Remembering what God has already done establishes a track record of his goodness and righteousness toward you.
Remembering does much more than just recall the events of the past.
Hebrews chapter 11 was Paul’s way of remembering and recalling and proclaiming the goodness of God and the faithfulness of God in each person’s individual situation. The purpose of this was to establish an absolute track record of God’s faithfulness toward each person.
First , He starts by remembering that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. Then He talks about Able, then Enoch, then Noah, then Abraham, then Sara. Then, later in the same chapter, He points out that He wasn’t quite finished remembering yet! He goes on to describe Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. Then in Hebrews 11:32-34 He wrote: “And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
When God moves, it’s a good thing! We need to remember the awesome things He has accomplished on our behalf.
You know, Sometimes it seems like we forget the things that we should remember and we remember the things that we should forget. But I’m telling you, there is a power in remembering the things you should remember and forgetting the thing is you should forget.
In the Old Testament we see over and over how they carried out a physical act which represented something spiritual, and in the New Testament we see God sending his son in a physical form to accomplish something spiritual. Sometimes, the things that you do physically have a great spiritual significance. That’s why it’s so important to watch the things that you do, because there can be spiritual consequences to your physical actions.
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’
22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
What Jesus is saying here is that it’s all really a matter of your heart! The heart issue is more important than the physical act. Oh, It’s fine to “not Murder,” and you certainly shouldn’t, but don’t even have murder or anger in your heart. In His eyes, it’s the same thing. If you are at the altar with your physical offering, and then remember that you have something wrong in your heart with someone, leave and go fix the heart problem first, then come back to the physical. In this case, the act of remembering, is actually playing a spiritual, heart issue role. Can you see that? Remembering bridged the gap between the physical and the spiritual! Remembering something caused someone to take action! Remembering is powerful, and should play a significant role in your Christian life! It’s not just for finding your car keys!
In the Old Testament, we constantly see how men of God built altars in order to remember a special event that happened at that time or at that place. Maybe the crossing of a mighty river, or a victory over the enemy in a time of war, or the place where God spoke something to them, or the place where a miracle happened. Theses examples are scattered all through the Old Testament. But in today’s society, we rarely take the time to seriously remember the great things God has done for us. It is so easily put off for another day, and most of the time we don’t even take the time to write it down. Honestly, very rarely do we put any effort into remembering the great things that God has done for us. Most of the time we completely rely on just our mind “happening to remember” something without any prompting.
Imagine what it would be like if we had built in reminders in our daily life that reminded us of the great things that God had done for us.
I truly believe that we don’t purposely forget the goodness of God, but rather we just don’t put the effort into remembering. There is a requirement on remembering! Usually, you will only get out of something what you put into it. Ask and you shall receive, Seek and you will find, Knock and the door will be opened.
But, You cant remember it until you first member it!
Are you a member? Have you joined? Do you have a membership?
Now, Listen to this great Promise from God’s Word:
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
He said He would bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever He has spoken unto you! Has He ever spoken anything to you? Do you have any Word from the Lord? Any Promise you’d like to see come to pass? If you will Member the Word or the Promise, He will cause you to Re-Member it!
We are used to hearing other “RE” words that cause us to do something again. We don’t think anything of that at all. We know exactly how to:
reacquaint readjust reaffirm reappear
rearrange reassemble reattach reboot
rebroadcast rebuild recalculate recharge
recirculate redial re-elect reinstall
remarry remeasure repaint
But somehow we don’t always apply this thinking to re-membering.
So, how do you actually go about remembering the things of God? Well, we are very used to having reminders on our smart phones, and notifications sent to us automatically by all kinds of social media and mobile apps. Why can’t we incorporate the same technology these days into reminding us of the goodness of God. You will take time to schedule an appointment, or a reminder about someone’s birthday, or a special notification with multiple alarms set for something that is important to you. You’ll even set an alarm to wake up in the morning so that you can get to work on time or get to school on time. Those are all forms of forcing yourself to remember. We do things like that because we understand that if we fail to remember things, there are consequences to our inactions. It could be very costly! In the natural, if you forget things, it can cost you dearly. If you forget to set your alarm and you end up being late to work, it could cost you your job. If you forget to deposit your check, it could cost you money in the form of fees and overdrafts. If you forget to meet up with a business partner, the business may not go well, and you may not get the business that you wanted to have. What if we felt the same urgency about the things of God? What if we really believed that not remembering the things of God would also have severe consequences? What if you applied the same effort even with the same technologies into reminding you about the goodness of God. There are consequences to forgetting. And there are consequences to forgetting God’s Word and God’s Promises. So, again, it’s important to make it a priority to remember! You could write yourself a note. You could set up or schedule a notification or a reminder or an alarm. And you could keep a journal. You could write in your Bible.
