Leaving the Past Behind

When the Israelites left Egypt, they left in such a hurry that they took their kneading bowls filled with unbaked, unleavened dough. The Lord had instructed them to make bread without leaven, the fermenting yeast that makes bread rise and spread, puffing it up. There would be no time to linger and wait; they needed to get out. Now. This was the bread of deliverance. It wasn’t to contain elements that puffed it up. Unleavened bread remained a symbol of the Passover, a reminder of God’s delivering work that changed their lives in a moment.

We cannot drag the sins of the past season into our new season. Deliverance is a quickening into a new relationship with God. We cannot linger in the land of our slavery. We see this in the life of Joseph, who left temptation so quickly he left his outer garment in the hand of his temptress.

Jesus warned His disciples about influences that will change their nature; He called it leaven. When we linger in places that enslave us, those influences will act like leaven in our heart and change the whole of our nature.

Quit lingering in the past and move quickly into the new season of worship and devotion with the Lord. Get free of the entanglements that will bind you, and flee into purity and passion for Jesus! We cannot compromise with temptation; we cannot linger in territories dominated by the worship of false gods, sexual indulgence, self-promotion, stealing from others through deception.

Run toward freedom and don’t look back! The bread of God’s Presence is always unleavened bread, emptied of worldly influences. This is the Bread of Life that Christ will be for us. Let us partake of His pure, sustaining Presence and be free of lesser gods.