Remember What You Need To Forget

May 19, 2021

My soul still remembers And sinks within me.

~Lamentations 3:20~

There is much within our souls we tend to harbor even after we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ and understand our redemption was fulfilled on the cross. Every sin, every pain, every burden and every tragedy was given to God through the washing of Jesus' Blood. We no longer have to carry them upon our back; the Lord wants us to cast all of these past pains upon the cross which He carried on His as He walked up Golgotha;

"And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha."

(John 19:17)

As Jesus tread those footsteps to His own crucifixion, He bore the weight of sin upon Him for our freedom. Our individual walks with the Lord are very unique and I believe is absolutely beautiful. We may be pained within our soul over something still that is in our past before we were reborn. There may be unforgiveness that we can't seem to let go of and it sinks within us causing other issues to manifest. We may be blaming ourselves for sin we already repented of because the devil likes to be a reminder of past mistakes. Jesus is asking us to forget and let go. To work with Him in doing so. It is not always easy or a quick process, yet the Lord is gentle and kind.

"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

(Matthew 11:29)

Jesus knows what each of us need at each time in our journey on the path of righteousness. Little by little God will peel back our skins of mental captivity as an onion and just as we cut deep to the root of the problem we begin to let out those emotions attached to them. Weeping just as one would when cutting into an onion, sometimes it is much stronger then we expect. Only Jesus knows what and when we need to deal with things holding us back from total freedom and He is the One who is willing to take these burdens for us. Nothing is worth us being in bondage; no sin we committed that ate away at us before, no curse word that one may have spoken over us, no traumatic event caused by another's poor decision or grief of what "could of been." Jesus wants us to address it in a healthy way so that we may not ignore our emotions but rather deal with them properly and then strip the roots completely away so they never grow back again. "do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you." (Romans 11:18)

Let's do everything we can to make our roots the fruit of the Spirit so that in it we may only be controlled by things that will grow us rather then diminish us. The devil wants us to shrink back in despair and remember things to feel just as broken and lost as before we knew Christ. Jesus is saying "I took all your bad memories and put them to death at Calvary, let me help you truely heal."

"who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed." (I Peter 2:24)

This of course refers to physical and emotional healing. The Lord's desire is for us to be totally free. What is it that we may be condemning ourselves over today? Let us take a step back and meditate on this, asking the Lord what we need to address to be fully relieved of this once and for all. If there is an event, feeling, word or action that causes our souls to remember and sink within us, how can we go about getting to the root of these issues? We must ask Jesus, the only One who takes all burdens and knows what is holding us back. It could be our own need to control our circumstances. It could be self hatred. It could be lack of trust. It could be that we just aren't ready to let go and forget. Whatever it may be God is willing to work with us to deeply heal us. He doesn't wish us to lament forever. He wants us to be free and joyous again.

"Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people."

(Luke 2:10)

Jesus came to bring joy to the world and proclaim liberty to the captives. In fulfilling the Father's plan, we now have the world's greatest doctor, therapist and friend. If there is something we are ignoring in hopes to just sweep it away, God may be asking us to address it head on so that we can truely have it ripped out of us once and for all. It is never an easy task to search our inner pains but it is most definitely necessary to feel genuine peace within. Holy Spirit is capable of bringing forth every thing within us to break off and shed our old man and conform to the image of Christ; "that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." (Ephesians 4:22)

In doing so the old man will never come back, even when the devil tries to remind us we will be healed enough to say "go away satan, Jesus redeemed me from that and I refuse to remember it anymore."

Jesus does not want us to ignore, Jesus does not want us to condemn ourselves; He wants total freedom in a timely manner. May the gentleness of Holy Spirit guide us into all truth as we search ourselves to release, be free and healed of anything that may be holding us back in the snares of the enemy.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for the freedom to move in a time You know I am ready for. I give my all to You as I address deep inner pains that need to be pulled up from the root. Help me to understand and to address them in a gentle manner. I pray to move forward and not look backward. I rebuke any condemnation and guilt that is thrown at me by the devil and I declare that I am healed by Jesus' stripes. Search me O Lord and see if there is anything within that needs uprooting. Help me to remember so that I may fully forget. You are so good to me and I am grateful for Your patience in my walk. I glorify Your Name and praise You to the fullest. My King of Kings, my Lord of Lords, my dearest Friend. I receive a strong blessing from heaven as I follow You today. In the Name of my emotional and physical Healer, Jesus Christ. Amen.