In life we gather memories which are not always useful to us. They may have been, but they have now passed their “use by” date. We may have been counselling people, and our heads swim with the memories of the confidentialities given to us, of sins repented of, in our presence. Instead of seeing the joyful face of a saved and forgiven child of God, are we seeing instead their sins, as they approach us to shake our hand as they gladly meet us?

Are these memories holding us back? Is the enemy waking us in the middle of the night to trawl up old memories or confidentialities and use them to disrupt our present life? Are we distracted from the work for today, by the forgiven sins of others from days long past, which have never had a bearing on our lives?

The LORD has a solution in His Word.

In Genesis Chapter 41:51 & 52, we read the following:

“And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manasseh, saying, ‘For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house’. And the name of the second he called Ephraim, saying, For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

We need to look at this in prophetic language and understand what is being said. Joseph had a son and called him Manasseh which means “God has made me forget”; this allowed him to forget all the years of toil in his life. He called his second son Ephraim, which means “doubly fruitful”.

In other words, if we want to become “doubly fruitful,” we need to first forget the past!

This is a gift which the LORD can give us if we but ask. We may ask the LORD that he grants us the same gift of Manasseh He granted Joseph – the same “Godly Forgetfulness”. That He will take away these memories which are not useful for us any more, that we may move on and become, more like Ephraim like, being doubly fruitful.

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