It’s time to break camp and move forward in 2023

You can cry out to God

Hello and welcome to part three of our New Year series. In this third section, I want to help you move forward into your God-given destiny, while unpacking areas that are potentially sabotaging your dreams and holding you back.

If you missed part two, where we encouraged you to follow through with your dreams so that you can fulfil your God-given destiny, click here to go back and read. With that all said, lets get right into it…

One of my favorite Old Testament stories is found in the book of Exodus.

God’s chosen people had let go of Him and had ended up in slavery and bondage.

In their desperation they cried out to God. God heard their cry and set up a plan to save his people.

God can deliver you too

In the middle of your bondage, you can also cry out to God. He can set your free no matter where you find yourself.

Nothing is too difficult for your Father in heaven.

The Bible says that God heard their desperate cries and He was moved.

Over a series of events that included raising up Moses as a leader to lead them out of bondage, God also sent plagues on the land of Egypt to weaken its oppressive grip on His people. And God set his people free!

At one time, darkness came over the whole land, but the Bible says that God’s children still had light in their dwellings.

God can bring light into your darkest situation. He can make a way. He can make your dreams in 2023 a reality!

God set up a miraculous plan to deliver his people. He even parted the Red Sea in two to make a way and lead His people out of bondage, on dry ground, through the Red Sea. God then destroyed the enemy by closing the sea on the chasing army.

God had promised to lead his people into a good land, the promised land, but He first led his people into the wilderness. He wanted his people to get to know him. God wanted to equip them for the promised land, which was their destiny.

Just like God opened the Red Sea, so Jesus was lifted up on the cross, and shed his blood so that you and I can be set free from bondage and be led into the promised land.

It is time to break camp and move forward

Now I want to show you a very strange situation.

In Deuteronomy 1:2 it tells us that it usually would take only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai into the promised land, but forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, they were still camped in the wilderness.

Can you fathom this? Israel had cried out to God to deliver them. God had miraculously delivered His people.

It should have taken 11 days to get into the promised land, but 40 years later they were still camped in the wilderness. An entire generation missed out on the promised land.

Don’t give up on your destiny

By the way…

While in the desert, God continued to provide for and protect his people. He protected them with a pillar of fire by night and set up a cloud by day to shade them from the desert heat. He even fed them with manna from heaven.

Don’t give up on your destiny.

In Deuteronomy 1:7-8, God told his people…

“It is time to break camp and move on. God told his people to move on into the Promised Land of Canaan.”

“Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.”

God told his people: You have stayed here long enough. It is time to break camp and move forward.

I really believe it is time for you to break camp and move on. It is time for you to possibly restart your journey with God, so that He can lead you into your destiny.

It is time to dream, it is time to leave your past behind, it is time to get up and to get ready for your dreams in 2023. No matter how bad things look, it is time to rise up, to break camp, and to move forward.

Philippians 3:13-14 NIV

“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

You don’t have to face life alone. God wants to walk the journey with you, right into your destiny.

What is holding you back?

Israel had an 11-day journey from the wilderness to get into the promised land, but 40 years later they were still there.

Why?

God had given them the land, but what held them back?

Fear and unbelief

God had told His people that he was giving them the promised land.

Moses had sent 12 spies out into the land in advance to check things out. They came back with this report …

Numbers 13:27-33 NLT

“We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey.”

And then came the BUT …

Ten of the spies spread a bad report that melted the people’s hearts with fear.

They said, “But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there. They are too strong. We are too weak. We are like grasshoppers compared to them. They will wipe us out.”

This caused great fear among the people even though two spies came back with a positive report, saying “Let’s go at once to take the land, we can certainly conquer it!”

The report of the 10 spies spread a fear that paralyzed Gods people.

But get this…

How could God’s people not trust Him? God had mightily delivered his people out of slavery. He had miraculously opened up the Red Sea, and led them out of them bondage. He had promised his people this amazing land. How could they not trust their Savior who has all power and authority in Heaven and on Earth. Instead of trusting in their limitless God, they let fear and unbelief hold them back.

A whole generation missed their destiny because of fear and unbelief.

No matter who you are or what you face, hold onto God. Don’t fear. Put your faith in your strong and mighty God.

Is fear paralyzing you? Notice – God is bigger and greater than any crisis.

Don’t let fear hold you back from your destiny. Are you being held back by fear? Put your hope in God.

Isaiah 41:10

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Sin

Besides fear, sin also held God’s people back from fulfilling their destiny.

Even though God had mightily delivered his people from slavery, they took their eyes off God and even ended up following idols.

Don’t let other things take God’s place in your life.

Sin cuts us off from God’s best. Don’t let sin rob you of a close walk with God. If you have messed up, then repent of your sins.

Don’t let your sins ruin your dreams in 2022!

Romans 6:23:

“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Compromise

God’s people became half-hearted and lukewarm. They compromised their relationship with God. They had more fear of man than faith in God.

If you have become complacent in your walk with God, a new year is a good time to begin again.

Comfort

Although God had promised his people a land of blessing, they seemed to get too comfortable in the wilderness.

Don’t let the comforts of life hold you back from your destiny.

It was an 11-day journey into the promised land from the wilderness, but 40 years later they were still camped in the desert.

What is holding you back from your God given destiny? What is holding you back from your dreams in 2021?

Maybe it is something else like…

Worry

You may be so anxious about the future.

Proverbs 12:25

“Worry will weigh you down.”

Philippians 4:6-7

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Bitterness and offence

Holding onto unforgiveness in your heart can cause so much trouble for your life. This will poison you and block you off from God’s best.

Matthew 6:14-15

Jesus said, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

According to Jesus, bitterness, offense and unforgiveness actually stops God from being able to forgive you.

God can move mountains in your life.

Mark 11:22-24

Jesus said… “Have faith in God,”

“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

God can do the impossible, BUT this scripture includes a warning.

Mark 11:25 NIV

Jesus continued… “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

In other words, holding onto offense and having unforgiveness in your heart can even stop God from moving mountains in your life.

Life is too short to get bitter and twisted. Forgive. Let go.

Conclusion

Maybe you are fearful and are filled with unbelief. Maybe your life is filled with sin, or maybe you have compromised your walk with God. You may have become too comfortable. Maybe you are gripped with worry, or are filled with bitterness and offence.

You need to let this go and surrender these things to God. You need to break camp and move forward.

Prayer

If this sums up your life, why don’t you surrender these things to God…

Father God, today I let go of these things in my life that are sabotaging my dreams and holding me back. I surrender these to you! From today, help me to break camp and move forward into my God-given destiny. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Would you want to start or restart your walk with God? If you feel led to, click here to pray a simple prayer we have set up for you.

In our final part of this series (part four), we want to see you dare to dream and let go of your past, so that God can catapult you forward into your dreams and destiny. Click here to access part 4.