When the enemy reminds you of your past, remind them of their future!
Declaring God's truth over your life
It took me a long time to convince myself to start writing publicly. So many thoughts swirled through my brain.
What if they think I’m stupid? What if they think back on the things I’ve done in the past and say, “who is she to talk about God?” You have made so many mistakes, you fail at being a ‘good’ Christian all the time, how are you going to act like you are so pious? Remember what you said the other day? And now you’re going to talk about Jesus like you didn’t mess up? You were pretty wild back in the day, you don’t think they will remember? You should probably save yourself the embarrassment, you hypocrite!
Let’s consider this a so to speak, “Christian imposter syndrome”. Who am I to write about God? Well, the truth is, I am a sinner. The truth is, I have done a lot of things wrong in my life. But the truth is- I am seeking the Lord with all my heart. So, these thoughts are not from God. They are from the enemy.
Like I previously wrote about in an earlier article, the enemy will always bring up your shortcomings and your previous sins. Think about it this way, if you are seeking the Lord with all of your heart, earnestly trying to do his will, the enemy can’t prey on your current situation, they must bring up the past. Or they will even bring up small situations that you are working hard on to be better at.
Oh, you shouldn’t have been so short with your son today, do you think that’s what God wants a Mother to be like? Look at you, you claim to be following Jesus and you just lost your temper with your daughter, you haven’t really changed, have you?
These little seeds of doubt and pulling out your past and present shortcomings are one of the favorite tools in the box. Tried and true- they prey upon your confidence in Christ and your salvation. If the enemy can get you to doubt yourself and even worse, doubt your forgiveness through Christ, they can get you to SHUT up! That’s what they want. If they cannot have your soul, well let’s make you as ineffective for the Lord and as non-damaging for the enemy as possible. The enemy’s goal is to hurt the heart of God, by damaging and destroying his creation, the very creation that he loved so much that he sent his son to die a horrific death on the cross for. The enemy doesn’t care about hurting us, it cares about hurting the most high God Almighty who is exalted above all others.
But wait! There’s good news! We don’t have to live in a way that renders us helpless and gives us the feeling that we are not adequate. No, none of us, not one is worthy of salvation or righteous, the bible says in several scriptures that “our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God.” -Isaiah 64:6, Romans 5:19, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:21. This is purely to point out that there is not one person living that is ‘good’. We all fall short in the Glory of a perfect God. Which means that we ALL have sinned and will likely still sin as Christians. The difference is how we approach sin.
The Greek word used in the New Testament for repentance is ‘metonia’. Metonia means- a change of mind. When we were still lost in our sin and not saved, we thought differently about sin, now as a Christian, we should feel deep sorrow for wounding the heart of God and doing what we know is wrong. Our life’s our transformed from the inside out by Christ when we genuinely repent, accept Jesus as our savior and follow him. In Galatians 2:20 it states- “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.”
So we know that when we come to God and truly repent of our sins, that we do not have to live our life in guilt of our past and even recent shortcomings. When those doubts come into your mind, we must declare scripture and truth over them!
“I will remember their sins no more.” -Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:12
“I even, I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”- Isaiah 43:25
“He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” -Micah 7:19
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” -1 John 1:9
“The Lord is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him”- Daniel 9:9 (this is the one that really helps me, because I have been the prodigal daughter many times. I have stumbled and fallen, but the Lord has always picked me back up and always welcomed me back home.)
“I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.”-1 John 2:12
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” -Romans 8:1
Now, let’s tackle feeling inadequate. Have you killed a bunch of God’s people? Paul did. Paul ordered the death of many Christians as Saul before he was transformed on the road to Damascus. Paul went on to write some of the best gospels in the bible, he will forever be noted as one of the best evangelist in history, spreading the gospel an estimated 10,000 miles by foot and by sea.
Have you ever ignored God’s plan for you? Have you gone the complete opposite way? Jonah did. He was called to go to Ninevah, but he decided to go to Tarshish (the complete opposite way). God rescued him from the belly of a whale to deliver the people of Ninevah and lead to their repentance and avoidance of complete destruction.
Have you ever been dishonest or stolen anything? Maybe you had a criminal past? The thief on the cross was the first person to enter heaven!
The point is, none of us are inadequate when it comes to serving God. We can all work for God’s kingdom. When the enemy brings up our past, we remind them of God’s promises over our life in scripture, and we remind them of their future! (I originally got that line from the great 90’s Christian singer Carman)
Here is the future promised to the enemy:
“and the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” Revelation 20:10
God has amazing things planned for every one of us right now. We are living in the last days, and now more than ever, we need to be effective for Christ! Don’t let the enemy stop you from being confident in what the Lord has declared! I am praying for myself, along with all of my readers, that we can be strong for the Lord, we can make a difference for his kingdom and in the lives of others!