April 28
Joshua 19
Psalm 51:11-15
Proverbs 12:11-12
Luke 18:1-23
Guilt
“Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, You who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.” Psalm 51:14 NIV
I am convinced that one of the most dangerous schemes of Satan is guilt. Please hear me out. I understand the role of the Holy Spirit in convicting us of our sin. I understand the importance of our conscience telling us that what we are doing is wrong and that we should stop. It is vital that we listen to those voices in our head telling us to repent. The problem is that so often we are convicted of sin, we respond appropriately by confessing our sin to God and asking for His forgiveness, but we continue to feel guilty. We are haunted by the weight of what we have done, and we cannot move on because we have not accepted God’s forgiveness and cleansing. Satan uses our sin against us. He throws our past sins in our face to keep us from being effective in our service to God. He tries to make us believe that no one will listen to someone who has done what we have done, or God can’t possibly use someone who sins. He can even make us doubt that God has really forgiven us. He tries to convince us that we have to prove ourselves to God before He will be willing to use us again. That is a lie. We are not on probation to see if we can be good before we are given responsibility again. God is not our parole officer who is watching to see if we are going to mess up and sin. He is our loving Father who wants what is best for us and is willing to help us. There is no cleansing without confession, but once confession is made, God removes the weight of guilt from us and “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12 (NIV) We may have to face the consequences of our sin, but the guilt of our sin is removed when we confess and repent. Accept God’s forgiveness and move on. God wants to use you today as a testimony to His mercy and grace.
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