Clean out the Closet

You can’t go forward if you’re always looking back.  I find that this is one of the major reasons why so many women struggle to move forward.  You can’t go forward if you are not looking ahead and always looking back trying to recapture what once was.  I recently had an email newsletter that addressed this very same thing and I found that to be an issue not only in my life, but in the lives of so many other women that I speak with. 

We often struggle with letting go of past hurts, past relationships, past emotions, past good times, past bad times, just the past in general.  Most women like to hold on to things longer than they should and when its time to release it, the difficulty in doing so is much greater than it would have been had it been let go of at the appropriate time.

It’s time to clean the closet and let go of the past, so that God can take you to your place of destiny.  It’s time to cast all of that hurt upon the Lord so that he can bring true deliverance in your life (I Pet 5:7).  When you hold on to things that should be released, you are not allowing God to give you true peace in your life.  The peace that God gives the world cannot give it nor comprehend it (John 14:27).  Why do you have 20 year old shoes in your closet and clothes that you can longer fit and haven’t worn in more than 10 years?  It’s because you cannot let go of the past and you grasp it so tightly because you are unwilling to accept that change has come and you need to make adjustments and deal with the right now. 

Paul said in Philippians 3:13 “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”.  In other words, Paul is saying he realizes he doesn’t know everything or hasn’t arrived at a place of perfection, but he has ascertained that he cannot concern himself with what he did in the past because it is of no benefit to him, so whatever he left behind is behind him, he can’t change it.  What he can do is continue to move forward in that which he has learned and build on that.  Dwelling in the past is of no benefit to us, but learning from our past and letting God take us into our purpose is what God desires for us.

So, clean out the closet of your heart, your emotions, and your past so that God can take you forward into your place of destiny.