APRIL THEME – “SEEING THE RESURRECTION FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE”

BEATS FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART

SEEING YOUR PAST FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE

Isaiah 43:18–19 — “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing…”

2 Corinthians 5:17 — “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Romans 8:1 — “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus…”

Most people do not struggle with what God has done as much as they struggle with how they still see what they have done, because the resurrection was not only meant to change your position before God but to transform your perspective of your past, and as long as you continue to see your past incorrectly, you will live presently limited; from your point of view your past may still define you, but from God’s point of view your past has been dealt with, redeemed, and stripped of its authority.

GOD DOES NOT RELATE TO YOU THROUGH YOUR PAST

God does not relate to you through your past the way you often relate to yourself, because while you remember every failure and replay every moment, God sees the finished work of His Son and responds to redemption, not regret, meaning He is not interacting with who you were but relating to who Christ has made you.

YOUR PAST IS A PLACE GOD PASSED THROUGH—NOT WHERE YOU LIVE

Your past is not a place God intends for you to live but a place He has already passed through with you, because He does not erase it as though it never happened but redefines it so that what was once shame becomes testimony, what was once failure becomes formation, and what was once pain becomes purpose, and while the enemy wants your past to be your residence, God intends it to be a reference point of His grace.

THE RESURRECTION DEMANDS A NEW PERSPECTIVE

The resurrection demands a new perspective, because the empty tomb is not just proof that Jesus lives but proof that what once held you no longer can, yet many believers are free but still think bound, forgiven but still live guilty, and made new but still identify with the old, because until your mind agrees with what God has done, your life will not fully reflect it.

It is like a prisoner who has been released, whose chains are gone and whose sentence is finished, yet he sits in the open doorway because it feels familiar, and this is how many believers live—not because they are bound, but because they still see themselves that way.

God is not asking you to deny your past, but to see it through what He has done with it, because you are not who you were, you are not what happened to you, and you are not what you did, but you are who He redeemed, and when you begin to see your past from God’s perspective, you will finally be free to live in your present.

WARFARE PRAYER

Father, in the name of Jesus, I surrender not only my past but my perspective of it, and I reject every way of thinking that keeps me bound to what You have already broken; I declare that my past has been forgiven, covered, redeemed, and stripped of its authority, and I will no longer see myself through failure, shame, or regret, but through the finished work of Jesus Christ, so renew my mind where it has been stuck, heal my memory where it has been wounded, and align my thinking with Your truth, because from this day forward I will not live from my past but from Your redemption, and because Jesus lives, I am free indeed, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

DAILY CHALLENGE

Today, identify one area of your past that still influences how you see yourself, and intentionally declare, “God has already dealt with this, and I will no longer let it define me,” and begin to live not from what happened, but from what He finished.

FRIDAY’S PRAYER REQUESTS

Kim McClain’s Daughter, Amanda

Jillian Gray – Surgery Went Well

Nancy Riley

Ellen Boyd

Mary Williams

Theresa Bain

Wes Knight – Much Improved

Ellen Boyd – Fractured Shoulder – Sling For 6 Weeks Then Rehab

Ann Stanley  

Britany Smith ~ Breast Cancer

Mateen – Kim McClain’s Sister

Mike And Paula Ferris And Family  

Phillip Roach – Surgery Went Well

Amy Garner’s Dad

Andrea Nix– Friend of the Shelnutt’s

Angela Bryan’s Sisters

Annette Ford

Brando Echarte

Carol Lawhead – Riverside in Conyers

Christopher Kelley

Danny Jarrard  

Darlene Kelley – Cancer Treatment

Darlene Wiggins

Debbie Foskey 

Deon Lotter

Don And Carol Franklin – Mae’s Cousins

Don Franklin’s Son, David

Doris Loyd

Dr. and Mrs. Davis

Ed Adkins – Friend of Brian Edwards

Ed Franklin’s Son In Law – Heart Surgery

Eric Magnusson’s Mother

Eric Ward

Friend of Linda Hodge

Gayle Sparks

Gloria Young

Jake Jenkins

James Burnette

Jean Partee

Jean Partee’s Sister

Jessica Headrick  

John McClain’s Mother

Joni Oberhage

June Cronan

June Cronan’s Sister

June Davis

Kailey Bateman

Kim McClain’s Mother 

Kim’s Sisters – Ann & Brenda & Mateen

Lillianna Magnusson’s Mom

Linda Mays

Lonzo Christian 

Lori Blount’s Mother

Mary Williamson – Dana Jackson’s Mom

Mrs. Franklin 

Nancy Brown

Nora Allison

Paul Bateman

Ron And Johnnie Barry – Friends Of Ashton & Glenda Bateman

Rose Fuller – Pruitt-Monroe Nursing Home, Forsyth GA

Roy Roach

Sandra Mitchell

Scott Lanier 

Scotty Nix

Stephanie Seivers – Friend of the Shelnutt’s

Steve Michaels

Tammy Shelnutt

Tom Witcher