Daily reminders of my past

[NoobSaibot]

Just looking for advice.
My past is full of errors. In the last few days i wake up thinking of my past. I'm so easily full of forgiveness to those who did brutal things to me growing up. But how do I deal with the things I did to others?

I did stupid selfish things to my friends before I became a Christian. I have not been able to ask them all to forgive me. Some I feel are unapproachable and I already know they will despise me. Others I have caught up with and it went ok. What can I do to remedy this situation. I'm probably feeling a tad condemned when I know I shouldn't.
I hope to get advice from anyone here. Thank you

 

[kenisyes]

If you are led to by God, make amends where you can. That might be why He's bringing them to mind. But then forgive yourself; He has forgiven you. Then, when you wake up, look at your children, your successes, and the changes you have made because of Him, and balance the reminders of your bad with the reminders of His love to you. Phil. 4:8.

 

[1Christianwarrior316]

I think Satan uses our past sometimes to make us feel guilty and unworthy as a child of God. You know we can't forget our past. We just need to quit dwelling on it. Sometime the Lord brings to mind these things so we may ask forgivness. Whenever possible ask forgivness to those you've done wrong. And those you've done wrong to that you can not ask forgivness from then seek forgivness from the Lord.

When Satan keeps reminding your of you past, you just remind him of his future!

In Christ, 1Christianwarrior316

 

[Kefa52]

Guilt




The key to releasing guilt is to recognize that we all go through life doing the very best we can with the extremely limited skills and awareness that we have at the time.






Unfortunately, the awareness that we have is seldom enough. As a result we make mistakes. Sometimes we make big ones.






Making mistakes is part of the human process. This is how we learn. Every time you make a mistake you learn a little more about life. You then become wiser and more aware.








Five years from now you will be much wiser than you are today, but the wisdom you will have five years from now doesn't do you any good today. This is true because today, you don't have it.








Likewise the wisdom that you have today didn't do you any good back when you made your mistake. This is true because back then, you didn't know what you know today. You only knew what you knew.








To see this in your life, go back in time to the moment you made your mistake. Notice that at the time, you had a very particular state of mind and a very particular way of seeing life. Notice that you acted totally consistent with where you were at the moment.








If you knew then what you know today, you could have acted very differently, but you didn't. Even if you thought you knew better, you didn't know the consequences like you do today.








So here is the big question: Are you willing to forgive yourself for not knowing? Are you willing to forgive yourself for not being wiser and more aware? You might as well. If you look, you did the very best you could with where you were at the time.








Forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for not being wiser and more aware. Forgive yourself for acting consistent with your limited awareness and forgive yourself for the damage that you caused as a result of your not knowing.








Allow yourself to be human forgiven By Christ.

 

[NoobSaibot]

Thank you all. Wow just holding back my tears......especially ^^^^^^^^^what you wrote Kefa.. Am inspired...I was stuck in ow to forgive those I found hard to reach..

 

[NoobSaibot]

Guilt Resentment and Blame | SMART Recovery®
I though you wrote it.
Would have been cool to get a Christians opinion from experience.

 

[Kefa52]

i did write it. I wrote it for Smart Recovery. I have been working with Smartrecovery for almost 6 years. I have been a facilitator for Smart Recovery for 5 years.

 

[Kefa52]

Here is another Idea I wrote they will be using soon. this is my version. Next I will post their secular version.


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]U.S.A. Exercise.[/FONT]
Grab a blank sheet of paper and something to write/draw with.




In the center of the paper draw a 1 inch circle and label it Jesus on the top and my "existence" on the bottom. I like to draw a stick person in the circle to represent "ME".










It is safe to say that we are all born into this life and we all have existence. We are all the same in that we have existence. How we choose to live out this existence is up to us.








Outside of the circle draw thought balloons. In the balloons write things like our Sin, behavior (be specific). drinking, using, gambling, love , anger, talents, faults, love etc. anything can go in the balloons.






We have existence in Christ, and we are not our behavior or sin. We can look outside of our existence and choose what we prefer, to work on.










Our existence is not a place to hide. It is a place to look at our behavior, our sin, and choose what we prefer/want to work on.=Unconditional Self Acceptance.


Everyone has existence in Christ. We are all the same. No one is better than us or worse than us in our existence. Behavior and sin we can change.


