When You Feel Like Your Best Days Are Behind You

Lately, have you been feeling like your best days are behind you? Does it look like your past was better than your now and all you are left to do is reminisce on the good old days? You are not alone and we all can relate one way or another. And although it is easy to think so, God says that your future will always be better than your past because He takes you from glory to glory.

“‘This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning, but an even more glorious finish: a place in which I will hand out wholeness and holiness.’ Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.” Haggai 2:9 MSG

In the New Testament, you and I are referred to as the temple of the Holy Spirit. So this verse tells you that your latter days will be greater than your former days. Your future will always be greater than your past. This is because God usually wants to take His children from one level of glory to the next. God does not want you to stay stuck in the same place. He wants you to experience different facets of Him and get to know Him in a deeper way. And this comes from experiential knowledge. The goal is for your life to be a testament to others and bring glory to God. How will this happen when you stay stuck in one place?

Have you forgotten that your body is now the sacred temple of the Spirit of Holiness, who lives in you? You don’t belong to yourself any longer, for the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside your sanctuary. You were God’s expensive purchase, paid for with tears of blood, so by all means, then, use your body to bring glory to God! 1 Corinthians 6:19‭-‬20 TPT

So this should tell you that your latter glory ( read future) will always be greater than your former glory.

Maybe you feel like although you know this, you can’t seem to believe it for yourself. Well, today let’s look at some of the ways you can practically stop feeling like your best days are behind you. But before we do, let’s look at where the thoughts come from.

One thing is clear, any thought that is not edifying you and is contrary to God’s word comes from the devil. God can and will never make you feel like your best days are behind you. Do you know why? He always has a plan for your life. After all, He does say so in His word. And not just that Him being your creator means that He wants to get the best return on His investment. How then would He have your future worse off than your past? Now of course we know that there are wilderness seasons that God uses to refine us. But this is usually a setup for a greater launch.

Anytime you go through a wilderness season, God is preparing to launch you into an even greater purpose. So although you are in your wilderness season, there is a glorious future ahead. The enemy will lie to you by telling you that your best days are behind you when you are in your wilderness season. But God wants you to silence Him and realize that your future is still in His hands and He has an amazing plan for your life.

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

God is Sovereign and that means He can redeem anyone. No one is too far gone for redemption. Do you know why? God loves us so much and does not want to see anyone perish. That is the main reason why Jesus came to earth to redeem you and me. With that being said, you can experience restoration and transformation.

The story of Joseph should encourage you. He was sold into slavery by his brother. This was because they were jealous of him. While there he got to work at Potiphars house. But then Potiphars wife became infatuated with him. And because Joseph did not want to compromise, he rejected her advances. This led for her to slander him. And this action led him to prison. Joseph was in prison for a very long time. Until finally his moment of promotion came. He went from being in prison to being the second in command in a matter of hours.

Now it must have been difficult for Joseph to believe that his future would ever be better because he went from worse to worst. There was no coming out once you were in the dungeon. But God had an amazing plan for him. You see, although his brothers meant to harm him. God had better plans for him. It was through this situation that he was able to save his family from famine.

His interpreting a dream was the reason he got promoted. And his family was saved because of that. The truth is that you will go through a season where your life will look like it is over. Everything will look so hard that you will have a hard time believing that God could come through for you. But this should not deter you because as long as you are breathing, God is not done with you yet. How then do you position yourself to believe for the better?

Where do you start when you feel that your best days are behind you?

Acknowledge

Why do you feel like your best days are behind you? What’s causing you to feel that way? Could it be your environment? The people around you, your insecurities? You need to identify why you are feeling that way. It is important for you to acknowledge the emotions you are feeling. Confront them because it is when you confront them that you can know how to eliminate them.

Identifying the emotions and the cause of them will give you the strategy you need to overcome them. You see, for you to get the proper medication, you need to have the proper diagnosis. And it will take you identifying what is causing you to feel hopeless. Once you have identified that, then you need to go to the next step.

Elimination.

When a flower is not growing, you change its environment. No one ever blames the flower. Often time, when you find yourself feeling that way, is because your environment is amplifying your failures and not achievements. Instead of surrounding yourself with such people, limit the time you spend with the. Sometimes staying away from such environments is all the peace you need.

There comes a time when the best course of action for you is separation. You see, when you are in the wilderness season, it is very important to surround yourself with people of faith, Because truth be told, the enemy is already bombarding you with lies so why would you want to be in an environment that amplifies them?

Even Jesus would stay away from the Pharisees and focus on the people who cared to listen. You don’t always have to surround yourself with such people. It is okay to step away from that crowd and find a community that will encourage you to keep going when you want to quit. The right community will have you focusing on the skills and lessons that God wants you to gain in this season. This will therefore help you to be prepared for your next season.

