Occasionally, when the subject of praying for healing of traumatic memories is being discussed, someone will quote Philippians 3:13-14 and 2 Corinthians 5:17, and then raise objections along the lines of, “Why are we wasting time and energy rummaging around in old painful memories? Doesn’t Paul tell us that the old things have passed away? And Doesn’t Paul instruct us to leave the past behind as we strain forward toward the new things of God? When painful things from the past come up, it’s just satan trying to harass us. Aren’t we just playing into his hands when we think about, talk about, and focus on traumatic memories?” The very short summary of the first part of my response is that these objections are based on a misunderstanding of Paul’s intended meaning. The very short summary of the second part of my response is that trying to bury/deny/forget about the past just doesn’t turn out very well. For a more detailed discussion of these two points, see the section titled “Shouldn’t We Just Leave the Past Behind Us, as the Apostle Paul Advises” in Chapter 39: Frequently Asked Questions in the big lion book.