PRAYER PROMPT ••• Isn’t it a great feeling when we can step back, look at something we’ve accomplished, and feel good about it?
We take pride in a job well done and thank God for helping us.
But the other side of that coin is ugly.
What about the times we mess up?
From the small mess ups (“I hope no one saw what I just did!”) to the really big ones we hope no one ever finds out about when we make mistakes, it’s easy to think we’ve ruined everything.
Satan loves to fill our heads with lies:
- “You’re too stupid to get it right,”
- “You mess up everything you touch,”
- “Who would ever want to be with someone as messed up as you,”
- “There’s no way you’ll ever get over this mistake,”
- “Your past is going to haunt you forever,”
- “You’ve messed up too badly to ever make things right.”
And we believe these lies.
In fact, by believing them, we give ourselves a lot of credit we don’t deserve.
Because as long as we draw breath, God’s saving redemption is a prayer away.
Isaiah 61:3 says, “To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.”
I love the phrase, “beauty from ashes,” and the description of renewed growth and strength through Jesus!
When we regret our pasts and think our futures are ruined, we should remember that Jesus was a carpenter by trade.
I think that career-choice was deliberate to remind us that when bad choices leave splinters of destruction all around us, He knows how to rebuild.
Jesus can take the ugliness of our past and build a beautiful future.
Alone, we are incapable of the cleanup efforts, and yes, we may have some long-term consequences for our choices, but when we ask for His forgiveness, He can make the sun shine again, even in the darkest corners of our lives.
The only thing we can do to destroy our future permanently is to not accept Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Anything else, He can make right.
Today, as you pray, ask Jesus to restore your broken past.
Ask Him to make beauty from the ashes of past sins and restore a great faith in you, through His forgiveness.
