A moment ago, a minute ago, yesterday, last week, last month, nine months ago …. All these phrases are examples of THE PAST.
If you are like me and many others, at this time of the year, you have taken some time to reflect on the past, specifically the past year. You wonder what you might have done differently and how you can improve or do better in several areas of your life for this upcoming year. For many, this reflection might present a sense of “stuckness”, where it seems, although not impossible, very likely improbable to get pass certain aspects of the past. This feeling of “stuckness” is often buried beneath smiles and well wishes for the season and new year. But there is a way of getting pass the past, a way to truly enter the new year with new momentum and a new drive. I have found that answer in a set aside time of prayer and fasting at the end of the year. For me, it takes the form of 3 days of prayer and fasting but for others the length of time might differ.
In this final blog post of 2022, I would like to share with you a strategy that I have discovered and used to help me get pass my past. First, before entering this period of set aside time of prayer and fasting, I set goals and clarify the purpose of the times of prayer during this fast. This enables me to be targeted in my requests and focuses my spiritual eyes and ears to receive instructions and directions from the Lord, concerning my deliverance, growth, and development. For me, the story of Jonah has provided targeted goals needed to facilitate my moving pass my past. Those goals are namely:
- To be rerouted and realigned with God’s destiny for my life.
- To hear clearly God’s instructions to me a “second” time.
- To realize redeeming of time/restoration of years.
The prayer requests that accompany these goals would then be:
- Lord, please cause me to have such an encounter in this time of prayer and fasting that it would be the prepared “vessel” that would transport me to exactly where you want me to be in this season.
- Lord God, attune my ears to your frequency and give me the eyes of an eagle to be able to clearly hear your voice and see your leading.
- Lord, grant me acceleration and redemption of time that I would arrive at where you intended me to be at this date and in this season of my life.
My prayer for you as you end this year and look forward to another is that this upcoming year you would
- “forget what is behind and straining toward what is ahead …. press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [you] heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV).
- “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12, KJV).
- that “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better…. that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1: 17-19, NIV).
- “be filled with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience…” (Colossians 1:9-11, NIV).
I love you guys and am praying for you. Have a happy and Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, New Year. Remember, your past cannot hold you back unless you empower it to do so. The Spirit of the living God has given you power to get pass your past.
DIG DEEPER:
- Devotional: The Gift of Mercy
- Bible Study: The Power of the 3-Day Prayer & Fasting