How to Let Go of the Past to Focus on the Present & Let God Guide You into the Future. 3 Steps

In today's episode, I go over letting go of the past to be able to focus on the present and letting God guide us into the future. I pair this with prayer, scripture, and 3 steps to implement.

First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up our eyes, our ears, our minds, and our hearts to you Lord. I pray that whatever it is that each person is supposed to receive from this episode that they receive it and implement it in their daily lives. Lord, I pray that you continue to lead, guide, and direct us through every aspect of our lives. I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Alright so, the past is the past for a reason and that is where it should stay. If we are dwelling on what used to be, then we can lose sight of the present and what God is calling us to do right now. The Lord has plans for us that are greater than we could ever fathom and we have to make sure that we are staying fully committed to the will of God and letting Him guide us every step of the way into those plans that he has for our future.

Here are some things that we may dwell on:

Past sins
Things that we could have done differently with situations or people
People from our past that are not in our present
Situations from our past
The guilt of things that we've done in our past
How our life used to be
What people have done to us in the past and not wanting to forgive them

Now let's go into some scripture:

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

-1 John 1:9

So we may get stuck on past sins, but right here in this verse, it says that if we confess our sins the Lord is faithful and just and he will forgive us of our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. He doesn't hold our sins against us, so we shouldn't dwell on those past sins. We just have to repent, truly seek to change our ways, and follow the Lord and he will always forgive us and his love is unconditional.

13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 3:13-14

So we have to forget the past, the things that have happened in the past, our guilt, our past sins, things we could have done differently, situations, and all of that, and press on towards the prize of eternal life that we have in Jesus Christ. Whenever we are saved we have eternal life in heaven and we have to press on towards the goal to win the prize of eternal life, follow Jesus, and be fully submitted to the will of God the Father.

18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. -Isaiah 43:18-19

14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. -Matthew 6:14-15

So we can't hold on to things that people have done to us in the past, we have to forgive them, move on with our lives, and focus on the present, what God is guiding us and calling us to do and just follow Him. Whenever we forgive others we too can be forgiven. We all sin, we all do things that we are not proud of and everyone is different, but everyone deserves forgiveness and it's only hurting us whenever we dwell on the past, what people have done, and not just forgive them and move on.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: -2 Corinthians 5:17-18

So when we are in Christ, whenever we ask Jesus to come into our hearts and we are saved, we are dead in our sins, alive in Jesus, and we are a new creation. We have to let go of all of the past things that we've done. the past sins, and everything from our past. Jesus changes us completely; he changes our hearts and our lives, and we have to focus on all of the amazing things that he has done, and all of the changes for the better that he has done in our lives, and not on the things that we did in our past or different people, circumstances, sins, or guilt from our past.

"Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you." -Proverbs 4:25

20 "You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." -Ephesians 4:20-24

So we have to let go of our old self which was being corrupted by deceitful desires, worldly desires, and materialistic things, and focus on the new, what God calls us to be, and be more like Jesus and have a heart and live like Jesus. This can be easier said than done. Trust me when I say that I know this first hand.

Sometimes I can start thinking about the past and can get stuck in this train of thought of just thinking about all of the different things in the past, situations, and things that I've done. I've done so many things that I'm not proud of and I also had a lot of great memories and fun times, but the things that were fun to me back then are no longer fun to me. God has changed me so much, and it's good to remember how much I've grown, and how much God has changed me, but I can't dwell on what I could have done differently in the past. Dwelling on the past can distract us from the present and what God has in store for our future.

So here are 3 things to implement to let go of the past and focus on the present:

A couple of months ago when I was just stuck in this train of thought of thinking of all kinds of different things from my past, I implemented these 3 things. They really helped me and they still have been helping me to focus on the present and let God guide me into the future. I want you guys to write these down and implement them whenever you are stuck on a train of thought of your past.

1. Journal your thoughts

- Write down all of the things that you've been dwelling on.

- This helps us to write it down on paper so we can release it.

- Whenever we write down all of the things that we've been dwelling on and get that down on paper, it helps us to release it from our minds so we can let go and focus on the present.

- So go ahead and take a few moments to journal and write down everything that you've been dwelling on.

2. Pray

- Pray to God about the things that you've been dwelling on and then give it all to Him.

- God knows your thoughts, He knows everything, He already knows all of the things that you've been dwelling on, but whenever you pray about it to Him and you have that conversation with Him, it helps you to be able to release that and let go of it, give it all to Him.

- God is in complete control, He holds the future in His hands, and we have to just give everything to Him from our past.

3. Focus on the present and let God guide us into the future

- So once you've journaled your thoughts, you've prayed and given it all to God, then the next thing to do is just focus on the present, what God is telling you to do right now, the truth that God is speaking into your life right now, and just let Him guide you every step of the way.

- Whenever we are focusing on the present, following God, doing what He commands of us, and letting Him guide us, we won't have to worry about the past and we also won't have fear of the future because we will know that our future is being guided and directed by God.

- God has our best interest at heart and the plans that he has for us are greater than we could ever fathom, but we can't let our past distract us from what God has planned for us and we have to just focus on the right here, right now what he calls us to do and just take it step by step and let Him guide us through every aspect of our lives.

So I hope this episode helped you if you've been dwelling on the past and getting stuck in that train of thought of situations, things of the past, what you could have done differently, past sins, guilt, things that people have done to you, and just different situations in the past. I hope that if you implemented these 3 things they really helped us to just let go of the past, focus on the present, and let God guide you in the future.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, spiritual growth, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.

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