Redeeming Our Testimonies

Families and people groups often have stories that have been passed down and told over and over. This can be a good thing that helps people remember history, but it can also carry harmful consequences if those stories are not guarded with hope.

Our testimony carries with it a power of reproduction, both positive and negative, and when we recount events in our past, it creates mindsets that will affect how we see things today and in the future. For example, if a certain family has stories about an injustice that happened against Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Charlie, and a couple of generations later, another injustice happened against Great-Aunt Mary, and then 20 years ago, still another injustice happened against Uncle Larry, those stories told over and over again have the power to produce a mindset of expected injustice. With that mindset comes a filter in how people see things, so when a negative experience is perceived, that filter interprets the situation as another injustice, and even though it may have been a perfectly benign event, it solidifies the identity of being wronged.

So, how do we break away from a family or cultural mindset and identity that's not correct?

First of all, we have to be willing to admit that even though our thoughts and mindsets may feel valid, they may not be redeemed, or even correct.

Second, we need to invite the Holy Spirit into our thoughts and allow Him to guide us in how to think.

Third, we need to release forgiveness to those who have caused us, our family, or our people group harm.

Next, we need to repent for holding onto offenses and turn away from the lies that come with false mindsets.

Lastly, we need to allow hope that comes with the Holy Spirit to interpret future events, because creating a new path of thinking is the only way that we won't slip back into the old trails of deception.

My family had a fortune stolen from us around 150 years ago. Other family members were swindled out of land, still, others had ideas stolen, and if we were to allow those stories to interpret our identity, we would be creating a prison of hopelessness and a negative testimony that would affect our future. But instead, we've released forgiveness to the perpetrators and submitted our thoughts and mindsets to the hope of God.

Maybe you, your family, or your people group have gone through a perceived series of difficult times, and you've felt stuck in a cycle of negativity. It's time to take your stories back. It's time to use what the enemy intended to bring harm and shove it in his face. This could be the first day of a new fruitful path that creates testimonies that bring a hopeful future to you and your family.