Release the Past and Embrace the Future: 3 Reasons to Let It Go

Embrace the future and all that God has for you in 2020. I pray that all your future endeavors come to fruition. In order for that to be your reality, you must release everything that happened in 2019. The old is gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17 GNT). 

If you have entered this new year and brought the same old people, things, situations, and thinking with you for another year’s long ride, I want to give you 3 reasons why you need to ditch the past on the side of the road and prepare yourself to embrace the future that is coming up ahead.

 

1.  Embrace the future, the past is over.

Sometimes the hardest part of letting go is accepting what you never said, didn’t have the chance to do, or opportunity to fix.  Unfortunately, that’s just how it is. Some things are not meant to be said or fixed, no matter how much you feel like you need to.  Things happen and God closes doors. People walk away and leave you holding the bag, but there’s nothing you can do to change that. 

You can rest assured though, that if God closed a door, He has another one ready to open. Focus on the future glory, instead of yesterday’s story. If God shut it down or removed it from your life, it just means you probably didn’t need it anyway.

 

“Do not cling to the events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago.  Watch for the new thing I am going to do.“  Isaiah 43:18, GNT

 

2.  Endings bring new beginnings.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, the ending of a matter is better than its beginning, so don’t be bothered when something comes to an end in your life. The culmination of one thing is the birthing place for another. Something must die so a new thing can be born. Let your past die so your future can live.

 

3.  If you release, then God can release.

When you release your grip on the past, God will release His grip on your future. Sometimes we think we’re waiting on God when really He’s waiting on us to get in the position to receive. He’s waiting on us to let go of the old thing, the old way of speaking, the old way of thinking and embrace the new. We can’t do that looking back at what used to be or what could’ve been. 

Jesus said in Mark 10:29 NLT, and I assure you that everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property. 

What you give up, God promises to return it one-hundred fold.  I had to release so many things in my life. Failed relationships, time, money, and my expectations of what I wanted for my life. 

For everything that I lost or had to give up, God gave it back to me better than anything I ever had in my past.  Give back to God whatever is gone and wait with a heart of expectancy for what He will bring when restoration comes.

 

According to Jeremiah 29:11, God has a plan for your life and it is good. Embrace the future and all that He has for you. Don’t continue to dwell where God has moved on from. 

Be like David in 2 Samuel 12 when his son with Bathsheba died. David didn’t wallow in the death. He got up, put on fresh clothes and lotion, ate, and moved on. He understood he could not change the past or God’s decision. 

Use your past as a stepping stone, not a crutch. Instead of letting it be a deterrent to your future, let it be the fuel that ignites it. Everything you go through prepares you for who you are to become. Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14 NLT, I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. 

Whatever happened back there, let it go! The mistakes you made, possessions and relationships you had to leave behind, let it go and watch God make your 2020 dreams and vision come into full view. Believe God for a future much greater than your past.

 

Need more? Click here to learn 3 principles to healing from the mistakes of your past.

 

Don’t Forget to Pin & Share This Post!