Hebrews 10:17 “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
I try to be like Jesus. People laugh, but that’s Gods promise and He does not forget. He is not capable of forgetting, but He does choose to ‘not remember’ because He loves us. And He is going to conform us into the ‘Image’ of His Son (not into His Son but an image of His Son)”. And His Son chooses to ‘not remember’ as well, because His Son is the 2nd person of God’s Holy Trinity.
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.
As being conformed into Christ’s image (still in the process) I find it necessary almost daily to operate on myself. The operation is more like an amputation, because our memories are like a limb or other member of our body. They become part of us, because we dwell on it. Here are some members of our body that we (I) need to amputate before I can grow.
1. I remember being hit a lot so I feel like hitting
2. I remember hunger so now I overcompensate
3. I remember people that were mean to me
4. I remember getting into trouble for being honest
5. I remember sucker punching the class bully
6. I remember first drink on leave
I’m leaving it at six cause that’s the number of man in the Bible. Man is corrupt. I could go on an on.
Problem is, these members of our body (and they are just as real as your leg) are like salamander tails. They grow back as soon as you think of them again. You must replace them immediately with something else or you’ll grow them back. That’s why AA meetings and NA meetings are often filled with promiscuous people who are chain smokers. People try to replace their love for their vices with other things.
Ladies who want new clothes and shoes must empty their closets in order to have news clothes and shoes. Face it, after having a couple kids, they will never fit into clothes they wore at their quinceañera. Probably their shoes won’t even fit. The new clothes and shoes will be so much nicer to have. To have new good stuff however, you have to throw out the old. Painful maybe, but worth it.
Don’t drag around painful memories when you can replace them with great new memories. Painful, useless and old memories will prevent you from being able to build beautifully delightful new memories. Just like your out of style (and size) skinny jeans have to be thrown away before you can justify buying new jeans so must old memories and habits must be thrown away before you can develop new ones.
Tell one person about a bad memory and voila! it’s grown back just like that! That’s why it must be replaced with a good memory. Tell the good memory instead. If I drink one beer I’ll drink 26. If I smoke one little old cigarette I’ll be back up to 7 packs a day in no time. Now when I want a cig or a drink, I go for a prayer walk or swim instead. Remembering is RE-MEMBERING. Growing back the old rotten member. Not good, nor healthy. Worse than that, it inhibits your growth.. That why Paul said in Phillipians, the ‘happiest book of the Bible’:
Phillipians 3:13 But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead
Being here in Miami is a mixed blessing. Bad because besides the stuff I am dealing with and the enormous financial strain we’re under, I miss Winnie Peters A LOT! Also I miss the ministry, all my good buddies working with us, all the loving kids and even my ‘Patria’, my beloved Nicaragua. It’s good to be here because of the excellent medical care ( also toying with the idea of fixing surgically my wrecked ankle while I am here as well). VA is great, beyond my wildest dreams. The only thing I don’t like is that they ask too many questions about my experiences in the military. Can’t remember hardly anything and some of the things I do remember would make your hair fall out if I told you. Medicare is great too, I am using world renown Dr Jason Wolf (urologist thanks to my old friend Dra Valori Johnson-Slane).
Re-making friends and making good memories. Swimming, writing and walking a lot. Spending oodles of time alone with the Lord. Lots of opportunities to improve my Spanish. Yader and Ruth Flores, my host family, is over the top.
Also, I live walking distance to two of my favorite churches. My absolute favorite church, Palabra de Fe Miami, (with Pastors Martin and Gustavo Rivera ) and Calvary Chapel Miami (Razz Vazquez’ church). Well CC Miami doesn’t hold many good memories yet but hopefully.
Making new friends and reinforcing old friendships are great. Besides proving to myself and to others that PureHeartChildren’sFund Managua is alive and well without me (which is very important for any NGO) we still helping the Lord’s work in Islambad Pakistan, a tribe in the Amazons, an Orphanage in the Ukraine, another feeding center in Rivas Nicaragua, and trafficked sex workers in Ohio. We are keeping up with all the scholarships, vocational schools, text books and medical procedures promised, but donations are way down.
If you could help, that would be greatly appreciated. I know times are tough for every but my best financial advice (if you are a Christian) is when you’re worried about finances don’t RE-MEMBER THE TIMES WHEN YOU HAD NOTHING. Make new memories how God provided when you gave the widow’s mite.
Luke 21:1 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, 2 and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. 3 So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; 4 for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”
Undoubtedly she heard that. Do you think she continued to give all she could because of the good memory of the Master praising her, or did she cling onto her old stinky memory of poverty. Jesus gave her a new good memory to replace the bad memories.
Revelation 21:5. “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”
Re-Member the good. Don’t Re-Member the bad. The only things worthwhile to Re-Member are God things. Stay in the Word. Talk about and sing God’s Word. Share God’s Word. Take you mind off of the gloom and doom of world ‘politics’ and economy. Re-Member God, forget the rest. I find a good way to remember things is by tying a string around my fingers. God taught me that.
Proverbs 7:2-3
Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Re-Member
