(Mat 26:75 NIV) Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
I thought I was going to get back to Proverbs this morning, but I felt led to share one more message about Peter. By now you know what happened. Peter vehemently claimed that he would never turn his back on Jesus and that he was willing to die for and with Him if necessary. But when the heat was on, Peter, along with the other disciples, left Jesus. To make a bad situation worse, Peter actually disowned Jesus by claiming to have never known Him, not once, but three times. This is exactly what Jesus had predicted Peter would do, and when the rooster crowed Peter realized what he had done and he was completely crushed.
Peter is, without question, one of the giants of scripture. He was the first leader of the New Testament church and he was instrumental in evangelizing the Jews into God’s Kingdom. But it is important for us to understand that Peter was not perfect. His ministry did not even start until after the incident with the rooster and his subsequent redemption from it. The reason why that is important is because the devil would want you to believe that when you make a mistake (small or big), that you disqualify and derail yourself from your destiny. The Bible does not say it, but I am sure that satan beat Peter up, in his mind, while Peter was beating himself up about what he had done. I am sure satan said things like: “I thought you said you would never leave Him… I thought you said you were willing to die for Him… Where is your courage now? You are a fake! You are a failure!” The enemy is a master of putting thoughts like this in our mind and we, far too often, entertain those thoughts. Nursing and rehearing our failures can lead to disillusionment and dismay, and if we are not careful, it can actually lead to depression, which is exactly where the devil wants us to be. Satan knows that we pose no threat to him, nor his kingdom, when we allow ourselves to be defeated in our own mind, becoming a prisoner to the mistakes of our past.
Peter made a grave mistake. Got it! I am not minimizing what Peter did. But what was he supposed to do about it afterwards? Peter could not change the past and he still had a lot of life left before him. Was he supposed to abort all that God had placed down inside of him because of a mistake? Of course not! Jesus redeemed Peter from his mistake and got him back on track and He will do the same for you!
So what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. We all make mistakes. Jesus was the only perfect human. So if you are going to maximize your purpose and potential you are gong to have to learn to get past them.
2. What is before you is too important to remain focused on what is behind you. You can’t lay hold of your tomorrow while you are trapped in your yesterday. You will have to learn to let it go, so you can move forward. When you have a bad day, get up the next morning and say, “Yesterday ended last night,” and move forward by faith.
3. Guilt will eat away at you if you don’t learn to forgive yourself. Most Christians don’t have a problem with receiving forgiveness from God, but they find it hard to forgive themselves. If you don’t forgive yourself your guilt will keep you from operating in the grace that is on your life.
4. You are still alive! The mere fact that blood is still flowing through your veins and air is still flowing through your lungs is evidence that God is not through with you! God still wants to use you – yes: failures, flaws and all – will you let Him?
Closing Confession: Father, I thank You for this message. I refuse to allow the negative thoughts of the enemy to keep me trapped in my past. I acknowledge my mistakes, I confess them before You, and I then cast them upon You because they are too heavy for me to carry. I make an exchange every time I am burdened down. I exchange my cares for Your peace; my burdens for Your grace, and that exchange enables me to move forward towards the rest of my life. I don’t minimize my failures, but then again, I don’t maximize them either. I acknowledge them, learn from them, receive forgiveness from them, and then forgive myself so that I am able to move on. I am still alive and I still have a lot of life left in me. I declare, by faith, that I will not allow my past to keep me from my future. I am redeemed from sin and I also receive redemption from my mistakes. I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper!
