Letting go of the past

Often times we are hindered from moving forward because we are focused looking behind us. God is calling us to fix our eyes ahead as the past has expired and He is doing something new and unpredictable. 

Transcript

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Happy Monday, everyone. Happy new week. Happy new day. Welcome to the I'm Saved Now What podcast. I am Jaavonne Taylor. Welcome to every new listener. I am excited to have you here. And welcome, welcome, welcome back to the faithful family of regular listeners. I am so grateful. Thank you so much for listening and sharing with your friends and family as we navigate the journey in Jesus together. And last week's episode, we spoke about renewing the mind and we focused on Romans 12:2. If you missed that episode, that's no problem. Go and check it out. On today's episode, we are actually going to talk about what it means to let go of your past. Some of you might be saying, hmm, hasn't she already touched on that before in previous episodes? I'm pretty sure I've heard the phrase letting go of your past before. If you're thinking that, then you're actually right. I have touched on it in the prelude, in wrestling with your former self, in new creation in Christ, and inseparated the cost of your surrender. But God says I need to go deeper and dissect it some more. So that's where we are going to go. You see, God is very intentional about this podcast. And so the Lord has impressed upon me the importance of speaking about letting go of your past. I want to say it this way. I think it's an area where some of us are struggling right now. It's an area where we are moving, but we're not moving as quickly as the Lord needs us to move, right? Because we are carrying things from our past into our present, and it is delaying God's plan for our future. It is impacting his ability to move you into the next because you are refusing to release what was. So let's be real. We can just be very real here, very honest. Letting go of the past is hard. It's not an overnight project. It is a process that takes deliberate effort, prayer, surrender, trust, faith, forgiveness, healing, and lots and lots and lots of belief. But believe me when I tell you, it is not impossible. And while it may not be as easy as letting go of your iPhone 14 for the new upgraded model, right? Let's be real, because when a new version comes out for an Apple device, many of us are just so quick to just exchange for the new one. You know, God promises that the new thing that he is doing is better. The new thing that he's giving us is far improved and it is unprecedented, but he ain't giving it to us. We are still holding on onto the things that he has asked us to release. So if it's a season of your life that he's telling you to let go of, if it's an identity that he's telling you to let go of, if it is a person, if it's a relationship, if it is an idea of yourself, you know, he's saying release it. If it's a material possession, relationships. Guys, we spoke about this in depth when we dealt with separated the cost of your surrender. So whatever it is that God is saying you saying to you to let go of, I encourage you to continue to listen to this episode because God wants you to recognize why it is important to release. So what is interesting as well, you know, is the fact that we don't just hold on to only the bad things in the past, we have trouble also releasing some of the good things. Some of us get stuck in reliving the past and re-experiencing moments of glory, and we miss the current moments and the winds of change. We miss it because we are so consumed in what was. You see, to be created in the image of God means that inherently we are like God, and because God is dynamic, it means that in Christ we are dynamic as well. So when we hold on to the past, we are going against the very essence of our true nature, right? Or the very essence of our true nature. Because God is saying, release that man, that that part has already expired. What you're holding on to no longer serves you. What you are holding on to is doing more damage than you think it is, release it, let it go, do not dwell there. Come, I have something new for you. So I figure that by now some of you might have already gotten an idea of the scripture that we are going to look at today. And if you guessed Isaiah 43, 18 to 19, you would be correct. That is a scripture that the Lord says that we need to look at today when we are looking at letting go of your past. The New International Version says it this way, and I quite like this version. So we're gonna look at this version. It says, forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The New Living Translation, the NLT, says it like this. But forget that it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun. Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness, I will create rivers in a dry waste land. So before we delve into the discussion, you already know me. I'm going to explore some definitions with you because from the reading of the scripture, there's some words that jumped out at me immediately. Four words that I think are important for us before we jump into the conversation. The first word is forget. And forget simply means to not remember, to put it out of your thoughts and remembrance, to not fixate on. So here's this, right? So let me tell you something interesting. Or it's interesting for me, may not be interesting for you, but hey, I'm gonna share it anyway. So fight me. So when I was looking for the Hebrew word for forget, I found several words, but I wanted the specific Hebrew word that was used in this scripture, right? That was used specifically in Isaiah 43, 18 to 19. And what I discovered was something I find interesting. The word they said they use here is Zakhar. But then the literal meaning, the literal translation for the word zakar is to remember. So I'm like, but if Zachar means to remember, how are you telling me then that Zakhar is the translation that is to be used for the word forget? That's what you're saying it means. I'm like, huh? I don't get it. But I dug a little deeper and I saw what the Bible scholar was explaining. So it says that the word zakar was used to explain to us that we have to actively remember to forget. To actively remember to not remember. And I actually found that quite funny. So when we look at the Hebrew, the Hebrew word is zakar that you're saying is to be used, and Zakhar means to remember, and you're saying, this scholar is saying, well, Zakhar, the reason the word zakar is used in this context is that we must remember to not remember. That is why it was used. I'm like, that's kind of hilarious. But the point is, forget means to put out of your thoughts and remembrance and not to fixate on. And that's where I want you to focus. To dwell means to reside or live in a specific place or state, it means to linger on a particular thought, to abide in or to persistently remain. And the Hebrew word for dwell is yashab, which means literally to dwell, to sit in or to inhabit. Perceive means to become aware of, recognize, or understand something. In a biblical context, it means to discern, to look past the physical evidence, and to grasp God's divine truth. The Hebrew word for perceive that we will look at is lit, lit, litpos, and it means to catch, which means you know, to comprehend or to grasp. So God is saying, catch what I'm telling you. Catch what I'm telling you. New means something recently created, discovered, or experienced for the first time. It describes things that are unfamiliar or different from what existed before. And that's the definition I took from the Cambridge Dictionary. Hebrew word for new is chadash, and it means marking something fresh in time, experience or quality, whether applied to objects, rituals, or divine acts. It signals God's ongoing capacity to create, restore, and inaugurate what did not previously exist in the context of Isaiah 43.18. It speaks to unprecedented or unheard of acts. And this definition I extracted from the strong's concordance. So what does all of this really mean? The scripture is essentially telling us this: do not remember the past, instead, let it go and remove from living there. I am doing something unprecedented, something that has never been done before. Can't you grasp this divine truth? Your past does not contain the clues to this new thing I am doing. You are not in the past anymore. Release it. So, having read the scripture and gone through the definitions, that is what I understood the scripture to mean. The scripture is a reminder to shift or focus from the things that were and focus instead on where we are in the present and expect a future that we have never seen before. One person actually said it this way: God is not suggesting a literal loss of memory or amnesia, but rather he's asking his people to stop anchoring their identities and expectations on former seasons of their lives, including previous triumphs. If you remain fixated on how God operated in the past, you will miss what he is doing in your present and in your future. I mean, that when I saw it, I jumped, I was like, whoa, this, this, this is really, really, really something interesting and something really powerful. And as I prepared for this episode and began to do my research, I realized why God really wanted us to talk about this. We know this, or we may have a general idea of the importance of letting go of the past. But before we jump into that, why do we hold on to the past? Why is it that we remain stuck there? Why is it that we mean we remain fixated on the past? Do any of you ever stop and wonder why? Like, do you ever stop and think about it? Especially the parts of the past that are filled with pain and trauma. Like, why would I actually be clinging to that? The best answer I have really is this. We hold on to what we know. We hold on to what is familiar and routine and what we can predict. It's a means of control and sometimes a default safety mechanism. We don't like the unknown, so we would rather stay in what we know and survive. In Jamaica, we said tough it out, right? So that's one of the reasons. That's one of the reasons why I think we hold on to the bad things. But on the other end of the spectrum, for those of us who dwell on the past to relive glory days or moments of victory, some of us do that because we're trying to find an excuse for our laziness in the present. Many of us hold on to formal glory and formal high days to justify us not moving now and justify us not trying new