God says forget the former things do not dwell on the past
see I am doing a new thing now it springs up do you not perceive it
I am this is God now I'm making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland
and in order for that to happen firstly we have to forget the past
forget the past forget the former things and here's how do not dwell on the past how long
are you going to stay stuck wishing it had been different but we stay holding on to the past
I think there's three reasons number one is I think it's because we wished
we could have changed it we just dreamed it would be different
here's what I believe the word of the Lord is for you it's time to move on what
are you still holding on to what is it that you are unwilling to let go of
You don't know how much future you've got what's gone is gone there's absolutely nothing you
can do about it some of you have had divorces some of you um have probably had bankruptcies
some of you have had terrible things happen in the past but what's gone is gone it's it's in the past
and to spend your time focusing on the past is to spend the only thing
that you've got and that's what's right here right now because the sand never stops running
this is all we've got and to spend your time now thinking of what happened there is making
absolute certain that the future is going to be the same as the past all you got is now
let the dead bury the dead let it go I don't care how bad it was let it go stop
looking back on your life and worrying about the things which have already occurred and
which you can no longer alter you cannot go back and change it since you cannot let it go
I don't care how justified you may feel in holding a resentment
that's a dumb game
Ray Stanford used to tell me it was like throwing dust into a strong wind at someone else
you know where the dust is going to end up let's not look back in anger let's quit think again in
reverse nor forward in fear but around us in awareness life is either a series of endings
or a series of beginnings if you're looking back it's a series of endings okay go ahead
something great is coming what I want you to understand is that endings can be new beginnings
I want you to catch that if these endings are really new beginnings because what's
happening in the text is that what God is about to do is that God is about to do a new thing
I want you to understand that no matter when endings happen in our life that you serve a God
that can use whatever ending you've gone through to be the birthplace of something new in your life
I don't dishonor my past I don't hate my past I don't curse my past I just I just don't let
my past have the authority that the God of my future has I I remember it but I don't let it
it's not in control I I can learn from my past but I can't be mastered by my past
my past can be a teacher but it cannot be my master
you got to forget the past you want to you want to take ground this year
you're going to forget the past want to move forward you got to forget the past
you want to see what God has for you today you got to forget the past and secondly you
have to embrace the present you have to embrace it God said I'm making a way in the wilderness
so here's the tension it is so easy to glamorize what was
and fantasize about what will be that we ignore the work of today
the chains of my past and the strength of my future are directly connected to what I do today
do not look back and we can glance back to remember the faithfulness and the goodness of God
but looking back looking back we're not there we're here and God's with us here
so maybe it's time to stop looking back some of us are not getting over offenses and bitterness
and hurt and division and anger and disappointment and discouragement because we keep looking back
we keep rehearsing we keep ruminating so I wonder whether today it's time to stop looking back and
stop longing start looking forward God is in it all because he's doing a new thing and he's
forging a new wine skin and he says I make rivers in the desert things sprout out that God did the
business of making a way where there is no way God is in the business of of fulfilling his purpose
and his promise and so while he's doing a new thing let's not keep longing for the old thing
I want to encourage you to prioritize your future over your past
not an old thing again but a brand new thing
see that's why we miss it God's doing a new thing and we think he's going to bring back an old thing
and the reason we can't see it is because we're looking for an old thing
God's going to bring back that person or God's going to bring back that opportunity or God's
going to bring back that thing and God's going no no I'm not doing an old thing again
see when I say God's doing a new thing it sets me free from being obsessed with what should
have been or what could have been and it opens my heart to the possibility of what could be now
stop chasing what should have been stop chasing what might have been
so it's not another chance to do an old thing again
it's a brand new start to do something today
it's not repeating history it's not going to the past but it's embracing what God
can do today in your marriage in your business in your finances in your faith
in your in your dream whatever it might be don't don't try to recreate what was
don't bring a failure from yesterday into today if one dream dies get back up and dream another dream
quit reliving mistakes you've made things that you wish you would have done different wondering why
it didn't work out you may have done your best given it your all but it didn't succeed accept
it as God's plan and move on God is asking us how long are you going to mourn over what you've lost
how long are you going to be discouraged over who hurts you and what you didn't get and the
boss that wasn't fair come out of that pity party and come out of living in the past it's time to
get away from where you've been parked all your life it's time to go and do something
that that is amazing with your life if God got you through it it's done move on
how many times have we as people allowed God to get us through something get us beyond
something get us over something get us through something and then even after it's completion
we sit there and we dwell on it and we dwell on it to the point where it becomes an anchor
around our neck and we can't move on because we just won't let it go it's done if God got
you through it it's done move on stop harboring on the past stop hanging on to every time you
fail stop hanging on to every time you slipped up and messed up stop hanging on to every time
you didn't get it right everybody makes mistakes everybody messes up everybody don't get it right
everybody struggling with something it's way more important where you go in there where you been
you may have made a lot of mistakes you have a lot of regrets you blew your marriage didn't
raise your children right but you can't do anything about yesterday this is a new day there are new
victories new opportunities new relationships quit living in what was and come over into
what is right now there is freedom for you right now there are new beginnings joy peace victory
and crying over what happened yesterday doesn't bring freedom living in regrets of what you could
have been what you should have done doesn't do anything productive it's time to drop it
and move forward one of the ways the enemy tries to mess all of us up is to get us to
push rewind when God is saying go forward what God is doing is always ahead of you never behind you
God is going to make available to you the power to
move forward because he's got yet promises for your future and just
because you had an unfair past does not mean you have to have an unfair future
you're going to break through if your mind is always in yesterday you're going to move
in that direction Paul said it this way in Philippians I focus all of my energies on
this one thing forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead
he knew if we went through life carrying negative baggage we would miss our destiny
where was Paul's attention what was he focused on he was he stayed focused on what's next
he was focusing on what lied ahead even though he had experienced great victories
and great lows in his life he was not focused on the great victories of the past he was not
focused on the hard seasons of yesterday he was focused on what's next one of the ways that you
and I can overcome and can win the struggle against negative thoughts is by looking ahead
is by focusing our attention not on the problem that we're going through and not on the pain and
the suffering of our pain of our yesterday but instead to look up and know that there's still
something good that is in front of us to stay focused on what's next stay focused on what's
next what does Paul say he says I press on to take hold of it so he said here's what he
said we're pursuing a goal and we're reaching to what's ahead this is very important that
you have something ahead of you stop circling back and going back to something in your past
I can't try to go back and deal with something in my past let
that go goodbye that's gone I'm moving ahead I'm going to what's in front of me
where God wants you to go is ahead of you not behind you stop going back
you have a great life in front of you but your great life is in front of you it's not behind you
what you did back there ain't got nothing to do with what God got for you what you did back
there was learn the lessons to get you to where you are at this particular moment right here
but what God got for you do you know man that you can actually mess your life completely up
you can jack it all the way up and you can turn around get it right do you understand that
do you understand that you could have had a baby out of wedlock and still be all right
do you know that you can be divorced multiple times and still be okay do you understand that
you cannot have a degree and still be just fine everybody tripping through something everybody I
don't care who you are you're going through something but if you got God you can make
it I'm just trying to tell you man God is really with you if your going to move forward
you're gonna have to trust that God is a keeper of his promises
I love that promise I'll never leave you nor forsake you
it's a promise that no matter what the future may hold
I'm a hold you through the entire future so promise that God is with you
that you don't serve a God that abandons you when things get hard or abandons you when things are
difficult no he is with you every step and moment of your journey he's with you right now he's gonna
be with you tomorrow he'll be with you next week he'll be with you next year he is with you