Breaking the Chains of Your Past
“The problem has been, you’ve always looked at yourself before you’ve looked at Me, says the Lord. You’ve looked and saw your failures and saw the things which you thought separated you from Me. But remember, the only thing that separates you from Me is your receiving of Jesus Christ. And I want to take and do a perfect work in you.
Yes, I will show you things that are displeasing, things that undermine your walk with Me. I will show you those things so that you can get beyond them because I want to bring you beyond those things so that you would understand that it’s not your performance that I’m concerned with; it’s your yielded-ness and your availability to Me.
As you learn to be available and as you learn to step in Me, you’ll see there are greater things that I want to do with you than just get you passed your past. I want to get you to the point that you have a future with Me and that you recognize the future that I want to give you is greater than anything that your past may have dictated to you. So, as you continue in Me, and as you continue in Me, and as you continue in Me, and as you continue in Me, you’ll see My glory manifested in your life.
For My glory is my opinion of you, what I’ve called you to be and what I’ve made you to be. So now is the time to hold fast to those things which I’ve declared, says the Lord, so that you would see that I am doing a work in you so that I can do a work through you.” – Prophecy given
The enemy tries to remind you of things in your past. We’ve all done things in our past we’re not thrilled about. Yet, God’s already forgiven you of those things (even before you were born again). The chains of your past can no longer keep you bound.
After we’re born again, we feel freed from our past. God has taken the chain and destroyed it…broken it apart. For some of us, all we really remember of our past is little pieces of it. When we ask God, “What do we do with those little pieces?” God says to just get rid of them because they’re junk.
But then what happens? The enemy comes and tries to get us to focus on those little destroyed pieces and he says, “Look…there’s still some of that chain left. Remember when you sinned? Remember when you betrayed that person? Remember when you were unfaithful?” The devil takes those destroyed pieces and tries to gather them together to build a chain. If you start entertaining his thoughts, you’ve got another chain.
Your self-imposed conviction and condemnation get you to start thinking you don’t deserve what Jesus has done for you. If you don’t watch out, you end up with a longer chain that binds you.
This can cause additional problems because you know you were free of it at one time, but the enemy has reminded of it so much that you think that’s who you are. “I thought I was set free, but I’m still that old man. I thought when I was born again and I was set free, but I’m obviously not because I’m still having these thoughts.” The chains of your past can seen to wrap themselves around you again.
Stop Entertaining the Past
God says that you ARE free. Stop entertaining and looking and listening to the voice of the past. The chains of your past that are on you now not your chains.
The Apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:13-14, “one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul took the chains and cast them away…all that’s left are the broken pieces. You can do the same thing with the chains of your past.
Those little pieces can’t hold and stop you. Jesus already destroyed the chains of your past! He’s forgiven you! Let the very thing that the enemy brings up be the thing that reminds you of your freedom and keeps you free! The enemy can’t break you if you’re living in your future. Don’t let your past define your future! The chains of your past try to keep you from lining in your future.
See, the past is a place of learning from, not living in! The chains of your past can no longer hold you; Jesus has set you free.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things (the chains of your past) have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” – 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 (NKJV)
This is the truth of God. Our past is truly passed! In God’s eyes, you are His child and He is well pleased with you and the chains of your past are broken. The glory of God – that opinion of God that’s settled in us, given to us and conferred on us – becomes alive each day, it sets you free from your past to be who He’s called you to be.
When the enemy comes and says the past is who you are, you tell him that’s not who you are. You’re dead to that. The only way he gets in is if you believe his lies and start linking the chain pieces back together. The only way it happens is if you start living this life in a chain prison of your own making. God has broken the chains of your past!
Meditate on the Mirror Bible’s quote of Galatians 2:20; it will help you understand what God has done. If God isn’t bringing up your past (and He isn’t), why should you allow it to guide your future?
“So here I am dead and alive at the same time! I’m dead to the old me I was trying to be and alive to the real me which is Christ in me! Co-crucified, now co-alive! What a glorious entanglement! I was in Him in His death; now I discover that He is infused in me, in my life! For the first time, I’m free to be me in my skin, immersed in His faith in our joint-sonship! He loves me and believes in me! He is God’s gift to me!” – GALATIANS 2:20 (MIRROR)
Watch the service on which this post is based; CLICK HERE.
