FORGET THE OLD

SCRIPTURE READING: JOHN 5: 1-9

FOCUS: “The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.” (John 5: 7)

MEMORY VERSE: “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.” (Isaiah 43: 18)

In our Focal Scripture, having been asked if he wanted to be made whole, the man at the pool of Bethesda began to recount how his stay at the pool had been. He recounted how the angel turned the waters in certain seasons, and how he failed to be the first to enter despite several attempts. A new season was before him, with healing waiting in the wings, but that man was fixated on the old season that had him stagnated.

Friend, God is bringing you into the new, but it is high time you forgot the old. Take your eyes away from the old season that kept you at the same spot year after year. Take your eyes off the failures and mistakes that made your years remain the same. Take your eyes away from the struggles that made your life miserable. Take your eyes away from the weaknesses of the past. Take your eyes away from the pains and shame of yesterday.

Jesus brought a new thing to the man at the pool. He brought healing which was not going to be subject to any known protocol, yet the man at the pool kept his eyes on past happenings at the pool. When your new season beckons, forget the old. Forget who failed you in time past. Forget who refused to help you in time past. Forget the roadblocks that stopped you in the past. Forget the protocols that hindered you in the past. Leave the past.

Any man who is fixated on the old may never arrive at the new. Any man who keeps his eyes on the past may miss the future before he knows it. As you arrive at the brink of the new, put away the garment of the old. Do away with the things that didn’t work in time past. Do away with old memories that want to trap you in hurtful and negative emotions. Do away with anything that says you should remain in the old instead of entering the new.

Don’t talk yourself out of the new by remaining fixated on the old. Forget the past. Forget the old. Keep your eyes on the new.

FURTHER READING: ISAIAH 43

DECLARATION:

• The old is gone; I keep my eyes on the new, in Jesus’ name!