In the previous article we talked about realism. I told the story of how I dug up my terrible thoughts and brought them to Christ. At the end of the article I encouraged you if you had any terrible thoughts laying in your head, to dig them up and bring them to Christ. I hope you did. But even so, I’d like to talk about it a little more before we continue.
How do you bring dreadful thoughts to Christ? Frankly, it’s not that easy. However, remember that God already knows those thoughts. Anyone else might not have a clue, you might even believe you’ve kept your thoughts hidden from God’s eyes, but you haven’t. Even though we don’t confess our thoughts to Him in prayer, He still hears them. As children we learned that God sees everything all the time, and that’s still true. (Hebrews 4:13) So why kneel down in prayer if God already knows all your thoughts? Why bring it up again? Why say it out loud? Because you’ll feel better. Jesus knows our every thought, yet He wants us to personally bring our thoughts known to Him. It’s one thing to have God know your thoughts while you’re still hiding them. It’s another to have God know them while your standing with open hands, giving everything to Christ.
Let’s say your best friend kept something from you for a long time, all the while you knew there was something he wasn’t telling you. What if you even knew exactly what it was? Yet you didn’t bring it up because you knew your friend was struggling with it. You knew when he wanted to he would tell you. And when he finally did tell you, you happily listened. You felt so glad that he finally brought that secret to you. Even though you knew, you felt special knowing he trusted you enough to share it with you. Just like that, God feels special when we trust Him enough to tell Him our secrets.
Now lets reverse it and pretend you were the friend with the secret. You carried this secret around with you forever. It slammed you in the face each time the conversation tilted toward secrets. When you finally told your friend, you felt relieved. You felt better knowing you told him, you felt better knowing you took the time to talk to him about it face to face. That’s how we feel when we bring our secrets to Christ.
God designed us after His own image (Genesis 1:7). Just like we like it when our friends come to us with our problems, so does He. Just like we feel better when we tell our friend our secret, we will feel better when we tell Jesus. So hows does one confess to Christ?
- Face reality. Face it that you have something that’s hurting you.
- Figure out what it is that’s eating you up. (A good way to do this is to write it down.)
- Pray. Bring those thoughts you wrote down to Christ in prayer. Ask Him to take them from you. Give them completely to Christ.
- Know that you are free from those thoughts. Know that they no longer control you.
- Memorize verses that will remind you when you’re feeling discouraged.
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Psalm 86:15
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not parish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
Now, I have to say that I didn’t come up with this method. However, this method helped me and I hope it will help you. Very often talking to someone about it will help. Talk to your mentor, a pastor or your grandma and pray with them. Study with them, let them know what’s hurting you. With all this said, I recommend reading Live Fearless by Sadie Robertson and above that, I recommend reading and memorizing scripture. You’d be amazed how much it helps when doubt sneaks in.
Last but certainly not least, know you are loved, know you are enough.
Until next time,
Maria 😀
The Farmer's Daughter 