Linked to the Past

Based on Numbers 9-11, Mark 5:1-20

It's always a good thing to hang onto memories, especially the ones that uplift, motivate & inspire us...but when we are linked to the past in a way which holds us in chains, and holds us back from change, then we must break free from that. We cannot go back; we can only go forward!

"And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes." Numbers 11:4-6.

For some reason, the children of Israel were stuck on remembering their slavery in Egypt...but it wasn't something that helped them in a positive way. God had done so many miracles already by this point, delivering them & providing for them...but all they could do was complain! They were still in bondage in their minds, thinking that Egypt gave more to them than God ever could...they were afraid of change...

The same thing happens with us! We get so comfortable with where we are at, that we don't think even God could offer us anything better-but remember, no change, no growth! No chains linked to the past=freedom to grow in The Lord!

We can also look at the possessed demoniac which Jesus healed:

"And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him." Mark 5:2‭-‬4

Chains were constantly broken by this man on the outside, but on the inside, he had always been locked up, as a slave to this unclean spirit...that was his past, that's what he was known for...but Jesus can break the yoke of any reputation! Even though the name of the spirit was legion (meaning many), Jesus easily cast them out! Immediately the spirit was driven into a herd of pigs, and they drowned in the sea...and the man was delivered!

No matter how long we have been suffering, or how many legions of chains may be linking us to a difficult past, we need to remember that God is able to heal, and he is better than anything we have ever experienced! Don't be a slave to the past!