Anointed for Forward: Breaking Up with Your Past
You may be asking, “What is God trying to separate me from?” The answer is simple but life-changing—He wants to separate you from your past so He can bring you into your future. Pastor Keion Henderson said it so powerfully in his message Built to Last: “Your future wants to have an exclusive relationship with you.” But here’s the catch—when we try to cheat on our future with our past, we end up in a bad breakup.
In other words, God can’t bring us into our next if we keep dragging the last season with us. He’s calling many of us to break up with our past once and for all. The only reason that breakup becomes painful is when we insist on carrying old habits, old hurts, or old identities into a season that can’t hold them. Your future deserves to be guarded, not sabotaged by what used to be.
Let’s look at how God did this with the children of Israel. After generations of bondage in Egypt, God performed miracle after miracle to bring them out. But even after freedom was declared, Pharaoh changed his mind. As Israel stood trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army, they felt hopeless. Maybe you can relate—you thought you were past the worst of it, only to find yourself facing another impossible situation. You made progress, but the past keeps chasing you.
Yet, God was not done. He told Moses in Exodus 14:15–16, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.” That command—go forward—is everything. It means that even when it looks like the next step could drown you, God is making a way where there is no way. The miracle didn’t happen until they obeyed and took a step forward.
And what happened next is symbolic for us today. God parted the sea and created dry ground for His people, but once they crossed over, He let the waters return—drowning the Egyptians who tried to follow. God was intentional about the separation. He made sure there was enough distance between Israel and their enemies so that when He dealt with the past, His people wouldn’t drown in it too.
God is about to drown your enemies—fear, insecurity, trauma, rejection, abuse, lack, shame, and regret. But first, He has to separate you from them. He has to pull you forward far enough so that when He closes the waters, your past can’t reach you anymore.
I’ve lived this truth. There was a time in my life when I took five steps forward and felt like I went ten steps backward. Transitioning from my past into my future was hard. I had to learn to love myself in the in-between places, to allow God to love me while I was still healing, still learning, still becoming. Nearly seven years ago, I made a decision—I wanted everything God had for me more than anything I wanted for myself. That’s when I aligned myself with His dream for my life, and everything began to shift.
This year, as I’ve listened to so many podcasts and messages about relationships and growth, I’ve realized that becoming a better version of ourselves isn’t just about us. It’s also about not coming into agreement with the enemy’s lies about others—especially those God has connected to our future. As God transforms your future spouse, your family, your calling—don’t fight the process. Transformation takes time, and love covers a multitude of faults.
You are anointed for forward. God is calling you to step into your next, not stay stuck in what was. Your future wants an exclusive relationship with you—no more cheating with your past. Go forward. Love is waiting in your future.