FAITH FOR NEXT LEVEL | AUGUST 1 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Releasing the Past’s Grip to Walk the Wilderness Pathway

The wilderness feels barren, but God’s promise is not about revisiting old paths. To "forget the former things" means refusing to let yesterday’s victories or failures dictate today’s direction. Just as God told Israel to stop fixating on the Red Sea miracle, He invites us to fix our eyes on the unseen road ahead. This requires releasing emotional ties to what was—whether regret or nostalgia—so His new work can take root. Trust grows when we stop rehearsing the past and start anticipating pathways only He can carve. [07:21]

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
(Isaiah 43:18–19, NIV)

Reflection: What memory or habit keeps resurfacing to distract you from God’s “new thing”? How might releasing it create space for His wilderness pathway today?

Day 2: Breaking Cocoons to Fly as Unprecedented Butterflies

Transformation often feels like loss before it becomes liberation. A caterpillar doesn’t cling to its crawling identity—it surrenders to the dark process of becoming winged. God’s “new thing” (Hebrew: shadash) is not a tweaked version of the past but something wholly fresh. Clinging to familiar methods, relationships, or self-perceptions can blind us to His unprecedented work. Freedom comes when we let Him dissolve our cocoons, even when the unknown feels riskier than the ground we’ve always known. [21:02]

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
(2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)

Reflection: Where is God inviting you to release a “crawling” mindset to embrace wings? What makes this shift feel thrilling or terrifying?

Day 3: Expecting Mud or Miracles: Recognizing God’s New Methods

Jesus healed one blind man with spit-mud and another with a touch—same power, different methods. We often miss God’s new work because we expect it to mirror past breakthroughs. Faith for “next levels” means surrendering our templates. His creativity isn’t limited to formulas, church traditions, or personal comfort zones. The God of Exodus is also the God of exile, making streams in deserts and life from graves. Look for His hand, not His handwriting. [22:25]

“After saying this, [Jesus] spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, ‘Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam.’ So the man went and washed and came back seeing!”
(John 9:6–7, NLT)

Reflection: When has God surprised you by working outside your expectations? How can you cultivate alertness to His unconventional moves today?

Day 4: Feeding Faith Daily: Declaring Tomorrow’s Bread Today

Faith isn’t a one-time meal but daily nourishment. Just as bodies need breakfast, souls need declarations of God’s promises to sustain vision. The Israelites collected manna each morning; hoarding yesterday’s portion bred rot. Likewise, clinging to past blessings—or defeats—starves today’s faith. Speak His “new thing” over dry places: “God is making a way here.” Words shape sight. What you declare today prepares the ground for tomorrow’s harvest. [27:37]

“Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
(Lamentations 3:21–23, NLT)

Reflection: What “daily declaration” can you speak over an area where you’re waiting for breakthrough? How does verbalizing it strengthen your resolve?

Day 5: Trusting the Guide Who Makes Rivers in Wastelands

A wilderness is not a dead end but a proving ground for divine guidance. God doesn’t promise to remove deserts but to reroute rivers through them. His presence, not circumstances, defines the journey. Like the Israelites following the cloud, forward motion depends on trusting the Guide, not grasping for maps. What looks like a wasteland is often the stage for His most jaw-dropping provision. Walk—don’t camp—in the dry places. [29:09]

“I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.”
(Isaiah 41:18, NIV)

Reflection: Where do you feel spiritually “parched” right now? How might shifting focus from the desert to the Deliverer renew your hope?

Sermon Summary

Faith for next level begins with Isaiah 43 saying, “Forget the former things. Do not dwell in the past.” God is not calling for amnesia, and God is not asking anybody to pretend nothing happened. The word “forget” means the past must no longer control, influence, or dictate the future. The old victory cannot be the stopping place, and the old failure cannot be the prison.

God declares a new beginning, not just a second chance. The old thing may have been good, and God may have blessed yesterday, but yesterday is still yesterday. The Red Sea was mighty, but God told Israel that even that was not all He could do. The same God who made a way before is saying, “I am about to do a new thing. Can you see it?”

The past becomes the enemy’s weapon because the enemy does not know the future. The enemy reaches for memories, emotions, old wounds, old songs, old smells, old stories, and tries to keep the mind stuck in a place the body has already left. God’s word answers that attack by calling the believer to stop talking about the old thing like it has authority. The more the past is exalted, the bigger it becomes. The more God is declared, the more faith rises.

Faith for the next level requires trust in God’s timing. God may not change the situation first because God may be changing the heart in the process. The transformation needs trust, obedience, and faith in the word of God. The believer must speak God’s promise over life because Jeremiah 29:11 is voice activated in practice: “God has a plan for my life.”

God’s new thing often does not look like the old thing. Jesus healed one blind man with mud and another by prayer, so nobody can lock God into yesterday’s method. The caterpillar cannot expect to crawl forever when transformation is making it a butterfly. The cocoon of comfort must break when God calls His children into unfamiliar territory.

Gratitude opens the eyes to what God is doing now. Complaining keeps the heart in what could have been, but faith asks the Holy Spirit, “What is the new thing right now?” The wilderness may be dry, uncertain, and hard, but God says He will make a pathway in the wilderness and rivers in the wasteland. Jesus is the living water and the guide through life’s wilderness, and the call is simple: follow Him, trust Him, and move forward.

