Pastor Mark Olmos
July 10, 2005 - W0528

There are many things in life that trigger memories from our past.  Sometimes it’s an old song on the radio.  Sometimes it’s an old photo in an album.  We tend to fill our photo albums with pictures that bring warm memories:  celebrations, friendships, and achievements.  We almost never include pictures of bad memories, yet so often, we have images and memories stored in our minds and hearts that trigger bad feelings.

Just like good memories, bad memories are triggered by many of the things around us but they can have devastating affects on us. Bad memories cause us to surround ourselves with invisible barriers to protect ourselves.  Unfortunately, these same barriers often paralyze our personal and spiritual growth.  They prevent us from moving past our sin and can develop into anger, bitterness or distrust that sabotages our relationships. Bad memories can even distort the lens through which we see ourselves. We may tell others how stupid or ugly we are and their reaction is one of shock because they think we are quite awesome. When you dig deep to identify the source of this type of negative thinking, it almost always points to something in your past. We often try to bury those memories but bad memories have a habit of creeping back into our lives and haunting us.

Ghosts of the Past that Haunt us Today

As we continue our Lost Adventures series, it is helpful to be able to recognize the ghosts of the past that haunt us. There are basically three categories of them, the first is…

·        personal tragedy leaves me filled with doubt and distrust.

There are terrible events that occur in the world for which no one is to blame, they just happen:  a young couple engaged to be married step into a lighted fountain and are electrocuted to death; a gifted, well-loved teacher has a headache, puts her hand to her head, collapses and dies; a young couple has a problematic first pregnancy where their baby is born with underdeveloped lungs and the parents hold the baby in their arms for about an hour until the baby dies.  These are tragedies we can’t control but we cry out to God and sometimes it seems that He isn’t listening.  As a result, we conclude that either He is powerful but not very loving or He is loving but not very powerful.  We begin to doubt God’s love and feel like we can’t trust Him.  And if we can’t trust God, we can’t trust anyone else.

This first ghost is personal tragedy and it leaves us filled with doubt and distrust, while the second ghost…

·        Personal failure can fill me with regret and guilt.

Ghosts of this sort are painful times caused by our own doing…wrong choices where we said ‘yes’ to drugs or chose to drive drunk.  Maybe a fit of rage caused us to hurt someone we truly loved.  We said things we can’t take back and we did things we wish we never had.  Maybe, in a moment of weakness, we made a choice that we will regret forever…something that pushed someone away from us and we’ve lost that relationship forever. We hate ourselves for the choices we’ve made and allow personal failures to fill us with regret and guilt. To dampen the pain and self-hatred, we build defenses and don’t allow anyone to get close to us. 

This second ghost of personal failure is self-inflicted and can fill us with regret and guilt, while the third ghost is inflicted on us by others…

·        relational wounds can leave me bitter and vengeful.

This is a big one because we live in a world of imperfect people.  These are wounds we receive from the deliberate acts and choices of others.  It’s when we are talked about, lied to, stabbed in the back, and deceived.  It can happen in marriages, friendships, workplaces, and yes, even in churches.  This kind of hurt provokes a desire within us for revenge; we have a tendency to want to make things right by making those who offended us suffer just as we have. These types of relational wounds can hurt us deeply and if left unresolved, and can manifest itself in unexpected ways at unexpected times. 

Personal tragedy, personal failure and relational wounds can not only steal your joy and relationships, it can also steal your self-worth.  If allowed, it will keep you from growing into the person God wants you to be.  But, it doesn’t have to be that way.  We don’t have to face it alone.  When you recognize that Jesus is a part of this all, you can include Him in the solution and just watch and see the amazing things that will happen. 

how to break free from your past

Jesus is the solution to all things but what steps can we take to enable Him to help us break free from our past?  The first thing we can do is…

1.      i need to revisit my understanding of who god is.

When we are suffering, we begin to question our circumstances and often question God.  We ask God, “What have I done to cause this to happen?” or “Don’t you love me?”  The book of Job is a wonderful example of how our understanding of God can help us deal with unfortunate circumstances.

