(Isaiah 43:18-19) “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 making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
I. Don't Get Stuck in Yesterday’s Failures
Yesterday’s troubles and heartaches belong in yesterday. Leave them there! It is a new day! The troubles you had or may have caused belong in yesterday. If you have sinned, repent, if you have hurt others ask them for forgiveness. Holding on to bitterness, unforgiveness and the guilt of our own actions will only keep you frozen in time and not getting to the fulfillment of the promise and purpose God has for you. This is exactly what Satan wants; frozen and going nowhere! Don’t fall for it! If you are constantly looking backward, how can you go forward? Let yesterday go and move on!
(Deuteronomy 1:6) “The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain.” Forgive yourself, forgive others and receive God’s forgiveness. Repent and let it go, God already has!
Look UP to God
Forget the former things and the things that others have done to hurt you just as God has done for you. God is close to the brokenhearted and while everyone has free will, to their loss some use that free will as a license to hurt others. God gave us free will, so we would love Him by our own choice, from a sincere heart and not because we have to. When others do hurt you by their own choice, He promises to heal your heart.
(Psalm 147:3) “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” It is not always easy to let go, to give over and to forgive. Your emotions of bitterness and resentment that only weigh your heart down, may be hard on your own to let go of, but “with God all things are possible.”
So, go to Him in prayer and ask for His help; “you do not have because you do not ask God.” He will help, and He will heal your heart and set you free!
Steps in Looking UP
1. Ask for forgiveness
2. Ask for help for your wrong decisions
3. Ask for help to seek forgiveness
4. Ask for healing for the scars left behind
5. Receive the forgiveness and let it go! God already has!
(Hebrews 8:12) “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
As you release your failures and receive His help and forgiveness, and His healing, He will help, and He will heal your heart and set you free!
(John 8:36) “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Your heart will feel lighter than air and God will prepare the path before you for your new beginning! Let yesterday go and let God set you free from all heartache and pain. He will help you to show mercy to others as you received from Him, “freely you have received; freely give.”
Today is a new day! Make the most of it, forgive and be forgiven and receive God’s wonderful grace and mercy!
(Lamentations 3:22-23) “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
II. Start Moving Forward
1. Believe that you are forgiven and that everything is in the past.
“Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old.” (Isaiah 43:18)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (II Corinthians 5:17)
2. Renew your prayer life
3. Renew your devotion time
4. If you stopped going to Church, go back! Sometimes when we are stuck in depression, we stop going to church, we have no energy to do it, stop that! Go back, you are in the fellowship of other believers, you hear the Word, which renews your faith.
“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
“Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)
5. Walk it out, believe you are new, get involved with your church
6. Get up and begin again, start searching for that job, go after that promotion, look for more speaking jobs, write that book! If you fell trying to quit an addiction, get back up, try again!
Trust in God to provide for you. When God forgives, it is if it never happened, He is faithful! He will make your paths straight and provide the way through, trust Him!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
You just need to take that first step back in believing and He will guide your way and provide for you!
“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4:7-10)
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