Can You Forget?

How do you keep the past from limiting your future? This is one of those "easier said than done" things. We all have a past and there are things said and done, that we would rather not think about. Yet there are days when those past images or actions, greatly effect the present and the future. The Word of God imparts to us a supernatural forgetting ability, that overrides past facts with bible truths. As we look into the Word of God today, receive God's empowerment to forget the past, and remove all limitations out of your life.

One of the definitions of the word "forget" in the Webster's dictionary is, 'To be unable to remember'. Isaiah 43:25 [amp] says, 'I, even I, am He who blots out and cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.' Wow! Father God who knows everything about everything, decided to forget our past sins, shortcomings and mistakes. God chooses to remember only good things about us. Jeremiah 29:11 says, 'For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.'  This sounds like a loving parent talking about their children. God thinks and plans His best for us; not according to what we have done, but according to His love for us. Amen!

In Philippians 3:13,14 it says, 'Brethern, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.'  This is the Apostle Paul writing to the Philippian's church, telling them what he does about his past. We know that Paul was once a murderer and zealous persecutor of Christians. He tried to stomp out the preaching of Jesus. After he was born again on the Damascus road, he had to forget all that he had done, and others opinions of him, in order to obey God. Past failures can cause one to live within the boundaries of inferiority and condemnation. Thus making what the Word of God says about them; hard to believe, act upon and experience its reality. 

 One cannot find God's will and direction, just by hearing the Word only, and not doing the Word. James 1:25 says, 'But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the wor[d], this man shall be blessed in his deed.'  Nobody drives their car forward looking in the rear view mirror, right? When we set our focus on who God says we are, not what the past mistakes say we are; then we are doing the Word. Colossians 3:2 [amp] says, 'And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.' Consistently believing, saying and doing what the Word says, will wash away all of the limitations of your past for good.

This action of forgetting our past allows 'the Love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost' (Romans 5:5) to manifest in our relationships with others. First Corinthians 13:5 [amp] says, '...Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].' When we forget our past, then we also can forget how others have wronged us in the past. Allowing negative past experiences to linger in our memories, causes unforgiveness, bitterness and envying to harden our hearts against others. An antidote is found in Romans12:2 that says, 'And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.'  Renewing our minds with the Word of God will cause that forgetting power to manifest. Now, thoughts of unforgiveness if not dealt with by forgiving and forgetting, will ultimately separate us from God. The bible definition for forgiveness is to forget. In Mark 11:26 Jesus says, 'But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your tresspasses.'  This is no light matter!

A great verse to meditate on is 2 Corinthians 5:17 which says, 'Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are past away; behold, all things are become new.'  Let this Truth set you free!

Glory to God!