Key Takeaways

1. The past must lose authority The past may still carry memories and feelings, but it cannot be allowed to rule the direction of life. God’s command to “forget” is not a call to erase history, but to stop letting history control faith, speech, and expectation. The believer can learn from yesterday without living imprisoned by yesterday. [07:21]
2. God gives new beginnings A second chance tries to recover the same old thing, but a new beginning receives what God is doing now. God may close one path and open another that carries greater purpose than the original plan. Faith must be willing to receive God’s future even when it does not look like the future once imagined. [26:54]
3. The enemy uses old stories The enemy does not know the future, so the enemy works with the past. Old wounds, old emotions, and old failures become tools of distraction when the believer keeps rehearsing them. God’s word gives the believer a stronger declaration: it will get better, because God has more ahead. [12:19]
4. New things may look unfamiliar God’s new work often gets missed because the heart expects God to move the same way He moved before. Jesus did not heal every blind man the same way, and God is not limited to yesterday’s pattern. Discernment is needed to recognize a fresh, unprecedented work of God. [21:39]
5. Dry places cannot limit God The wilderness may be dry, uncertain, and difficult, but God is not limited by that situation. God makes a way where there seems to be no way and brings rivers into wasteland places. Faith for the next level trusts provision before the path looks clear. [28:32]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:14] - Faith for Next Level
[01:35] - Isaiah 43 and the New Thing
[02:33] - Life Is Filled With Transitions
[05:08] - Forget the Former Things
[07:21] - The Past Must Not Control You
[08:40] - Pressing Forward Like Paul
[10:05] - The Enemy Uses the Past
[14:36] - Do Not Stay Stuck
[18:10] - Recognize the New Thing
[20:33] - The Caterpillar and Transformation
[23:12] - Faith, Praise, and Gratitude
[26:05] - A New Beginning, Not a Second Chance
[28:32] - God Provides in the Wilderness
[30:04] - Jesus Leads Through the Dry Place

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Isaiah 43:18-19
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” [01:44] [01:51] [02:00]

Philippians 3:13-14
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” [08:40]

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” [17:04]

2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Observation questions

In Isaiah 43:18-19, what contrast is being made between “former things” and the “new thing” God is doing? [18:10]
According to Philippians 3:13-14, what two actions happen at the same time as Paul moves toward the goal? [08:40]
What are some specific ways old memories can pull a person backward, even after they have physically moved on from that season? [12:19]
What pictures are used to describe God’s provision in hard places, and what do those pictures show about His power? [28:32]

Interpretation questions

Isaiah says to forget the former things, but not to erase history. What does it mean for the past to stop controlling the future, and how would that change the way a believer talks about old victories or old wounds? [07:21]
Paul says he forgets what lies behind and presses forward. Why is looking back so dangerous when someone is trying to walk by faith into what God has next? [09:30]
Jeremiah 29:11 says God has a future and a hope for His people. What does it look like in real life to trust that promise when God’s timing feels slow or confusing? [04:07]
2 Corinthians 5:17 says anyone in Christ is a new creation. How does that truth challenge the voices that keep telling a believer they are still the same person they used to be? [16:15]

Application questions

What past moment has been trying to keep authority over this season of life—an old hurt, an old mistake, or even an old success? What would it look like this week to stop giving that old thing so much voice? [15:51]
God’s new thing does not always look like the old thing. Is there an area where expectations have been so tied to one outcome that something fresh from God might be getting missed? [20:40]
The enemy works with memories, emotions, and old stories. What usually pulls the mind backward the fastest—a conversation, a song, a place, a regret, a disappointment? How can God’s truth be spoken in that moment instead? [10:05]
“God has a plan for my life” needs to be spoken with faith. What promise from God needs to be declared out loud in this season, especially when discouragement tries to speak louder? [17:19]
Gratitude helps the heart notice what God is doing now. What has been complained about lately that could be turned into thanksgiving? How might that shift help with seeing the new thing more clearly? [23:49]
Sometimes the new beginning requires stepping out of a cocoon of comfort. What area feels unfamiliar or uncomfortable right now, yet may be exactly where growth is happening? [21:20]
God makes a way in the wilderness. Where does life feel dry, uncertain, or stuck right now, and what would trusting Jesus in that place actually look like over the next few days? [30:23]

Sermon Clips

58s

#LiveForwardTrustGod

“God is really into new beginnings. Stop living in what could have been. Live in the new faith for next levels. God is doing a new thing. You know, man, if I didn't quit my job, if I didn't do this, you quit. Let's take it from here. Don't live in the past. Don't live that way. If I was there, maybe I would become the boss or the CEO of the company, whatever. But you may quit. Do not live in what was. Move forward. Trust God for a new beginning. Ask Holy Spirit, what's the new thing you want me to do right now? Because I can't get that back. Live in what God can do right now. Not in what could have been.”

42s

#EmbraceTransformation

“Often we don't recognize the new thing because we expect it to look like the old thing. Imagine a caterpillar expecting to crawl forever on where it is being transformed into a butterfly. Imagine that. You have to go through, you have to allow yourself to go through a transformation. Don't lose yourself in a trial, don't lose yourself in a transformation process. But if you stay where God has you right now, I'm telling you, God has greater in store for you.”

48s

#StopReplayingThePast

“It doesn't mean like you block it. Do you come to church, we pray for you, and you just forget about everything. All of a sudden you have amnesia, you don't remember anything. It's not like that. It means do not repeat it. Stop talking about it. Especially if it was bad. Don't talk about it. The more you talk about something, the more you exalt it, the bigger you make it. Talk about your God. Don't talk about yesterday's past. It's gone. It's yesterday. God wants us to focus forward. He wants us to think about the future. Forget the former things. Mean here. Forget the words. Forget here means stop talking about it. Tell your neighbor, stop talking about it.”

43s

#GodMakesAWay

“The wilderness is a dry place. How many of you are in a dry place? You right now. You don't have to lift your hand. You're in a dry place. Your. Your Life is filled with so much uncertainty, dryness and difficulty. But God is not limited to your situation. He makes a way where there seem to be no way. That's the God we serve. But you don't show it. We already made a way. We don't see it because why we're looking for familiar. Amen.”

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