Dealing With Your Past

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richie_2uk
  • Start date Start date
  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
R

Richie_2uk

Guest
Philippians 3:12-14; 1 Timothy 1:12-17


We can do nothing about the past except make necessary confession. And when confession is made, the Bible promises: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

By confession, sin is placed under the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when it is under the blood, it does not condemn any longer. Unless the past is dealt with, one is not prepared to live in the present nor to go on into the future. Unless the past is dealt with, it becomes a haunting memory that saps the strength of the believer so he is unable to honor Christ in his daily life.

What God does with sin when it is confessed is explained in various passages. Isaiah 44:22 says, "I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud, and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you"

Hebrews 8:12 says, "FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE"

Someone has said, "The present must forget the past by correction, or else the past will become a moral and spiritual liability for the future." Consider some items that need to be forgotten: failures--they keep our faith from advancing; successes--they create pride (Prov. 16:18); losses--they drag us down so we cannot serve the Lord the way we should; grievances--they produce false attitudes (1 Cor. 13:6); sorrows--God can heal all heartaches; discouragements--we need to remember Christ, not disappointments, thwarted hopes and plans.

"And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. 10:17).

Theodore Epp.
 
While God forgives our sins quite often we do not forgive ourselves and in worse case scenario others in our lives may "forgive" but don't forget.

With so much peer pressure and the social media there is an onslot of incorrect thinking that we must filter thru God's Word.

People who do not will find little peace in this world. Thier mirror should be the Bible and they should see themselves righteous in Jesus and well able to do that which He requires of them.
 
For I am a new creation in Christ!!! The past is past the future is eternity with Christ!!! All my past does is help me explain the Gospel of Christ in my life. If I dwell in the past I can never get to the future. Thank God for Jesus because without Him my past would still be my future. WooHoo!!! What a wonderful future we have in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!!!
 
Remember this old saying:

When Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future!
 
I don't mind remembering my past and the sins that were a part of it. Because I learned some great things about myself, my vulnerability, what area my weaknesses are in, and especially the power of the Holy Spirit to deliver me. The past is part of who I am, and without it I would not be who I am now.

Even though we don't have to lament it anymore or feel anything but righteous in Christ, it definitely served a purpose - sins and all.
 
Philippians 3:9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
 
I don't mind remembering my past and the sins that were a part of it. Because I learned some great things about myself, my vulnerability, what area my weaknesses are in, and especially the power of the Holy Spirit to deliver me. The past is part of who I am, and without it I would not be who I am now.

Even though we don't have to lament it anymore or feel anything but righteous in Christ, it definitely served a purpose - sins and all.
Click to expand...

All good! It's important that we learn from the past (otherwise we repeat our mistakes). But when Satan tries to cripple you with your past, that's not good, and that's when we need to leave all that behind.
 
One thing to remember (pun intended) is that we should remember the lessons learned...

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" - George Santayana
Click to expand...
 
We are to forget the pain of the past, but not the lessons learned. And of course to not be mired in it. We are continually being transformed in the image of Christ and now, through the Holy Spirit, have the power to live life fully.
 
I do not dwell in the past, I would not repeat one minute of my past, but by the same token, I would not change one minute of my past, either. The trials and difficulties I have brought upon myself through addictions triggered by post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as the self-centered and egotistical personality that is my natural self, have brought me closer to the God of my salvation at every turn.

Simply stated, I would not be the person I am today in Christ had I not been the person I was within myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back