I was always a good student. I don't think I missed being on the honor roll very many times at all.  But I must confess that mid-terms and finals were about as appealing to me as feeding a hungry lion with a sore tooth! In other words, I did not enjoy them! I would dread them for weeks in advance, knowing it meant several "all-nighters" of cramming.

Then one day God revealed something to me that changed my whole outlook.  We were preparing for semesters tests, and I had myself worked up into a nervous state that few could rival. (When I did anything I made sure I was the best at it!) I spent the whole weekend telling myself how hard they were going to be, and how I didn’t have enough time to study all that I thought I was going to need to know. It was about this time that God took matters in control. He informed me that "this too shall pass."

"THIS TOO SHALL PASS? THIS TOO SHALL PASS?" "You mean I’ve spent all this time worrying and ruining my health, and in less than an hour’s time, when I walk out of that class room, it’s over?"

Well of course! Nothing physical lasts forever. Not semester tests, not the persecution we endure for Christ, not even our physical bodies. All these things shall too one day pass.

Have you ever asked yourself what happens to all these things once they come to pass? They become the past. They no longer exist.

God is not the God of our past. God is the I AM (Exodus 3:14). God is the God of NOW, TODAY.

Satan is the god of the past. See, the past is dead. It should be forgotten. But who delights in bringing up the past and attempting to condemn you with it? "Who do you think you are? You call yourself a believer. But remember when you……….(fill in the blank)? How do you think someone with your past can serve God?" Sound familiar? It should. Because the devil has used this ruse for thousands of years on anyone and everyone who would listen to him.

God promises over and over in His Word that He not only forgives our sins, but He FORGETS them! Jeremiah 31:34 "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Psalm 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." (Have you ever wondered why He removes them east to west, as compared to north to south? If you travel south from the North Pole, you eventually hit the South Pole, and as you travel on around the world in the same direction you are no longer traveling south, but you are now going north toward the North Pole. But if your travel around the world from east to west, there is never a stopping point! You continue to be traveling either to the east or to the west, depending in which way you started out. Pretty cool!)

Don’t allow the enemy to bring up your past. When he does, respond like God does. "Huh? I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about. That happened to someone who no longer exists. I am now a brand new creature in Christ! You must have the wrong person!"

I have learned in my walk with the Lord that it’s wise to not even dwell on the best of memories for very long. I can guarantee that if you think on them long enough you will either start longing for "those good old days" or it will lead into something that is not so pleasant to your mind.

It’s always better to stay in today. That’s where God is. "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet (perfection); but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead." (Philippians 3:13)