When I began praying about our next topic, it literally changed my life, and I’m confident it will do the same for you.
Like a mooring that prevents a boat from leaving the shore, my past chained me and prevented me from moving into freedom from shame and hurt. It wasn’t until (with Jesus) I faced my past and allowed Him to bring healing that I was free to walk into all He had for me.
Your Week 4 Assignment
Read Chapter 17, My Past.
Our past can loom large. Like a moth flapping in front of the movie projector lens of our lives, it makes itself look bigger than it really is, and blocks out some of the best parts. Some of us have endured abuse. Some of us have endured neglect. And many of us have made poor choices, which led to shameful or heartbreaking consequences and/or ugly behavior on our part.
But whatever we endured, or whatever choices we’ve made, our past is not greater than what Jesus offers in trade: healing, forgiveness, and a fresh clean heart, and a fresh clean start.
This week you will be praying about your past. It might be uncomfortable and could possibly be painful, but our heavenly Father is gentle, tender, and knows just what to do to bring healing from the things that hold you back. Best of all, His love never fails. Never!
Chapter 17 Excerpt from Prayers for a Woman's Soul
(Page 92) …If the road is narrow, why do we always overpack for the trip? Whether it’s a twenty-year-old hurt or a grudge from last week, past issues are still baggage, and they can potentially hinder our progress as we attempt to move forward. Every time we use our past to excuse our behavior, hold on to an offense, or refuse to forgive, we’re clutching the very things that threaten to hold us back.
With God’s help, we can genuinely let go of the past. I encourage you to pray boldly and ask Him to help you let go of whatever hinders you. Then ask Him to help you understand that you are a new creation. Because in Christ, you already are.
This week’s verse:
I am in Christ, and have become a new person. My old life is gone and my new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
This week’s questions:
- Are you willing to ask God to reveal any excess baggage in your heart?
- Will you make the choice to relinquish your luggage to the Lord?
I'd love to meet up on FACEBOOK this week and interact with you on our Prayers for a Woman's Soul community there as we talk about what God is doing to FREE US from our past! Join the conversation! Remember, the Facebook page is an option for those who prefer daily interaction. The majority of our online study is right here on my blog! :-)
Late joining
the study? No worries! Here are the links to all of the past Prayers for a
Woman’s Soul online study posts:
WEEK 1
WEEK 1 Follow-Up
WEEK 2
WEEK 2 Follow-Up
WEEK 3
WEEK 3 Follow-Up
WEEK 1
WEEK 1 Follow-Up
WEEK 2
WEEK 2 Follow-Up
WEEK 3
WEEK 3 Follow-Up
13 comments:
Hello, I'm not sure if my past is still holding me back or if it's the recent new mess I've created, but I do know I can't seem to dig my way out of despair and I have lost all hope for my future! I have so much fear and no clue what tomorrow holds. 1&1/2 years ago, after losing my husband to another woman, drugs, and alcohol; losing my home and my job (I worked for & with my ex-husband) I moved to be closer to my son, daughter-in-law, and precious granddaughter. God provided a job for me, but I struggled learningmy job and have since been let go. So, once again, in less than 2 years, I find myself with difficult decisions to make, and none of them seem good. it makes me more sad thinking about leaving my grandbaby but i dont see any other option than to move in with my parents - 4 hours away! It isn't the end of the world, but it feels like it is to me!! I ask God to take my life & end my hurt and pain daily. I hate my life and don't have strength to keep going. I've had enough!
This weeks topic is indeed a very challenging one for me. Many a time we say we have moved on but we leave doors open and are constantly pulled back by our past. Personally i have found myself blaming what happens to me presently on my past. Or i have condemned myself and felt i did not deserve a fresh clean start because of the choices i made in the past. So this weeks topic comes at a time when the Lord has been showing me so much grace. Im glad my mind and my attitude are changed. And i have been dealing mith my fears as well, the past being on my fears. I know now more than ever before that this study is God ordained for me. I pray someone feels the same way and is changed at the end and forever. Thank you Jullie and God Bless You.
Good Morning, I find that my struggles of the past have very little hold on me any more because I have forgiven myself and others over the chaos of my past. It has taken years and God is so faithful to help me walk through the emotional hurts of my past and finally the light through that tunnel of dark, depressing, and despair days. This study is amazing and look forward everyday to what the Lord has in store for me.
Hi, Jullie,i love what God is doing to me through you.I do not have the book but i having following this prayers since week one.My past really defined me for years and caused me somtin in treasured most: a promising relationship.But today i have learnt my mistakes and and asked God for forgivness and am still begging him to restore my relationship with this guy.but above it all let the will of my God be done,WELLDONE JULIE!