things and justify us not expanding because we're like, oh, well, you know, I was this person, I did this already, so I don't need to do anything else. But you were in a place where you were invincible and happy. But guess what? Time didn't stop running just because you were there. Time continued, and because time continued and you didn't realize that time continued, you actually got stuck in a place that has long past. And you're neglecting the present. You're neglecting the present. And I'm so sorry, because if you do that, it's gonna lead to stagnation. When you get stuck in a place and a season that has already expired, that's a dangerous place to be in. You are holding on to the familiarity of what was, thereby interfering in the evolution God has planned for you. We are dynamic beings, guys. We are created in the image of God. God is not a static God, God is a dynamic God, a fascinating God. So if he's dynamic and fascinating and we are his children created in his image, then by all means, we too carry this essence of dynamism. We are bold and beautiful, and you know, we can change. But how can we change and how can we evolve if it is that we are holding on to the past? Many of us, you know, actually want what is in the future, we want the new thing, but we walk with the security of the past. But I'm gonna tell you this: God is not going to give you the new thing while you still hold on to the old thing. He is not going to give you the new thing while you still cling on to the old thing and thank your Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus. The Lord just dropped something into my mind. I'm gonna share it. I watched an episode of uh, I think it was what is it, the Steve Harvey Show. I'm gonna call it the Steve Harvey Show. I don't think that's what it's called, but it it was one of the programs that Steve Harvey had, and he was talking about the fact that he had this old car in the driveway, and the old car was on, it couldn't drive, it was on blocks and it was there in the driveway. And every day he would say to his mom, Mom, I'm gonna get a new car, I'm gonna get a new car. And she kept saying it, yeah, you're not gonna get a new car until you get rid of the old one in the driveway. The old one is still sitting in the driveway. And he couldn't understand, and he says, What? And he did and every day he said, Mom, I'm gonna buy a new car, I'm gonna buy a new car. And she kept saying the same thing, son, you're not gonna get a new car until you release what is in the driveway. Release the old car from the driveway. And he said, one day he got up, he sweeps away all the leaves, he cleans up the space, all the oils, he removes the old car from the driveway. And a couple of weeks later, he drives in with a new car. Look at it this way. You cannot have something new coming into a space that is already occupied by something from your past, something old. In order for you to actually behold this new thing, in order for you to actually receive this new thing, you're gonna have to let go of the past. You're gonna have to stop living in the past. The past and the present cannot coexist. So, have you actually ever met someone before who all they talk about is the past? What didn't go right for them, um, who hurt them, what people didn't do for them, and they're just using the past to justify their present situation. If you have never met anybody like that, let me tell you, I've met a couple of them and they they irritate me, they drive me nuts because I'm like, okay, the past is the past, the past has happened, the past was real. I'm not diminishing it, I'm not dismissing it. But what are you doing now? You can't change the past. The past is gone. What are you doing now, right? Despite the fact that the past has moved on, like literally, they are still living there. And the same is true for people who will tell you, oh, I was a top athlete in my day, oh, I used to own this business and do this and blah, blah, blah. Right? Yeah. I appreciate that this is who you used to be, or this was what you used to do, but right now, where are you? Right now we are in 2026 and you're still telling me about 2016, you're still telling me about 2002, and you're still walking around with baggage from 2016 and 2002 in 2026. Could you imagine? Let's look at it this way. Could you imagine if at the age of 60 or 16, let's do 16, if at the age of 16 your mom had bought you an outfit, and that at the age of 35 you're still you're still wearing that outfit that you got as a 16-year-old. No, I'm not talking about the fact that maybe some of you, if you're lucky, you can still fit into the outfit that you got when you were 16, right? Because I can still fit into my prom dress from 16. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the things that your mother bought you, let's say she bought you a bunny outfit and you're now 35 and you're wearing this bunny suit. Don't you think you would look ridiculous? Don't you think you would look ridiculous? Don't you think that you would look strange? So it's kind of the same thing. When you're walking around in the present, holding on to the past, holding on to the to the past glory days or to past traumas, you you're you're actually looking ridiculous. Especially when God wants to do something new in you, you know. Especially when God wants to do something new in you. Because let me give you, let me just shed some light on something and tell you a secret. The thing about God is that God can surpass all of what he has done before. God is not limited. So if you are holding on to what you deem to be your glory days, remember God has greater days ahead of you. There are greater days ahead. So stop looking behind, focus on what is in front of you. And some of you might be listening to me and saying, Well, that's easy for Jaavonne to say now. She can talk all she wants about letting go of the past because she does not know what I have been through, and she cannot understand my life. And I would genuinely be the first person to tell you that you're correct. I I have not lived your life. I've never walked the road that you have walked on, neither have I lived your experience. But the same God who did it and continues to do it for me is the same God who can and will do it for you. Remember, the Bible tells you now, ask and it shall be given to you. Ask and you shall receive. So are you asking God to help you to let go of the past? Are you asking God to help you release the past? Ask him, ask him instead of fixating on the past, ask him, say, Alright, God, I've never actually asked you, can you please help me to release the past? Because the Lord is saying, forget it, don't dwell in there, don't remain there, don't stay there. He is doing something new, and the new thing is not coming into your old zip code. Mighty God, God, I don't even know where that comes from, but you must know. But let's look at the impact of not letting go of your. Past the perfect illustration I have, I got it from Christine Kane, and I think Christine Kane did such an amazing job last year at Woman Evolve, and I would consider this a powerful, life-altering sermon. She spoke about this very scripture and highlighted the importance of letting go of the past. In her unpacking, she did something incredible. She went to Luke 17 when Jesus was speaking about the last days and what to expect. And she jumped to Luke 17, 32, when Jesus said, Remember Lot's wife. Now, if you've already read Genesis, you will remember that Lot was Abraham's nephew, and he settled in a place called Sodom and Gomorrah. But Sodom and Gomorrah was an evil place. It became a wicked place, an evil place. And the Lord decided to destroy it. And Lot and his family were permitted to leave. If you don't know the story, I encourage you to go and read Genesis 19. That's where it is found. Go and read it, and you will be able to understand what I'm talking about. Read the entire chapter. Now in verse 17 of Genesis 19, and I'm going to read from the New Living Translation. It says this when they, that's Lot and his family, were safely outside the city. One of the angels ordered, Don't look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away. By the time we get to verse 26, we see Lot's wife turning back, and she became a pillar of salt. She became calcified in a place that she was meant to be passing through. All because she disobeyed the command of the angel and looked back. Looking back or dwelling in the past has an impact on your present and your future. And for Lot's wife, it had the greatest impact because she became calcified. She became a pillar of salt. She died. She became a pillar of salt. She was stuck. The looking back that Lot's wife did, you know, wasn't just a literal look back. It wasn't just a glance. It was a looking back with a longing and a desire to return. She was more attached to what she was leaving behind than the new place and possibilities that God had for them as a family. The new place that God was taking her. She was ignoring the fact that the city was being destroyed because it was evil. She was ignoring other that. She was clinging so much to the life that she had, the material possessions, the wealth that she had, all of that, the familiarity of this. Ignoring the fact that in front of her was her most prized possession. That in front of her was her family, her husband, and her daughters. So notwithstanding the fact that the city that she she settled in, because remember, they weren't originally from Sodom and Gomorrah. This is a city that they settled in and built and it was developed, right? Notwithstanding that this city was being destroyed. Behind her, in front of her, was her most valuable and prized possession. It was her family, it was her future, it was God's mercy and goodness and grace. And she couldn't see that because she was so busy looking behind her and it cost her everything. She became stuck. Christine Kane's sermon on Remember Lot's Wife is online, guys. And I encourage you to watch it. I am telling you, once you hear it, you will never, ever, ever, ever want to dwell in a place beyond its expiration date again. And you will never want to look back. Right? And as I said to you, looking back wasn't just a glance, it was looking back with a longing. So you see, when when you look at the fact that she that that Lot's wife looked back with a desire and a longing to return, it really and truly sheds some light on why the words do not dwell on the past were used. See, as I said before, dwelling means to abide in and to remain, to live in, to