Job was a man who lived a righteous life but Satan challenged God to allow him to take away all of Job’s blessings to test Job’s faithfulness.  When all was said and done, Job went from a great man to a pitied man, so much so that at one point, his wife told him to curse God and die, and his friends start to wonder what Job had done to deserve this misfortune. Through the suffering, Job’s heart hardens a bit and he challenged God to tell him what he had done wrong.  Without answering Jobs question, God responds by asking, “Do you know who I am?” By this comment, God reminds Job that He created the world and runs the universe, and that He has sovereignty over the world.  As a result, Job’s heart softens and he returns to pure faith, love and trust in God: 

“I know that You can do all things; no plan of Yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)

When the first man introduced sin into the world, suffering became a part of our world.  But, when the kingdom of God comes, Revelations 21:4 reminds us that there will be no more pain, death, or crying because the old ways will pass away.  But for now, we live in a fallen world.  In the midst of his suffering, Job turned his eyes toward God and his faith was strengthened.

By Job’s example, I would like to challenge you to revisit a place of pain in your life but this time take Jesus with you.  Trust in God while you take that tragedy to His throne and pray for everyone involved.  Ask him to help you trust Him as Job did.

Result:  I can trust Him with my times of suffering.

Understanding who God is can help us through the bad times but we also need to receive God’s grace.

2.      i need to fully receive god’s grace through jesus christ. 

 “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)

Rather than live with constant regret of “would’ves, could’ves and should’ves, let God’s grace wash over you and restore your joy.  With Jesus, there is no condemnation, just conviction and redemption.  It’s as if He says, “You matter to God.” 

Jesus came to die on the cross for us so we can receive forgiveness by God’s grace, not by anything we have done to deserve it. If you struggle with sin or decisions of the past, follow these steps:

• Confess it for what it is.  Renounce it and don’t rationalize it.  Ask Jesus to forgive you.
• Do everything to make it right.  Plan to see someone or do something that will right the situation.  Let the Holy Spirit guide you.  The Bible calls this repentance. 
• Forgive yourself.  This step is sometimes the hardest but just think…if God forgives you, you can forgive yourself as well.

These steps are important and in no way mean that you should take sin lightly.  Confess it, renounce it and make things right, then…

Result:  I can fully and completely forgive myself for the sins of the past.

Then lastly, to break free from your past…   

3.      i need to unleash grace in every area of my life, past, present and future.

 “And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”  (Eph. 4:32)

God treats you with grace upon grace and He wants you to treat others that way as well.  Remember, it was God’s loving choice to give you grace (not anything you did to deserve it) so you must extend that grace to others.  Let grace define you and your memories.  Don’t let bitterness or a pool of hatred prevent you from becoming what God wants you to be, instead…. 

• Ask God for His strength to extend grace to broken relationships.
• Tell God that you trust Him to bring perfect justice in our life.  We can’t do it because, inherently, we want our enemies to suffer; however, Romans 12:19 says that vengeance is God’s alone so be assured of justice and turn it over to Him. 
• Choose to love and forgive people with all of their faults.  You were like them and yet God extended His grace to you.
• Make the first move to call or visit someone to make things right.  Their response, no matter what it is, is between them and God.  Your task is to be obedient to God and to be at peace with everyone.  Leave it all in God’s hands and He will do the miraculous.                                                                                                                                                                                     

Result:  I can genuinely forgive those who have hurt me.

Take some time today and revisit a hurtful time in your life.  Examine the book of Job.  Watch the “Passion of the Christ” where you can leave your sin at the cross.  Offer the grace you have received.  Here is the absolute key to all of this:

“…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philip. 3:13-14)

It means don’t let your past define you.  Instead…

            FOLLOW HARD AFTER JESUS AND PRESS INTO YOUR FUTURE WITH HIM…

Then, invisible barriers will disappear, your limitations will melt away and you become more and more like Jesus.