STOP DWELLING ON YOUR PAST!

Text: Philippians 3:12-14 and 1 Samuel 25 :1
A past time is a time that has gone. At every moment of life we all have a past.
Your past is part of your life experience and everyone has unique experience that make them experienced in different things.

Your past could be filled with either negative or positive experience but you don’t have to stick to it. Whatever your past has been, it has also been very good to you, because it is your past that has delivered you here and it is time for you to move on. Some people dwell so much on their past that they allowed their past to dictate their future. Dwelling on the past is not only dangerous but it is also a sin before God.
In the book of Exodus 16: 2-3. The children of Israel were liberated from the land of Egypt by the everlasting arms of God, still they were still looking back to when they do seat by the flesh pots, and did eat bread to the full. Not only will it hunt but it will always stand on the way to success if we keep on dwelling on our past. The book of 2 kings 2. Elisha faced a new reality after the departure of Elijah. It was a new face for him. You need to walk in the understanding that life is in phases. When one chapter ends, another begins.

Psalms 37:25 says:”I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread”. In this scripture, there is the face of being a youth and another face of being old. A new chapter had just begun in the life of Elisha.

The face of Elisha the servant, who went everywhere with his master had just ended and another phase of Elisha the national prophet, national hero with several attendants has just begun. 2Kings 2 :12-14
When it is time for the next level, Elisha refused to continue in the old face. For some people, God has already moved them from one stage of life to another stage but they are still looking back just like the children of Israel did, who was brought out of Egypt with God’s everlasting harms but still want to go back. What is that your past that you are allowing to dictate your FUTURE? it’s now time to tell yourself that;

I WANT TO MOVE ON.
I AM LEAVING MY PAST BEHIND.
I AM AN HERO AND NOT A ZERO
I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO MY FUTURE, WHERE THERE IS HOPE AND JOY.

Apostle Paul says in the book of Philippians 3:13 ” Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before”

We should be ready to move on, we should be ready to move forward. We should be ready to let go of the past. We should stop living in our past. In 1 Samuel 25:1, after mourning the death of Samuel, David continued with his journey. Life continues irrespective of the challenges of each day, and so must you. If you don’t leave your past it will continue to hunt you.

Paul had to adopt a strategy of forgetting his past so that he could face his future by putting the past behind (Philippians 3:12-14).

Dwelling in the past hinders the blessings of God, so never allow past failures hinder your future success. Never allow past victories and successes hinder future ones.

WHAT CAN I DO TO STOP DWELLING ON THE PAST?

1. You need to let go. Some people have lost their future to their past because somehow, they were never able to put the past behind them.

Have you lost someone that was so dear to you? Move on from that spot! Have you lost someone who promised to help sponsor your education or help set you up in business? Move on from that spot and another helper will surface. Have you been disappointed or jilted by someone? I want you to understand that it is only God that can not fail because man will fail you.

I could remember when I was using one old Mercedes Benz 230 some years back in Abuja, Nigeria. Having a car is a norm and I was so attached to it that I found it very difficult to let go even when it was even over due for a change, but one day God delivered me from my attachment to it and I sold it, it was after selling it that new door of buying better cars started opening and since then I don’t attach myself to anything anymore. If you don’t let go of the past another door will not open.

2. By connecting to our divine source. Psalm 75:6-7
You can only receive the best help from above – God. Every good blessing, every perfect help is from above. Never allow your past failure or achievement hinder your future success by relying on your intellectual or men.

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning”. James 1:17

God is just perfect, when HE says HE will do HE will do it. When you need Him He will be there for you.

As a student do you think passing your exam once is your power? No, it is just by HIS grace you passed, praise God for it and move on.

3.By turning away from sin- Pride. If only we can come down off our high horse and turn to God. As some will say “Me? Over my dead body.”

No wonder some people do not move forward because they have exercised the power of their tongue by saying over their dead bodies. If only you can let go by removing the pride in you and turn the situation to God, you will see how fast you will go in life. 2 Chronicle 7:14.

4. Work by faith. As always, victory comes through faith in God’s presence. Put everything to God in faith and see what He is going to do. We can see in the book of Exodus 4:17 where Moses surrendered his rod, God caused it to become a symbol of much more as He placed it back into Moses’ hands. As God did this, it became a symbol of God’s authority and was to be used as God directed.

Are you asking if God can do it? Oh yes! HE can. If only you can surrender all. If you want to experience freedom from sin, freedom from bondage, freedom from guilt, freedom from sorrows, you must come to God in faith; only those who TRUST GOD, who believe in Him, will find salvation!

5. Turn the place of your defeat into the place of victory: In the book of Joshua 8:1-2 Joshua was told to go up again and attack Ai. He is to return to the place of defeat and turn it to a place of victory, and now, because Joshua and the people are rightly related to the Lord, God promised and they could turn the place of defeat into a place of victory. Prayerfully turn your place of defeat to a place of victory.

6. Do not share God’s glory by allowing your past victories and successes hindering future ones. The book of Isaiah 42:8 says ” I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images”. Stop dwelling in your past! As long as you remain at that bus stop of where you are dwell of the past. That point where you refuse to let go of your previous experience or achievements, failure, disappointment and rejection in life, no new thing will come in.

Can I tell you something, that your time has not been wasted in the experience you had. Everything has brought you to where you are now, and this is the time for you to make a choice from here and move forward in whatever direction you choose to go.

7. Give thanks. What does the Bible says about complaining in the book of Numbers 11 :1-4 , Lamentations 3 :39. The Bible says in the book of 1 Thessalonians 5:1 “Instead of complaining give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

The portion of life of over which you control begins from this moment. Here is another chance for you to choose which direction you wish to go. Take a step into your future today and stop celebrating your past glory and failures.

Our desires have become attached to things that are little, when they are meant to be attached to something which cannot decay or disappoint. Have you been dwelling on your past for so long? This is the time for you to turn it to Jesus who will help you to fix it.

Mathew 11:28 – 30 says “28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Have you accepted Jesus Christ into your life? It is not too late only if we can invite Jesus to come and live within us and be the Lord of our lives then our inheritance in the future kingdom is assured.
By Reuben Boboye Olisawo.