settle in, to inhabit. And the Lord is saying, stop staying in your past, stop living in your past. The past is gone, never to return. Remember, if you remain in the past, if you if you insist on staying in the past, you can also become defective and obsolete, you know. But, anyways, let me not go down that road. I don't think that's the road the Lord wants me to touch on. So let me let me obey and go back to where God has called me. So let's be real with ourselves for a moment. Take some time to audit the things, the places, the events, the relationships in the past that we are holding on to. Take some time. And then look at the instruction God is giving you now, or the instruction God has already given you. What exactly is God saying to you? Hasn't He been telling you to let go, to release, to forgive, to walk away, to walk into a new season, to journey into the unknown with him, to release that version of yourself that the kingdom no longer needs? Can you imagine if David remained a shepherd boy despite being anointed as king? What has God revealed to you about who you are? And you are looking behind instead of looking ahead. Imagine if he didn't leave shepherding and play the harp for Saul. Imagine if he didn't kill Goliath. You see, the thing about holding on to the past is that it prevents you from walking into your future. Don't get me wrong. The clock will still continue to run and time will pass. But if you don't decide to release and forget the past, you are in for trouble. There's a saying I tell myself, and I said this change is inevitable, but growth is a choice. If you do not choose to forget the past, you will not grow. Neither will you see these new unprecedented things that God has in store for you. God is saying to you, release it, let it go, walk away from it. Right? It's in the past, it's fine. Don't dwell there anymore. It happened. We know, but come, I have something new for you. Something new, something you've never seen before. I'm God. Like, yeah, I did some good things for you in the past, but I can do even greater things for you now. Yes, I know you thought you were at the height of your career in 2022, but no, I am taking you to a new place in 2026. God is saying to you, yes, I know you thought you were a record producing artist, but he's saying, no, listen, I have I have something better in store. You're gonna become a producer, a music producer, you're gonna own media houses and companies. Like this is the kind of God we have, you know. But you're not gonna see the future if you keep looking at the past. There are versions of ourselves that we will have to forget. Not because they were bad versions, but because the season has expired and we can't remain there anymore. We have to realize and be honest with ourselves that the new things that we desire will not come to us in these familiar places, so we will have to stop living in the past. But how do you do this? How do you actually let go of the past? And I will just say this we have to accept it. Acknowledge that the past happened. Forgetting something is not ignoring it, but instead, it is for you to not constantly stay there. So the past happened and we accept it. Like for me, the past for me is that my father did not raise me, my father was absent. Can I change it? No, am I gonna still live there every day? I can, but if I live there every day, I would not be able to live the life that the Lord has called me to live. So after you accept and acknowledge what has happened, what you know we accept and acknowledge the past, we then look ahead. You see, it is impossible to look back and ahead at the same time. Every time you look back, every time you you you start to become fixated on the former things, you are missing a moment that is happening in front of you. And no technological advancement, I submit, there's no technological advancement that can change that. And there's a reason, I think, that when I think there's a reason why the rear view mirror is smaller than your windshield. There's a reason for it. Because what is ahead is more important than what is behind. What is ahead is more important than what is behind. What is behind is already gone. You can't change it. The one who can actually change it is telling you to release it, he's telling you to let it go, he's telling you to walk away from it, he's telling you to move on because the future that he has for you is greater. We remember Joseph. Joseph, whose whose brothers basically sold him into slavery. Joseph, who became a slave in Egypt, who then became a prime minister in Egypt. Joseph, who when his brothers saw him after selling him into slavery and thinking that they didn't even know what became of him, when they came face to face with him and they recognized it was him. Joseph had Joseph said what the enemy meant for evil. God turned around and used it for good. Joseph did not dwell in his past. Joseph's past could have led him to become bitter, to let it could have led him to become venomous, could have led him to become wicked. But Joseph didn't live in his past. But Joseph didn't stay in his past. Instead, Joseph did the new thing. Joseph became something new. Joseph evolved, and that is what God is calling you to do. God is calling you to evolve in this season. He's saying, do not stay in the past, do not stay stuck, do not remain, do not abide in cities and in places that He's calling you out of. Do not walk with these old baggages into the new season. Do not be so caught up in the past and your former glory days that you're missing out of what he has for you now. The other thing I will tell you is have faith. Have faith in God. Faith in God is predicated on trust, not understanding. And that's why the scripture in Proverbs 3:5 to 6 is so important. