Utilizing Memory

 “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” Psalms 51:3 (NIV)

How’s your memory? Can you remember your favorite vacation from your childhood? Can you remember learning how to swim or braving the high diving board for the first time? Do you remember the day you got your driver’s license? There’s power in memory.

Memory can paralyze us with fear or mobilize us to persevere. Memory can blockade us like a brick wall or project us forward like a smooth water slide. It depends on how you utilize your memory.

Satan uses memory to ridicule and demean us. He uses our memory to stifle our growth and to discredit our progress. Satan will bring to our minds the darkness of our past in order to cripple us.

Yet, where Satan seeks to bring death and destruction, God can bring life and victory! God uses memory to remind us where we would be without His abundant grace and abiding peace. God allows us to remember our sin so that we will know where He brought us from.

David acknowledged his sin. David affirmed the reality of sin always being before him in his memory. The question is not: Why do I remember my sin? The question is: What will I do in response to my ability to remember my sin?

God wants us to remember that He rescued us from our sin so that we can live the abundant life. So, when Satan reminds you of your past just remind him of God’s provision of cleansing through the shed blood of His Son and our Savior, the Lord Jesus! Yes! Now that’s using memory in victory!

Pursuing God,

Stephen Trammell
Executive Pastor
(This devotional was originally posted in ’07 or ’08. I’m taking a break from writing for a season of personal renewal.)
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