here’s something my pastor sends out every day…i help edit. this one is so powerfully on point - had to post it here* if you want to be added to the day-to-day send-out list, just send me your email address >>

+____)(*^@!!!@^*)(____+~~~+____)(*^@!!!@^*)(____+~~~+____)(*^@!!!@^*)(____+

Isaiah 43:19 - Behold, I make all things new! Now it will spring up, shall you not know it? Surely I open a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

The greatest enemy of the new things is old things. Unfortunately, the enemy of our past is constantly attempting to impose itself on us. But we must recognize that to move forward, we have to leave the past behind; we must find a way to cut it off from our present. In this passage of scripture, Isaiah is talking to a rebellious people who have refused to obey God. They all attended church, but refused to walk out a life of obedience. Their past responses to God were a miserable disaster. Yet the Lord planned a future for them, that would bring them into a greater glory than when He led them out of Egypt. To do this He would win the hearts of His people - with greater miracles than He had done when he parted the sea, and destroyed their enemies who attempted to hold them back from walking with Him. God desired to bring His people into such a glorious miracle of His grace and provision that they would not remember the former things, because the new things would be so much greater.

Even though Israel was already dispersed and Judah was heading into a captivity; God was planning out their return. He was making a way where there was no way, and providing a hope where there was no hope. He was willing to let go of all of their past transgressions, so that He could plan out a brand new day and a glorious future. We must realize that it is easy for God to forgive us, but it is hard for us to forgive ourselves. However, until we will forgive ourselves (as well as others) and let go of the past, we cannot move on into the future that God has planned for us. God is doing a new thing right now: it is springing up! But we must be willing to lift up our hands that hang down, and realize that God has brought to pass a brand new day (Hebrews 12:12-13; Isaiah 35:3-10). We must be willing to allow the failures and disappointments of the past to no longer guide our decisions and expectations. Rather, in confidence towards God, we must begin anew as though this is the first day that we believed. The confidence and the expectation of the promises of God must be allowed to become the excitement and anticipation of our hearts once again.

Faith in the promises of God is how we will step into our future, and live today in the Kingdom of God! If we allow the trials and failures of the past to turn our hearts from the expectation we once had in God, then we must face the fact that the word of God has been overthrown in our lives. Doubt and unbelief are the forces of hell that have come out against our faith; and we must deal with them as such. If we allow the forces of doubt and unbelief to overwhelm our lives, then there is no moving forward; but a staggering about in the torments of the past. Condemnations and discouragements are the heroes of darkness; and unless you put your trust in God, they will confine you to an eternal prison of darkness. It is time that we end our compromises with failure and mediocrity, and step into the certainty of our call to greatness in God! No matter how many situations and circumstances of the past say “it is not so,” we must turn to the word of God and say: “It is!” We must forget those things which are behind, and reach for those things which are before us in God; we must press on! (Philippians 3:13-14). Let us see Jesus and no longer ourselves; let us lay hold on the heavenly vision. No matter what things may come to stop us, we must not be moved (Hebrews 12:2; Ephesians 6:12; 1 Timothy 6:12; 1 Peter 5:10; Colossians 2:7; Matthew 7:24-25; Psalm 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8).