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not unto your own understanding, but in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. Looking ahead means trusting God. Trusting God with what is to come. Trusting God with what is to come. He says that there is better ahead. He says that what you experienced behind was nothing in comparison to what is ahead. So let's see. So even if you experience good things in the past, he says, I have greater. And if you experience bad things in the past, he says, Listen, I can turn it around. What the enemy meant for evil, I can turn around and will turn it around. Don't stay there. Move, move in the direction that the Lord is calling you to. He says, Behold, He is doing a new thing. And then He even gives us a glimmer into what the new things are. He's talking about causing springs to rise up in the wilderness. Come on. God is saying, I have miraculous things waiting for you ahead. Don't miss your moments of miracles because you're busy looking back. Do not miss your miraculous moments because you are looking back at the things that you cannot change. And the God of the universe is saying he is not changing them. He's saying, look ahead. Look ahead. Letting go of your past requires faith in God. Faith in God and where He is taking you. Faith, faith, and I told you before, faith is the currency of this kingdom. Faith is the currency of this kingdom. You know, faith is the currency of this kingdom. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. Hebrews 11:1. And God is saying, trust me. Whatever happened in the past is gone. Don't dwell there. Don't stay there. Move. Look ahead. Fix your eyes on the things ahead. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Look forward. Focus. Keep your eyes forward, right? Forward, face forward, move forward. Do not stay stuck in the past. Whether it was a past identity, right? If it's a past identity, release it. Release it. Release whatever it is that is holding you and walk forward into this beautiful horizon of unprecedented miracles that awaits you. Before I go, I am going to close. Most righteous and heavenly Father, God, thank you for bringing us to the end of another episode. God, I thank you for every son and every daughter that has tuned in to hear this episode. God, I thank you for flowing through me in the way that you did. And God, I pray that your will was done in this episode. God, I pray for those of us struggling to let go of the past, those of us staying stuck in the past, those of us who have had issues releasing, they want to release, but God, they just they just they just could not understand why it was important to release. But God, I decree and declare that nobody who listens to this podcast will become calcified like Lot's wife. Nobody who listens to this podcast will miss the new thing that you have for them. Nobody who listens to this podcast, Lord, will miss their moments of miracles, will miss the winds of change, will miss the newness that you are doing, will miss the palace because they are stuck. Mighty God, because they're stuck. God, I thank you for what you are doing, what you continue to do, Lord. I thank you, Jesus, that you have poured your spirit out into this episode. I thank you, Lord, for the lives that you are changing, Lord. I thank you for those sons and daughters who have walked away but are turning back now as a result of listening to this episode. I thank you, Lord, mighty God, for those who are walking with heavy bags that you've told them to release that are now letting them go. As I pray in the name of Jesus, I thank you, mighty God, for the ones who are letting go of old identities, Lord, for them, who are letting go of friendships, of things that you've called them to walk away from. I thank you, Lord, that they are no longer dwelling and living and abiding in old situations and stagnant things, but God, they are walking into the new unprecedented thing with great faith, mighty God. They have great faith, God. I decree it over them, I declare it over them, God, and I speak it as though it is mighty God. I speak it, I speak it prophetically, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Holy Spirit, I thank you. I thank you for this day. I thank you for the people on this podcast. I thank you for the people whose lives you are transforming. I thank you, mighty God, that you are doing a good work in them. You said he who began a good work in you will carry it through to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord. I give you thanks, Lord, both now and forevermore. Amen. We have gotten to the end of this week's episode, and wow, the Lord showed up here, and I'm so grateful. Thank you, everybody, for listening. And until next week, my name is Jaavonne Taylor, and this is I'm Saved Now Wat. Bye.