By: Neil Anderson
Please Help Share God's Best News Gospel
EVALUATING YOUR PAST
It was for freedom that Christ
set us free.
- Galatians 5:1
How does God intend for you to resolve hurtful, controlling past
experiences? In two ways:
1:
First, you have the privilege of evaluating your past experience in the
light of who you are now, as opposed to who you were then. The intensity
of the primary emotion was established by how you perceived the event at
the time it happened.
Remember: Your emotions are a product of how you perceived the event,
not the event itself. As a Christian, you are not primarily a product of
your past; you are primarily the product of the work of Christ on the
cross.
The flesh, which represents how you processed those events according to
the world and without Christ, remains. But you are able to render it
inoperative.
When a present event activates that primary
emotion, many people believe what they feel instead of believing what is
true. For example, people who have been verbally abused by their parents
have a hard time believing they are unconditionally loved by Father God.
Their primary emotions argue that they are unlovable to a parent figure.
They believe what they feel and their walk is off course.
Believing the
truth (God's Word) and walking by
faith in God's Word of
who God the Father says you are
in Christ
is what sets us free.
Now that you are in Christ, you can look at those events from the
perspective of who you are today. Christ is in your life right now
desiring to set you free from your past. That is the gospel, the good
news that Christ has come to set the captives free. Perceiving those
events from the perspective of your new identity in Christ is what
starts the process of healing those damaged emotions.
God's good news about our identity is revealed in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things
passed away; behold, new things have come." This is what you must believe
first in order to be set free from your past.
FORGIVING YOUR PAST
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving
each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. -
Ephesians 4:32
2:
The second step in resolving past conflicts is to forgive those who have
offended you.
After encouraging Cindy, a rape victim, to deal with the emotional
trauma of her rape, I said, "Cindy, you also need to forgive the man who
raped you."
Cindy's response was typical of many believers who have suffered
physical, sexual or emotional pain at the hands of others: "Why should I
forgive him? You don't know how badly he hurt me!"
"He's
still
hurting you, Cindy," I responded. "Forgiveness is how you stop the pain.
You don't forgive him for his sake; you do it for
your sake."
Why should you forgive those who have hurt you in the past?
First - forgiveness is required by God. As soon as Jesus spoke the amen
to His model
prayer
-- which included a petition for God's forgiveness -- He commented:
"If you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will
not forgive your transgressions" (Matthew 6:14, 15). We must base our relationships
with others on the same criteria on which God bases His relationship
with us: love, acceptance and forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-35).
Third, we are to forgive like Christ forgave in order to keep our hearts
from bitterness. Paul wrote:
"Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all
malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each
other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." (Ephesians 4:31, 32).
Your act of forgiveness will set the captive free ... then you will
realize that the captive was
you!
PLEASE HELP SHARE THE BEST NEWS GOD HAS FOR EVERY PERSON!
To help us share the Best News every person needs to hear on this planet, randomly click on just three (3) of the JESUS DID IT! links below. It will take just a few moments of your time. Please - that's all you are asked to do. God will reward you! (Of course, be highly encouraged to forward one or more of these video clips to those who may have never heard what Jesus did for them on the cross ... especially young people). Thank you so much!
JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT! JESUS DID IT!
For anyone living in the continental U.S. who would like 50 FREE copies of JESUS DID IT! to be made available to others, simply email us requesting them and provide us your mailing address. We'll be glad to send them to you, as long as ministry funds allow.
Our email: ptoffice@precious-testimonies.com
JESUS DID IT! - or - JESUS DID IT!
(Please paste one of the above links onto your Facebook page - website - blog - video; etc.)
Dr. Neil Anderson has a daily devotional that we highly recommend to
help believers in their walk with the Lord:
http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/dailyinchrist/
Here is an excellant writing on this topic of
STEPS TO FREEDOM IN CHRIST:
http://www.precious-testimonies.com/Exhortations/k-o/WhoIAm.htm
If this writing has blessed you in some special way, would you please take a few moments and share with us HOW it has blessed you? Your feedback is very important. Please mention the Title and the Author of this writing when you email your comments. We promise that we will not put you on any email list, badger you for money, nor will we give away or sell your email address. Thank you so very, very much! Email: ptoffice@precious-testimonies.com
A Special Message: http://www.precious-testimonies.com/Exhortations/f-j/HelpingShareTheMessageOfTheCross.htm
Dear Reader - are you at peace with God? If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake.
To get to know God, to be at peace with God, to have your sins forgiven, to make certain heaven will be your home for eternity, to make certain that you are in right-standing with God right now ... please click here to help you understand the importance of being reconciled to God. What you do about being reconciled to God will determine where you will spend eternity, precious one. Your decision to be reconciled to God is the most important decision you'll ever make in this life, because in Christ, it is impossible to put a value on the worth of your soul in light of eternity.
We truly thank each of you who forward these testimonials and ministry writings (and videos) to others to give them greater awareness. Especially to prisoners! The part the Holy Spirit has you play is vital in helping win lost souls and encouraging and helping believers grow in their relationship with the Lord, and we can never thank you enough for your help on behalf of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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