Aggravations? Hurts? A dispute? A stinging memory? A “ghost” from Christmases past?
Let it go and it will leave. Learn to pray more “for” something than against. Be realistic but positive (even in a pandemic). They are lessons for us as we approach life with the strength of joy and “manger faith”: Take no offense when you are turned away from the inn; instead, fill dark places with the positivity of the Infant.
To let something go means just that: not hovering over and magnifying a negative. Say you just had a blow-up with someone. Say, you really are at odds. If you need to apologize, do so; otherwise: just let it move along like a cloud. All clouds — however dark — dissipate with time, unless we feed them the moisture of wrong emotion such as obsession.
If you keep revisiting a wrong, if you continue to toss it over in your mind, you will only give that negative hold over you. Let go of past hurts this Christmas season. What a time to do it! And remember that forgiveness is key. Let go of anger. That emotion destroys you more than whomever you are angry with. Let go of past lusts. Often, lust is the obstacle to grace (and causes a blockage in your heart). If you have trouble loving or praying from the heart, selfishness could be the blockage.
Let go of fear, phobias, wrong attitudes, habits, routine, grudges, inferiority, fear of failure, laziness, ennui, wrong friendships… Make a list (and check it twice).
Let go of your guilt: To dwell repeatedly on what you did wrong in the past, only causes it to linger as a stubborn virus, if you have already repented.
A deliverance expert named Don Dickerman, who has written a major book on the subject, says: “After a believer has become free from demonic intrusion, one of the giant doorways for demons to gain a new entry point is revisiting the past. It’s like probing a wound that is almost healed. It’s re-aggravating a nagging injury so that it cannot heal. +
“When you relive a past failure or an unpleasant time in your life, you are allowing demons another opportunity to use the incident once more against you. Don’t go there. You must control that part of your thinking, or the demons will. You can choose to not think about the past, and when you do this, you seize any opportunities that demons may have had to torment you. Remember that fret and regret are two bad dogs; don’t let them in. You must take those thoughts captive! By faith, apply the Blood of Jesus to the part of your mind that seems to be in replay mode. Speak your choice to dwell on pleasant and hopeful thoughts.”
Be born anew (with Jesus) this Christmas. Don’t let your mind be a broken record. There are opportunities in these days of “lockdowns” for self-examination.
The Blessed Mother will help you: Go to her and give her your past sin and hurts or rancor and just leave them with her; she will know how to dispose of them. Leave them and walk away from what haunts and taunts.
When Jesus delivered people from demonic infestation, His ejection of unclean spirits was final. He sealed the soul against re-entry.
Seal yours.
Let go of the mistakes of your youth; let go of those memories of a relationship that went awry, or never should have been. Confess, repent, and move on. Let go of the insults that still plague you. Stop rehashing what others have said — especially in this Christmas season.
Fly above the problem and you’ll sail beyond the devil’s radar.
Staring up at a cloud blurs your vision — gets rain in your eyes.
Let it pass and it will pass. All things do. Discipline leads to joy. It can lead to actual physical as well as emotional healing.
Says Dickerman: “One of the things we see healed on a regular basis when this is done is fibromyalgia. If pleasant words and a cheerful heart are health to the bones, what is anger and bitterness to the bones? If repentance and departing from evil is health and marrow to the bones, what is holding on to unforgiveness?”
Fill your stockings with right thinking and that faith of the manger. “Lord, give me a new and right spirit. Cleanse my soul. Cleanse my thoughts. Cleanse my motive. Cleanse what I like. Cleanse what I do. Cleanse what I say. Cleanse who I am and how I think.”
“God will not cover our sin until we uncover it with Him,” notes Dickerman. “As long as we keep it hidden, it remains exposed to demons who seize upon the legal right of unconfessed sin.”
What you attempt to cover, God will expose. What you expose and confess to God, He will erase.
Have you thought yet about a good solid Confession, a “letting-go” Confession, before Christmas?