Inside of you, right now, there are three different versions of you living at the same time.

There is your Present Self—that's you, in this moment, listening, thinking, feeling.

There is your Past Self—the person you used to be, made of memories, experiences, and a specific story about your life.

And then, there is your Future Self.

Your Future Self is the person God is calling you to become. This is the you with your full potential unlocked.

This is your truest, deepest identity unleashed, realized, actualized.

This is the courageous you, the at-peace you, the vibrant and free you.

This is the you that has a deep, unshakable confidence not in your own abilities, but in God's grace. This is the masterpiece God has destined you to be.

Our Bible passage for today says this:
"Brothers and sisters, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)

These words were written by a man named Paul. A thinker. A scholar. A philosopher.

For Paul, his vision of his Future Self was incredible.

He calls it his prize.
He says it is the highest possible calling on his life.

This was his truest self, fully actualized, fully unleashed, glorious and free.

But how to get there? How do you get to the fullest possible realization of the massive potential that is sitting inside you right now as your future self?

That is the mental roadmap we have here.

We're not going to be able to talk about all three of these principles today... because I really want to go deep. I'm going to focus on the just the second one.

What we're doing today is opening the Bible. Because that's where God speaks to us.

Specifically we're looking at a section called Philippians. We're really digging deep to see what God wants us to see here.

My talk today is part 13 in the series. The series is called Quit Telling Yourself I Can't.

Because the key verse in Philippians says, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13).

My talk today is called Quit Being Haunted by Your Past Self's Story.

Because if you truly want to unleash your future self; if you truly want get to the fullest possible realization of the massive potential that is sitting inside you right now...

You have to accept a certain power over your Past Self...

So I'll talk about who, what, and how.

Who your past self is.
What power you have over your past self.
Exactly how you can use that power

Your past self is your history. It's where you store everything that's happened to you and everything that you've done.

This is where you learned your lessons.
This is where you store your memories.
This is where you remember your victories.
This is where you keep your traumas, losses, and abuse.
This is where you became you... the you that you are today.

Your past self is constantly talking to your present self.

This is actually the most important thing to understand about your Past Self.

Think about it. Your Past Self is the one who learned all the lessons. It learned what causes pain and what brings comfort. It learned what leads to rejection and what leads to acceptance.

And based on all that data, it built a fortress around you. That fortress is your comfort zone. It's a system made up of your habits, your routines, your familiar ways of thinking, and your core beliefs about yourself and the world. The entire system is designed to produce one result: predictability. Because to your Past Self, predictable means safe.

Safe is good for a while. But safe will mess you up long term.

Because for your Future Self to really live, your Past Self has to let go.

And the bodyguard will do anything to stop that from happening.

It will activate your anxiety system.
It will power up your addiction system.
It will trip you up.
It will hypnotize you to sleep.
It will label you.
It will panic you.
It will distract you.
It will remind you how good you have it, so why rock the boat?

It will make you eat junk, drink yourself to oblivion, numb yourself with drugs or porn, anything other than to feel the fear of taking the risks to become the person you dream you could be.

Who is your past self?

But it will not let you be fully you, and that is the problem.