Guilt, Shame, and Condemnation.
One of the things that my wife, Sara, and I have been encountering a lot here lately is people who have a deep sense of guilt, shame, and condemnation. Past events in their life seem to be weighing heavily upon their shoulders, and the weight of this shame is crushing the very life from those we encounter. Perhaps you can identify personally with what I am talking about, or perhaps you know someone Else that can. If so I urge you to continue reading this article.
As we walk though our lives with these feelings we find a small voice is accusing us that God will never love us and accept us for who we are. This voice for many people is often times confused with the voice of God, and so the people who hear it work very hard to earn the favor of the God they believe is speaking to them. However this is NOT the voice of God. Our God does not do guilt in this manner. If you have feelings of guilt that lead to shame, condemnation, and rejection then that guilt is from the very enemy of your soul, the Devil. God does use guilt and conviction, but his guilt and conviction leads to repentance instead of those other places. And our God also knows that you can never do enough to earn his favor, and that is the reason that Jesus had to die on the cross those many years ago.
The devil is the great accuser and deceiver. He brings these accusations against us and then deceives us into believing that we need to earn the favor of the God who gave us life. I want you to stop for a moment and ask yourself if you are trying to earn God's favor. Are the things you do at church, home, and work done because you want God to smile upon you and grant you his favor? Are you trying to earn the Lord's love and acceptance. Do you sometimes hear a small voice in your head tell you that you are not saved? If so then pay special attention to what I am saying next. I have walked enough people through this to know now that if you are having these feelings of needing to earn God's favor, and if you are having doubts about your salvation that there is a very real problem.
Some pastors I know have said that they were never accused in their head of not being a Christian until they were one. And now the enemy accuses them all the time. They can identify with the feelings I have described above, and they brush it off as a ploy and tactic of the enemy to convince them they are not saved. However I believe, from the many encounters with people who have felt this way, that it is a ploy of the enemy. But it is not a ploy to convince them that they were not saved, it is a ploy to convince them that they can earn their salvation. If you have identified with what I have written here I want to tell you one more thing. You will never ever be good enough to earn God's favor. It doesn't matter what you do serving him, he will never ever smile upon you because of it. So stop trying to earn his favor, admit to him that you have failed, and then cast yourself upon the rock of Jesus and put your full trust in his sacrifice. At that point you will be saved, and you will never have the doubt of your salvation ever again. You have to come to the end of your efforts and trust in his effort alone.
As we walk though our lives with these feelings we find a small voice is accusing us that God will never love us and accept us for who we are. This voice for many people is often times confused with the voice of God, and so the people who hear it work very hard to earn the favor of the God they believe is speaking to them. However this is NOT the voice of God. Our God does not do guilt in this manner. If you have feelings of guilt that lead to shame, condemnation, and rejection then that guilt is from the very enemy of your soul, the Devil. God does use guilt and conviction, but his guilt and conviction leads to repentance instead of those other places. And our God also knows that you can never do enough to earn his favor, and that is the reason that Jesus had to die on the cross those many years ago.
The devil is the great accuser and deceiver. He brings these accusations against us and then deceives us into believing that we need to earn the favor of the God who gave us life. I want you to stop for a moment and ask yourself if you are trying to earn God's favor. Are the things you do at church, home, and work done because you want God to smile upon you and grant you his favor? Are you trying to earn the Lord's love and acceptance. Do you sometimes hear a small voice in your head tell you that you are not saved? If so then pay special attention to what I am saying next. I have walked enough people through this to know now that if you are having these feelings of needing to earn God's favor, and if you are having doubts about your salvation that there is a very real problem.
Some pastors I know have said that they were never accused in their head of not being a Christian until they were one. And now the enemy accuses them all the time. They can identify with the feelings I have described above, and they brush it off as a ploy and tactic of the enemy to convince them they are not saved. However I believe, from the many encounters with people who have felt this way, that it is a ploy of the enemy. But it is not a ploy to convince them that they were not saved, it is a ploy to convince them that they can earn their salvation. If you have identified with what I have written here I want to tell you one more thing. You will never ever be good enough to earn God's favor. It doesn't matter what you do serving him, he will never ever smile upon you because of it. So stop trying to earn his favor, admit to him that you have failed, and then cast yourself upon the rock of Jesus and put your full trust in his sacrifice. At that point you will be saved, and you will never have the doubt of your salvation ever again. You have to come to the end of your efforts and trust in his effort alone.
posted by Pastor Jerry at
8:34 AM
1 Comments:
There is a good scripture reference to this. Philippians 3:12-14 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brother, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
God has forgiven and forgotten, we must also "forget what is behind" and "get on with it". Looking up and onward to what God has for us to do now. Recognize that satan is trying to cripple us by throwing guilt in our way and look "heavenward in Christ Jesus".
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Darlene, at 11:59 AM
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