Remembering has recently become my most delightful pastime and perhaps the easiest command to obey at this stage of my life. Considering that I now have more yesterdays than tomorrows, I possess a vast treasury of memories from which I can draw.
As I scan through the past 6.4 decades of my life, I cannot help but stand in awe at the sheer magnitude of God’s extravagant kindness and grace, and His countless supernatural interventions.
Not only did He rescue, redeem, recover, reconcile, and restore me — He also removed what needed to be removed, and restored and recompensed far beyond anything I could have asked or imagined.
How quickly a paean of passionate praise arises from the depths of my soul when I remember His marvellous works in my life.
But why does God repeatedly exhort us not to forget, and to continually recall what He has done?
I believe it is because our past is not irrelevant history; it is a testimony of God’s faithfulness which shapes our present and strengthens our future.
Remembering holds the key to triumphant transformation and spiritual transcendence.
Also, remembering is not passive reflection – it is an act of reclaiming territory in the mind.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
Psalm 103:2
The psalmist here speaks remembering to his own soul, because sometimes one of the fiercest battles we face is simply this:
Will I remember what God has done, or will I simply surrender to what fear is saying?
So, why don’t we practise some holy remembrance together?
1. Remember your deliverance
“Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place.”
Exodus 13:3
My life before I surrendered to Jesus was marked by despair, depression, shame, and anger. But in His great mercy, God reached into my lostness and transferred me from the kingdom of darkness into His marvellous light.
He saved me, delivered me, and then empowered me to walk in the exhilarating freedom of giants slain, demons defeated, and chains broken.
So when the enemy attempts to rewrite my history through accusation, fear, and hopelessness (which he often does) – what does my remembering cause me to declare?
“Devil, this is not the first battle God has brought me through. The same God who delivered me before will deliver me again! So, push off!”
2. Remember His faithfulness in the wilderness
“Remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart…”
Deuteronomy 8:2
This August marks my 40th wedding anniversary, and I can honestly say that if God had not been with us through the fiery furnace of marital pain – and the beauty of marital blessing – we would never have made it this far.
But because He was the One who initiated this covenant, He is faithful to complete what He began.
These 40 years of sojourning in marriage we have been taken through places of humbling and testing; of stripping away and adding back. The saying that “the goal of marriage is not merely happiness, but holiness” carries a profound truth.
God led us through seasons of wilderness and aridity into places of promise and purpose. He stood beside us in every tempestuous and adventurous chapter of our journey – never abandoning us even when we wandered – because He knew what He was forming within our hearts.
3. Remember His sacrifice
“This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Luke 22:19
Sadly, we have reduced the remembrance of Jesus’ Body and Blood to a monthly add-on to our services now.
I believe that the power in Corporate Communion has been diminished by sidelining regular repentance, humility, and the remembrance of the most significant sacrifice in human history.
Perhaps, if we had truly embraced Jesus’ instruction to remember Him “as often as” we gathered – maybe, the Church would not have had to endure so many shameful scandals emanating from her pulpit.
4. Remember before it is too late
“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place — unless you repent.”
Revelation 2:5
And perhaps we would not have needed to heed this warning as well.
Holy remembrance does not just celebrate what and where we have been delivered from – it also confronts where we have drifted to.
The danger is not in forgetting our failures; it is in forgetting His abiding presence.
And perhaps that is why remembering is such a powerful spiritual weapon, because the enemy thrives on amnesia – but God builds up His people through remembrance.
So, let’s never forget to remember.
For the God who was faithful yesterday is still faithful today – and He already holds our tomorrows.
