Oh King of Heaven, how we love You! You, our Father, are magnificent and none can compare to your Glory. We bow down before you, to humbly ask that you help us release every negative thought, every trace of doubt and every bit of fear that may lurk deep within our hearts. Help us to let go of the things that consume our happiness as we declare you release joy into our lives.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Table of contents
Let Go of limiting beliefs
Father, we ask your assistance in letting go of ideals, old patterns (or habits that no longer serve us), arguments and limiting beliefs.
Help us to remember that letting go is a healthy practice to maintain joy and peace within our hearts, as well as our lives.
Lord, help us to let go of ideals, old patterns or habits that no longer serve us. Click To Tweet
Isaiah 43:18-19 Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Letting Go means finding forgiveness
Lord remind us that letting go also means finding forgiveness. Whether it is forgiving yourself, or forgiving a person who betrayed you.
Help us to release the past and let go of the pain and anger that destroys our ability to show compassion.
Luke 6:37 Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;
Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and slander be put away from you, as well as all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
All things work together for good
Help us, Oh Loving Father, to remember everything in our lives happen for a reason and you alone know why.
For you make all things work together for our good. Every detail, every event, whether big or small, is all part of your plan to shape us and mold us into the persons we are meant to be.
Knowing this now, we declare that every situation that makes our hearts heavy, be released…
In Jesus’ most precious name, AMEN!!
ALL things work together for good, for those who are called according to God’s purpose! Rom 8:28 Click To Tweet
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Past emotional, mental or physical abuse, or being deeply hurt or mistreated by a friend or an enemy, are common causes of depression. I have had my share of such experiences. Bitterness, anger and unforgiveness are typical responses to such injustices suffered, but as these reactions hinder our walk with Christ, the Bible gives us ample instructions on how to overcome them.
Let me also mention here that in many of the above cases, especially where abuse is involved, getting help from a trained Christian counsellor or a professional health care worker is very highly recommended if not absolutely necessary.
Keep No Record of Wrongs Isaiah 43:18-19
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.” This passage provides a vivid description of a life damaged by past hurts – a life that has become a wasteland, a desert. Dwelling upon a record of wrongs weighs us down and heavily burdens us. But the Lord’s instructions to forget those former things and not dwell on them, comes with a beautiful promise. Letting them go releases streams of living water into our life and enables God to do a new work in us.
One of the greatest new works Christ does in our lives is to bring us to a place where we can forgive those who have hurt us. This is such an important aspect of our daily Christian walk that Jesus included it as part of the Lord’s prayer. Luke 11:4 “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.”
Instead of dwelling on past hurts, we can let go of those memories and forgive the person that hurt us. Although we cannot make ourselves forget the memories, if we stop clinging to them the painful associations will fade significantly.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-5 ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.’
“But it is Part of Who I am…” One reason I had trouble letting go of past hurts was because they had become part of my identity. “I am this way because of how that person mistreated me,” was an excuse I believed. I feared that if I let go of the anger and record of wrongs and forgave the person who had hurt me, I would lose a part of myself, part of my very individuality.
However, Jesus taught me that such fears were unfounded, that I did not have to hold onto past hurts in order to maintain my identity. He showed me that there was another option – to allow His love and forgiveness to flow from me towards the person who hurt me. And when I did this, instead of anger and the record of past wrongs being part of who I was, Christ’s love and forgiveness became part of my identity.
If someone were to meet me and hear my testimony now, they would not hear me say, “I am this way because of how that person mistreated me.” Instead, they would see that I have forgiven the person who wounded me, and in fact love them dearly with the love of Christ. If they were to ask me how this could be so, I would answer, “I am this way because of Christ’s work of love and forgiveness in my life.”
When we let Christ’s love and forgiveness become part of who we are, we change and become more like Christ. And is that not our goal, to become more like Him? ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’ Galatians 2:20 (NLT)
As we learn to surrender our lives to Christ, He can give us such a powerful revelation of His love for us that we can view others through His loving gaze rather than through our own eyes. I have experienced this very powerfully in my life.
Let us be like Stephen, whose attitude towards those who unjustly stoned him to death was: ‘While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.’ Acts 7:59-60
What a wonderful testimony this is to the power of God’s love. When others see us forgive – even love – those who have hurt us, they see the power of God’s kingdom in action, and their lives are changed too. I have heard of many cases of abusive prison wardens in Soviet countries coming to Christ after witnessing the unconditional love and forgiveness of their captives.
Harbouring Unforgiveness Hurts Ourselves If we have been deeply hurt by someone in the past, we earnestly desire to flee that pain and be set free from the wounds. A thought that I would like us to bear in mind is that by consciously or unconsciously harbouring anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness towards that person, we unwittingly participate in keeping those wounds fresh and unable to heal. That is one reason that Jesus spoke so often of the importance of forgiving those who have wronged us. By not forgiving them, we hurt ourselves even further.
To Forgive Others, Reflect On How Much God Has Forgiven Us The most liberating Biblical truth that helps us to forgive those who have treated us unjustly is to recognise the depths to which God has forgiven us.
Why does the Bible say, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,” Matthew 6:14? It is because for us to refuse to forgive others after God has forgiven our massive debts towards Him, shows a lack of appreciation of how much God has forgiven us.
We all know of the parable in Matthew 18:21-35, where a servant who owed millions of dollars to a king, had that debt cancelled when he asked for mercy. The servant then went on to throw a fellow servant that owed him a few dollars into prison, because he had not paused to reflect on the mercy the king had extended towards him.