When life gets to be a mess and we need a break we can go to Jesus and rest. We can choose what we need to work on from there.

 

[Kefa52]

Smart Recovery is a secular site. I am 1 of 6 Christians on the site that share Christ as much as we are allowed.
When you go on the Smart Recovery site I am "Hourglass52" You will see that I am active in their so called Spiritual/Religious thread.
I facilitate a meeting on Monday Morning at 6 am Eastern time. I also facilitate a recovery meeting here in my home town but not under Smart Recovery.
I facilitate our meeting here under "Overcomer's in Christ".
I use Christian and secular recovery methods in our meetings.

God gave me the strength to handle my recovery. The tools I used were given to me by him. Smart was just a small part of it.

Here is the secular version of my Existence chart.


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, cursive]U.S.A. Exercise.[/FONT]
Grab a blank sheet of paper and something to write/draw with.




In the center of the paper draw a 1 inch circle and label it "existence". I like to draw a stick person in the circle to represent "ME".






It is safe to say that we are all born into this life and we all have existence. We are all the same in that we have existence. How we choose to live out this existence is up to us.








Outside of the circle draw thought balloons. In the balloons write things like our behavior (be specific). drinking, using, gambling, love , anger, talents, faults, love etc. anything can go in the balloons.






We have existence, and we are not our behavior. We can look outside of our existence and choose what we prefer, to work on.










Our existence is not a place to hide. It is a place to look at our behavior and choose what we prefer/want to work on.=Unconditional Self Acceptance.


Everyone has existence. We are all the same. No one is better than us or worse than us in our existence. Behavior we can change.

 

[Kefa52]

Why don't I use traditional 12 step recovery? 12 step recovery has been poisioned with lies. The biggest and scarriest lie is that you can choose a god ( little g) of your understanding. THAT'S SCARRY. Alcohol was my god of understanding for 25 years.

 

[Kefa52]

God has carried me through my entire recovery. My strength and wisdom comes from Him. God gets the whole Glory.

Bob

 

[Kefa52]

Guilt Resentment and Blame | SMART Recovery®
I though you wrote it.
Would have been cool to get a Christians opinion from experience.

My experience starts out. The earliest I remember being beat and physically abused at the age of 7 under a Big cross with Jesus hanging on it.
I hated God, and anything God. What a joke, where was this Jesus during all of this.. It went on until I was 13 when I left home with only the clothes on my back.
I went on to get sexually abused.
Suicide attempts.
Killed people for the government.
Treated people like garbage in third world countries.
Drank and did drugs.
Volunteered for any job that might get me killed. Picked up human body parts off of mountain crash sites...etc,etc,etc.

That giant cross was from my grandparents house. It was like 2 feet tall and scary.
When My wife and I got married some how we ended up with it.
When we were moving into our own house together ( we did NOT shack-up).
I took the cross and threw it in the farm private dump and smashed it with a bulldozer. Drove over it several times.
Ii said to Jesus. "OK", show me what you got.

And Here I am today.

 

[kenisyes]

So in weakness, His power was made strong in you.

 

[TexasHallelujahGal]

when ever we forgive we need to start with ourselves ...yes forgive yourself . and be Christ like from that point on to the best of your ability. your story is all our story nothing unique there all saints have a past beloved ...Jesus is not taking notes ...He forgives and forgets its just gone . never let the sun set on your anger or bitterness ...forgive often resist the devil so he can flee from you . if you have cruel or off thoughts they are not yours the devil is a liar . remember who you are in Christ, go and sin no more .

 

[Tommy4Christ]

Just looking for advice.
My past is full of errors. In the last few days i wake up thinking of my past. I'm so easily full of forgiveness to those who did brutal things to me growing up. But how do I deal with the things I did to others?

I did stupid selfish things to my friends before I became a Christian. I have not been able to ask them all to forgive me. Some I feel are unapproachable and I already know they will despise me. Others I have caught up with and it went ok. What can I do to remedy this situation. I'm probably feeling a tad condemned when I know I shouldn't.
I
hope to get advice from anyone here. Thank you

Seek real repentance before God, we all were wretched sinners before we truly repented of all our past sins before God, He grants mercy and forgiveness to the broken and contrite heart, who comes to Him on His terms.

