“I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however, I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead”
(Phil. 3:13) TPT
Today, I would like us to focus on the power of forgetting. I have learned from experience that forgetting things, unpleasant things, is a weapon that can silence the voice of the enemy. Forgetting doesn’t mean that we now have no recollection of offenses or wrongs, but that now there is no pain associated with the offense. Forgetting is the first step. Next, we must learn to replace the pain of the memory with purpose. We forget by displacing the painful memory with the purpose for the pain. One of the greatest examples in the Bible is the life of Joseph with regards to his brothers. Of course, he remembered what they had done to him, but when they came for forgiveness, Joseph wept.“And Joseph said to them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? Vengeance is His, not mine. As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day” (Gen. 50:19-20) AMP.
Joseph named his firstborn son Manasseh. “And Joseph called the firstborn Manasseh [making to forget], For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil and hardship and all my father’s house” (Gen. 41:51) AMP.
God is the one who gave him the power to forget the pain of his past and mistreatment from his jealous brothers. Because he could forget, I believe he was given a second son Ephraim [to be fruitful], “For [he said] God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Gen. 41:52) AMP. His forgetting unlocked the door for his future blessings.
THE LAW OF DISPLACEMENT
The law of displacement says that two things cannot fill the same space at the same time. We cannot problem solve and complain at the same time. We have authority from God and the anointing to continually speak power words. We must make a daily choice to choose either life or death. “I call Heaven and Earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live” (Deut. 30:19) KJV.
Jesus warned us that, “every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Mt. 12:36) KJV. An idle word is a useless, inactive and unemployed word. If our words can be unemployed, that tells me that we have power to decree a thing and have it become established (Job 22:28). This also tells me that the LORD has made us employers of His Word which we can send out to work for us. Jesus teaches us that we can say to a mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and it would come to pass. (Mark 11:23)
We cannot speak life and death at the same time. We must learn that forgetting is a hidden weapon we can use against the enemy to win the battle. Commit to speak the truth and let the offenses go. A fountain cannot send forth sweet water and bitter water at the same time. (James 3:11)
Let us join the Apostle Paul in saying, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Phil. 3:13).