Who knew that the times David had to fight the bear and lion were preparation to fight Goliath? You see, God never wastes anything. Everything you are going through today serves a purpose and you will only understand when you get to the other side.

Understand your season when you feel like your best days are behind you.

The truth of the matter is that just like we have seasons of the year, so do our lives have seasons. The Bible tells us that there are different rent seasons in earth. There are seasons to dance and others to mourn, seasons for planting, and others for sowing.

 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1‭-‬8 NLT 

So what this means is that you might be going through your lowest moment now. That does not mean that things will stay that way. That’s not true, things will change. It will not always rain, at some point the sun will shine.

But the needy will not be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed. Psalms 9:18 NLT

God will not let you get stuck here forever. He will get you to the perfect destination He has for you because He is your loving father. And He wants your life to encourage others going through the same. So just hang in there. This is exactly that, a season that will come to an end. When it does you will look back and be glad that you went through it. There are lessons and skills that you will only learn in the valley.

Heal.

As you are going through this season, focus on healing so that you can come out better than you went in. The reason you feel this way is because you had put your trust in the very thing you lack now. Are you feeling this way because you don’t have a job? Could it be that you had fully relied on your job? Or maybe it’s a broken marriage, whatever it is that’s making you feel like your best days are behind you is an idol. It’s almost as if that thing let you down and you don’t know where to go from here.

Fortunately for you, you have a God who repackages and reintroduces people. Moses, who had low self-esteem was repackaged and reintroduced as the deliverer of the Israelites. Rahab who was a prostitute had her identity changed and she is in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Naomi, Ruth, Esther, and David are just some examples of God giving people new identities. You have to remember that, who you are today is not all you will ever be. There is so much more inside you. And God wants to introduce you to a new version. But the question is are you willing to step into it.

God wants to reintroduce you to the world. And this time He wants to reintroduce you whole and delivered. You don’t have to allow your past to keep you bound. Jesus came to earth because He wanted you to experience abundant life. Not only that, He already paid the price for you to live a whole and free life. So allow Him to heal you in this season. Sit still and rest. You can find rest in the wilderness.

Ask God to show you what He is doing through you and in you when you feel like your best days are behind you.

God is always up to something and even the hardest seasons of your life will always work out for your good. What is God trying to teach you in this season? Could it be that he wants you to fully rely on Him? Could it be that He has a new path and purpose for you? Don’t be like Lot’s wife who turned into a pillar of salt for looking back. You have a future and you can only find it when you spend time with God. Prayer, worship, and reading the Bible are ways you can spend with God and have Him speak.

The Bible will reveal God’s character and bring clarity which will enable you to hear Him clearly when He speaks. Prayer helps you offload your troubles and thus freeing your mind to hear Him clearly. Worship helps you focus on Him and this gives room for Him to speak and for you to hear Him. Asking God something is as easy as you would when talking to your friend. Don’t be afraid to talk to God. He is your heavenly Father and He wants you to know that. He delights in you, has time for you and He says that when you ask Him, He will answer. What are you waiting for?

Believe in God’s promises.

God says that your future will always be better than your past. He says that He has the best intentions for you. Stop allowing facts to trump over truth. Yes, you might be going through a hard time, but that’s not the end of your story. There are other chapters waiting to be written. God wants to reinvent you because His plan will always be greater than yours. God is not a man that He should lie to you. What promises has He spoken over your life? The reason you could be in this season could be because the promises over your life are being tested. When God speaks a word over your life, the enemy will contradict it to cause you to doubt it. God, however, gave you the promise to anchor you in those moments where doubt and worry kick in.

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT

God will fulfill every promise He spoke over you. It does not matter how long it takes, it will surely come to pass. It took 25 years for Abraham to see the manifestation of the promise that God gave him. The longer the waiting season, the greater the miracle. If God is making you wait, it is because what He has for you will blow your mind.

Conclusion

Just because you feel like your best days are behind you doesn’t mean they are. God has an amazing future in store for you. Don’t lose hope. Always remember that this is just a season and this too shall pass. Celebrate those that are winning and know that your time will come. There is a purpose with your name on it because God ordained all your days before you were born.

You saw who you created me to be before I became me! Before I’d ever seen the light of day, the number of days you planned for me were already recorded in your book. Every single moment you are thinking of me! How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought! O God, your desires toward me are more than the grains of sand on every shore! When I awake each morning, you’re still with me. Psalms 139:16‭-‬18 TPT

As you read this personalize it because God’s intentions for you are pure and He is not done with you yet.