Train your Soul - Memory
Memory.
How much of what we do, feel, respond, work is based on memory?
I used to get extremely nervous ( and sometimes still do) when I walked into any room with more than two people ... especially people I didn’t know very well. About four years ago, I heard Holy Spirit ask me why I would allow that to affect me? He led me to a deeper connection I’d made with a memory which I had allowed to cripple me in front of crowds. As a shy little girl I had experienced some uncomfortable and humiliating situations that caused me to build walls of protection around myself. I’ve had to really dig deep and face that so that it didn’t control me. Being secure in my identity in Christ has been by greatest asset in overcoming, but the second greatest asset is training my memory.
When we allow past negative memories to unconsciously lead, there is always negative response. We hide, manipulate, control, gossip, slander and hate - which are usually the product of ungodly memory. I don’t need to go too far into the negatives... it’s pretty obvious.
The positive to memory training is that we actually live the “overcoming” life of Christ when we REMEMBER what God has said, what He’s done and what He’s promised!
A trained memory will be a catalyst for faith, thanksgiving, joy, hope, love, and courage. God constantly tells his people to remember the words He spoke to them. 45 times in Deuteronomy alone God commands his people to remember the word of God. He tells us that our memories of his works in the past will become our faith for the same things happening in the present and the future.
2 Timothy 1:6 “ therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you...”
As ungodly memories can mold us into the shape of bitterness and rejection, our memories of God‘s faithfulness can program us into vessels of Holiness and power! Faith attracts Gods power because faith always pleases God.
If you are dealing with ungodly memories from the past, here is the key to training those thoughts: know that you have authority over those memories!!
Philippians 3:13- 14
“ brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I pressed toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Take authority over negative memories and choose to remember things that will cause you to reach forward in Christ. Choose to forget things that remind you of the negative past. Reject thought patterns that result in wrong behavior. Choose to focus on what God has spoken about your future. Choose to forget what others have said about you. Ask yourself instead, “what has God said about me?”
God does not condemn you; don’t allow memories to condemn you!! If God has forgotten your sin, choose to forget sins of others as well.
It is vital to have GOOD memory.
A bad memory keeps us in bondage.
Dennis Prager, in his commentary on Exodus says this: “ One of humanity’s most common character traits is ingratitude-People either not acknowledging the good another does for them or quickly forgetting that good. Human beings tend to much more quickly forget the good others have done FOR them than the bad that others have done TO them... “