discipleship
Letting God Heal Your Past: 4 Simple Truths
Your past holds disappointments, let downs, perhaps betrayals and trauma. Here are 4 simple truths to remember as you let God heal your past.
“What is truth?” Everyone seems to want it, know it, have it, need it. So what is it? Let’s look at three ways to let truth into your life as a Christian.
Three Ways to Let Truth Into Your Life
What is Truth?
Truth. What a crazy word. One of the trending phrases in the last few years is “my truth.” This phrase makes my skin crawl, if I’m being honest. My immediate thought in response, “If your truth is contradictory to my truth, then we are left at a standstill.” Going further down the rabbit hole, my thought is then, “What is truth?” Everyone seems to want it, know it, have it, need it. So what is it? Let’s look at three ways to let truth into your life as a Christian.
I appreciate these definitions because it tells me that we are all made to crave something solid, something trustworthy, something unchanging. And if that is an innate desire in all of us, it makes sense that the enemy of our peace would do all he could to confuse it and make it seem like an unattainable concept. But as believers, we must approach truth differently.
-Realize that Truth is a Person
Sure, there are conceptual aspects of truth…but primarily, we realize that Truth is a person. Biblically speaking Jesus is the Truth. He says in John 14:6 “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So as Christians, we start there. If I want truth in my life, I’m going to turn to Truth itself for guidance. If I need wisdom, I’m going to ask Truth for wisdom; then I know I won’t be steered wrong.
-Let Go of “Your Truth”
How else do we let truth in our lives? We lay down “our truth” and put our opinions in their right place. We must acknowledge that our perspective is incomplete, and therefore cannot contain the whole truth. I believe that my ideas and thoughts can be tainted. I have hurts, experiences, understandings, viewpoints that probably give me imperfect lenses. If I want to live by truth, then I need to realize I don’t always have it. When I was younger and trying to figure out what to do with my life, I asked Jesus. I had two opportunities before me, to continue being a math teacher, which is what I had studied to do for life, or do a Discipleship Training School with YWAM. I desperately wanted to be where God wanted me, so I asked him. He gave clear guidance for me to do the YWAM course, and I never looked back. His truth for my life is so much better, but I had to lay down my understanding to walk in his.
-Seek It Out
Finally, we let truth into our lives by seeking after it. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart,” referring to the Lord. This passage was written to the Israelites in the midst of exile and hardship. God promised them that if they sought him, they would find him. The same promise is true today for us. In the midst of our trials, if we seek him, seek Truth, we will find Him, and he will answer. Where space is made for Him, He will fill it.
Letting truth into our lives is essential to living a peaceful, content, and happy life. Without truth, we don’t have peace. We have turmoil, questions, doubts. When we walk in truth, all those things vanish. I remember when God asked my husband and I to start YWAM Asheville, I had so many doubts and questions. When I laid down my doubts, my viewpoint, and asked him, Jesus clearly gave me direction. His truth set me free from the doubts, and my heart and mind were at peace.
YWAM can Help
An incredible aspect of a YWAM DTS is its ability to bring students to a place of surrender. It’s a beautiful process that Jesus students go through as they learn more about who He is and what He is like. The YWAM DTS curriculum is designed to guide DTS students into deeper understanding and appreciation of God as ultimate Truth, and that as His creation, we let truth into our lives by yielding to Him. The best YWAM DTS location for you is the one that will lead you to this realization. When God is placed as ultimate in our lives, everything else will fall into place, in the right order.
To let truth into our lives means to let Jesus in. Let Him have our ear and our heart. His truth sheds light, His truth sets us free, and his truth is eternal. That is a peaceful place to live.