Danger of Dwelling on the Past

As I was doing Bible study, I came across a verse in the Book of Isaiah 43: 18 which says, “Forget the former things, for I am doing a new thing in your life“. That verse really challenged me and I asked myself two questions. These questions are: –

1 Do I usually dwell on my past always?

2 Am I expecting the new thing God has promised unto me?

There is a great danger if we remain focused on our past. The Devil uses the weapon of our past to prove to us that God cannot be able to bless us. He will always remind you of the many times you failed in your past and other things that will make you start doubting God and His power. In this article, I want to share with you the dangers of dwelling upon your past. These dangers are: –

It hinders you from starting something new

When you dwell on your past too much and you remember how you have been failing, then you cannot dare something new. The Bible records the story of Simon Peter and his brother when they were fishing. They had worked all the night but they caught nothing. They had even reached to the point of giving up. Jesus appeared unto them and commanded them to throw the net into the deepest area. Instead of obeying Jesus, they started telling Jesus how they had worked for the whole night and caught nothing. But afterward, they obeyed and caught large amount of fish. The reason why they were not following Jesus instruction was because they were dwelling on how they had failed to catch anything for the whole night. If you dwell on your past too much, you will always be finding an excuse for making you not initiate a new project.

It makes us limit the power of God

We are tempted to limit the power of God when we dwell on our past. Maybe in your past, you have been walking, paying fare when going to work and even you did not possess even a bicycle. And God comes into your life and tells you that you will possess your own vehicle. You may be tempted to doubt Him since you may wonder why He was not blessing you in your past. God is able to do a new thing in your life irrespective of how your past had been. He is able to bless you even if in your past you were cursed. We should not rate the power of God by our past experiences, we should rate Him by what His word says He can do. This is the main reason of why we have been limiting God. But if we read through the Bible, we shall find that God is able to change your situation.

It makes us not have big visions/dreamsAnother danger of dwelling upon the past is that it makes us not have big visions. We need to rise beyond our past and say enough is enough. We ought to start dreaming big dreams concerning our lives irrespective of how our past was. We should change our thinking and believe God’s word that He is doing something new. Once we change our view of the past, we begins to see new and greater things happening in our lives. When God called Gedion to go and fight against the Midianites, he refused at first because of the past of his family background. But when he believed that God will be with him, he led the Israelites and they won the battle against the Midianites. He became a greater man who was used by God in a mighty way. As I conclude, I want you to note that your negative past does not disqualify you from having a bright future.

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