Live Free with Josh Howerton - Walking Away from the Past | Ep. 109 | Thursday July 6, 2023

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

We have to renew our minds because it’s so easy to go back to the old way of thinking. We are made new in Christ and our past identity no longer is who we are. Being in an honest community and establishing new positive habits helps us walk in the truth of who we are. We are free from what we do, but walking in freedom is our choice. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the podcast. My name is Mike, and we have been talking about some lies that can hack into our soul and steal our identity. And the one that we've been talking about in recent days is this one.

I am what I have done. There's nothing quite like the past to mess with the truth about who you are. Let me tell you about my buddy, Ray. You're a tough guy. A lot of struggles with alcohol, drugs, spent some prison time. I got the privilege of baptizing him several years ago. and he met with me one Wednesday night after a worship service. He said, hey man, can I talk to you for a second?

I said, sure. He goes, man, I just need to tell you I had a relapse. He said, oh, man, I'm sorry to hear that. He goes, yeah, this girl broke up with me. And I didn't know what to do, man. I just went back to that old bar. He used to go to all the time and I got wasted. And the next day, I'm sitting on the edge of my bed.

I'm thinking to myself, come on, Ray. That's not who you are anymore. more. And I told him, man, listen, I love how God reminded you of that truth of who you are now. Because I'm telling you, knowing that will be so key in your recovery. You see, the deal is this, you've been walking a certain way for a whole lot of years. I mean, you've had the same habits, the same thought patterns, the same way of reacting the problems for so many years. You've had the same go-to move, the same fallback plan. You need to now learn a new way of thinking that matches the reality of who you now are. You see, when we come to Christ and accept his forgiveness, he wipes our

sins completely away. But there is not like a delete button in our head, right? We still can wrestle with the old stuff until we start changing the way we think. The Bible calls it renewing our mind. And I told Ray about my brother-in-law Dave, who has a 70-acre farm back in Kentucky. My nephew, Casey, now owns it. But there's a path from the barn down to one of his fields, and he can put his tractor on that path, close his eyes, take his hands completely off the steering wheel, and that tractor will go all the way down that path right through that gate and into the field. You know why? It's got deep, deep ruts in that path. Those tractor tires have just dug those ruts in that path because he goes up and down that same path every single day. And a whole lot of us

have been up and down the same paths for a long, long time. And we dig these ruts in our mind. and we've got to get some new ruts to drive in. And it's so cool to know that so many of you are doing that. You're renewing your mind and learning a new playbook. You're filling your mind with good things, new things, noble things, loving things, pure things, excellent things. And it's really, really important to get to a place where you can link arms with fellow strugglers

and establish some new patterns of thinking. It's so important to renew your mind daily to a new way of living, to work some steps, to be an honest community, and establish some new positive habits. See, being saved and set free as a gift. But walking free, now that's a choice. And it's a choice you have to make every single day. It's why the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12, verse 2, we've seen this a bunch.

Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. So why not make that choice today? Start developing some new pathways that can lead you away from the path. and toward the truth of who you now are. Have a great day. See you next time. Thanks for tuning in today.

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