Unshackled Moments ~ August 30 ~ Redirecting The Power Of The Past

In yesterday's UM More Than Forgiveness we looked at the promise of  receiving more than forgiveness. We are cleansed of the scars and stain of our sins in order to be fully restored and prepared for service in the kingdom of God. But the reason we cling to the concept of progress not perfection is that like Paul we have not yet been made perfect, we will struggle with the carnal cursed mind and emotions and the habits and patterns of the flesh as long as we are in this body. We are being transformed from glory to glory, every day we can make progress by grace, we can become more and more like Jesus, sharing His nature, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

But no, we are not perfect. And at times, as foolish and stupid as we may see it, we may even have fleeting thoughts of returning to Egypt, of going back to the areas of bondage that Christ has set us free from. We may even stumble and turn back that direction if we get outside of God's will for our lives for too long. Knowing nothing will come out of going back to the pig pen of our prodigal days but misery, destruction and death, we may, at the very least, be tempted. But we can cling tot he promise that God has made a way of escape for every moment of temptation.

But being tempted to do something so outside God's will, so counterproductive and dangerous as putting the chains back on like they were a fashion accessory rather than bondage, makes it easier for us dread and fear our past. We know that the past can come back to bite us in behavior. And that is not the only way the past can hurt us. God forgives and no longer holds our past against us, as far as the East is from the West, is the distance between you and your former sin once He's done. Not only forgiving the past, we are cleansed, transformed and made new. Our spirit may still struggle due to being housed in this cursed body, but the new spirit within us is born of God, new, holy, righteous and spotless.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

- 2 Corinthians 5:17

Yes, we are not who we should be yet, we are not fully who we are going to be when we see Jesus face to face, but we are also not who we once were. We have been brought into the family and the service of God in order to bring Him glory and fulfill His purpose. But in order to lean on His grace and walk with Him, we have to remember that we are His and new creations. We have to let go of our Egypt. Our new spirit loves to worship and walk with God, but our old flesh hates it, because it means death to the self will. God forgives, but these days with almost everything we say and do available online even years after, society has a better memory than an elephant. Between  our old nature wanting to do it's old thing,  to die in a blaze of selfish glory rather than in submission to God, the enemy wanting to hinder our service to the Lord, society and the people who make it up, it is sometimes difficult to impossible to escape our past. It never seems to go away. It is brought up and used against us, and then that incident becomes a part of our past that is used against us. It doesn't matter if you remain silent, everything you say and do and even some things you don't will be used against you. At least that is what it can feel like.

So then what? What can we do when the past we thought was dead, passed away in the forgiveness and grace of God and the ancient history of life, crawls up from the dead, pursuing us at every turn in a effort to eat our brains? Old things have passed away, but the record remains. And it will. Thousands of years later, I know about King David's crimes against God and man. Thomas is still judged by his brothers and sisters in Christ for one moment of doubt more than for walking with God for years. Forgiveness doesn't erase the past, neither when we get it nor when we give it.

And if we are not careful, the past can hurt us as much today as it ever did, as we resent, re-feel, the mistakes, hurt, rejection, injury, guilt, and shame of what we have done and what has been done to us. It can get in the way of our trusting God. It can make it hard to believe and trust in the forgiveness we have been given, the freedom we have found and the progress that has been made. It can shake our world as the ground we thought was solid drops from under our feet when something from the past rises from the grave once more. Can't the past just stay dead?

One day, yes, it can. But on this side of eternity it's not going to happen. We are going to struggle with our old habits, with accusations and guilt over things we have done despite being forgiven of them and the judgements and consequences that result from having a past. We are going to fight the spirit of unforgiveness and bitterness as things we believed settled and forgiven by us begin to hurt once again as something triggers that memory and emotion of someone's past damage to us. So what do we do? How can we move on and stop having the past damage the present?

If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past, nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity, and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.

