Why forgetting the past is so important






Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I doforgetting 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)


Forgetting the past is the most important thing to grow in Christ and to fully accomplish our mission in life.  One of the greatest attacks of the enemy is bringing our past before us. And it doesn't only have to be our past failures but also wrongs done and even successes. 


 I've been struggling personally as of late with a wet, cold blanket of my past hanging on me. Jesus met me this morning in my devotional and led me deep into Philippians to discover the secret of ridding me of my past, past failures and wrongs done to me.  Wrongs done to me added to and magnified past failures. When dwelling on the successes I've had in the past , this only made things worse. At the top of the mountain of dread was the jeering attacks of Satan reminding me of blessings past and why I'd been left here, abandoned by God, here in this predicament.

  Bob Hoekstra, contributor of Blueletterbible.com, sums this up: "One of the significant issues that keeps believers in Christ from knowing the Lord better is their past. Many Christians focus their attention on their past. Failures of the past plague them with condemnationWrongs done to them in the past tempt them to self-pity or bitterness. Past successes give false assurance that things must go well today. Past blessings distract them from seeking the Lord's fresh work in their lives now."

If anyone could have been tripped up by falling into a trap of dwelling on their past sins, failures, wrongs done to them, and great successes and blessings was Paul. I believe this great man of God could say with assurance that he apprehended (completely understood) one thing and that was "TO FORGET THE PAST AND REACH FORWARD TO THOSE THINGS AHEAD" is because the closer he got to Jesus he knew by the Holy Spirit that the past was very destructive and this is what he had to teach the saints.   


Our prayer:  Dear Heavenly Father, we pray and ask in the name of Jesus that we may let go of the past by your grace. Our failures are no longer brought before us. We stand on Romans 8:1: There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The wrongs done to us we forgive those who have trespassed against us and we refuse to allow self-pity or bitterness or hatred come near the doorstep of our hearts; we thank you for our past successes but we do not hold on to them, but press on to new beginnings no matter what they may be; we also thank you for our past blessings but Lord let us go forward as the children of Israel expecting new fresh manna each day and not to live on what we had yesterday.  Thank you for delivering us from our past and this is done NOW !  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Comments

  1. Amen Sarah, That IS His GRACE!Thank you. God bless

    ReplyDelete
  2. Randy: I am glad that your blog is back online.

    Looks like the Lord had me go on a short hitchhiking trip from NorCal into cental Oregon and now back toward NorCal. This lady that I met at a local barbershop suggested that I go to the newspaper in Lakeview, Oregon and see if they would do an article about my hitchhiking travels. I met this reporter and he interviewed me. The article should come out in a couple of days or in the next two weeks. It is a weekly newspaper.

    About this post. Sometimes the past can really haunt us. Forgiving and forgetting are very important. I know that I am grateful that the Lord has saved me from certain situations and people that I don't have to deal with anymore.

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  3. Maybe I shouldn't use the phrase "saved from certain situations". The Lord saves us in things, not from things. The Lord will put us in certain circumstances and He will use us even if it is a difficult place to be with difficult people to be with. But after He is done using us, a door will open and then He delivers us from between a rock and a hard place.

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  4. Thanks Tim. I'm so glad to be back. wow, really looking forward to reading that newspaper article on your interview. Amazing the avenues God uses and how and where he places His saints. Please let me know when it comes out. Yes, I agree with your comment about how he saves us IN things not from things. I definitely could tell the door had been shut in these instances. God bless dear brother.

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