You Can’t Move Forward Without Looking Inward
"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!" - Psalm 139:23-24
Everyone wants to move forward in life. You want to reach new levels, experience new blessings, and step into the plans God has for you. But what happens when the biggest obstacle in your path is not what is ahead of you, it is what is inside of you?
That was Jacob’s reality. He was finally heading home, back to the land God had promised him. But there was a problem. Home was not just a destination. It was a place of peace, security, and wholeness. And Jacob was not whole yet. He was still carrying old habits, old ways of thinking, and old patterns that had followed him for years.
Jacob had spent his life manipulating and deceiving to get what he wanted. Even now, as he prepared to meet his brother Esau, the same brother he had tricked out of his birthright, he fell back into his old ways. He thought he could buy Esau off, send gifts ahead, and avoid truly facing the damage he had done. But when he heard that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men, fear gripped his heart. He suddenly realized that all the wealth, success, and status he had gained in life could not fix what was broken inside of him.
You might not be running from a brother you deceived, but you may be carrying things within you that are keeping you from moving forward. Maybe it is a mindset, a habit, a pattern of behavior that has gone unchecked for too long. Maybe, like Jacob, you have been trying to outrun certain truths about yourself instead of facing them. But the reality is that God will not let you step into your next season without first dealing with what is inside of you.
You cannot keep the same attitudes, the same excuses, the same fears, and expect to step into what God has for you. At some point, like Jacob, you have to stop and say, I can’t keep going like this. Something has to change.
God is not just interested in getting you to a new destination. He wants to transform you along the way. Before you step into the future He has for you, take a moment to look inward. Let Him search your heart. Let Him reveal what needs to change. Because the truth is, you do not just need a new place, you need to become a new person.
Everyone wants to move forward in life. You want to reach new levels, experience new blessings, and step into the plans God has for you. But what happens when the biggest obstacle in your path is not what is ahead of you, it is what is inside of you?
That was Jacob’s reality. He was finally heading home, back to the land God had promised him. But there was a problem. Home was not just a destination. It was a place of peace, security, and wholeness. And Jacob was not whole yet. He was still carrying old habits, old ways of thinking, and old patterns that had followed him for years.
Jacob had spent his life manipulating and deceiving to get what he wanted. Even now, as he prepared to meet his brother Esau, the same brother he had tricked out of his birthright, he fell back into his old ways. He thought he could buy Esau off, send gifts ahead, and avoid truly facing the damage he had done. But when he heard that Esau was coming to meet him with 400 men, fear gripped his heart. He suddenly realized that all the wealth, success, and status he had gained in life could not fix what was broken inside of him.
You might not be running from a brother you deceived, but you may be carrying things within you that are keeping you from moving forward. Maybe it is a mindset, a habit, a pattern of behavior that has gone unchecked for too long. Maybe, like Jacob, you have been trying to outrun certain truths about yourself instead of facing them. But the reality is that God will not let you step into your next season without first dealing with what is inside of you.
You cannot keep the same attitudes, the same excuses, the same fears, and expect to step into what God has for you. At some point, like Jacob, you have to stop and say, I can’t keep going like this. Something has to change.
God is not just interested in getting you to a new destination. He wants to transform you along the way. Before you step into the future He has for you, take a moment to look inward. Let Him search your heart. Let Him reveal what needs to change. Because the truth is, you do not just need a new place, you need to become a new person.
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