For I KNOW the plans I have for you,” says the Lord “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT)

• This powerful promise comes with an equally powerful question: If you know that God’s plan is Good, would you know move forward with it?
• MOVING FORWARD depends you LEAVING – Leaving your past.

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. (Galatians 2:20 NLT)

• Your relationship with Christ starts with you leaving something behind: Your Old Self. Your Past.

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24 NKJ)

•  Your marriage starts with you leaving something behind: Your father, your mother. Your past.

Abraham had to leave:

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family. And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. ² I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12: 1 NKJ)

• Why leave your country? Why leave your family? Why leave your father’s house?
• Without leaving, you cannot move forward.
• God’s promises are conditional: Leaving and Moving Forward.

 For all the promises of God IN HIM ARE YES, and IN HIM AMEN, to the glory of God THROUGH US. (1 Corinthians 1:20 NKJ)

• Condition: IN HIM – Without Him there are no promises
• Condition: THROUGH US – We are part of that equation.

“Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:13 NLT)

• The journey of forgetting the past starts with leaving. The journey of moving forward starts with leaving.
• On this journey, God reveals Himself- His name, His character

 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God walk before Me and be blameless.  (Genesis 17:1NKJ)

• “I am Almighty God” – I am El Shaddai.
• The word Shaddai derives from 2 Hebrew words: “Shad” and “Shadad”
• The word “Shad” denotes God as our Sustainer. The one that nourishes and satisfies.
• The word “Shadad” denotes God as our Overcomer. The one that triumphs over every obstacle and all opposition.
• “Walk before and Be Blameless”. In the NLT it says: “Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life”
• Not a perfect life but a blameless life. The word blameless here is not referring to perfection but without guilt and shame.

 And I will make MY COVENANT BETWEEN ME AND YOU, and will multiply you exceedingly.” (Genesis 17:2 NKJ)

• This covenant was conditional: Partnership (God and you); Serve me and live a blameless life; Leave your past behind
• The word Covenant: The cutting of flesh. Blood is involved that seals that covenant relationship.
• It symbolizes a departure from the past. It symbolizes you leaving your past behind you.

“To revisit our past, apart from the blood of Jesus, is to welcome deception in that we are visiting something that no longer exist” (Bill Johnson, Bethel Church)

 CONCLUSION

• What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?