32 BURY THE PAST THEN PRAY.

They buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the tomb of Kish his father. So they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God heeded the prayer for the land.

     —2 Samuel 21:14

Forget the past. Don’t remember the former things (Isa. 43:18). Prayer does not change the past. But prayer can cut off the past. Prayer confesses and repents for past sin and failure opening the door for the Holy Spirit to set us free.

Prayer buries the past under the sea of God’s forgiving love, mercy and grace.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

     —Ps. 103:9–12

The past for David was the reign of Saul and his friendship with Jonathan. In order to be the king God called him to be, he had to bury the past.

In order to become all Christ calls us to be, we must be a new creation with the old passing away and all things becoming new (2 Cor. 5:17).

The past reminds us of lessons learned and God’s faithfulness in spite of our unfaithfulness. We can declare that God will forgive when we confess (1 Jn. 1:9).

Pray to declare God’s faithfulness. Pray to cut off the past. Pray to move on with your life. Pray to get into God’s new thing. Pray to die to the past and live life now to the fullest.

Jesus,

I confess and repent of the past. I declare it’s cut off by the shed blood of Jesus. I step by faith into the abundant life that You have given me through your death and resurrection. Amen