That's a recovery promise. It's not a scripture promise, but I have found it to be true in my life, and I have found it to be based on God's truth, making it something we can count on. When we surrender  our will to God's and give Him control of our lives, amazing things begin to happen in our lives as we walk with Him. That's truth. We are going to know freedom and joy that can't be explained or altered by circumstance and situation. But what about the past? The word of our testimony becomes part of our assets. Paul never escaped who he had been and the Christians he had persecuted and killed  before walking with Christ by changing his name. Nor did he try to. He brought it up as much, if not more, than his detractors.  Because who he used to be, what he had been forgiven of, verses who he became and how he lived after meeting Jesus did more to show the love and power and faithfulness of God than all his religious perfection ever did or could. And he used what God had done in his life, through overcoming the past and his guilt, to help others. He found peace that passed understanding rather than shame when he looked at who he had been. He knew God was using him, he had a purpose in the will of God and self, pity or any other aspect, was sacrificed on the altar of service and worship to God as he made his life a living sacrifice.

Our past doesn't have to be hindrance, nor does it have to be an effective weapon to be used against us. But before we can let go of regret, before we can use our past to help others and to triumph over the enemy of God, we must heal. We have to come to that place where the past is no longer killing us and getting in the way of our relationship with God. Oh, it may get used against us still, but the frequency becomes less and less and it's power becomes harmless. There are ways that we can heal and embrace our story. Our past is part of the greatest tool we have to serve God with. What we were like, what did and how we reacted to what others did to us, what happened when we found a solution to the misery and chaos of life trying to survive what it was like, and what that lead to, what it's like now. That is what gives God glory and shows others that there is a way out. That's how we give away what we have been given and lead others from Egypt instead of returning ourselves.

So how to get there? First, remember, remind yourself of what God says about you. You are forgiven You have been cleansed. He will and has been vengeance on your behalf. A horrible price is demanded for every pain, hurt and act of destruction against you. Nothing has slipped by His care or attention without the damage done to you being avenged. Justice will be satisfied. God sees us as He sees Jesus, righteous. And those who accept His work for them and are adopted by God, are clean before their Lord, forever. Those who reject relationship with God, will pay an eternal price for their sin. But every sin, every debt caused by every hurt will be paid in full, either by the blood of Jesus poured out on the cross or in eternal torment. Forgiveness from us does not negate justice. Justice will be served. The price of sin is death, and it will be paid in full. If you are His, your past no longer has power over you because the debt was paid by Christ. If you are not His, He is calling saying that He died for you as well. You can be forgiven and have the weight of debt and guilt removed forever.

Use the reminders as positives rather than negatives. The world and the enemy love to remind us what what we have done wrong and what has been done to us. The damage, inflicted by and upon us, is a favorite distraction from the love of God in our lives. But when those reminders come up, we can cling to the grace of God to use the reminder to remember the rest of the story, the truth. Despite what  I've done and the damage to me, God has accepted me and loves me. There is nothing, NOTHING, that can separate us from the love of God. God  has promised to heal and restore me fully, and He has already begun the work that He will finish. What lays behind me I can let go of and walk by grace toward a glorious future where I will perfectly and uniquely reflect an aspect of the glory of God with my life, but at the same time all that crap that once served no purpose but to sow destruction can be used to defeat the enemy and pull people closer to God so that they can find relationship, restoration and healing as well.

We need to meditate, to chew on and ingest, the Word of God and His truths so that when the half truths and lies come against us, our reaction is to counter them with the truth quickly before they damage us or cause us to fear and doubt.

We need to forgive as we have been forgiven. No debt owed us will go unpaid. We don't need to seek vengeance. We can forgive because the debt is or will be paid. No one will escape justice just because we don't demand payment. Either what is owed us was paid by Jesus, just as all we owe God and others was paid by Jesus, or they will pay a price much higher and much more costly than we could ever collect when their debt is called by God anyway. So what is our tiny bit of torture to them when they are either forgiven by God or paying that price? If I am at my maximum place of torment, nothing else that happens can make it worse, and if I can not be tormented because I have the power of the peace of God protecting me, then nothing can take that away. So we are only making ourselves miserable and hurting ourselves when we refuse to forgive. We are not adding to punishment. We are not keeping anyone from getting away with anything. We are only hindering the grace in our life as we refuse the fruit of love to have its way in our heart.

It can be a struggle to hold onto the freedom we have been given. But we are free, we have been forgiven, He will move on our behalf and demand full payment for everything anyone ever has done or will do to hurt us (including what we do to ourselves), He can and has made us knew, and can use what has happened to His glory and for our good, every single bit of it. Today let us remind ourselves of that and walk in that truth. The past may never totally disappear, but the power can be God's for our benefit and pleasure instead of the enemy's to hurt us. God said it. That settles it. Will we believe it?

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