For years, I believed God’s Word would come to pass for others, but recently, the Lord convicted me of not taking it personally (as He intended). Can anyone relate? So, today, I declare that I believe every Scripture written in God’s Word, and I take every promise and every “I will” of God personally.

Jesus paid a high penalty for our sins so we don’t have to—because we can’t and we were never meant to. Sometimes, I fall short of receiving God’s free gift of forgiveness. For me, this way of thinking began in childhood. Each day before Mother came home from work, my sister and I straightened up the house and started dinner. Except one day, we had too much fun and made a major mess of everything. I don’t recall what we did, but Mother was speechless with shock and anger when she came home. Later, I spent weeks trying to smooth things out. And, that is the way it goes in many relationships. Something goes awry, and we work to restore peace and harmony. This is only right and good; however, we tend to pass this mindset on to our relationship with God.

As a young Christian, I felt like I needed to do a lot of good deeds to make up for my wrongs—like paying penance to be forgiven. Not so with God.

In the Old Testament, the priests offered sacrifices to God for the forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 10:1-3 (abbreviated) says:

“For the law ... can never by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near ... in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.”

The law shows us what behaviors God considers sins. The sacrifices didn’t remove the tendency to sin or the memory of sinful deeds. A pastor I know shared how the enemy kept reminding him of past sins. He responded by loudly thanking God that “I am forgiven and cleansed by Christ! I’m a new man!” When we struggle, we can submit it to the Lord and keep pressing in to Him. The old will be flushed out by the increase of the life of Christ within us. Until the Apostle Paul met Christ, he was a murderer who persecuted believers. In Christ, he became a transformed man who said, “Forget the things of the past.”  Paul went on to write roughly half of the New Testament.

By receiving His forgiveness, we can also forgive ourselves. He’s given us grace so we can extend grace to ourselves. Let the Lord lift the burden of guilt from past wrongs. He forgot them, and so should we. We are forgiven!  Friends, let’s resist the tendency to “make it up” to God for past failures. Going forward, let’s believe His Word and receive His forgiveness, which removes all guilt!

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, emphasis mine).

Now I understand that when Jesus comes into our hearts, and we choose to live for Him, Christ personally dwells inside us. He washes and cleanses us and gives us His nature. Wow. Now, this deserves a shout of Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, Thank You for Your massive love. You paid the price for all our sins. We choose to receive Your forgiveness and cleansing. We choose to forgive ourselves and live free from guilt in the peace and freedom You died to give us.

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All Scripture is quoted from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1995. Used by permission from Foundation Publications, Inc. Anaheim, Ca 92816. All rights reserved.