The purpose of remembering the past is to show you how bright your future is by comparison. You’ve come a long way, baby!
The devil, on the other hand, is always very interested in your past. He wants to bring it up to you all the time and remind you about how much you’ve messed up your life. He wants to say something like “do you remember that thing you did with those people while you were at that place?” “How dare you think you’re worthy.” He always wants you to remember your past. God is always interested in your future!
But, what if there was a way for you to “remember the future?” The only way to remember the future is to find what is written about your future in the Word of God. Just remember, “When the devil brings up your past, just bring up his future!”
Now, look at some of these scriptures regarding “remembering:”
Really, each one has it’s own built-in story!
Mark 8:18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? Remembering is important.
Matthew 16:9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? He wants you to remember His provision!
Luke 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife. You should also Remember what NOT to do!
Luke 23:42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Jesus doesn’t ask you to do something He wasn’t willing to do Himself.
John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Know your place!
John 16:4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
Jesus even uses remembering as a reminder to remember.
Acts 20:35 I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Remember to bless others!
2 Timothy 2:8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: Reminder about the saving power of Jesus!
If He did it before, He’ll do it again!
When it comes to marriage, you will face tough times, bewildering times, times of miscommunication and misunderstanding. But if we want to continue to walk in love, and we want things to stay together and grow stronger, we must heed the warning of the Word of God, and not keep a record of wrongs against the other. – 1 Corinthians 13.
Do you remember the sound of car alarms when they first came out? Do you remember how anxious it would make you feel when a car alarm would go off in a K-Mart parking lot? You’d stop everything and look around to see if someone might need emergency assistance! But now, you are so used to it that you don’t even care anymore. The sound of those car alarms going off doesn’t even get your attention anymore. So they had to add more sounds to the car alarm to get your attention. And they did. But now you’re so used to all those other sounds that they don’t even get your attention. That’s what happens when you simply don’t remember. But, it takes effort to remember. You have to remember to remember. You might have to remind yourself to remember. But, you should remember.
The enemy will do everything in his power to keep you from remembering the things of God and walking in love. He will do everything in his power to keep the bad things before you, and try to get you to remember them and ponder them and think on them, and rehearse them over and over in your head. He doesn’t like you, he doesn’t like your marriage, he doesn’t like what you stand for, and he will do everything in his power to destroy you and your marriage. I’m not going to lie to you, he will come at you from every angle. And one of the main things that he will do to throw you off track is to keep you from reading God’s Word. He knows that the word of God is the one thing that will keep you on track, tell you the truth, comfort you, guide you, establish your thoughts, and know the direction of God for your life and marriage. If he could just keep you from this one thing, he can get a foothold in your life and your marriage, and if you don’t do anything to withstand him or resist him, he will win. Remembering the goodness of God and forgetting the past requires effort on your part. Those that are able to do it, and put forth the effort to accomplish it, will succeed and have stronger marriages. Those that will not heed the Word of God and do not keep it first place in their life will fail or at the very least have a diminished marriage that is problematic. I didn’t say it, God’s word said it. Who wants a diminished marriage?
It’s important to know that God remembers His promises, and yet He forgets your past!
Like I said before, sometimes it seems like we forget the things that we should remember and we remember the things that we should forget.
The Bible also says:
Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
So, you certainly should:
Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Deuteronomy 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
1 Chronicles 16:12 Remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;
But, you should not . . .
Isaiah 43:18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Remember ye not. Forgetting the things which are past.
You remember the good, and you forget the bad!
You eat the meat and spit out the bones.
You forget not all of His benefits.
But wait . . . What about this verse? Just 3 chapters down the road?
Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
What? How can it be opposite? Remember the good and forget the bad. Eat the meat and spit out the bones.
There’s a difference between remembering, and not forgetting! Remembering is recalling something again, but not forgetting is deciding not to let something slip that you already have!
Things to Forget:
- Fear – fear is not from God, and fear has torment!
- Lack
- Grief
- Troubles
- Life’s Complications
- Negativity and those who create it
- Insensitive thoughts
- The belief that you’re too flawed
- Your desire to win everyone’s approval
- What you don’t have
- The dream that everything should be easy
- Bad relationships
- Baggage
- Porn
- The excuses for why you haven’t started
The future starts TODAY, not tomorrow.
To quote Pumbaa from the Lion King Movie- “You gotta put your behind in the past!”
Things to Remember:
- God Loves You
- He has a great plan for your life
- God will seek you out
- God will take care of you
- He wants to satisfy you with long life
- He desires that you prosper and be in health
- What God has joined together let no man tear apart
- He is your healer
- “Surely God is my help; the Lord is the one who sustains me.” (Psalm 54:4)
- “God is the same yesterday, today and forever” “He never changes. He is unmoved by any circumstance and nothing comes as a surprise to Him.”
- “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
- “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)