{"id":993,"date":"2012-06-15T16:11:43","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T16:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/?p=993"},"modified":"2012-06-15T16:11:43","modified_gmt":"2012-06-15T16:11:43","slug":"dealing-with-your-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=993","title":{"rendered":"Dealing With Your Past"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As I have interacted with people and worked at understanding them it has become more clear to me that the past is an important part of the actions of today and how people are preparing for the future.\u00a0 I have heard many people say that you need to forget the past and move on.\u00a0 That is a dangerous way to approach life.\u00a0 Whether you like it or not, your past affects your decisions and actions today, and these, in turn, affect the future.\u00a0 If you do not learn from your past mistakes and hurts, you will most likely repeat them.\u00a0 There are also lies that you have believed and that have shaped you and what you believe.\u00a0 Those lies steal your joy and cause you to be afraid.<\/p>\n

The junk from your past causes you to react to conflict or difficulties in a certain way.\u00a0 Everyone has buttons, that when pushed will take them back to those historical moments that feel similar.\u00a0 When stirred up those lies and fears cause you to react or respond in unhealthy ways.\u00a0 This behavior is often learned from your parents and other influential people in your life.\u00a0 Many of the unhealthy responses like withdrawing, defending, attacking, and deflection were ways you could protect yourself when you were little.\u00a0 Now that you have grown up you are still responding in those ways and it leads to death not life.<\/p>\n

So what can you do about the junk from the past, the fears that lurk inside you and pop out when touched?\u00a0 Major changes begin on the inside where these fears, hurts and hangups live.\u00a0 Change starts as God works on your attitudes, beliefs, and desires.\u00a0 When your attitudes, beliefs and desires start to change and line up with what is true, your outward behavior changes and the transformation takes shape.\u00a0 Philippians 2:13 says “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”\u00a0 This is telling you that God helps you to want to obey him and then gives you the power to do what he wants.\u00a0 The secret to a changed life is to submit to God and allow him to do the inside work needed to transform the person you are.<\/p>\n

So to unload the junk from your past means taking the first step of being reconciled to God.\u00a0 If you have not taken that step, God will not start the transformation process.\u00a0 God is at work on every person alive, drawing you to himself, but he never forces the issue, he just keeps it in front of you.\u00a0 Once you take the step of believing that Jesus Christ was God and man, that he lived a perfect life, that he took all your sin on himself and died for you, that he overcame death and sin by coming back to life in three days and that he is alive today, then you can ask for forgiveness of your sins and be reconciled with God.\u00a0 Doing that brings the gift of living forever with God in heaven.\u00a0 It also begins the process of spiritual maturity.<\/p>\n

If you have done that and are continuing to live with fears that are controlling your behavior, then start asking God to change you on the inside.\u00a0 He will continue the process of change on the inside if you ask him. The way in which to do that is to take in God’s word on a regular basis and communicate with God on a regular basis.\u00a0 Remove the distractions around you and listen to God, then ask for courage to follow through on what he is telling you to do.\u00a0 One of the best exercises to help get that started is the Steps to Freedom in Christ by Neil Anderson.<\/a>\u00a0 Going through those steps is like cleaning up your house.\u00a0 It brings your focus on God and shines a light on your past and your inside attitudes, beliefs and desires.\u00a0 Remember that you don’t clean up your house just one time, it is an ongoing discipline.\u00a0 The good news is that God is doing most of the cleaning when you let him inside and ask for help.<\/p>\n

Once you have dealt with the past in the right way you can move on and never have to bring it up again.\u00a0 These are the words that Moses used to encourage Joshua “Be strong and courageous.\u00a0 Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”\u00a0 That is your message today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  As I have interacted with people and worked at understanding them it has become more clear to me that the past is an important part of the actions of today and how people are preparing for the future.\u00a0 I have heard many people say that you need to forget the past and move on.\u00a0 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Dealing With Your Past”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,6,10,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discipleship","category-life-change","category-personal-growth","category-spiritual-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}