"Shake It Off!!"

One of the hardest things for people to do is rid themselves of what happened yesterday...good and bad.  It seems we are forever looking back in the rear view mirror at where we can from and all the difficulties that were a part of the past.  I like the words of Isaiah 52:2,  "Shake thyself from the dust…”  The dust is the evidence of 'where you came from'.  God is simply saying, get rid of the evidence of your yesterday!   Remember at salvation 

'old things are past away and all thing become new."  What has come is 'new' not used.  The old stuff is gone, God has made everything new...never been used.  We must remember this...even if we have to daily remind ourselves.  Shake It Off!!

Many have stepped into the New Year with the excess baggage of the past year hanging from them.  Having faced some of the most difficult times of their lives they are finding it hard to "let go" of "what was" and with hope pursue "what is".  

We, must shake ourselves from the dust of defeat, demotion, disappointments, discouragement, despondency, depression. Shake ourselves from the dust of self pity, sadness and sorrow. Shake ourselves from the dust of poverty and insufficiency, weakness and sickness, oppression and affliction.  Shake ourselves from self-righteousness, bigotry, religious pride andShake ourselves from the dust whether the Devil likes it or not. 

We must Arise from this defeatist mentality, and sit down in the heavenly places God has willed for us.  

We must loose ourselves from the chains of oppressiveness whether Satan or anyone else approves or not.

Shake off the "what was" of yesterday and pursue the "what is" that lies ahead.  

What is ahead is not simply a dream…if is a God promise....it is reality waiting  to be claimed.

Reality is comprised of what is real just waiting for us to claim/stake a claim on.  

Paul's Reality, Phil. 3:7-12, 

 a. Prioritizing the now need with the valuables of the past, v.7 “But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ’s sake.”  

b. Understanding true value, v.8 “Yes, further more, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord  and  of progressively 

becoming more deeply  and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One),  

c. His true pursuits, v.9-11 “And that I may [actually] be found  and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith.  10[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I) may 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 that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers],   and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope]  11That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral)  resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].  

d. Admitting his need, v.12 “Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp)  and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me  and  made me His own.” 

Today each of us stand on the threshold of extreme possibilities.  We can decide to remain

where we are and become nothing more than a relic of the past ( something that has lost

it’s usefulness and is only good for looking at) or we can admit our need...see and accept 

our strengths...and pursue the prize before us.

IT IS UP TO YOU....