God is Healing Your Past to Protect Your Future
We grow up and life tends to harden our hopes and dreams because of the sins of those who came before us. We either become so disenfranchised that we turn to sin ourselves or we just defer hope because there are no examples to hope in. The beauty of being a child of God is that we get a chance to start brand new with God, as our father and our hopes and dreams have a chance to live again in His grasp.
Allow God To Deal With Your Past
Pastor Mike Signorelli taught a great series over the holidays titled “Awkward Family Christmas” where he looked into the documented lineage of Jesus and pointed out all the dysfunction there was in the generations preceding Him, but when He came into the picture everything changed. Many Christians today get hung up in the generational hindrances of those who came before them but it is of great importance for believers in Christ to allow God to deal with the things of the past in order to allow for themselves to get free for the future.
Due to the emotional trauma he had of growing up without his earthly father in his life, Pastor Mike shared that he went through a period of time where he struggled with his weight. He was a lot heavier then he wanted to be physically and it was because he tried to overcome his pain in his own strength. “Trauma makes dysfunction normal,” he warned.
It is important for everyone to take action today to help change the course of your life if you also find yourself trying to heal your past on your own.
Bronnie Ware, a palliative care worker, provided end of life care for thousands of people. When questioned about any regrets her patients had or what they would do differently, she found the same themes surfaced again and again.
Here are the most common five:
“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”
“I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”
“I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”
“I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
The aforementioned list reveals that time and time again many people are not living in full freedom and at the end of their life they have regrets. Trauma has limited many people in one way or another but to all who receive Jesus and believe in Him, they have the RIGHT to start new and become children of God. Regardless of one’s age there is access to live as free as a child who places total dependance and hope in their father. We must exercise our right as children of God and be the first in our lineage to be obedient to God all the way.
“But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” – John 1:12
The Perfect Family Portrait
Due to sin, not many people can say they have had the perfect family portrait. In the book of Colossians the Apostle Paul describes what healthy family structure looks like.
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” – Colossians 3:18-21
Submission usually gets a bad rap but not submitting in a marriage dynamic reveals that there is dysfunction in the home. According to God’s design for marriage, wives are not meant to try to get around, over, or get through their husbands and husbands are to really love their wives. The two work hand-in-hand and the majority of time if wives are loved well they are happy to submit to guidance from their spouses. Submission is a position of love, Christians submit to God because we know we are loved by Him. The same should be in marriage. The healthy cooperation of love and submission is a perfect picture of Christ and the church. Disobedience is birthed from brokenness. The scriptures goes on to say that fathers should not provoke their children to anger. The wounds that people incur from their family dynamic is what creates unhealthy behaviors and the cycle usually continues until someone allows Jesus to step in.
If we look at the origin story of Adam and Eve and trace the generations that follow, we see that with every generation sin increases.
Adam blamed his wife for his disobedience to God, his son Cain then killed his brother Abel. Then Abraham in his haste for a child, marries two women and gives way for an entire rebel nation to come forth from the son he rejected, then Jacob marries even more women than his grandfather Abraham. Going down the line a bit more we then see David, who married even more women than Jacob centuries later, it is recorded that among David’s children – one of his sons raped his sister and David’s other son went on to kill the rapist in return.
It takes extreme action to break the cycle of dysfunction. Many people operate on generational autopilot and just repeat the sins of their ancestors but in Christ you are a new creation. As children of the heavenly father your action is to fully embrace being a child of God, allowing God to restart the generational line with you in Christ.
“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” – Galatians 3:26-27
The Holy Spirit Will Testify Through You
God re-trains us, teaches us how to become a child of God, to live in faith rather than fear, to live with the Spirit of God as our comforter not seeking comfort in vices and sin. It's possible to have access to heavenly places and still be in bondage but today is the day to lay it all down before God and walk into the full freedom you have been given access to.
“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” – Romans 8:14-17
As the scripture says, The Holy Spirit in you will give you the POWER to cry out Abba Father. You will change from being in your flesh to your spirit testifying what the Holy Spirit, living in you, instructs you to. This is not at all to be confused with the power of positive thinking. We are not seeking earthly signs to confirm what only God can reveal. The gospel testifies of God and so will we!
In Luke 8:19-21, Jesus said that those who hear God's words and put them into practice are His family members. The Greek definition for practice is “do it.” The responsibility of those who claim to be of God is to act on His words.
Pastor Mike learned that he would never actually lose the unwanted weight in his life unless he made the daily sacrifice of cutting calories. The result of his caloric deficit diet gave him the weight loss he wanted and also a revelation of what God is asking of everyone who wants to break free from the past and have a future in Him. Christian’s must surrender their past to heal from it and embrace their future.
As our Heavenly Father did with Jesus, He sacrificed His only begotten Son so that everyone can be reconciled to God. Pastor Mike describes it as “Heaven went into a deficit,” as God “tithed His only begotten Son” to help us all come to Him as little children with our dreams.
About the Author:
Jeannie Ortega Law is a chart-topping singer, evangelist, media personality and author from New York City. She can be reached on social media: @JeannieOrtega or emailed at Info@JeannieO.com
At V1 Church we believe in teaching Bible-based relationship principles so that you can your family can be strengthened. Connect with us using one of the links below – we’d love to see you and help you walk through the process of reconciliation.