Word Study: Triggering

BYTES~ 

Word Study: Triggering

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.

Philippians 3:13‭-‬15

Triggering

What can you just not forget from your past? Have you identified what triggers depression, anxiety, and fear in your life? What sparks of memory still trip you up so many years later? 

Apostle Paul had trouble with his triggers in life as well. He had lived to persecute the church, having some killed, imprisoning others for their faith before he had his Damascus Road experience with Jesus.

Some of his triggers were church people rejecting him because they thought he was lying about his conversion. Many of his triggers were like ours, though, firmly entrenched in our minds. Seeing a person from our past, hearing a certain song, or certain sights, smells and sounds can act as triggers that activate the memories lodged in the corners of our minds which then lead us spiraling down into a pit of despair for days on end, and which cause extreme fear and anxiety about our futures. 

Paul could completely identify with so many of you who continually relive the traumas and hurts of yesterday, whatever they are. But Paul through the loving care, healing, deliverance and guidance of the Holy Spirit, learnt how to deal effectively, once-for-all, with the shadows of the past. 

Forget It

Paul learned through the Holy Spirit to forget it! Holy Spirit taught Paul to forget those things which are behind. Forgetting is epilanthanomai in the Greek and it means to forget; to neglect; to lose out of mind; be forgetful about. 

That is what we need to do with those triggers from the past that cause us to leak faith, that leave us weak and full of doubt that God can do the impossible in our lives. We need to forget those things that lay behind that hinder our spiritual growth in God, that keeps our faith stunted, and that keeps us from being all that God wants us to be! 

Like Paul, we must train our minds to forget the hurts and traumas of the past. We do this by neglecting those triggers! When you neglect a fire, when you do not add any more kindling to it, it will eventually die. If we neglect to entertain our sins of the past, or what was done to us; if we stop rehearsing what was said, we will neglect those triggers and they will lose their power over our thoughts and lives. 

Reset Your Mind

If you want the freedom from the triggers of the past that Paul enjoyed and wanted all Believers to partake in, then you must do as Paul did: Press the Reset button, forgetting on purpose those things which lay behind. You must become intentional to want to be free forever from those things which are behind. Let your mind lose those Triggering thoughts. Forget about those things that have hindered your success and your progress thus far. Sincerely repent if you need to. Forgive those who have hurt you. Ask Holy Spirit to fill you with His love and to heal the wounds of the past. Gladly receive your healing and deliverance, and walk away from what lies behind for good. 

Press The Reset Button! 

When a trigger surfaces, train your mind to lose it, to shut it down immediately! Press that Reset Button as often as you need to! Refuse to entertain the hurts and wounds of yesterday. 

God set Paul free from his toxic past. No matter what or who tried to remind him of his past, he did not succumb to their bullying nor their opinions. Paul walked free, knowing God, the Ruler of the world, had forgiven him and held nothing against him. 

That is freedom indeed. And it is available to you and me through Christ Jesus. If God has already forgiven you, it does not matter how anyone labels you. Through you having received the sacrifice of The Son, Jesus Christ, you have been made free indeed! 

Shut those triggers down forever today. Walk free from the darkness of the past into God's marvelous and loving light. You are more than the sum of yesterday's mistakes. You are not your past. You are who God says you are, and that's the only truth spoken about you that you need to know! Walk boldly in the liberty today with which Christ has set you free. 

Meaghan Spies © 2022