Past and Present Collides | Showers’ Blessing Inspires | Jacqui Showers

When studying the Word of God a best practice to go to the place when something was first mentioned. Known as the “law of first mentioned,” it provides clarity to what you are studying and enhances it meaning. You are able to better understand the current passage of scripture by referring back to when it was initially introduced. In doing so, you can better understand the message that God is relaying and it helps to apply it to your life.

Almost two decades ago I started down a path of first mentions, or when things first occurred that caused certain behaviors. These behaviors prevented me from experiencing all life had for me. More and more, I found myself succumbing to these behaviors and habits and I didn’t know how to stop. Yet, in my heart of hearts I wanted desperately to get off the treadmill that was going nowhere fast.

It wasn’t until I went back that I was able to go forward. In essence, my past collided with my present in order to be propel into my future. I could only do this when I honestly looked at things that had plagued me and was willing to allow God to take me back to the point when they first occurred. This journey of retracing my past brought such revelation to me that I was able to overcome the very things that had held me in bondage. Some of these things I was able to overcome immediately and others it took some time. Yes, there are some I’m still tackling.

But what if I had never started this journey? What if I had just continued in the manner in which I was headed and remained afraid to look at those things that hung over me like a storm cloud ready to burst open with a torrential downpour?

Well, I had reached a critical crossroads and I knew that something had to be done. More and more apathy was increasing and I found myself feeling as though it didn’t matter anyway. Yet, I knew that it did. Deep inside I knew something had to be done. For so long I didn’t know what I needed, but I knew it was bigger than me. In the pits of my gut I knew it was more than what this world had to offer and it was more than it could ever give me.

Sometimes when everything appears as though it is falling apart is when God is tapping you on the shoulder saying, “Hey, I’m here with all the answers.” It is then that you have to make the critical decision to go back to the first mention of you. It is then that you have to become reconnected to the one that created you. That is God!

It is more than saying that you are saved. There are many believers who profess to be saved, yet they have not truly gone back to the One that created them. Why? Because most people don’t want to do the hard work. It is hard work! But it is necessary work!

I knew when I teemed with God there was no stopping me. One thing after another He began to reveal to me who He created me to be—the first mention of me. Yet, He also would take me back to the place when I started moving away from the person He envisioned and created. It was fascinating to see the many critical points in my life become the very things that drove me to move confidently towards success. In essence, my past collided with my present and was propelling me down a path that I never thought I could go, yet I was doing so with confidence. Had my past not done so, where would I be?

I would still be meandering through life hoping that someone would recognize that this person who appeared to be so confident was screaming for help. You see, I was not one of those people where it was easily visible to see that I was in trouble. I had all the accoutrements of looking successful and confident but in some areas I wasn’t.

Life had dealt some hard blows. It had nothing to do with rather I done something right or wrong, it was life. Sometimes it just didn’t seem fair. Maybe it wasn’t.

Yet, you come to a place where it is not about being fair, but it is about you becoming the person God envisioned. At the first mention of you, in eternity, he envisioned you being whole, vibrant and living an abundant life here on earth. So go back to the first mention of you and allow your past to collide with your present as you are propelled into uncommon success.

What’s holding you back? Are you willing to do what it takes to over them? Are you willing to go back and find out where it all started?

 

 

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Scriptures

That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. Eccl 3:15 (KJV)

You alone created my inner being. You knitted me together inside my mother. I will give thanks to you because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made. Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this. My bones were not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, when I was being skillfully woven in an underground workshop. Your eyes saw me when I was only a fetus. Every day {of my life} was recorded in your book before one of them had taken place. Psalms 139:13-16 (GW)

Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Jer 1:4-5 (KJV)

For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Romans 8:29-30 (ASV)

The end of something is better than its beginning… Eccl 7:8

This is what the Lord says, who made you, who formed you in your mother’s body, who will help you: Isaiah 44:2a (TCV)

Prayer

Father, There are so many things preventing me from moving forward. Please reveal to me the first time these things occurred for me to be successful in conquering the fears of my past. I know in order for me to go gallantly into my future, I must revisit the things holding me back so I can conqueror them. Also reveal to me who You created me to be so I can embrace and become all You envisioned. Amen.