Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Paul gave us instructions concerning that which we should share and do when we share with the church and one of those things was if any have a "revelation" let him share it with the church. (I Cor. 14:26)
A revelation is information from the Spirit of God which allows us to better understand something of God.
Pam shared this type of revelation in a writing she did recently.
She was speaking of Phil. 3
Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:
but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in
any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
It looks as if Paul was able to forget the past so it would not trouble him. But I have painful memories of the past return over and over and I have never been able to forget the past.
Then Pam said:
Paul told us that he didn't allow things in the past to distract
him. Instead, he moved forward, pressing toward completing what God had
called him
to do and receiving the prize (reward). We are counseled to have this
same mind
...
Now I think I understand ... I think Paul was saying when those painful memories return, we must "forget" them, setting them aside, so we can go on in the work of God.
I do this all the time. When the painful memory comes, I cry out to God ... "Oh, God help me." And I set very still and the memory goes away much as a puff of smoke drifts away. And I go on with other things. I don't wallow in the painful memory. I deal with it immediately by turning to God.
But that memory often returns weeks or months later and I do the same thing again, "OH God help me."
The way I deal with these painful memories reminds me of the time I had a tooth problem and when water would strike that area and sharp pain would come. I would just freeze and cry out, "God help me" ... and I would hold on until the pain went away.
Concerning the memories: I don't believe there is any way I can stop them from coming to me but I can deal with them by calling on God immediately. I don't allow those memories to stop my going forward in things of God. It only takes a second or so to deal with it and then I go forward again.
I think this is what Paul is talking about when he said he forgets those things behind. He did not allow those things to stop the work of God.