Learn from the mistakes of others, because you cannot make all the mistakes of the world yourself. There was a time in my life and the lives of others that I have known where God had released each of us from a bad situation. It may have been a relationship, drugs, alcohol, pornography, whatever it was, and we were marching boldly towards the promised land and then thoughts about the “good times” and what we had in our past came back to us. The fond memories clouded the lies and deception, the nightmares were played out as marvelous fantasies, some of us reentered a way of life that was that of bondage and slavery, destructive to the point of taking us to the very gates of hell. Does this sound familiar to anyone? The people of Israel were out of Egypt, out of bondage by the hand of God and yet craved the provision of the Egyptians. It is written in *Numbers 11:4 Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”* They complained, crying out for the pots of meat and eating the bread till they were full, forgetting about the other parts of their situation, the endless amounts of work, the pain and suffering, the torture and death. When they cried out for what they wanted, God gave them more to a point that they didn’t contemplate as is written in Numbers 11:19 You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?” ’ ”* God had something better for them, bread from heaven, and today, He has something better for each of His children, the Bread of Life, Jesus. At one point after coming to Jesus I cried out for something that God did not want for me, something to satisfy my flesh but was abhorred by the Spirit, and God gave it to me and I choked on it. Brethren, keep your eyes on Jesus, and keep marching toward the promised land, not looking for what is behind because you are not going that way, but looking ahead for what He has in front of you is so much better. I heard it said, “The only reason people hold onto memories so tight is because memories are the only things that don’t change when everything else does.” May the Peace and Joy of the Lord Jesus overflow you my BeLoved and may we all stay focused on the promises of God Almighty. In Christ Love, douglas.

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