We cant possibly make amends for all our many, many, past sins, and mistakes that we truly regret doing, so come clean and clear now, make any amends if possible for anything you are doing against God, such as the thief returning what he stole, or breaking your neighbors tools, go and but him new ones, or you injured someone while drunk, or on drugs, you go and do what you can to show them you have changed your heart and will do anything to help them, etc.

God deals with us in the here and now, not the past or the future, so repent, seek His great mercy and power, and He will show you what to do.

Its Not Too Late!


2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.​

As long as mankind has breath repentance can be found, yes I mean found, it usually doesn’t come until the sinning soul breaks down, yielding to the holy word of God, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, who is convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment!
Joh 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
Joh 16:9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
Joh 16:10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
Joh 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
Now many will say repentance comes after the conversion, or somewhere down the road since stopping any sin is impossible, since mankind is depraved and unable.
But God is not mocked, God is still waiting patiently for His wayward creation to repent, forsake their sins, which mean they stop first, and then seek His mercy, broken as a wild horse, now useful to His master. He gave them free will and ability to choose to repent or not.
Rom 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, and the forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
If your life is a mess, and you are living the lie, that tells your conscience you can sin and live of the world and still be saved, and in bondage to your flesh, giving into temptation whenever it comes knocking at your door, just remember it’s not God condoning your bad conduct, but your conscience becoming seared to the point that real repentance and faith will not be found, it will be too late, His great mercy and kindness will not last for long!
So it’s not too late for those who still have breath, and are ready to stop playing Russian roulette with the patients and mercy of God, this is not a game, this is life or death, for all eternity, repent before it’s too late and God says time is up.
Tommy
The Biblical Characteristics of True Repentance: (as taught by early church and Apostles) 2Cor7:10-11 “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”
For True Repentance to have Taken Place the following MUST have Occurred:
1) Season of Deep felt Godly Sorrow for sin. (Invoked by Spirit of Truth working, Jh16:8)
2) A Crisis of Conviction that Cuts to the heart! (Sin already being forsaken!)
3) A Zeal to CLEAR oneself of all Wrong Doing against God. (make restitution if necessary)
4) Indignation and Fear that leads to Vehement Desire to STOP Sinning!
5) Vindication and Finally PURITY of heart!
Every incident of Repentance in Scripture Follows this PROCESS. (DON’T Let anyone tell you it Doesn’t, and they will MOST certainly Try!) The Sin STOPS HERE, The Old Man DIES here, The Flesh is Crucified HERE! NOT Afterwards. The Desires and Conduct are CHANGED here. (Or never will be!)
OBEDIENCE to God follows in NEWNESS of Life and All things New! (Rom6:4-6, 2Cor5:17) If you have NOT Experienced this and have NO IDEA what it means, you are NOT BORN of the SPIRIT!!!
You may indeed have ‘RECEIVED’ Christ, and ‘Believed’ on His Name (repeated some words) BUT the Devils ALSO Believe! (James2:19) If a Person is SAVED by What he DOES and NOT by Faith Alone! (as James affirms, JS 2:24) The What he DOES PART, STARTS with This REPENTANCE!
I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds! Acts26:20
Courtesy standingthegap.org

 

[Precious_Sunflower]

My experience starts out. The earliest I remember being beat and physically abused at the age of 7 under a Big cross with Jesus hanging on it.
I hated God, and anything God. What a joke, where was this Jesus during all of this.. It went on until I was 13 when I left home with only the clothes on my back.
I went on to get sexually abused.
Suicide attempts.
Killed people for the government.
Treated people like garbage in third world countries.
Drank and did drugs.
Volunteered for any job that might get me killed. Picked up human body parts off of mountain crash sites...etc,etc,etc.

That giant cross was from my grandparents house. It was like 2 feet tall and scary.
When My wife and I got married some how we ended up with it.
When we were moving into our own house together ( we did NOT shack-up).
I took the cross and threw it in the farm private dump and smashed it with a bulldozer. Drove over it several times.
Ii said to Jesus. "OK", show me what you got.

And Here I am today.

Praise God that after all what you have been through, you chose to turning unto Him at last!
Thank you for sharing this, it makes me glad that you did find Him even though you went through a lot of hurt and shame during your past life. May God continue to bless you in every way, and may everything you do and say be used to keep on glorifying His name.

