Dearest Saints
Presently, I believe many Christians remain a prisoner because too many of them give too much attention by listening to our enemy who deceives Gods people to remain a prisoner of feeling guilty. When guilt is left unattended and is not properly dealt with, this may lead to a greater issue of feeling condemned. Like feeling inferior….guilt and condemnation is nothing but deception which our enemy entices so many Christians in to believing they are feeling justified by holding on to it. When a Christian listens to the enemy long enough, they always become a prisoner to his lies. Just like what happened right from the beginning when Eve listened too long to the serpent. Believing this deception inhibits many Christians from growing stronger in the Lord while at the same time, the body of Christ remains ineffective. This is more important than ever that Gods Church needs to be stronger in Him by refusing to listen the enemy who is able to weaken the Church, which we should never allow to take place.
It is important to KNOW and UNDERSTAND that no matter what has happened in the past, with Gods help, we can be set free if we choose to do things His way, believe His ways and learn to receive His gifts of Grace, Mercy and total Pardon for us and live free from being a prisoner of “guilt”. When we first submit our lives and invite Jesus as our Lord, we become a new creature in Christ. Old things are passed away, behold “ALL things have now become NEW” (2 Cor 5:17). Although we may still be dealing with some habits, God now sees us as His Righteousness because of the Blood of Jesus simply because we now have invited Him to be our Lord and Savior when we knew we could not ever reconcile ourselves by our “so-called good deeds”. Just like Paul says in Romans 7, that he continues to fight from within this old nature which is not his will in the first place. God recognizes and totally understands our struggles. This is why He has sent an Advocate (Jesus Christ) who took the penalty for us already and pleads for us to accept His pardon for any of our sins we have repented of. I know I normally hit a nerve with people who were alcoholics from the past and joined Alcoholics Anonymous, because they still consider themselves alcoholics to this day, even though they may have been sober for over 20 years. I like the fact that when we believe and receive what God has done for us, we don’t have to hold on to any former title of our past, because He tells us we are new creatures in Christ, which means that no matter what we have done in the past, it is forever gone because we have been made NEW because of what Jesus accomplished for us. I like believing in the power of His promises because it is totally liberating. When God says that we should know the Truth, and the Truth sets us free (John 8:32), the only ones who are set free are the ones who believe His Word and accept it without question!! When anyone holds any records on us from our past, it is great knowing that the only One whom anyone has to give an account to is the One who removes all our past sins. This means we don’t ever have to accept any guilt because God Himself has dealt with it once and for all through His Son Jesus.
Holding on to guilt is nothing but a trick of the enemy to try to make yourself feel justified. God tells us in Psalm 146:7, He sets the prisoners free. However, many Christians are not set free! Is it because God ever withholds the keys and keeps the prison doors locked? NO. Christians who remain a prisoner are those who choose not to receive Gods full pardon and His total forgiveness. I picture how the prison doors are wide open, but many Christians decide to remain in prison even though the doors are wide open. This type of prison is when someone holds on to guilt from the past. Gods gift, His liberty and freedom that is always offered to His Children doesn’t do any good unless we learn to accept it and receive it. If you want to give a gift to someone, but they deny the gift you give them simply because they don’t feel worthy, how would that make you feel? How do you think God feels when He wants to offer us His pardon and forgiveness, but we choose not to receive it because we don’t feel worthy? Don’t ever think we are ever justified when we choose to remain feeling guilty and forsake His priceless offer to pardon us from guilt!!
When I am accused of my past, I refuse to accept any of it. I smile and say “God loves me and He has totally forgiven me”. I say it with a genuine smile on my face because I know the wonderful liberation of knowing this truth!! When people try to make you feel guilty from the past, or the devil himself will put thoughts of the past in your memory, you need to always say those words which I just mentioned and not put a phony smile on your face, but a true genuine smile. So when we know how God has forgiven us totally and we refuse to ever accept any accusations, we also need to make sure we don’t dare hold any of our Brothers or Sisters accountable, otherwise we end up playing the devils advocate. To say these words with a genuine smile on your face is truly liberating when you speak it and mean it. Try it! God tells us that He punished a wicked servant severely after He had forgiven him a great debt, because this servant refused to show any mercy to another one who owed only a fraction of the debt. When we listen and receive peoples accusations more then Gods pardon for us, He is not only going to have the accusers give an account before Him, but I believe He will also hold certain Christians accountable because He will question them why they did not choose to receive His pardon by holding on to guilt!
When the prodigal Son was returning to his masters home after he went away and squandered everything, his master (whom God the Father is identified as) ran to him and embraced him (Luke 15:20). He never mentions here about questioning His sons past because His Son asked for forgiveness. In fact, He went far beyond not bringing up the past! He had a feast prepared for him. Does this sound like He made any suggestions that His son should hold on to any guilt? Then why are so many Christians believing the lies of the devil to feel justified when we hold on to guilt? I don’t know about you, but I CHOOSE Gods way to receive total forgiveness and REFUSE to ever hold on to guilt because it produces no benefit to you. I am going to feast and join the party with God and the prodigal Son instead of remaining a prisoner by holding on to any guilt from my past. We need to decide now: What are you going to choose? Enjoying the wonderful liberation of being free in Christ or a prisoner to the lies of the enemy? Just like in Deut 30:19, God does not tell us to remain silent, but we need to verbally choose one or the other. To live in the liberation of Christ or not. Be wise and choose wisdom.
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In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
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