The Internet tells me that the word also has other meanings like poignant or persistent memories. Even eerily evocative or enchantingly mysterious.
Unforgettable or impossible to forget or a disquieting or disturbing effect. All of these feelings summed up in one word. Haunting!!
How are you at being haunted?
Haunted by regrets, grief, bad decisions, being misunderstood, anxiety, stress, depression, temptations, doubt, habitual and on-going sin, alcohol, pornography and the list goes on ad-nauseum.
Do you want to make your life count today and for eternity - free from the Hauntings??
I know I do - most of us are haunted by something at some stage - I would go so far as to say most of us would remain being haunted by some thing or another for most of our lives!
Well, through this blog I really want to encourage you in your quest to be free of hauntings - I would love to see every Christian living victorious, vibrant, powerful, meaningful, fulfilling yet humbling lives - devoted to our amazing Lord and truly handing life's controls over to Him.
Impossible?? - Been there done that?? doesn't work for you! - Too far gone? - Too far down life's track to back out now? These old habits of mine can't be beaten now - I know I've tried hundreds of times!
I think I used every excuse in the book - so I have just an inkling of what some of you may be going through.
It often gets to the stage where we are so used to 'being haunted' that life wouldn't be the same without that old familiar feeling!
But.... I am here to tell you - that we all can be free - free of whatever it is that keeps haunting us - free to live our lives without the guilts, addictions and hang-ups.
I know - I couldn't believe it myself - because the same old same old stumbling blocks just keep on recurring over and over again.
"The hauntings", strange as it sounds, can be healthy emotions - given to us by God's Holy Spirit. Without them we would have no sense of Right or wrong.
On saying that though- lingering 'hauntings' can be a downward spiral of continual torment and spiritual bondage.
It is the Holy Spirit's job to convict us of wrongdoings - including addictions and guilt!
We can keep on with our addictions, sin, guilt, whatever, feeling worse and worse - being haunted every step of the way - day after day and that is exactly where the King of Liars - Satan wants us to be.
Let's remember this one thing:- Satan condemns - the Holy Spirit convicts - There is a HUGE difference.
Satan doesn't want our 'hauntings' to leave us - he is desperate to have us live in the dark with him - under a thick cloud of doubt and anxiousness - because then we are separated from our Lord.
Yes, that's right - with doubts in our heart we have no idea of the amazing promises given to us as disciples of Jesus or we simply don't believe those promises.
Forgiveness from God is there from the moment we accept Christ as our Lord - He has promised us a life of freedom and security.
Can we sin too much or commit a sin too many times? Will God forgive all past, present and future sins if I am a disciple of Jesus? What if I keep on committing the same sin over and over again - Can God forgive?
Of course He will - In 1 John 1:9 The Bible says "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
That awesome verse assures us the if we acknowledge that sin to God and truly ask His forgiveness then he will indeed forgive us - He wipes our slate clean and he will do it again and again if necessary.
Satan will tell us that "forgiveness is never enough! - You are not worthy to be forgiven" - he will also take our guilt/addictions and twist them into accusing us in all sorts of different ways.
So how can we use God's amazing promises of forgiveness to pull ourselves out of the miry clay of our 'hauntings'?
It is certainly a hopeless exercise and indeed it is sinning to purposely give in to our hauntings/ addictions/ temptations and go on thinking that God is ultimately going to forgive us so why not give in to them anyway.
That attitude is wrong and will only lead to more frustration, depression and more alienation from God.
I personally have found that to glorify God in everything is the only way to overcome the hauntings in my life.
Giving God the glory in all we do is, in my opinion, more than giving Him honour. We can honour God in holding Him in great esteem without giving Him absolute Glory.
God is the only one worthy to give Glory! He alone is our Creator, King, Redeemer. He alone is gracious and merciful, full of justice and hope. He alone is the only one that can save us and truly forgive us from our sins.
Every morning if we ask God to help us, through the incredible Holy Spirit, to guide our steps in glorifying Him in everything we do, everywhere we go, everything we say, everything we allow our eyes to see, in our work, with our family in fact everything then we will begin eventually to walk in union with God.
Once we draw close to God and He walks the way with us and we start to glorify him in everything, then it becomes increasingly difficult for us to deliberately sin.
This of course doesn't mean that we will be free of 'hauntings' in our lives - just like we won't be free of sin in our lives BUT it does mean that truly walking with God's Holy Spirit every day - Glorifying Him in EVERYTHING we do, say, everywhere we go and experience will bring us closer and closer to Him and harder and harder to deliberately fall for Satan's old tricks, temptations and addictions.
God is so willing to forgive our sins when we mess up if we are truly sorry for them - remembering that God is also a God of justice and also a God of wrath against evil!
What we have spoken about is God wanting us, desiring us to remain free from Sin and our 'hauntings'.
When we sin, we need to deal with it straight away - we also can't 'hang on' to our hauntings - So how do we do that?
By Glorifying God in everything - that should be our goal/objective - If we don't, then we are virtually saying to God "it's too hard to give you the glory and to walk with you in the spirit - I want to hang on to my hauntings and my sin."
The closer and closer we get to God the more and more we are going to be aware of his leading in our lives and the less and less of the old us will keep on surfacing.
Let's all give God the glory - Let His Spirit take control of our conversations, our viewing, our actions, our families, our transactions in fact everything.
The more we walk with him, acknowledge and glorify Him the more likely we are to steer clear from our past, present and future 'hauntings" - God bless.
Hi Bruce,
ReplyDeleteGood article. I am reminded of two things I heard a long time ago that help me with some of these "hauntings" as you call them. Someone once said,
"You can't change the past, but you can begin today and make a new future."
The other thing that hit me as I read this was the need to "Let go & let God." While we hold on to our "hauntings" God cannot give us the victory and the release we seek from them. We are our own worst enemies. Jesus already gave us the victory and showed us the way to freedom. When we remember that and apply His teaching sin our life, the "hauntings" will fade away.
All the best & God bless,
John