Hi, thank you for joining me today!  I’m Debbie Wallace, and this is Girl Church.

Today we’re gonna talk about WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE.  How to send some of your issues on down…like water under the bridge.  How to let it go.

You know, sometimes we do things that we look back and we like have an “aha” moment — it’s like, What was I thinkin’!  Am I the only person that’s ever done that?  Surely not!  And you know what, the truth is, everybody’s done that.  Everybody has totally DROPPED THE BALL, everybody’s MESSED UP, everybody’s MADE MISTAKES.  It doesn’t make any difference how spiritually mature you think you are, even spiritually mature people do some very immature things at times. 

So I want to talk to you today about how to deal with some of those issues, especially if you’ve got something that you are regretting…maybe you’ve got some remorse over it.  It might be a big thing or it might be a small thing.

Let’s go look at what the Word has to say about this.

James 5:16 — Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  

Now, I really want to focus on the first part of this verse, which says to confess your sins to each other.  You may be surprised that this verse is in the Bible.  It’s like, What!?!  You mean God wants me to go TELL SOMEBODY??? — about my FAULTS?  Actually, yes.  He does.  And the King James Version actually uses the word “faults” there; it says to confess your faults.  I kinda like that better than I do “sins.”  But at any rate, it’s SHORTCOMINGS.  This is when you have dropped the ball, done something stupid, missed the mark — and like I said, everybody has done it.  

Now, why would God ask us to do this thing?  Why would God expect us, and advise us, and encourage us, and instruct us to go confess to someone else?  Why would He do that?  Well, think about what’s gonna happen if you don’t.  If you DON’T tell someone else.  And we’re not talking just every little thing;  we’re talking about something that’s really bothering you.  Something you’ve done that you regret.  Maybe you’ve hurt someone’s feelings.  Maybe you’ve had an affair.  Maybe you’ve done something stupid, maybe you’ve stolen some money — maybe you have simply, you know, not paid your taxes.  Whatever it is.  It could be some small thing, it could be some large thing.  But if it’s something you really regret and you don’t tell someone, this is what the devil will do:  The devil will make sure that you are trapped in that regret.  And he will attempt to isolate you there.  And that’s exactly what the devil does.   He tries to isolate us and get us in a little cocoon all by ourself.  And as long as we’re isolated, we don’t have the strength of our Christian brothers and sisters around us, it’s almost like we implode.  These issues can cause so many issues, even in our body.  Our body will respond to anxiety and worry in such a way that it can actually make us sick — physically and emotionally.  

So what God says is, Let’s just go ahead and stop that right now.  And the way you do that?  The way you put a stop to that…go find someone and tell them.  Not just anybody.  Find someone you look up to, someone you consider maybe ahead of you a little bit in spiritual maturity, ahead of you in wisdom.  Someone that you would consider trustworthy.  Someone you know is not going to be telling your business to anyone else.  

You know, I actually did this one time.  I had something on my conscious.  It wasn’t really a big thing, but it was something I had said.  I had said something to someone else, and I felt bad about it, and I went to one of my former pastors, someone that I’ve known for years, and I know that he’s very trustworthy.  And so I called him up one day and I told him, “I need to tell you what I’ve done.  And I feel bad about this.”  And he said, “Well, first of all, you’re doing the right thing by calling me and telling me, because the Bible says to confess your sins”  And he quoted this scripture to me.  And then he said, “The next thing you need to do is let it go.”  And that’s exactly what I did.  And it was like it took a load off.  

When you are able to confess your sins and your faults to someone else, it helps you to release the load of carrying that burden all alone.  And again, I don’t care who you are, everybody has been there.  Everybody has been there.  If you’re not there now, you’ve been there in the past, or you’ll be there in the future.  Everybody is at this place at some time in there life.  

So, God will never advise you to do something that would be against you.  He would never do anything to harm you, and He will never tell you to do anything that’s not going to help you and that’s not going to advance you spiritually.  

Some people have the idea that God is standing over them with a big baseball bat, waiting for them to mess up, as though He’s saying, As soon as they do I’m gonna get ’em!  But you know what, God is not doing that!  He wants to help you.  That’s why He tells us to share our failures and weaknesses with others.  He tells us that if we’ll be obedient and do what He tells us to do, it’ll RESOLVE that thing.  And that’s exactly what happens.  

#1 — Confess.  When you confess….

#2 — It will bring resolution.  So let it resolve.  Once you confess to someone, resolve it.  Allow that thing to be over.  And there comes a time, and a way, that you say, You know what, I’m drawing a line in the sand right here, I’m not gonna let the devil beat me up anymore.  I’m over this, I’m done with it.  And when you get tired of being condemned, once you confess to someone else, you need to let it go.  Because condemnation will wear you out.  And there’s just no point in letting it go one.  And the third thing is that you will be able to…

#3 — Move on.  You’ll be able to move on.  Once you’ve let it go, just move on.  And you know what, you need to go do something GOOD.  Do something good!  It’s like, ok, I’m ready to turn the page, I’m ready to start a new chapter, I’m ready to forget about this.  I’ve already asked God to forgive me.  I’ve confessed it to someone else.  Now I’m going to forgive myself, and I’m going forward.  

And be encouraged.  God is for you!  He’s not waiting to condemn you.  If you’re feeling condemnation from something you’ve done in your past, know that it’s not God that’s condemning you.  Especially if you have a tender heart, the devil can use condemnation to keep you going round and round in circles and keep you from moving forward, because you keep thinking, I’m a terrible person or I wouldn’t have done that.  No.  Good people do foolish things sometimes.  You need to accept that, and you need to accept God’s forgiveness, and you need to forgive yourself…and MOVE ON.

Thank you for joining me today.  I look forward to seeing you next week!