Jesus. Happy New Year! Don’t forget to grab your “I wont be in the same place next year” journal.
Lastly, meditate on these scriptures:
· Luke 11:26 NLT
· 1 Peter 5:8 NIV.
· Proverbs 26:11
· 2 Peter 2:20-22
· 2 Corinthians 5:17
· Romans 12:2
· Isaiah 43:18-19
· 1 John 1:9
· Luke 9:62
Happy New Year!