Breaking the Bonds of the Past
I've continued to make my way through Beth Moore's book Breaking Free. Following her discussion of the benefits and obstacles of being a child of God; she moved on to talk about how to look back at the difficult things in our lives. In our fallen world, bad things happen to people. We can look back on those things and allow them to keep us captive, or we can look back on them to help better equip us to move forward.
Sometimes there are areas of devastation or defeat that have occurred in our family. It's important that we identify these. We are not to use these as excuses to continue on in the same manner; we must chose to break the cycle so that we can be free from their hold on us.
Bethe Moore reminds us that "even Christ had a blend of the negative and positive in His lineage. . . He broke the chains of all kinds of bondage when He gave His life for us. . . We need to recognize any generational bonds and ask God to remove them" (p. 86). Second, she writes that "we don't have to disinherit or dishonor our physical lineage to fully accept and abide in our spiritual lineage. God fully recognizes and desires to use both "lines" to His glory" (p. 87). We are encouraged to look back at both the positive and negatives in our own heritage and to give thanks to God that He is willing to dissolve anything that binds us
We are challenged to work through these areas of bondage in our family heritage or else we risk passing them on to the next generation. "All bondage begins with sin" and "all bondage promotes sin" (p. 90). We must be brave enough to stop the sinful habits of the past and set new ones into motion.
"Satan is a deceiver, leading our minds astray". . . Sometimes the bondage of generational sins remains hidden "with our personalities. We excuse some of these yokes as simply being the way we are" (pp. 96-97).
So how do we move on from these things that keep us from being free in Christ? It requires personal responsibility. We must first be willing to look back with open hearts and minds. If we look at it in order to learn from it, it can be used for God's glory. Second, "we must believe the truth over the enemy's lies" (p. 103). The third step is to understand the difference between holding on to the past and choosing to rebuild it. Fourth, we must accept God's help. In order for healing to occur, we must grow closer to God Himself.
When it comes to past hurts, "we can change how we look at it. . . We can decide how we're going to build on it" (p. 104).
Each generation "has a new opportunity to exert positive influence" (p. 106). Our own walk with God can affect many future generations. Truly, "only God can put the pieces of our hearts back together again" (p. 115).
God does not make light of our hurts; He desires us to grow through them. We must remember that we "are not defined by anything that happened to (us) or anything (we) have done. (We) are defined by who we are in Christ. (We) are God's beloved child" (pp. 123-124).
"Christ is the perfect choice to turn to when (we are) betrayed" (p. 127). Christ can sympathize with us. He is aware of our weakness; we don't have to put on a show for Him. Jesus was tempted in every way just like us and yet He did not sin. We are wise to choose to remain close to Christ in the midst of our heartbreaks.
"Life involves change. Change involves loss. Loss involves death of one kind or another. . . Every time we suffer loss, we encounter an opportunity for the loss to bring gain for Jesus' sake by allowing His life to be revealed in us" (pp. 132-133) We must remember that "any kind of 'death' is an invitation to resurrection life for the believer" (p. 134).
We must realize that "resurrection life awaits" (p. 135). We must make the choice whether we will sit in the dark, empty tomb or choose to "walk into the light of resurrection life" (p. 135).
I have taken the time to look back at the good and bad things in my family's heritage. I can see how I allowed some things to affect me personally. While I have not suffered abuse, I have had heartbreaks and experienced loss. These difficult things drew me to a personal relationship with Jesus and it is this relationship that has sustained me and helped me to grow as a person. The freedom I have experienced in Christ as His new creation is setting a new course not just for me, but for my children as well. I am truly thankful for the love, hope and peace Christ has given me. These are the things I desire to pass on to my children and I hope they will pass on to theirs.
Sometimes there are areas of devastation or defeat that have occurred in our family. It's important that we identify these. We are not to use these as excuses to continue on in the same manner; we must chose to break the cycle so that we can be free from their hold on us.
Bethe Moore reminds us that "even Christ had a blend of the negative and positive in His lineage. . . He broke the chains of all kinds of bondage when He gave His life for us. . . We need to recognize any generational bonds and ask God to remove them" (p. 86). Second, she writes that "we don't have to disinherit or dishonor our physical lineage to fully accept and abide in our spiritual lineage. God fully recognizes and desires to use both "lines" to His glory" (p. 87). We are encouraged to look back at both the positive and negatives in our own heritage and to give thanks to God that He is willing to dissolve anything that binds us
We are challenged to work through these areas of bondage in our family heritage or else we risk passing them on to the next generation. "All bondage begins with sin" and "all bondage promotes sin" (p. 90). We must be brave enough to stop the sinful habits of the past and set new ones into motion.
"Satan is a deceiver, leading our minds astray". . . Sometimes the bondage of generational sins remains hidden "with our personalities. We excuse some of these yokes as simply being the way we are" (pp. 96-97).
So how do we move on from these things that keep us from being free in Christ? It requires personal responsibility. We must first be willing to look back with open hearts and minds. If we look at it in order to learn from it, it can be used for God's glory. Second, "we must believe the truth over the enemy's lies" (p. 103). The third step is to understand the difference between holding on to the past and choosing to rebuild it. Fourth, we must accept God's help. In order for healing to occur, we must grow closer to God Himself.
When it comes to past hurts, "we can change how we look at it. . . We can decide how we're going to build on it" (p. 104).
Each generation "has a new opportunity to exert positive influence" (p. 106). Our own walk with God can affect many future generations. Truly, "only God can put the pieces of our hearts back together again" (p. 115).
God does not make light of our hurts; He desires us to grow through them. We must remember that we "are not defined by anything that happened to (us) or anything (we) have done. (We) are defined by who we are in Christ. (We) are God's beloved child" (pp. 123-124).
"Christ is the perfect choice to turn to when (we are) betrayed" (p. 127). Christ can sympathize with us. He is aware of our weakness; we don't have to put on a show for Him. Jesus was tempted in every way just like us and yet He did not sin. We are wise to choose to remain close to Christ in the midst of our heartbreaks.
"Life involves change. Change involves loss. Loss involves death of one kind or another. . . Every time we suffer loss, we encounter an opportunity for the loss to bring gain for Jesus' sake by allowing His life to be revealed in us" (pp. 132-133) We must remember that "any kind of 'death' is an invitation to resurrection life for the believer" (p. 134).
We must realize that "resurrection life awaits" (p. 135). We must make the choice whether we will sit in the dark, empty tomb or choose to "walk into the light of resurrection life" (p. 135).
I have taken the time to look back at the good and bad things in my family's heritage. I can see how I allowed some things to affect me personally. While I have not suffered abuse, I have had heartbreaks and experienced loss. These difficult things drew me to a personal relationship with Jesus and it is this relationship that has sustained me and helped me to grow as a person. The freedom I have experienced in Christ as His new creation is setting a new course not just for me, but for my children as well. I am truly thankful for the love, hope and peace Christ has given me. These are the things I desire to pass on to my children and I hope they will pass on to theirs.
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