Freedom from Your Past
Embrace It with Purpose
Let’s talk about the past. It’s a big thing. We all have different, challenging experiences and failures. It’s part of living in a fallen world. But if we focus on the negative, it binds us to depression, hopelessness or despair. Now we’re stuck with mind-binding spirits that opens the door to regret and deception. Unfortunately, there is a strongman operating behind one’s thoughts that is keeping anyone from freedom. Mind-binding spirits lock you down and prevent you from moving in a positive or forward direction. They are paralyzing spirits that attack your thinking and physical movement. They keep you in a place of defeat instead of moving you forward to victory.
The solution is to firmly and verbally talk to the evil spirit that is behind the thought. For example, if your mind is obsessively attacked by thoughts of giving up or fear, you should quietly, in a firm tone, command the evil spirit behind the thought to get out of your mind using the Name of Jesus. This is an example, “You evil spirit that causes me to agree with fear, I command you in the name of Jesus, get out of my mind.” Repeatedly say this and you will discover that within a short time the obsession will disappear. This first step leads you to living victoriously and winning the battle of the mind.
The second step is to understand, “What the enemy intended for wrong, God will turn for good,” Genesis 50:20. Interestingly, that place of disappointment or despair leaves wounds that leave a mark on our life emotionally, physically or spiritually but by the power of prayer, it can be transformed into a testimony of greatness. The Bible states, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy,” Revelation 19:10. When you share your story of how God set you free, it gives hope to others. If God did it for you, He will do it for them. Your personal testimony may be the only Bible someone will read.
It’s time to move into the future and to know God is not hung up by your past. In John 4:4-26, Jesus met the woman at the well. She had five husbands and was living with another man. When she met Jesus, she became free from her past and shared her story with others. She is honored today because of the influence she had in her life when she let go of the past and received forgiveness and freedom. She found her hope in God. As we find freedom from what the world tells us about our past, we receive hope for the future by taking these steps:
- Embrace your past. It is a part of your life and part of your story. You don’t have to like or accept the way everything went down, but it’s a testimony of the goodness of God. It is part of your story. Imagine what the woman at the well went through being married to five guys? God brought her into the future without shame. Her testimony gives hope for others today.
- God knows everything. He knows every thought and motive about our past and never gives up on us. He will always provide a future for us so we can move from the old to the new. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “We are a new creature…”. His love and forgiveness open the door for freedom to a new beginning with purpose.
- Freedom is in the cross. When Jesus said, “It is finished!” All our guilt, shame, grief, sorrow, sickness, infirmity was cancelled. Jesus triumphed over our past so we can live victoriously. “You are worthy because you were slain….”, Revelation 5:5. Now Jesus’ past is celebrated in heaven as He bore all our grief and sorrow for total freedom. He alone is worthy to open up the free gift of salvation and to usher in freedom from the past. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we can embrace our past with a purpose. We have a powerful testimony to encourage others because, “old things have passed away, behold, all things are new,” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
