"System Restore"

Lately I am so amazed by God. Seriously, He is showing Himself to be so real in my life. To know God is so different than to hear about Him. Going to church your whole life doesn't mean you really truly know God. You have to establish your OWN relationship with Him for it to mean anything at all. And we are so free to be able to do that.

I have made a lot of mistakes over the past few years and let myself fall into the trap that so many people fall into. Condemnation. Sometimes it's hard to get out of it because you accept a false sense of responsibility for all of your "wrongs." The kingdom of heaven is different than the kingdom of this earth. We are taught to own up to our mistakes, accept responsibility and pay the consequences. With God, he paid for our mistakes on the cross. He accepted full responsibility for our sins and shortcomings and He says we are forgiven when we repent. So pretty much, when you are forgiven, then you are forgiven. No need in beating yourself up over your mistakes anymore. God loves you, now love yourself.

Letting go of the condemnation has freed me up so much. To know that I AM worthy because HE is worthy. To know that I am good enough because He created me and placed me here for such a time as this. To know that no mistake I have ever made can keep me from the blessings He has for my life.

I got the image of a computer the other day. After years and years your computer gets filled with excess files, sometimes viruses, and just extra stuff that doesn't really need to be there. So you do what is called a "system restore" where you wipe your hard drive clean and it restores it back to its original condition. The Lord showed me that as an example of what He wants to do in me. Through the years based on circumstances that maybe we had no control over, different "strongholds" may have formed inside of us causing us to make future mistakes etc. So with that being said, He wants to restore us back to the original version that He created us to be. Getting rid of the things that shouldn't be there but keeping different traits that make up who we are. When you do a system restore on the computer it keeps those certain important programs like Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, etc. Humanly speaking, those "programs" are gifts, talents, and important characteristics that make us who we are.

I hope that made sense because when He showed me that analogy it made a ton of sense to me! We are taught about change, and becoming who God wants us to be etc. Dying to our flesh and letting our spirit reign hallelujah amen. Haha.. but until you actually understand what that means, it seems kindof difficult to begin the changing process. It isn't that God doesn't like who you are and He thinks you need to be someone different. It isn't about changing who YOU are. It's about changing the things inside of you that wasn't supposed to be there to begin with and replacing them with the quality God intended to be there. Once you realize that and you get it on the inside of you, it will change your perspective of change. It will make you want to do what is necessary to "change." Change is good. Don't be afraid to change. Now more than ever, I am excited for my "system restore" and I am ready to take on whatever God gives me. The future is getting closer everyday. Why waste the present on things that won't benefit your future?


Be encouraged :)