Don’t Look Back, Let go of the baggage.
Do you sometimes feel guilty and unworthy because of something you did years ago? You have confessed it and asked God to forgive you, but the memory of it still haunts you.
Do you keep talking about your past thinking it will help you not to make the same mistakes or feeling that it will help others if you keep talking about it?
Have others done things to you that you cant let go of? Do you dwell on them and constantly bring them up over and over again? This is not good or healthy to you. You must let go of the past and go forward. Yes we do learn from our past mistakes, but we cannot hold onto them, because the only one they will hurt is you. The ones that hurt you don't remember what they have done to you, and they have gone on with their lives. Therefore you must forgive and forget or you will never get past it or get the healing you need.
I too have been hurt in the past and at times very badly by people I thought I could trust, and thought loved me sincerely, but they did not. But if I did not forgive them, it would eat at me till I would become physically and emotionally ill, and I could not continue to live that way. So I turned it over to God, forgave the offenders in my life and the healing process for me began.
And that is what you must do as well in order to maintain a healthy life.
I do empathize with you. I had feelings of guilt still sweeping over me when I recall how I failed my unborn child. I was not young, I was in my thirties, unmarried and alone in my trials. I was a Christian but had left God behind in my pursuits of me. The support system in my family was not there to help me through this and to my regret, to this day it still haunts me. I see new mothers with their infants and wonder what my little one would have looked like. Would it have been a boy or a girl? Moreover, each time I see an infant, Satan throws the sin in my face, even though I know God has forgiven me. But most importantly I had to forgive myself, or I would not have healed.
More than 30 years after Paul’s conversion, he referred to the time when he had been “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man.” He even called himself the “chief” of sinners. Yet he repeatedly exulted in the certainty that he was a forgiven sinner.
God, who is greater than our heart knows us thoroughly, (1 John 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.) He has forgiven us for the sins we have confessed. We can believe Him!
How often do we carry baggage around that has been confessed and still we pick it up and walk around with it? Have you ever asked yourself why you do that?
The answers are simple:
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It is because you have not forgiven yourself.
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Satan will throw it in your face to wear you down. He will deceive you into thinking that your constant speaking of your past will help others, repeating your sins over and over gives him power over you.
Once you have brought your sins of the past to God and leave them His feet, don't pick them up again. By picking them up again it is an insult to Him. By doing it you are saying that He does not forgive and you prohibit Him from doing His work in your life.
God’s forgiveness of your sin is only half of what needs to be done for full forgiveness; the other half is you must forgive yourself.
For years even though I knew God forgave me of my aborted child, and the lifestyle that I led, I could not forgive myself. In addition, in order to be completely whole again, I had to forgive myself or the torment would continue and Satan would be the victor, and I was not about to let him win over me.
However, I had to learn not to keep repeating the sins of the past and not to bring them to the for-front of my mind. I bury them as best I can, yet Satan tries to make me remember them and tell me that God did not forgive me.
You must let God forgive you, then forgive yourself and then leave the baggage at His feet and LEAVE THEM THERE. Do not pick it up again, that is exactly what Satan wants you to do. He wants you to be convicted over and over again for something that was in the past and forgiven by God. Do not let him control you. The one to control is God and if He can forgive you, then be sure you CAN forgive yourself.
We are all in a growing mode and none of us has arrived. However, growing requires discipline and commitment. We must learn to keep our eyes focused on Jesus and not on Satan. Our eternal reward will come from Jesus. If your past troubles you, chose to act and speak differently—today.
If we constantly look back to our failures or the times we did not accomplish a goal, we will let Satan and discouragement come into our lives, and we will not have the will to try again. We can learn from our mistakes and become better people because we have grown, but we must not let ourselves get stuck in the past.
If we are to grow in the area of self-control, we cannot let our past mistakes and hurts persuade us that we will never live an overcoming life. Some let their failures paralyze them and they quit trying, whether it is going to college and not making it, or marriage and it fell apart, or a job that did not work out or an illness that takes over. They say I have sinned and feel they will never be in relationship with God again. In Christ we can put our past behind us. Paul said, Philippians 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Philippians 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Many have tried to quit a destructive habit, get their anger under control, or develop a discipline only to fail over and over. As Christians we have an advantage. We can pray, seeking God’s forgiveness for sinful behavior and asking him for ways to overcome our habits. We can “forget what is behind” and go after the goal.
Your Feelings Can Be Ignored
Emotions and positive feelings certainly add spice to life, but many people depend on their feelings to determine what kind of day they are going to have. At times, however, feelings can deceive us.
To become more self-controlled we need to be able to rule our feelings.
Advertisers aim at our emotions. If they can convince our feelings that we need something, there is a good chance we will buy what they are promoting. (TV is the devils eye and invention).
Another way to control moods and desires is by carefully choosing the company we keep.
Paul cautioned, 1Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
Emotions can be contagious. If we spend a lot of time with those who are emotionally driven rather that rationally driven, we may end up wanting to do what they do. If we have friends who are “mad at the world,” we may become like them. Proverbs 22:24-25 warns us, Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
On the other hand if we associate with people of good character who are in control of their emotions, they will likely have a good influence on us.
You can choose to over come your bad moods. Although feelings of temptation, discouragement, and sometimes-even depression are common in life, we do not need to let these feelings control us.
We can choose to follow Paul’s advice: Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Philippians 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Do you have your emotions, words, and actions under control? Although most people think they are in control of their lives, outside forces, such as other people, circumstances, politics, the news, or even the weather control them. Our reactions to outside forces demonstrate whether we really are in control. Internal battles may control us as well. Past hurts, rejections, and disappointments constantly nag at us, and we sometimes let our emotional baggage effect how we talk to ourselves and how we treat others.
All of us have a sinful nature, and this nature has tremendous potential to do or say the wrong thing. Paul said, “ I die every day, 1 Corinthians 15:31, meaning that he not only risked his physical life for the sake of the gosepl, but he died daily to his sinful nature. It has been said that more people have been killed with the tongue than in all the wars in human history. Our sinful nature, from which these deadly words spring, can be controlled because we are connected to the Vine; however, we need to continually evaluate our attitudes, behavior, and feelings. The Holy Spirit will let us know when we are being unloving, unkind and unrighteously angry. When he does, we must obey and do the loving thing.
(Note: The killing with the tongue has injured more people than can be counted. What we say and how we say it should be watched carefully. Relationships can be permanently damaged by the words that we speak in anger, hatred, etc. Negative talk should be avoided at all cost. Emotional abuse, verbal abuse can destroy marriages and relationships of all kinds.)
My family, we must remember the great deceiver called Satan is the one who causes depression, sin is the corrupter of our bodies and minds, and Satan is the one who brought sin into the world.