"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;" - Ephesians 1:7,
Now, the word 'riches' in the Greek here means abundance and fullness! We have been redeemed through His blood, according to the fullness of His grace. God has enough grace for your past beloved. He does not want you walking around shackled to the mistakes or failures from days gone by. That is the scheme of the enemy because as long as you are stuck in your past, you will not be effective for Christ in the present and will not even be looking toward what God has for you in your future. Sinful past? Give it to God. Failed marriages? Give them to God. Dysfunctional family, haunted pasts, generational curses? Give it all to God. His grace is full enough for all that you come to Him with.
But some of us will not go to Him with it. We cling to the pain or the dysfunction because at least we know it. At least it is familiar. We allow it to mold us; to shape us and then the enemy uses it against us. Remember, he is the accuser. He will whisper in your ear about your past in order to keep you there. He will whisper how many mistakes you have made. He will whisper demeaning your worth; your value. You do not have to listen to the whispering of the enemy. You must understand the schemes of the enemy, as Paul did:
in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes. 2Corinthians 2:11
You have a defender beloved. When the enemy whispers that you made mistakes in your past, you tell him he will have to talk to Jesus about that! When he whispers that you have failures in your past, you tell him that Jesus says you are more than a conqueror! When the enemy seeks to condemn you remind him that:
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus..." - Romans 8:1,
Just remember when the enemy tells you about your past, you remind him of his future! And the future is the second imperative Paul speaks to in this verse. Not only does he forget what is past, but he strains toward what is ahead. Now, we can all look toward what is ahead. We can anticipate, dream, or hope to what is ahead but Paul is saying that is not good enough. We must strain. The dictionary defines strain as:
To exert to the utmost. To stretch beyond the proper point or limit.
