Move Forward

So I'm just gonna write my thoughts once again, because this is what I do. 

I've been thinking about how many people actually advance towards the Kingdom of Heaven and how many start on the journey to Heaven but don't finish, or they turn around because of some uncertainty or some other reason. But yes, they did have full intentions of finishing but .. Well .. Didn't.

Why is this?

So I'm just going to be real and open and honest. 

I noticed in my own life that this has been happening to me. 

Yes! I wanted to advance towards the Kingdom! But something kept holding me back. 

And I didn't know what it was.

I prayed.

I read the Word.

I pleaded with God to tell me what's wrong. What I am doing wrong.

And nothing. I got nothing. Or so it seemed.

But the last two weeks I was hit with a revelation of why this is. In my life anyway. Everyone is different.

But I came to realize while sitting in a service that I am not letting go of the past. In my life. My mistakes.

I would constantly pray to God and beg His forgiveness for sins that I had committed years ago. I would do this over and over again! 

And I would reach points of desperation and despair and I would condemn myself and just not be able to move on. 

Seriously people, do not do this!

What I didn't get was that God had already forgiven them! When we pray in faith and ask for forgiveness, God forgives us and remembers our sin no more. 

Yes we all no this verse .....

Isaiah 43:25

I--yes, I alone--will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.(NLT)

That seriously jumped out at me and slapped me across the face! When I heard that, I sat there the rest of the service and heard absolutely nothing else. Like seriously! All I could think about is how God remembers our sins no more after He forgives us and wipes them away. 

It's mind blowing, it really is. To me anyway. 

I have read that verse so many times and I have heard that verse being used in sermons, but somehow just didn't grasp it. I didn't believe it for myself. I believed it for everyone else, but when it came to myself, I felt like a had to prove something to God. (If you think about it, it really is lame.) I realized that by doing that I wasn't excepting the Father's love towards me. I wasn't accepting His forgiveness towards me. I was rejecting it. 

That broke me.

So I let go. And I let God. 

I can't look to the past and think I'm going to go forward. I mean seriously everyone knows this. It's logic. Yet, it's easy to do. 

That was then. This is now. 

Now....I am moving forward. I am advancing towards the Kingdom. 

Let's continue to be real, shall we? No, it's not always easy. Yes, hardships arise. There are mountains and valleys and all that "not so cool stuff". But is it worth it? Yes!!! Like yes, it is so worth it. 

And yes, although hardships, battles and trials arise, you will never go through th alone. Christ is always with you. 

“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” 

So if there is anything holding you back, I want to encourage you to move forward. Let go of whatever it is. Maybe you don't even know what it is yet. That's ok. Ask God to show you, and He will. It might not be right that second. And then again, it just might be. But if you're looking to the past .. Because of something you've done, or something that's been done to you, forgive and let go. And then MOVE FORWARD!