There are some things you need to re-claim! You need to call back victory out of defeat, hope out of hopelessness, joy out of sorrow, purpose out of missed opportunities! This is a moment to pick up the necessary things and release the “excess baggage”, find our footing again, and move on! There is a shutting of the door to the past! You’ve got to get your focus forward! It’s time to look ahead. We preach sermons to “help with what is past”, we sing songs that relate to past experiences, we cry over the past, we pray about things in the past. The past is holding us captive! I’m not denying the severity of what is behind, but God is saying, “Don’t allow your life to be wrapped up in past experiences! I have a great future ahead for you, but you will never know about it—much less live it out—as long as you insist on re-living the past through your consistent focus of and attention on what is behind!” The book of destiny God has for you, for your family, your region consists of far more chapters than you have read and lived! Go on past the previous chapter! This is a day, a season where we MUST look ahead and move forward! Don’t keep rehearsing old history! Start fresh! Let the past go! Thank God for where we’ve been and what we’ve seen, but don’t stop. Don’t waste time looking back! You’re here! Your “story” needs to be lived out! What has been is not all there is. Don’t stop living. Don’t keep circling the past! Preach a fresh word! Sing a new song! Pray forward, not behind! That was “then”…this is “now”! If you don’t shift your mind and focus into this “now” season, then your old season will become your new season, and you will continue to repeat old history! Lift up your eyes! Listen from a new perspective! Hear and move with God’s “now” word! Turn the page…there’s more to your story!
Gina Gholston
