Lydia almost can’t get through a day without remembering her past. She gambled away her family’s life savings and now lives alone and in poverty. She’s recommitted her life to the Lord but finds it difficult not to let the Devil use her past against her.

“Do not be discouraged at your faults,” writes Francois Fenelon, “bear with yourself in correcting them, as you would with your neighbor. Lay aside this ardor of mind, which exhausts your body, and leads you to commit errors. Accustom yourself gradually to carry prayer into all your daily occupations. Speak, move, work, in peace, as if you were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be.”

Sometimes the Devil uses your faults to torment you. He might say, “Don’t work in that new ministry at the church; remember the last time how you blew it?” Or He might whisper, “Why do you even try to come regularly to church? You’ve never been faithful in anything you’ve done in the past.”

Don’t let the Devil use your sins against you. Instead, commit your faults to the Almighty God and ask Him to help you overcome them. The Bible says to walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The order here is important. First, walk in the spirit. Second, don’t fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Don’t try to mortify your flesh in your own futile strength. Walk in the power of the Spirit so that you can someday receive your Well-Done Degree from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Don’t let your faults get you down . . . except to your knees in prayer.