Good Morning Julie thank you for todays post, love getting up and finding my new assignment. My Past, yep that was a struggle for me until recently. It's amazing how our past can hold us captive...I'm grateful for Proverbs 31, and My Savior for helping me break free of the past, to let go of the shadow I kept seeing, after much praying and reading, journaling, my shadow took on a face. I was able to work thru that past, and forgive and let go. FREEDOM DOES come thru JESUS, and He promises to "never leave us or forsake us" Deut 31:6, God is our refuge and strength Psalm 46:1
We are His daughters, His workmanship, His masterpiece, I pray for all of you doing this study, that you will find freedom in Jesus, seek Him daily, read, journal, that will help you all on this journey to be free...
Blessings, Anna
Julie I have come to love this verse from week one "My heart is at peace, and it gives life to my body" Prov 14:30.....
Please pray with me for God to bring any left over or hid away issues to me... I am at a place in my life filled with need to let go and move on... I need it all to be lifted after I face it and pray for it to be forgiven... I want to be an active part in this... I am 61 a widow alone and very tired of the stuggles... I am saved, and try to live the life of a Christ like human as much as I can... I also need prayer to stop needing to be spiteful or want others to hurt ...yes the final step of forgiveness... I need help and prayer to apply this
thank you
My past. Wow, do I need this week. I have so much shame and guilt for things that I have done...some over 25 years ago. I know God has forgiven me, I need to forgive myself. with His help, I know I can. That will be my prayer for this week.
I am willing to ask god to reveal any or possible all excess baggage in my heart. I need him to show it to me and let me see it. I will focus on it and then let his strength work in me to get rid of it so I can focus and do what it suppose to be now. Carrying that extra weight is a distraction and I can not move on to the better things in life.
I want to give this extra baggage and dead weight to him and let my shoulders relax and get strong once again. I need not to worry and let all my worries carry on to him and then I can live the life he want me to live. I want to follow his guidance and show him I do care and want what he wants in me.
Like the first commenter, my long ago past has been "banished by His forgiveness" from my heart, soul and mind. But it is my recent past, with a poor choice 6 years ago, that I am living daily. My relationship with this person, although happy, loving and fun initially has turned into a relationship based on the other's need due to mental illness and also cancer. I feel as if I am trapped and yet do not want to leave this person alone to take care of himself...sad, yet true! I pray for God to answer my prayer and to show me His will in what to do...I also know that God's will for this other person may be where I should seek His divine assistance. I need not only to pray for myself but for him...
A few years ago I went on a personal retreat. I checked into a hotel, shut the curtains, turned off my phone and spent two days with God. I prayed fervently, asked forgiveness for all my past choices and repented from all my sins. I cried deeper tears than I had in a long while. I left my past in that hotel room, cleansed and set free. In truly believe God has forgiven me and condemnation is no more. Today, I pray for the strength to let go of regrets about more recent choices and painful relationships. I want to forget the former things and not dwell on the past. I know God is doing a new thing through His love for me. I will stay in His and honor Him with my words and deeds.
This study has met me right where I am, the topic each week so relevant to my life. This week's topic about the past is so meaningful, because I had a horribly traumatic experience in high school that has stayed with me, its affected my mind, my attitude, have many fears as a result, so now this week I tackle it head on-with God. Please pray for me as I have carried the baggage of this relationship and traumatic experience for 24 years, and as much as I want to let it go, I'm struggling with it, its been with me so long its almost like a security blanket. I am praying for total faith and trust in God that he can take this baggage from me, release me from this past, and that I can truly believe I am made new in Christ. Please pray that I can truly accept and believe that I am not meant to carry this with me the rest of my life, and that I can run into the life God has for me, without this baggage, and never pick it up again.
Thank you for the prayers, I am praying for all of you!
Theresa
Thank you, precious friends, for your heartfelt words, prayers, and requests. I am praying for you daily and KNOW God is ABLE to bring complete and permanent FREEDOM in the strong name of Jesus!
I find that yesterdays failures whether recent or from childhood tend to come to the surface and just sit there simmering, waiting for a moment where they can come to a roaring boil and spill over into relationships causing pain to those who are within my space. Sometimes its lashing out at others, other times its turned inward with feelings of regret and hatred for myself. I seem to turn everyone away from me. This study along with other books I have read help me to seek forgiveness, but the problem is no matter how many times I seek forgiveness for my past, it still rises. I know that only I can surrender my fears, concerns, regrets to God our Father, no one else can take them away and give them to God for me. Only I can give them to God. I just don't understand why they keep surfacing, when I've confessed them over and over again, and I know that I have been forgiven, but they still surface and I can't seem to move on. What am I not getting?
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