This is the key to forgiving others, as Selwyn Hughes writes: ‘I would not judge you or condemn you if you said: “I can never forgive that person for what he (or she) did to me.” But what I would say to you is this: the more you reflect on the wonder of how much you have been forgiven the easier it will be to forgive even the worst sins that have been committed against you.’ (1)
So, regardless of how much we have been hurt by others, let us forgive them. If God forgives us of our numerous sins towards Him, we can forgive others of their (comparatively) lesser sins towards us.
And then we will be sons and daughters of God, revealing His nature to a hurting world, as it shows us in Luke 6:35-36 “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High…Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
(1) Every Day with Jesus, Monday 18th Feb, Selwyn Hughes, CWR, Jan/Feb 2002.
Download a pdf booklet of this blog’s articles All verses from NIV unless noted otherwise.
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Bible verses about letting go
Letting go is one of the hardest things to do. It’s so easy to try to hold on to things, but we must trust that our Lord has something better. Letting go of a relationship, hurt, fear, past mistakes, sin, guilt, slander, anger, failures, regrets, worry, etc. is easier when we realize that God is in control.
Realize that God has allowed and used these things and these people in your life to build you up. Now you must move on towards Him.
What God has in store for you is never in the past. He has something better than that relationship. He has something greater than your worries and your fears.
He has something greater than your past mistakes, but you must trust in Him, stand strong, let go, and keep on moving to see what God has in store for you.
Quotes
- “Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.” – C.S. Lewis.
- “Decisions sometimes prove to be the hardest to make, especially when it’s a choice between where you should be and where you really wanted to be.”
- “Let God have your life; He can do more with it than you can.” Dwight L. Moody
- “It hurts to let go, but sometimes it hurts more to hold on.”
- “Let go of the past so that God can open the door to your future.”
- “When you finally let go something better comes along.”
- “To heal your wound you need to stop touching it.”
Set your eyes upon Christ.
Sometimes we hold on to things such as unhealthy relationships and doing our own will because we think to ourselves maybe there will be a change. We still hold on to hope in things other than God. We put our hope in relationships, situations, our mind, etc.
You can strengthen that desire to hold on to things that God doesn’t want in your life by constantly picturing it in your life and imagining how it would be and how you think it should be.
You can train yourself and say, “God wants this for me.” What you are doing is making it harder on yourself to let go. Stop looking to all of these different things and instead look to the Lord. Keep your mind on Christ.
1. Proverbs 4:25-27 Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
2. Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
3. Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Don’t trust in those thoughts that might come to your head. That is leaning on your own understanding. Trust in the Lord. Allow Him to control. Don’t allow your thoughts to control you.
4. Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
5. Psalm 62:8 Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
You will never do God’s will when you are living in the past.
Looking back will distract you from what is in front of you. The devil will try to remind us of our past mistakes, sins, failures, etc.
He will say, “you messed up now you messed up God’s plan for you.” Satan is a liar. You are where God wants you to be. Don’t dwell on the past, keep moving forward.
6. Isaiah 43:18 “But forget all that–it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.”
7. Philippians 3:13-14 Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.
8. 1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win.
9. Job 17:9 the righteous shall move onward and forward; those with pure hearts shall become stronger and stronger.
We have to let go. Sometimes the things we are holding on to will harm us in ways we don’t even understand and God is protecting us. God sees what you don’t see and He sees what we refuse to see.
10. Proverbs 2:7-9 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path.
11. 1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
Give your hurt to God.
I never said letting go wouldn’t be painful. I never said you wouldn’t cry, you wouldn’t have hurt, you wouldn’t feel confused, etc. I know personally that it hurts because I had to let go of doing my will before. I had to let go of people’s sins against me.
No one understands the pain that you are feeling at the moment except for you and God. That is why you must bring your pain to God. Sometimes the pain hurts so much that you can’t even speak. You have to speak with your heart and say, “God you know. Help! Help me!” God knows the disappointment, frustration, the pain, and the worry.
Sometimes you have to cry out for this special peace that He gives in prayer to help you cope with the situation. It is this special peace that has given me a sound mind and contentment in my situation time and time again. It is like Jesus is giving you an everlasting hug that helps you recover. Like a good father He lets you know that everything is going to be OK.
12. Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
13. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it fear.
14. Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.
15. 1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Why stress yourself by dwelling on the past?
16. Matthew 6:27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
God allows these situations to build us up, help us grow in faith, and prepare us for something better.
17. Romans 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
18. James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Holding on to the anger and the bitterness will hurt you more than anyone.
19. Ephesians 4:31-32 You must put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and slanderous talk—indeed all malice. Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.
Sometimes letting go requires us to repent. Pray for forgiveness. God is faithful to forgive and pour out His love upon you.
20. Hebrews 8:12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
21. Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
22. Psalm 25:6-7 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.
You must remember that God loves you greatly.
It is so hard to understand God’s great love for us when we look in the mirror and see our past failures. God loves you so much. Pray for better understanding of His love. His love for you is greater than your regret and pain. Never doubt His love for you. His love is key in letting go.
23. 2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.
24. Jude 1:21-22 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt.
Let go of your worry, the Almighty God is in control.
25. Psalm 46:10-11 Let go of your concerns! Then you will know that I am God. I rule the nations. I rule the earth. The LORD of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Continually pray for wisdom, pray for guidance, pray for peace, and pray that God helps you to let go.
Bonus
Revelation 3:8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
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