It has become very popular in America for people to tell all of their unfortunate childhood experiences. It's one of the great audience "attention getters" on talk shows today.

We've even got psychologists who plant an idea in people's minds, and then the person says, "Oh, that's the reason I can't do this. That's the reason I can't achieve. That's the reason I've been held back all of my life."

Well listen! If you've been abused or mistreated, God has a solution—get born again.

"Oh, that's easy for you to say, Brother Jerry. You don't know the pain. You don't know the scars."

Let me ask you this? Are you going to let it control you for the rest of your life? You can be healed. You can be delivered. The same Jesus that can heal sick bodies can heal wounded spirits.

It's time to get in the Word of God and tell the devil, "This is where you get off. This will not be a crutch in my life anymore. I don't care what my past was like, my future is bright in God."

Turn all those negative excuses into positive reasons for achieving. The Bible is absolutely full of stories of people who were failures but God made champions out of them.

Consider Jesus' Crew
Have you ever taken a close look at the "Jesus Christ Evangelistic Association" team? How would you like to have a faith ministry and you have a man on your team known as "Doubting" Thomas?

This was a healing ministry and Peter would cut your ear off if you made him mad. This was a ministry of compassion but James and John would call fire down on you. This was a ministry of integrity, and Judas was stealing!

Jesus spent hours one day sharing with His disciples about His relationship with the Father. He made statements such as, "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." "My Father and I are One." "It is the Father in Me that doeth the works." And when He got through, Philip said, "Show us the Father." Jesus said, "How long am I going to have to be with you?"

Don't laugh, some of his descendants are living all over America. In the natural, these men were the least likely to succeed, but Jesus made new men out of them.

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
(Heb. 11:33-34)

These were just ordinary people like you and me who believed God, and their believing God caused them to do extraordinary things. I like what the Message translation says,...turned disadvantage to advantage.

This is a negative world that we live in. If you follow the course of this world, then it begins to control your destiny. Satan is endeavoring to plant negative seeds on the inside of you in one way or the other. He is out to restrict you by saying that you're a failure, or you were born on the wrong side of the tracks, or you were born into the wrong family. He'll even tell you that you shouldn't have been born at all.

You can believe that if you want to, or you can overcome it with the Word of God.

Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out.
(Rom. 12:1-2 MSG)

Remember, before anything happens outwardly, something must happen inwardly. "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7).

Fellowship And Meditation
The Bible won't do any more for you than any other book unless you allow the words to jump off the pages and get into your heart. And that only comes by fellowship and meditation in the Word of God. You'll begin to see yourself as a champion in Christ Jesus, capable of doing all things through the Mighty One which strengthens you.

• You Must Make a Decision
  Everything you do starts with a decision. Are you going to live like the rest of the world and be controlled by its circumstances or live by the design that God has planned for your life? Success in your life begins with a decision.
  
  To go with the flow of this world is to live with limitations, but to go with the flow of God is to open yourself to unlimited possibilities never before imagined. Don't allow yourself to join in on negative conversations that are contrary to what you believe.
  
  "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever" (Isa. 40:8).
  
  It doesn't make any difference what happens in this world; if you are on the Word of God, then you can be a success going somewhere to happen!
  
  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (Jer. 29:11).
  
  Make the decision today that you will not allow the world to dictate what your outcome will be. Your outcome is mapped out by God Himself, and your future is bright.
  
• Learn to Think Big
  To flow with God is to open up your mind and think bigger thoughts than you've ever thought in your life. You'll be able to dream new dreams. You'll begin to achieve things that the world says are impossible. You'll begin to believe that you can conquer every obstacle that stands in your path. If God is for you, no one can successfully be against you.
  
  You can't "hang around" God very long and continue to think small. He said to me one time, "If you think small, you will disappoint Me." The Word challenges you to rise above the circumstances of this world, and to get a brand new perspective of your potential in Christ. I'm not talking about what you can do. I'm talking about what the Greater One inside of you can do.
  
  "So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose?" (Rom. 8:37 MSG)
  
• You Must Renew You Mind
  "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:2).
  
  Notice the responsibility is on you. God's not going to step in and see to it that you're not conformed. The Holy Spirit isn't going to make you renew your mind. It's up to you. Don't be like the rest of the world.
  
  As you saturate yourself in the Word of God, your thinking will begin to change. You'll no longer be a negative person. Just because everybody else talks sickness and poverty doesn't mean that you have to. You may be the only light in that arena of darkness—so shine!

An Exercise in Belief
Let me challenge you to do this exercise. It will be a great help to you. Make a list of everything Satan has told you in the past as to why you can't be successful and why you can't be prosperous. For example:

1. Not enough education.
   
2. Not enough money.
   
3. Not enough time.
   
4. Bad childhood experiences.
   
5. Abused.
   
6. Born on the wrong side of town.
   
7. Born to the wrong family.
   
8. Born at the wrong time.
   
9. Born at all.

Once you make that list, then compare it to what God's Word says and decide whose report you will believe. Every one of those excuses can be turned into something positive.

What's holding you back? What's keeping you down? Well, it's time to get rid of it.

…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
(Heb. 12:1-2)

Study your Bible again. Most of the people in the Bible were not qualified when God called them. They didn't have the credentials. But God takes the foolish things and confounds the wise. God takes what the world discards and turns them into champions, praise God!

There is a way to stay positive in a negative world by focusing your attention on God. Don't let the world dictate your destiny. Turn every negative excuse into a positive reason for achieving and watch what God will do with your life. He'll turn devastation into restoration!

Source: From Devastation to Restoration by Jerry Savelle
Excerpt permission granted by Jerry Savelle Publications