Four Steps to a Fresh Start
// Kenneth W. Hagin
LET'S FACE IT. No one is perfect. When you make a mistake, the enemy often tries to tell you that it's over! He wants you to throw in the towel. We all mess up. But it's not the end. God said that if you ask for forgiveness, it's yours, and you can go on. Our Heavenly Father is the God of second chances—and third, and fourth, and fifth, and sixth chances!
Have you heard the story of "Wrong Way" Roy Riegels? On New Year's Day in 1929, Georgia Tech was playing the University of California in the Rose
Bowl. Riegels recovered a fumble and started running in the wrong direction! He ran 65 yards before one of his teammates was able to overtake him—just before he scored for the other team.
When the team went to their locker room during halftime, Riegels was devastated. He sat in a corner and cried like a baby. When it was time to go back on the field, the coach announced that the same men who played the first half would start the second. They all got up and headed out to the field—everyone except Roy Riegels.
The young player didn't want to play the second half. He was embarrassed and humiliated. He felt like he let everyone down—the team, the coach, the fans, and himself.
The coach said to him, "Roy, get up, and go back. The game is only half over."*
Roy Riegels went back in the game. He couldn't change what had happened in the first half, but he left his mistake behind him and amazed the crowd during the remainder of the game.
Always Press Forward
You have to remember that God can turn anything around. So never let your past define your future! Nothing you have done in the past will affect your tomorrow unless you let it. It's not what you've done—it's what you're going to do that is important.
Thank God for everything He brought you through. But Paul said, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on" (Phil. 3:13–14 NIV). The lows and highs of the past are history. They won't do you any good tomorrow. Forget all of it—the good, the bad, the ugly—everything. Let it go. You can't change it. If you live in the past, it will hinder you from pressing on.
If you've messed up, get back up! No matter how young or old you are, Jesus has His arm out to you saying, "Come on! Let's go! Get back in the game. Play like you've never played before. There's a great future ahead!"