The Danger of Fellowshipping with Thoughts of Failure
Your past is past, but the devil demands you live in it. He wants to focus your mind on everything which happened in your past that distressed you, especially your perceived failures.
Satan wants to put your thought life in a loop. He will replay unpleasant memories and periods of shame from your history. This is called fellowshipping with failure. It’s when your mind gets bogged down thinking about the periods of embarrassment, shame and failure from former times.
The thief does not come except to steal and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.
– John 10:10
The key to ending your fellowship with failure is to identify the cycle of shame in your mind. When you have forgotten to think about, what you think about, negative thoughts flow in and take charge of your musings. Then they direct your reflection towards the things which kill and steal your peace.
Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
– 1 Kings 19:4
Identifying the negative thought pattern constitutes the first step to setting yourself free from fellowshipping with failure. Choosing to replace the lie with the truth is the second step. In Christ, you are a new creation. All your former sins and failures have been cleansed, and the Lord made your heart anew. The Spirit of God has awakened you and given you a desire to be holy. The old you is gone in Christ. What God has forgiven, you must forgive and choose to forget. Have you forgiven yourself?
The Bible says we should not place our confidence in our insight.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.
– Proverbs 3:5-6
You can’t trust your mind to reveal the truth about yourself. Remember, you are not your thoughts. You are more than the negative lies Satan says about you. You are chosen by God! You may have made many mistakes and experienced failure in the past, but the old you is now gone. Trust in the Lord. Put your heart’s strength into believing Him. Direct your thoughts toward acknowledging Him and seeking His plan for your future. In Christ, the past is forgiven and forgotten. Believe it and receive it
By Paul Backholer. Find out about Paul’s books here.
