Remember To Forget in 2018!

A. TITLE: “REMEMBER TO FORGET IN 2018!”

B. INTRODUCTION:

2018 is a new year, a new season, new beginnings!
It is a season of divine surprises, a season of sudden lies.
Sudden acceleration!
God is going to turn your life around suddenly!
He is going to turn your finances around suddenly!
He is going to turn your health around suddenly!
He is going to turn your relationships around suddenly!

C. SCRIPTURE READING:

Isaiah 43:18-20 AB
(18) Do not [earnestly] remember the former things; neither consider the things of old.
(19) 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.
(20) The beasts of the field honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen,

D. TEXT:

Isaiah 43:18 NIV
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.”

Jesaja 43:18 ANV
Maar moenie net aan die vroeëre dinge dink en by die verlede stilstaan nie.

E. FORGET THE PAST NOW:

God introduced something new, a new season! I declare the Word of the Lord: “2018 Will be a new season, a year of new beginnings, a year of new opportunities! Something new that this world did not see in the past!”

We must forget the former things. We must not dwell in the past. Your past is not your future. Failures and disappointments in the past often hinder us from success and moving forward into the future. In spite of disappointments and failures God is gracious and calls us forward into the best future He has for us. Good is not good enough, God wants to give us the best! Good is the enemy of the best! God’s best is good enough! In order for us to receive God’s best, we must forget the former things. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have selective amnesia? To suddenly be able to forget something to the point you cannot even remember that it occurred? God, through is telling us in Isaiah 43:18 that we have the ability to place the past behind us.
It generally involves three steps:

1. DEALING WITH THE PAST (EMOTIONALLY, SPIRITUALLY, AND RELATIONALLY):
In order to move forwards, you need to first deal with the past.
This can involve several steps (let us touch on a few):

• Repent of past sins:
  Approach God with an open and humble heart.
  Allow God to show you where you need to forgive, what you need to rectify, and what you need to abandon.
• Repair past relationships:
  Reconcile with anyone that may have anything against you.
  Allow God to show you who they are.
  There may be people who are just too dangerous to reconcile at this time (or ever), so be aware of God’s leading in this.
• Settle old debts:
  Do what you can to settle any debts you have with anyone.
  Make a clean break where possible.
  Sometimes, this is not always possible financially.
  Allow God to direct you in what you can do, and let Him do what He needs to do.
• Stopping fruitless projects:
  Allow God to show you where time and life stealing endeavours in your life are causing you too many problems, and let go of them. The desires of the past will be replaced with a vision of the future…

2. CHOOSE NOT TO DWELL ON THE PAST:

We are told to place our worries, problems, emotional distress, and everything that we have to deal with at the foot of the cross. This is bringing it to Jesus in prayer, asking that He bear the burdens that are too difficult for us to bear, and walking away. The problem with many believers is that after we set down our baggage at the cross, we pick it right back up and walk away with it.

Practically, this is when we give something to God, then we keep remembering it in our minds. God is able to move our sin as far as the East is from the West. He is able to forgive and forget. We need to do the same. The problem is, many of us don’t want to forget. We immediately begin thinking of how so-and-so did such-and-such to us.
When we do that, we have picked up our baggage and taken it with us as we leave the cross. Additionally, the enemy of our souls, Satan, will remind us and hound us constantly when we are trying to let go of something. He’ll place thoughts in our mind.
“To forget” means: “no longer to be influenced by or affected by”

Hebrews 10:17 NLT
Then he says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” The brain works in interesting ways. It acts like a record. After repeated thought patterns occur (dwelling on the past), it forms grooves in the brain to reinforce the pattern, thought, or behaviour. The brain can then more quickly access these pathways, and they slowly become ingrained in us. It becomes habits, attitudes, and ultimately forms character. And when we encounter a problem, it goes to these “thought patterns”. The brain is dynamic and can change. We need to forge new paths in the brain. Eventually, when we no longer use the old ways, the brain will eventually allow them to dissipate. Eventually, these old highways become distant echoes of the past. You truly can retrain the brain.

3. CHOOSE TO DWELL AND FOCUS ON THE FUTURE:

God then reminds us that He is constantly doing new things!
Rather than watch movies in our minds about the past, we can look to the present and the future, where God is already causing new developments to occur. He is constantly and
actively at work in our lives, the lives of others around us, and in the world.

In Revelations 21:5; God tells us He is making everything new.
In order to embrace the present and the future, we need to pay attention to what God is doing. God is moving, and if we don’t carefully watch, He may go off in a direction while we are too busy with what is happening around us. We need to focus. We need to be open to what God is doing, and to watch carefully and eagerly to perceive what is about to come.

Isaiah 43:19 MSG
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out!
Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.

F. REMEMBER THE FUTURE NOW:

Hebrews 12:2 AB
Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Don’t allow any distractions! Focus on what Jesus is doing in this new season!
2018 is a new season. Don’t miss what God is about to do!
It is a year of new beginnings in many ways! God is shifting things in place in the spirit for you! New strategies, new desires, same day manifestations, sudden acceleration, no more delays, a season of freshness, fresh anointing. New moves of God in new ways and new revelation about God’s nature, His ways and His kingdom! There will be new vision to take cities and regions for God and new prophetic insight!

God will be everywhere! Holy Spirit fire will fall from heaven, releasing the glory of God like never before on this earth! Glory storms are coming! Limitations are being lifted! God is removing the things stopping you. Addictions, patterns, weaknesses in your life will be destroyed and removed because of the love and the grace of God! Sickness and disease will be removed. You will be delivered and made whole spirit, soul and body!

God is now answering prayers! Some have been praying for many years!
God is now answering those prayers! You are rising to new levels. Promotion is coming!

God is giving people new Kingdom financial strategies. Money is being transferred!
The wealth of the wicked is being transferred to the righteous! (Proverbs 13:22)
Billionaires are going to be raised up by God within His plan and purpose.
These billionaires are people who probably cannot even pay their rent right now!
New divine ideas will be given to God’s children.

Gates of authority will be re-established.

G. CONCLUSION:

We break the power of the past by living for the future.

Philippians 3:13-14 NLT
(13) No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, (14) I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

We cannot dwell in the past!
After a strong exhortation to forget the former things, the Lord says:

Isaiah 43:19 AB
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.

We must get our eyes off the past and fasten them upon the power of the Lord.

Am I focusing on the future, or dwelling in the past?

A SHORT PRAYER OF PREPARATION:
Father God, Your Word is good, and it tells me that I am able to let go of the past. Please help me to deal with the emotional scars of the past so that I can move forward into the future. Give me the ability to refute the accusations of the enemy of my soul, and to dwell on what You are doing rather than on what has already occurred. Give me a renewed sense of Your plans and purposes so that I may see Your future for me. Give me the strength to leave what is behind me at the foot of the cross, and to move forward to what You prepared. Help me to deal with the baggage of the past, and to approach the future with an unhindered, open heart. I will worship You as You lead me forward. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.