Silence Your Past

Ugh, shut off the alarm. Is it morning already? I’m so tired! All right, get my towel. It’s so cold. Is the shower water warm enough yet? Alright I’ve stood here long enough. Grab face wash.

Soon as you wake up your mind starts flowing with thoughts. Many of them are rather irrelevant. Neutral thoughts about what we are doing or saying. But then…

Did I washed my hair yet? Gosh, I’m such an idiot that I can’t even remember. Ugh, these clothes are all ugly. I’m ugly. I never looked good. Lunch. I need to pack a lunch. Apple or chips? Gosh, I’m so fat… Clearly I should take the apple…


As we go through our day, negative thoughts start infiltrating our thinking. We say horrible things to ourselves; things would never say to someone else. We scroll through our Instagram or Snapchat stories and start comparing ourselves to others. She is so pretty. He is so smart. I wish I was as athletic as them. Or maybe it’s: he’s so dumb, why would he post that? Oh, she’s ugly. She’s not even funny. No one likes him. Whether it’s comparisons that put others down or put ourselves down feel any better. The comparisons are just more negative thoughts.

We make a mistake and it causes us to beat ourselves up because it’s a mistake we keep making. Why can’t I just stop sinning? If I was a better Christian, I wouldn’t do that. Why do I keep trying, I’m such a failure. God is probably punishing me. We bring up a whole litany of previous wrongs of each new shortcoming.

Hopefully you also have times throughout the day with some positive thoughts too. My hair looks so good today. Haha, I’m funny. She’s so great, I’m glad we’re friends. Yes, nailed it! Sadly for most of us it seems like these thoughts are the exception, not the norm.

Take a few minutes and reflect. Are the thoughts in your head generally positive, negative, or neutral?


We can’t stop the thoughts in our heads. But we do need to control them and keep them aligned with the truth – God’s truth. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Colossians‬ ‭3:2‬ It requires an intentional change of focus from all the things on earth to godly things. That’s not an easy task though.

A big part of the reason for all the negative thoughts in our heads is our past. The reason we compare ourselves, the reason we give the enemy a foothold, the reason we allow others or media to have power over us is because we think we deserve it because of our past.
We have sinned and feel guilty about it, so we beat ourselves up. We have secrets we keep because we think no one would love us, or even like us, if they knew the truth. We believe lies because we hear them in our heads so many times we begin to think they are true. In order to experience the freedom and abundant life that God promises, you need to Silence your past.

In 2 Kings 5:1-14, there’s a story about Naaman. (Go read it!) Naaman is a commander of the Syrian army. He’s called a great man; the Lord has given him victories, but he’s also a leper. Leprosy was a terrible disease. It was disfiguring, it could cause you to lose limbs. It was contagious, so those with the disease were often isolated and suffered alone. Worst of all, it was uncurable – there was nothing he could do to fix it.

An Israelite girl comes to serve Naaman’s wife. This girl tells his wife that there’s a prophet in Israel that can cure leprosy. Naaman takes this information to the king of Syria who writes a letter to send with Naaman to the king of Israel. The king of Israel doesn’t know what to do and starts mourning because he thinks it’s a trick to start a fight. Elisha the prophet hears and says to send Naaman to him.

When Naaman arrives, Elisha sends a messenger who says to go and wash seven times in the Jordan River to be healed. Naaman gets angry. This isn’t what he expected. Why didn’t Elisha talk to me? I thought this would be instant healing, just a wave of his hand. Syrian rivers are better than Israel’s water. Naaman’s pride and unmet expectations led to anger. Fortunately his servants encouraged him to just do it anyway. So he dips in the Jordan River seven times and is healed. Healed from an uncurable disease.

What can we learn about silencing our past from the story?
We obviously aren’t lepers, but sin, guilt, lies and secrets are like an uncurable disease. It takes a miracle from God to cure them/us. Just like with Naaman’s leprosy, there’s nothing we can do on our own to fix it.

Put aside your pride and expectations. Naaman was able to admit he needed help to overcome his disease, but then almost allowed his thoughts to stop him from healing.
After you admit to God that you need help in overcoming your sin, guilt, lies, or secrets, don’t let your pride stop the healing from happening. If He says forgive, do it. If He says confess, do it.

Healing takes time. Elisha didn’t just wave his hand over Naaman and heal him instantly. No, he had to go to the Jordan River and dip in it, not once, but seven times. What if he had quit after dipping two or three times? When nothing happened after the sixth time, he could have walked away thinking it wasn’t working. However, after the seventh time, he was healed. It took time!
When we have been dealing with our sin or secrets for a long time, healing isn’t necessarily going to come instantly. “Healing was a messy process, a choice he had to make. It works the same way in our lives.” (Christine Caine, Undaunted, 77). Healing comes in many different ways. You may need accountability or counseling. If you aren't sure what you should do to find healing, talk to an adult and find out! (We are all embarrassed about our sins and the lies we believe – but don't be! No matter your age, how long you've been saved, what stage of life you are in – there are lies that the enemy will use to get you off track. Talking with others who are more mature then you can be of great benefit when you are in the healing process! Don't be embarrassed!)

To silence your past, you need to deal with it. Put aside your thoughts and allow the process time to work. Trust that God knows what He is doing.

Some other verses to consider:
Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. – God wants our thoughts to be acceptable, not just our words. Allow him to heal you so you can keep your thoughts acceptable.

2 Corinthians 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, – There are times when thoughts that are unacceptable pop into your head – impure thoughts, self-deprecating thoughts, mean thoughts. We can’t stop them from coming, but we can take them captive and choose not to dwell on them. How do you do this? When self-deprecating thoughts come, recite scripture that addresses the issue. When mean thoughts come, pray for that person instead. When impure thoughts come, pray for the salvation of friends or family members. Taking thoughts captive requires having a plan.


It comes so much more naturally to talk negatively about ourselves than positively. To combat that tendency:

1. Write five things you like about yourself. 
2. Write five positive things you’ve heard others say about you. 
3. Write five things you are thankful for.

If you have a tough time believing that God can heal you and your past, take a look at this video. Trust God and His love for you, cause they are greater than any thing in your past!

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Someone else wrote the final message of the four messages in the Silence! Series for my church in Hawaii, New Hope Leeward. But I couldn't just leave the topic unfinished. And there was so much to say about Silence Yourself that I actually wrote some anyway, and made it two messages.