Press On

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 

Philippians 3:13b-14

Our past can be a hindrance or a help in moving toward God's purposes for each of us. For some, the past has meant pain and heartache, and grace is required so that we do not let our past harden our hearts or dictate our responses to the future. If we allow our past to make us a victim, then we have not entered into the grace that God has for us.

 

If we live on memories of past successes and fail to raise our vision for new things, we again are victims of our past.

"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland" (Isaiah 43:19). Our past should only be viewed for what we can learn from it. We must move forward and avoid viewing the negative or the positive for more than what we can learn and what the Spirit is showing us.

 

God is always about doing new things in our lives and He gives fresh revelation of His purposes in our lives that He longs for us to embrace and walk in NOW.

 

It is important to not hold onto bitterness that may hinder God from doing new and exciting things in your life, even if the past is as close as yesterday and you are still dwelling on it or allowing the pain to grip your heart and keep you from moving forward—He turns our wastelands into streams of water to give life, not death.

How have you viewed your past?

 

Has it hindered you in some areas of your life?

 

Have you relied on past good or bad to dictate what you will do in the future?

 

Put aside such thoughts and allow God to do a new thing in your life and ask Him to help you see the new things He wants to do in and through you.