No Looking Back

In the dream, I stood in a department store, shopping with my daughter, and I looked continuously over my shoulder. An evil organization was after my life. 

I spotted the woman closing in on me. I knew who she worked for based on her uniform. But this time, I didn’t run. I stood there, prepared to die. I’d grown weary of running. I was tired of the anxiety and stress, tired of never finding rest. I’d given up and, in that moment, accepted my fate.

Victory in her eyes, the woman ran up to me and swung a syringe toward my side. She emptied it, and her job done, fled the scene.

This was it, I thought. In a matter of minutes, it’d be all over.

I gathered my daughter to me and told her I loved her. I had so much to say and such a short time to say it. Things I should have told her but hadn’t. Things she should know about how to live. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t save myself. How could anything I tell her be of any value?

Looking into her eyes, I waited for the pain, the numbness, the weakness that would signal the end. It never came. I inhaled deep. My lungs were clear. My heart strong. It wasn’t possible I should be healthy.

I lifted my shirt and searched for the puncture wound, some redness or other mark of what had been done to me, but I found nothing. There wasn’t a single sign that anything harmful had been administered. The truth sank in, a wonderful, glowing truth. She had missed. What the enemy had meant for my demise had failed.

My heartbeat sped, another thought rising within me. To them I was dead. They wouldn’t look for me anymore. There’d be no more running, no fear of being caught. I could live in freedom.

Image by NickyPe from Pixabay

When the Holy Spirit showed me this scene, it was Easter morning, the one day of the year the message of the dream was the most fitting. Here was the truth of salvation. Because of what Jesus did, because He laid down His life for us, we can live. No more running. No more fear of the past. Everything we were is gone and doesn’t matter anymore.

He’s given us a new name. (Rev 2:17) The name of Jesus, a name above any other name. The Easy-To-Read version says it this way:  “He put Christ over all rulers, authorities, powers, and kings. He gave him authority over everything that has power in this world or in the next world.”

This is our new identity. The enemy not only doesn’t know who we are anymore, but all things about us have been made brand new. (2Co 5:17) We walk “a new and living way.” (Heb 10:20) We no longer need to look back at our mistakes.

This is the day after Easter. This is the Resurrection as reality. This is the upper room and the beginning of the book of Acts. “This is that” which was prophesied by the prophet Joel and spoken by the apostle Peter, once filled with the Holy Ghost. (Act 2:16)

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21) 

“Whosoever” comes without any qualifications on it. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, what people have done to you, or whoever you have been up until now. Jesus’ death and Resurrection took care of all that. The enemy’s tries to destroy you have failed, and the life in front of you is wide and open and full and free.

Jesus walks with you, every step into the future. He will never leave your side. (Heb 13:5) Not in the valley. (Ps 23:4) Not when facing a seemingly impassable mountain. (Mk 11:23) Nothing anywhere can ever take you away from His Resurrection life. (Rm 8:38-39)

There is nothing too big or too horrible that the blood of Jesus, laid on the altar of heaven, cannot cleanse it, once and for all. You don’t have to know every step of the future first. You don’t have to read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation beforehand. You don’t have to understand every Scripture verse. God knows where you are, what you’re running from, and He loves you anyway.

This step into the Promised Land isn’t about people or churches or denominations or preachers or sermons. Set all that aside. This is about relationship. This is God being personal to you. With one prayer, what you were is finished, and what you are in Christ begins. He is Father, confidant, and best friend. (Rm 8:15; Gal 4:6; Jn 15:14-15)

No looking back. There’s nothing to see there now but an empty tomb.

Prayer of Salvation:  God, I don’t understand everything I should, but I reach toward eternal life. Jesus, come live in me. Holy Spirit, come guide me and teach me. Be my heavenly Father, my Lord and Savior, my Comforter. Jesus, I believe You lived and You died and You rose again, and I walk forward now, my eyes on the blessed future. I will no longer consider my past. In Jesus’ name, I pray and believe and with this confession choose to become a follower of Christ. Amen.

Welcome to the family.

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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.feelgoodromance.com
www.suzannedwilliams.com