Go Forward

For most people, no other year has been as challenging as 2020 for obvious reasons: the outbreak of Coronavirus and its consequences on our spiritual, economic and social life.

More recently are the uprisings in our nation due to the #EndSARS protests against police brutality which eventually degenerated into mass murder, looting and other forms of chaos.

Many dreams, goals and visions didn’t materialize as a result of the pandemic. Even right now, many are grappling with the effects of one the most challenging year in history. Some are stuck, confused and destabilized. They are under pressure as the daily demands of life keep coming to them.

The Israelites came under similar pressure. They had just left Egypt and were heading to the Promised Land thinking they were completely free from their oppressors. But suddenly, Pharaoh and his army reappeared behind them to take them back into captivity.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t go forward either; they were facing the sea; they were in a dead-end. It was amid this pressure that God spoke to Moses, the nation’s leader,

“Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward” (Exodus 14:15).

And this is God’s word to you as a child of God as we proceed in the eleventh month and move towards the year’s end. It is a prophetic instruction. We shall look at both the instruction in the prophecy and the prophecy in the instruction.

The Instruction in the Prophecy

“Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward”

There comes a time you have to stop crying and start taking action. Self-pity does not solve any problem; you have to stand up and become responsible and intentional with your life.

God said you should go forward irrespective of what is happening or has happened to you. That is the instruction. You cannot afford to stay at this spot or give up. The way is forward!

I wouldn’t know if you are in a similar situation like the Israelites. Maybe you are under some financial, marital or health-related pressure. Perhaps, there is a challenge with your business, education or career. Looking ahead like the Israelites, you can’t see hope. You feel stuck and confused about what you should do.

You have cried and prayed; it feels like God is not even listening to you. You feel dry and as if God has forsaken you. God’s word says you should Go Forward nonetheless.

I know it doesn’t sound right yet that’s what you need to do; go forward. It is an instruction from your heavenly Father. It has nothing to do with emotions.

You cannot give up now. You have gone too far to give up now. Go forward! Giving up now means all your wait in the past is a waste.

There may no longer be an iota of an idea in your head on what to do but make up your mind to Go Forward. “Going forward” is the only thing that gives you a chance that you will make it.

God said you should Go Forward. Keep on moving. Don’t be like the Israelites! Even though they cried unto the Lord but under pressure;

They Considered the Past.

They looked back at Egypt where God brought them out. They taught the past was better. They began to regret their decisions and how they followed the Lord in Moses

They said,

“Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

Exodus 14:11-12

The past is gone. Whatever happened in your past is gone. Don’t allow the devil to keep messing up your mind with your past. There is nothing you can do about it than to let it go.

Egypt is not an option. Your formal abusive and sinful relationship is not the will of God for you. God has already taken you out. Don’t let this temporary pressure keep you stuck to your past. Stop feeling guilty. Don’t live the rest of your life regretting the things that happened in the past. It is past already!

“Forget what happened in the past, and do not dwell on events from long ago. I am going to do something new. It is already happening. Don’t you recognize it? I will clear a way in the desert. I will make rivers on dry land” (Isaiah 43:18-19 GW).

Dwelling on the past will deny you of the new thing God is doing; you will not be able to see or recognize it. The past will obfuscate the future. You won’t be able to move forward.

The Israelites didn’t just consider the past, also,

They Considered Giving Everything Up at the Spot.

The Israelites wanted to give up and die at the spot. They said,

“…have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? …For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

Exodus 14:11-12

They saw nothing more than dying at the spot where they found themselves. They didn’t see hope or the possibility of a future.

Friend, you won’t die in this wilderness. It may have been long you have been at this spot but it is not your destination. God is saying Go Forward. Make up your mind that you will go forward no matter what. Even if God didn’t show up, you will keep moving forward.

The third thing the Israelites did was,

They Blamed Moses

“Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?”

Exodus 14:11

Moses suddenly became the source of their predicaments. And we have that tendency to blame someone for what we are going through. It is common for people to find fault when they are under pressure.

They read meanings to actions and things that people do to them even when the people in question meant nothing. They will begin to react to everyone. It is a product of frustrations.

Go Forward. Don’t let anything or anyone hold you back. Don’t let what someone did or didn’t do be the reason you cannot move forward again. Don’t make permanent enemies from people that passionately love you because of a temporary challenge. Be responsible for your life. People do not owe you anything. So, Go Forward!

It is important because “going forward” is the only place where you have hope. Going back or staying at a spot won’t help.

And “going forward” is not necessarily a physical action. It is a disposition of the heart. It is telling your heart that you are not done yet and that you can’t give up now.

Remember the four lepers at the gate of Samaria? They went forward. When they considered all their options, they realized that going forward is the only way out.

“Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now, therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die” (2 Kings 7:3-4).

If you consider the passage above closely, you will realize that going forward to the camp of the Syrians is the only way that offers the hope of life. They’ll die if they go back to the city. They’ll die if they sat still at the spot.

You should not allow the enemy to keep you at a spot or attached to your past. The lepers went forward and what happened after that? The Bible tells us in verse 5,

“And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there.”

2 Kings 7:5

I love that part that says, “to their surprise.” God has surprise packages for those who will keep going forward. If you will hold on and keep moving in the direction of His will, great things that you least expect will happen. To Israel’s surprise, the sea parted and they crossed on dry ground.

I know the year is going to an end already but God can still do something to your surprise. All you need to do is make up your mind to go forward; to try again, to persevere and persist. You must be willing to start the business, to keep hope alive, to keep praying and trusting God and the Lord will surprise you.

So, in obedience to this instruction to go forward, you must sit down and come up with specific actions and steps that you will take to move forward and the Lord will surprise you as you do.

The Prophecy in the Instruction

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.'”

“Go forward” is not just an instruction but a word of power from God to every aspect of your life. “Go Forward” will be impossible if it is all about motivation without the power of God to back it up. You have even tried going forward in the past with little or nothing to show for it. 

It shows that you need more than self-motivation; you need a divine force that can move you forward.

I wouldn’t know if you have ever had to push a car that stopped while you were on a journey so that it can be reignited and get back to work? That’s what God wants to do for you.

God’s word is coming to that aspect of your life that has refused to move forward for many years. This word will push it forward and get it back to work. It is just like when Jesus asked Lazarus to come out of the grave. He had no power by himself to come out but the word of God energized him and he came forth.

If you only cling to the instruction without this prophetic impartation, you will soon return to your frustrations.

When God says Go Forward, He is not just asking you to move your legs; He is infusing you and every aspect of your life with divine energy to move forward.

You must stand on God’s word like Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones and declare what God has said to you and concerning you. You want to speak against every form of redundancy and stagnation. You want to command a forward movement in every aspect of your life. You want to say what God is saying. You want to ask your finances, health, marriage, ministry or business to go forward. You want to push them in the Spirit and by the Spirit like that stagnant car until things begin to work again. You want to say GO FORWARD!

It is the time for you to begin to speak to as many things that need to move forward in your life. Prophesy, pray and ask them to go forward. There is a shift in the Spirit as you speak.

It is your time and season to Go Forward in Jesus name!

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