Are you stuck in the past, reliving it every day and every moment? Do you wish you could forget about the past and move on? There are three things that I do that help me overcome my past, help me live for today, and look forward to tomorrow.
- Identify what hurt me.
The first thing I do is to identify exactly what’s eating me up from the past, and talk to the Lord about it. I look at it square in the face, and hand it to the Lord by talking to Him. I get into the detail of exactly what hurts me and tell the Lord. If it’s too hurtful and it still cringes me to even acknowledge it, I ask the Lord to help me talk to Him about it. I look at the scene in my mind and I imagine the Lord seeing the same scene and I ask Him, “Please help me to talk to You about it.” And He does. He will help you too because He’s done it for me time and time again. Once I’ve asked the Lord to help me talk to Him about it and He helps me, I let go of my inhibition and I get into the details of my story. I let the Lord know what I feel: my disappointments, my shame, my pain, on and on. I don’t hold anything back from the Lord because He was there. He knows every detail of what transpired. I don’t need to hide anything from Him. But even though He knows about everything, I still need to talk to Him about it, because by talking to Him about it He can deal with me. He can show me things I’ve not considered before. He can enlighten my mind and help me see it in a different perspective. It also helps me feel that I’m no longer alone in my suffering. He is here now with me as I relive it with Him. I am not alone.
- I forgive.
I forgive anyone that has hurt me. It is crucial that I do this or else I’ll never be able to move on. For me, the only way to successfully forget about a hurt is to also forgive anyone that has hurt me. They say forgiving someone is not for their sake but for your sake. You take away their power over you to hurt you again and again.
On the other hand, if I hurt because it’s my fault, I acknowledge it to the Lord and ask for His grace and forgiveness. It’s imperative that I forgive myself or others sincerely in my heart, otherwise moving on will not be possible. Healing will not be possible. If there is bitterness or anger I tell the Lord that I feel this way, and I ask for His help to stop being bitter and angry. One way that has worked for me again and again is to say out loud what the person has done to me. and to say I forgive them. Like this:
“Jesus, I forgive so and so (mention the name of the person to the Lord) for saying (or doing) such and such a thing to me that ended up hurting me (Say exactly what they did). I forgive them for being so horrible and thoughtless about my feelings. I forgive them and let go of the things they’ve said about me or did to me. It is no longer in my heart, Father. I forgive them. Please help me to forgive them. In the name of Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.”
I also do the same thing if I was the one that did a stupid thing, and I want to forget about it already.
“Lord Jesus, I forgive myself for doing or saying such and such (I name whatever it is) to someone (I mention the name of the person). I ask for Your grace and forgiveness and I repent of it. I thank You for Your great love for me and shedding Your precious blood at the cross so I can find Your love and forgiveness today. I love You, Jesus. I thank You for Your forgiveness and helping me to forgive myself. I pray Father that You will touch so and so (name of the person), that they may find it in their heart to forgive me. Please take this sin I have done away from their memory. Please don’t let them remember it anymore. Please also help me to forget about it too. I Thank You, Father, in Your wonderful name, Jesus. Amen.”
- I determine in my heart to forget about it.
Once I’ve talked to the Lord about what hurt me, and I’ve asked the Lord to help me forgive myself or the person that has hurt me, I also ask Him to help me forget about it and let it go. I determine in my heart to stop feeding it. I starve it and I rebuke it away. I also stop talking to anyone about it. It means when the scene comes up in my mind, I refuse to entertain it. Often times I find that when I’ve talked to the Lord about my sin or the sins others have done to me, I end up forgetting about them. It seems like they just automatically lose their power to torment me anymore. But there will be times that I will find myself getting afflicted by them again. Then I connect to the Lord in my heart and ask Him why I’m thinking about that pain again, and why it’s back in my head again. He shows me it’s Satan bringing it back to afflict me and make me unhappy. Remember, Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and his greatest deceit is lying to us about the love that God has for us. He wants us to stop loving God. He wants us to accuse God of doing us wrong and hurting us, when in reality he’s the one doing it. So don’t fall for it. It’s Satan’s work when a bad memory returns to you once you’ve talked to the Lord about it already and want to forget about it. Once I’ve talked to the Lord about my sins and confessed them to Him, or the sins of others in my life, their power should be gone. So I’ve learned to talk back to Satan and to rebuke him. I’ve learned to tell him,
“Shame on you, Satan. You know I’ve already repented of this and talked to the Lord about this. He’s taking care of this already for me, why are you bringing this back up to my mind again? You just love to afflict me and torment me because I’m a child of God. I come against you in the name of Jesus. Go away and leave me alone. I rebuke you in Jesus’ name.”
