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This was one of the first devotions I sent in 2021.

I think it would do us good to revisit it. “Our past should be cremated, not embalmed…”

No one has ever backed into prosperity. You can’t have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all day long. You see, yesterday has passed away forever and is beyond our control.

According to Edmund Burke, “The past should be a springboard, not a hammock.” You can never plan the future while living in the past. No one has ever walked backwards into the future. Have you ever noticed how those for whom yesterday still looks big aren’t doing much today?

God doesn’t consult your past to decide your future. You will never accomplish any great task living in yesterday. Many people allow failures of the past to stop them from attempting great things today. The devil will bring up our past sins to try and stop us from serving God today, but may we remember that when God forgives he forgets!

God spoke to Jonah about going to the city of Nineveh. Instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah decided to run from God and found himself not only in a storm on the sea, but also in the belly of a fish. When Jonah realized he had messed up, he found himself at a crossroads facing an important decision. He could either seek God’s forgiveness or continue living in the mess he was in. Jonah chose to ask God to forgive him for the mistakes and bad choices he had made, and we see in Jonah 3:2 when, “The word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time,” that God immediately forgave him.

I sure am glad that when we make mistakes, as we all have, we don’t have to live in those mistakes. There is a God who loves us, who will forgive us, and who will use us to do great work for Him despite our past. After asking God to forgive him for his mistakes, Jonah preached what is known as probably the greatest revival in history. This is a perfect example of a man who had failed God, but who made a decision to seek forgiveness and leave his past behind, and God used him in a BIG way!!

May we focus this week on what we CAN DO instead of what we HAVE DONE.

"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14