#MOTIVATIONALMONDAY #INSPIRATION #ENCOURAGMENT @pauletteharper

“Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19 AMP).

Here, the writer, Isaiah, is admonishing us not to give heed to remembering the former things, but to take note of what’s happening right now. He admonishes us not to recall, recollect, or commit to memory previous situations and circumstances. Isaiah issues a warning of caution to prevent our minds from drifting away from God’s present dealings. He reminds us to refuse to give the previous situations the opportunity to detract us from God’s present reality: The new thing God is doing.

As people of God, we often do the opposite of what the Scriptures state. The tendency to rehearse the past is far too common and far too easy, especially when we have made bad mistakes and bad choices.

Decisions can affect us for years, and with every decision, there are consequences. In making decisions, you are not the only person affected by your choice. Children, family, and friends might also be affected by your decisions. Many decisions we make will alter our future and set the course of our life.

It’s detrimental to live our lives this way because we can never move forward and accept the new stages in life. “What if this? What if that?” We constantly question ourselves. We long to go back and correct things. Our minds drift back in time to yesterday’s mistakes. Friends, abandon yesterday’s regrets for the sake of tomorrow’s glorious victories!

The past only hinders us, and sets a trap for us to fail. We have to kill the past including the statement, “I remember when.” Not looking back is a choice we all need to make the moment we decide to do something new. We can never second guess ourselves unless we are absolutely sure that we can retract a previous decision.

Does this sound like you? If so, take some advice from the apostle Paul—get rid of that mind set and get out of that pit! He wrote:

 “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, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14 KJV) .