Phillipians 3:13-14

Brothers and Sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.

Forgetting what is behind, simply means forgetting the past and straining towards what is ahead simply means I go forward to what God has for me to do. The life God has planned for us has nothing to do with our past.

I recently got a little depressed. Because I know God has completely healed me of depression I begin to pray about it and asked God for knowledge and wisdom to see what was going on.

God began to teach me something that I now would like to teach you.

Do you have people, possibly family, who remembers all the ugliness of your past and still like to torture you over it. They like to use it against you and often try to remind others of it to get them to think less of you too. Sometimes they do it really covertly. Perhaps in a room full of people they like to say how proud they are of you because you no longer do this, that or the other. You cringe. You really didn’t want those particular people to know about your past. If you did you would have mentioned it yourself. Yes, you are blessed that God set you free but that is the past and you want to leave it there because people begin to then associate what they know about your past, with you, and often NOT what God is doing now through you.

It’s especially upsetting when these family members are unsaved and still have all kinds of things going on in their lives that God doesn’t approve of.

I have an interesting testimony in that I was saved and then backslid terribly before I finally totally committed to the Lord almost 20 years ago.

Recently I came to the knowledge that a person in my family has almost single handedly destroyed my relationship with just about everyone in my family of origin. Now this person has not spoken to me in over 17 years. The person has no idea what my life is like, the peaceful life I spend with the Lord, and the fact that I counsel and teach others to also find peace in God, is not even known by this person. I am not exactly sure what I did to make this person despise me, I am not even sure the person knows. The very fact that they can still hurt me with these things can only mean one thing. They are operating under the influence of a demonic spirit. I don’t think they realize that, but thats what it is.

This Winter someone else in my family starting spending time with this man and the next thing you know I began to feel under attack. I was being attacked in my emotions and frankly in my physical health.

It took a while before I realized I was under an attack. Studying this the Lord brought me step by step to what He wanted to show me.

First of all when we go through things in our live’s that are things that open doors to demonic oppression we create situations that allow Satan to be present. When we completely come away from these things and totally commit our lives to God we need to also go through a time a repentance and restoration. What I didn’t realize completely is that there are some people from our pasts that we cannot let back into our lives until they are also totally committed to Christ. Unfortunately these people are often family.

Some people do not want to ever except the fact that a born again friend or family member has changed. To do so would mess up the whole story of their life that they have used to garner self-pity regarding their own lives. People will say, “But you said this that or the other! I thought this person did this, that or the other” They are not willing or wanting to have Christ in their own life. You changing proves it can be done and they don’t want to surrender. They are still in bondage to the sin in their life and they are not ready, maybe they will never be, to get rid of it.

My depression was coming from this person reminding me of things that God says in the Word He has totally forgotten. This person was saying things about me that are not true. I finally realized, as hurtful as it is and as much as I love the person, there is no longer room in my life for someone who finds joy in hurting me.

The past, and most of the people we were involved with there, needs to be just that PAST.

We cannot allow relationship with people who are determined to hate us. It doesn’t matter who they are. Any person who is condescending to us or constantly brings up the past is doing the devils work and needs to go.

Who does God say we are? Thats what matters. Any person with the Spirit of God in them will realize that what this person says is no longer true. What do we need to have fellowship with the darkness for anyway? LET THEM GO.

Pray for the soul-tie with that person to be broken. Pray for God’s cleansing LIGHT to be poured over the part of your body that is physically hurting over the mental anguish this person has caused and then LET THEM GO.

If you are feeling out of sorts, depressed and hopeless, examine your life. Who from your past is still in it? Anything we once had in common with the unsaved is a demon. Friendship with that person, or people who still befriend that person, is not what God wants for us. Why would a true friend, a true Christian, want to associate with someone who puts you down? These people are two-faced. They will keep you around to pray for them or lift them up when they hit rock bottom, which they constantly do.

Watch closely over who you have let in your life. These people are often the cause of your bad feelings. You don’t need them, and the demonic activity they bring with them. Satan uses your kind heart against you. These people need to be left to their own devices. Only when they are truly at the bottom will they come to Christ.

In His Unconditional Love,
Cathie Miller

For Email or PayPal donations: Belovedhandmdn1@aol.com