[CrimsonTide4]

RELEASE, RELEASE, RELEASE

Lightening your load also means knowing when to release things. One of the most dangerous things is to be shackled to your past. We all make mistakes, we all have regrets, but we must learn how to move beyond them. Life is too short to allow yourself to be an inmate in the prison of bad choices and weak decisions. The prison of previous mistakes comes with jailers of guilt and regret. Together they hold you captive, torturing you with images of what you could have been and what you could have accomplished had you not done this or that or the other.

What's unfortunate is that most of us don't realize that the key to release ourselves is within our own hands. Often, we are our own wardens, prolonging the sentence. Actually, many times we are the judge, jury, and prosecutor, giving ourselves a life sentence of misery, mourning and regret. What we
need to realize is that there is only one Judge, and He is forgiving.

"Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God for He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7 NKJV)

Yes, we all make bad choices at one time or another, but all we need to remember is that if we ask the Lord for His forgiveness, He will be merciful and release us from our sins. So if our Father releases us from our sins,
why do we remain in the self-imposed shackles of our past? Let us lift up our voices in repentance, and the walls of our prison cells will fall away.

I'm not saying you can just walk away from your mistakes. Sometimes there are consequences that we have to live with. However, when we make a bad choice, we need just to apply the three Rs: We need to repent, try to rectify the situation, and take responsibility for our deeds. But once we do
that, we need to move beyond the guilt. --by T.D. Jakes (Maximize The Moment
- God's Action Plan for Your Life)


"THE SPIRIT of the Lord God is upon me, ecause the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the
prison and of the eyes to those who are bound, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord [the year of His favor] and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion--to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit--that they may be called oaks of righteousness
[lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified." Isaiah 61:1-3 AMP