It Is Finished

We all have things trying to hold us back but God didn't create me to go through life weighed down. We are created to be free. 

God's mercy is bigger than my mistakes.

Get rid of excuses. As long as you justify your condition, your giving it permission to stay.

When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, "Would you like to get well?"

John 5:6 NLT

Even though he was at the pool where people were getting healed, nothing in his behavior said that he wanted to get well. He gravitated to people like him and got comfortable in dysfunction.

"I can't, sir," the sick man said, "for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me."

John 5:7 NLT

Nothing that's happened in the past has to keep you away from God's purpose.

Jesus told him, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!"

John 5:8 NLT

The crippled man made excuses but God in His mercy healed him.

Sometimes well meaning people will try to talk you out of your destiny. A lot of times the people who have known you the longest will try to keep you in the same old box.

David: 1 Samuel 16

When the prophet came to annoint the next king his dad didn't even bring him in the house.

But the Lord said to Samuel, "Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 16:7 NLT

When Jesus had finished telling these stories and illustrations, he left that part of the country. He returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was amazed and said, "Where does he get this wisdom and the power to do miracles?" Then they scoffed, "He's just the carpenter's son, and we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. All his sisters live right here among us. Where did he learn all these things?" And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family."  And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.

Matthew 13:53‭-‬58 NLT

Just because negative things have been passed down, you don't have to take them.

Where you come from is not who you are. You can start a new trend. God doesn't just want you to break a generational curse, he wants you to start a generational blessing.

The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you.

Genesis 12:1 NLT

You may not need to physically leave your family but you might need to leave negative mindsets.

"Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense!

Isaiah 54:2 NLT

Make room for God to do big things. God is a progressive God and wants every generation to get better. 

2 Samuel 12:16-23

His advisers were amazed. "We don't understand you," they told him. "While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again." David replied, "I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, 'Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.' But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me."

2 Samuel 12:21‭-‬23 NLT

David did all that he could but accepted that though he can't change the past, he can hope in the future.

Dr. Paul @ Lakewood Church

God cares about people.

I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.'

Matthew 25:36 NLT

"And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'

Matthew 25:40 NLT

2000 scriptures about caring about the poor.