Day 23 – Be Healed of Your Past; Be Established in Your Today

 “And Joseph called the name of the first born Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. And the name of the second called he Ephraim: for God caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” Genesis 41:51-52

 Thinking about the sequence of the names Joseph gave his sons, it occurred to my mind that the sequence is significant. His first son was named Manasseh – ‘for God has made me forget all my toil and my entire father’s house’. Obviously until this time, his mind was occupied with the loss of his father’s love, the hatred of his brothers, his time in the pit, the unjust accusation and report of Potiphar’s wife and the consequent jail term! God helped him to forget those days by the arrival of this son. He named his second son Ephraim – ‘for God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction’.

Everyone need to first get to ‘the point of Manasseh’ before he can get to ‘the state of Ephraim’. Until you forget the past you cannot get to your future! When Jacob (Israel) was blessing the boys later (Gen. 48:17-19), he set Ephraim before Manasseh! Ephraim stands for your future, and I can say to you now that; ‘what God still have in store for you is more glorious than whatever you might have experienced in your past’. Determine to let go of the pains of the past. Forgive those that offended and ill-treated you. Forgive yourself, forgive your past. Embrace today with hope as you walk towards your future. More so, remember that today is the future you were hoping for, receive it with faith.