 

[StephenH]

Believe me, I know how you're feeling. I think all of the time about mistakes I've made in the past. Sins I've committed, ways I've hurt others in the past that I now look at through different eyes than I did back then. It's very hard to forgive yourself. What I'm trying to slowly realize is that you have to realize that Jesus's forgiveness is enough. It will cover your sins and that you can forgive yourself, but ultimately it is Christ's blood that covers you and provides forgiveness from those sins, regardless of how much they may haunt you.

It is the devil that keeps bringing them to your mind, convicting you over them, telling you the things you've done in the past that quite likely Christ has already forgiven you of. He's trying to prevent you from being the person that Christ wants you to be by having you stuck in the past.

There's many things that I'd like to go back and undo. Too many to list. We just have to accept the fact that the past is the past and that there's nothing that we can do about it. I know that this is much easier said than done. I struggle with it on a daily basis. I'm a work in process and so are you. We won't be complete until the day we're in our heavenly home with him.

Confess these sins to the lord and he will be faithful to forgive. He'll toss them to the depths of the sea.

Here's a song that I try to listen to whenever I've feeling so convicted and weighed down by my mistakes in the past that I need reassuring, I hope it's a comfort to you as well:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kencSLXLxU[/video]

 

[xtinaz]

Hey Conqueror ( Is that evn spl right?? lol!)

Totally know what you mean, I still have old friends who hold soo much unforgiveness and hatred towards me, I did do some brutal things. I was a selfish theif and liar when I pursued drugs! Then when I changed, they wouldnt beleive it for a second and just shut me off, I cant blame them

It was hard at first, I tried to make them forgive me - but you cant make anyone do that, they have to get to that place themselves. I tried to show them the general change and prayed relentlessly that they would forgive me (( the praying part is not a bad thing at all )

God lead me to a place of brokeness with it, Ild be reminded all the time of the scumbag I was and didnt hold much worth next to my name...the most powerful and hardest forgiving I had to do - was to myself! I actually ahd to close my eyes, pictur emyself in front of me and apologise, release myself from my own judgement and critisim...on every shameful thing I had done.

That was powerful in itself, then I got into the word you know, truthful things like ...

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corr 5:17

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? - Rom 8:31

Ultimately the Holy spirit will guide you and lead you. Ask him to help you, show you - most importantly remember that condemnation is not of God, and dont beleive andy lies. Thats why the word is so important to get into alongside Intimacy with Jesus - it helps us distiguish truth - from lies

Bless you brother/sister!!

 

[xtinaz]

PS

God has made so many divine opportunities for me to speak to my friends, but then it is up to them! Just pursue GOd, seek him out - it all falls into place. Amazing things happen when we trust him Dont even take a side glance at the past The more you move forward and press on the more you will grow and understand who you are. Dont allow yourself to be bothered by what you ahve done in the past, protect your compassion for your friends and just continue in your walk and be a light for them and interced on their behalf. Gods ways are higher than ours! He will have it planned out and sorted Your awesome!

 

[rachelsedge]

NoobSaibot, I feel you. I have literal, physical scars from my past of self-harm. I see them all the time, every day. I also have emotional /mental scars, which are not as visible but still clearly there. It really sucks to see those so plainly, knowing that each one of those scars was a rebellion against God, a mindset of "No, God, instead of turning to you, THIS is how I will fix my pain." Each scar is a reminder of a moment when I was destroying His temple.

But, each scar and instance in our life, when we repent and turn to Him, is a reminder of how He has saved us and completely loves us no matter what we have done, or will do. That blows my mind and it's hard for me to comprehend, that Jesus loves me despite who I have been. I actually wrote a poem based on my scars, maybe I'll share it one day.

I would like to share 1 Timothy 1:15-17 with you. I used to stop after reading verse 15, thinking "Woe is me, I'm the worst!" But read the next two verses, because those are also important!

"(15) Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. (16) But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. (17) Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

I'll also share something a very wise professor shared with me that will stick with me for as long as I'm alive: "Not everything is good, but everything works out for good." A paraphrase of Romans 8:28, I suppose. I wouldn't wish my scars on anyone. I don't even like them myself. But because of them, I have gotten to connect and share with people that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to if I hadn't gone though what I have. I think Satan wants us to get hung up on our mistakes so that we can't use them and we stay in a pit of despair instead of looking to Jesus!