Developing Kingdom Leaders – Tom Yeakley

Trapped in Our Past

“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. Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV

It has been said, “You can’t drive ahead by focusing your eyes on the rear-view mirror!”

Some Kingdom leaders are so wrapped up in their personal past that they can’t see the new thing that God is doing right in front of them. They are trapped in their past conflicts, hurts, failures, and disappointments and fail to see how God is going before them opening new pathways for them to walk.

Notice God’s admonition above – Forget it! Let it go! Stop spending your emotional energy on it! For the more you dwell upon your past problems it can take root in your life and defile you with bitterness.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Ephesians 4:31 NIV

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:15 NIV

God exhorts us to “see” – He is “doing a new thing!” It is springing up right in front of you! Look ahead, not behind! “Don’t you perceive it?”

In what appears to be wilderness or wasteland in front of you, God is already there making a way in the wilderness and creating streams in the wasteland to turn it into a fruitful, productive land. You just have to obey, follow Him, and occupy the land. He has you and your future in hand.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. Isaiah 42:16 NIV