So often we pull around the coffin of the past, periodically peeking inside the grave box, reliving yesteryear. As a result, yesteryear resurrects in the present, knocking on the door of hearts to repeat our personal histories, to take over like cancerous ivy slipping over our lives, squeezing the life out of our dreams.
We blame circumstances and other people, but it’s us who have trained our brains to keep thinking along the same, tired lines. As a result, we take unconscious action that supports our harmful belief system.
Perhaps we don’t believe in ourselves and give up after a failure, shift blame onto other folks, and/or treat ourselves badly. Maybe we bully ourselves with nagging self-talk instead of treating ourselves like a best friend.
Because of Jesus, we get to have a new lease on life that doesn’t involve our pasts.
2nd Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
It’s important that we become aware of our thoughts and how they affect our beliefs. Whatever thoughts aren’t benefiting us, allow God to cut away. Abide in Jesus and allow Him to abide in us so that we can produce a healthy mindset despite our messy past, despite our negative belief system.
When we make room for God’s truth over our stale, unbeneficial truths, we allow growth, love and freedom into our lives.
TODAY’S PRACTICE
1. Think something different. Write what you want to think in a journal or notebook or on a napkin. Make sure those words paint a picture in your mind. Engage with the thought when you read it. Something I’ve learned from writing, the more descriptive you write, the more alive the scene becomes. So, get creative with this exercise. Once you’ve captured your thought on paper, close your eyes and meditate on it at least twice a day.
2. Feel something different. Take your thought and put emotion with it. How will you feel once you’ve put on your new, improved belief system? Actively feel the emotion on a cellular level.
3. Do something different. Begin to act as though this new belief system already exists. What are three things you can do now to start the proverbial ball rolling?
4. Experience something different. Sit in your new belief system and give thanks to God for cutting away the old and pruning the new.
5. Spend time with God and abide in Jesus and His Word before, during and after this sequence.
At our salvation experience, no one tells us that our past no longer gets to dictate our lives. We still look the same and act the same. It’s up to us to find out what the Word says so we can apply it to our lives in a way that communicates God’s love for us.
Remember, you are a powerful child of God and everything you need to rise out of the ashes of the past lives on the inside of you. I’m truly blessed by your notes of encouragement, questions, and prayer requests. MelissaA@TriangleNewsLeader.com