I tell you, it works! Once I’ve determined to stop entertaining the past or pain in my life and move on, whenever it comes back in my mind again to afflict me, I know who is doing it. Once I’ve rebuked Satan the memory of the pain goes away and it’s gone. It no longer has the power over me.
Finally, to keep my mind stable and armed from depressing thoughts and debilitating thoughts that drag me down, I focus on the goodness of the Lord in my life. I thank Him for all the wonderful things He’s done for me today, in the past, and that He will do for me in the future. I focus on His goodness, not on the bad things I’ve done or were done to me. I focus on happy things and what I am believing Him for in the future. I also read the Bible, especially the Book of Psalms. The Book of Psalms is one powerful book that lifts me up again and again. Whenever I have no desire to get up or get going for the day, I open that book and read it to myself until it inspires me. I also couple it with prayers to the Lord to help me and inspire me to get up and get going. If I’ve sinned because really, who doesn’t? (The Bible tells us that the righteous falls but rises up again. {Proverbs 24:16}) The Lord will show me what my sin is and when He does, I will quickly acknowledge it by saying to the Lord, “I’m sorry Lord, please forgive me and cleanse me. I repent of my sins.” And believe it or not, I will feel lighter. I will feel happier again, because He does forgive me and wants me to move on and get going with my day. Before you know it I will find myself zooming away with my chores and being productive.
The Lord gave His life for us at the cross, because He loves us so much and wants to see us happy. His desire is to not only give us life everlasting with Him, but even here and now give us life more abundantly. He wants us to overcome everyday so that we can do His work and glorify His name. He doesn’t want us stuck in our past and reliving it again and again. He wants us to be victorious everyday, and we can do this because He will help us if we allow Him to help us.
So remember, talk to the Lord about whatever pains you. Ask for His forgiveness. Forgive others and yourself, and move on by forgetting the past and rebuking the enemy whenever he brings it up again. Thank Him, focus on His goodness and read the Book of Psalms when you get up in the morning and even at night before you close your eyes to sleep. Remember what the scripture tells us: what a man thinks, so is he. {Proverbs 23:7} So feed your mind with good thoughts and wonderful things of the word of God. It might not happen overnight, but sooner or later, our thoughts will be things that will uplift us and not drag us down anymore. There is nothing the Lord cannot help us with. If we learn the principle of talking to the Lord about everything, and I mean, everything, we will overcome.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. {John 16:33}
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. {John 14:27}
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. {Matthew 11:28-30}
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. {Psalm 43:5}
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. {Psalm 98:4}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You so much for Your great love for me. I thank You that You died at Calvary to set my soul and spirit free. Thank You for forgiving me of my sins. I live today because of You. I love You so much Lord Jesus.
Father, I pray Your continued grace and mercy and forgiveness and cleansing upon my soul. Help me to always talk to You about everything in my life, especially things that bother me. Help me to be open to You and not hide anything from You. Help me to be victorious over any past sins or past pain. Help me face them one by one that I may live the life that will glorify Your name today. Help me to be victorious everyday to accomplish Your will and Your work in my life. I pray these things Father, in Your most wonderful and victorious name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
