How to Let Go of Last Year Without Guilt | DAY 2 DEVOTIONAL

Morning Emphasis: Release, forgiveness, and freedom to move forward

Is there anyone here still saying 2025?

Or maybe you’ve called today Monday when it’s really Tuesday—because Monday was a holiday, Tuesday is your first workday, and in your mind, it feels like Monday.

That’s a simple mix-up, but it points to something deeper: There are moments when time moves forward on the calendar, but the heart hasn’t caught up. The date changes from 31st December to 1st January, yet our mindset, emotions, and spiritual posture remain anchored in what was.

The whole year changes, but the weight does not. The heart still carries conversations, decisions, regrets, and moments we wish we could revisit. 

So many of us as believers have stepped into this new season still loving God sincerely, yet quietly burdened by guilt from the previous season. This guilt does not always come from wrongdoing or is the result of failure. Sometimes it comes from effort, from trying, from caring, from being faithful under pressure.

I am reminding us today that as believers, we were never meant to carry around guilt. Jesus died for that too, so that He can carry our guilt and shame.

Before encountering Christ, Paul was known as Saul, a man whose past could have permanently defined him. He persecuted the church, approved of violence against believers, and acted in ignorance while fully convinced he was right. 

His calendar may have moved forward, but without Christ, his heart would have remained locked in that old identity.

When Saul met Jesus, everything changed. Glory to God. Not just his name but his direction, his purpose, and his understanding of who he truly was.

After encountering Christ, Paul did not allow guilt to become his identity or his motivator.

Listen to his words in Philippians 3:13–14 (NLT) “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Paul did not deny his past. He simply refused to live there. 

So we too can say as born again believers, washed in The Blood of The Lamb, that they can talk about me as much as they please, but I am no longer who I was. My future is not negotiated by my past, and my identity is now found in Christ. Amen?!

To “forget” in this sense, Family, does not mean memory loss. It means refusing to let yesterday govern today. Remember now, we are talking about letting go of last year without feeling guilty.

Paul understood that guilt cannot produce growth. Only grace can. And that same grace is echoed in the words of David.

David was a man after God’s own heart, yet he carried seasons of failure, regret, and consequences. He knew what it meant to grieve his own choices. Still, he also knew something else: that God does not hold forgiven sin over the heads of His people. I am so glad about this! Aren’t you? God does not hold forgiven sin over the heads of His people. 

Psalm 103:12 (NIV) says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” 

Here is a fact Family: East and west are directions, not destinations. They do not reverse or circle back toward one another.

Scripture uses this directional truth to show that when God removes guilt, it is not set aside temporarily or at a distance; rather, it is removed permanently, with no path for return or recall.

That’s how completely God separates His children from their confessed sin. Hallelujah.

David understood that clinging to guilt after God has forgiven us is not humility, but distrust. When God releases us, He expects us to walk forward free, not remain tethered or tied to or associated with what He has already removed.

We can also look at the example of this lesser-known but powerful figure called Manasseh, who was king of Judah.

Manasseh’s reign was marked by extreme rebellion. He led the nation into idolatry, practiced sorcery, and even sacrificed his own children. 

Scripture records that because of his actions, judgment came upon him, and he was taken captive. Yet something remarkable happened in captivity.

Let’s go to 2 Chronicles 33:12–13 (NKJV) “Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom.”

Manasseh’s story teaches us something important: no past is too dark for repentance, and no guilt is too heavy for grace. Hallelujah.

If God could restore Manasseh after such deep failure, He can certainly release us from the guilt of unfinished goals, strained relationships, wrong decisions, or missed opportunities from the year gone by.

In real life, many people carry guilt into a new year over things like: 

Words spoken in stress

Seasons of exhaustion where they didn’t show up as they wanted

Decisions made while overwhelmed

Goals they didn’t reach

Boundaries they failed to keep.

The good thing about life Family, is that God does not ask us to pretend those things didn’t happen. He asks us to release them into His mercy. Release, forgiveness, and freedom to move forward - that’s our morning emphasis for today.

Letting go of last year without guilt means trusting that when God forgives, He truly forgets, and when He calls us forward, He does not expect us to drag chains behind us.

Learn this Family: today is not about erasing the past. It is about agreeing with God’s judgment over it. And His judgment is mercy. Bless the name of Jesus.

So today, if you feel the pull of yesterday, remember this: you cannot run forward while constantly looking back. I am still learning this.

Family, the grace of God invites us all to release what has been, so we can receive what God is doing now.

And that is how we let go of last year: not by denial, but by faith. 

Click here to watch the full Live Empowerment Session: https://www.youtube.com/live/VnV-SslllBo?si=LroVcR7PQdKDXBG_