"If they knew my past failures, they wouldn't trust me with this responsibility."
How it sounds in your head: I've made significant mistakes before. If the people I lead now knew about those failures, they'd question whether I should be in this position at all.
"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
-- Philippians 3:13-14Religious lie that past failures disqualify future calling, combined with enemy accusation that your history defines your destiny.
Your past mistakes are real and documented. You know others have been disqualified for less, and the fear that your history will catch up feels justified.
Peter DENIED Jesus three times publicly, cursing and swearing he didn't know Him. Jesus didn't disqualify him—He RESTORED him on the beach, told him 'Feed My sheep,' and made him the ROCK of the early church AFTER the failure.
I REFUSE the lie that my past disqualifies my present calling. IT IS WRITTEN that I forget what is behind and press toward what is ahead, because God's call on my life is FORWARD, not backward. My past failures are under the blood, and IT IS WRITTEN that there is NO condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. I am walking in the BARAK BLESSING that is based on COVENANT, not conduct. Like Peter who denied Jesus and still became the rock of the church, my failures are the testimony of God's GRACE, not the limit of my calling. I am not defined by my worst moment; I am defined by HIS BEST WORK—the finished work of the cross.
The Father doesn't hold your past against you—He already dealt with it at the cross. Like Peter who got breakfast with Jesus after betrayal, you get RESTORATION and CALLING after failure, not because you earned a second chance but because grace doesn't run out.