The Power To Overcome

Lately I have been fighting. It's been a silent war raging in my mind. It's the battle of the past. Particularly memories from 2017. I see a scene that I had a part in play out. I hear a part of a conversation. I am back there in the phone conversation or reading the text. I'm replaying conversations that I can't take back.
I don't know why in the last few weeks these playbacks have become more frequent. I know that this time of year three years ago I was in the thick of a lot of things that make me cringe today. What I have learned from the past is that to let these thoughts run wild is a dangerous thing. Once they start invading they take over and eat the joy of the what God is doing today. They come in and beat me down for the things I can't take back.
In these times I have a choice. That in of itself is an evidence that The Spirit is at work. Those who do not have The Spirit of God living in them don't have a choice at all. They are enslaved to whatever passion or sin comes their way. They think they are free, but they cannot say no to this destructive power. I digress.
I have a choice. I can either give my mind over to these memories. Get entangled in them, dragged down, and beat down by them. Or I can choice to give my mind over to God. I can choose to pray and seek His help.
In these moments its critical to call out to the One who is stronger than my memories. The One who is stronger than my past. The One who is greater than my fears. The One who conquered them with His blood. The One who rose victorious over every power. The One who is exalted and holy. The One who is with me even as I fight these thoughts.
In these moments I must look to His strength to fight this battle. In these moments I must remember what He has done. He shed His own blood for those moments. And having canceled the written code that stood against me He made a public spectacle of them. Triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Christ and given Him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory and praise of God the Father.
This is the God I serve. Why in these moments of struggle would I try to muscle through it on my own? Oh I have those moments too, but they never bring victory. Left to myself I fail every single time.
But praise be to God who raises the dead I don't have to live there. I can, by The Holy Spirit living inside me, overcome. I can look to Christ and bring these thoughts captive. I can remember that God remembers them no more. I remember that they are stained red with the blood of my Savior. I can remember that the power to overcome comes from the Spirit inside me. This is is how I can fight the memories. This is how I can overcome. Not by my power, but by The Spirit within me.