Let us give ourselves permission to believe that we are forgiven forever. JpJ

There are times when my past creeps into the recesses of my brain. Wanting to take over and haunt me. I am sure I am not alone when I say that I have done some things that I am ashamed of. Things that could perhaps hurt friends or family if discovered. The enemy has a way to inhibit our personal  spiritual growth by constantly reminding us of these shortcomings. Shortcomings, that if we were in our right minds and really knew God at the time there is no way we would have done them.

As I sat in church feeding on the word of God delivered through my pastor, I was reminded that the enemy uses our thoughts to get to us. He infiltrates our minds most times unaware to us, planting seeds of contempt, hypocrisy, doubt, lack, status quo acceptance, self defeat, anger, hurt, thinking we do not deserve forgiveness and so much more.

Can I encourage you today to constantly keep in mind that when these thoughts come through to the fore and result in us being in an unhappy state, to remember that God is love and in him there is no condemnation.

Do we understand what Love means as it relates to God? Let us think about it for a minute, how many of us would give up our sons to die on a cross?  As I think about it, I remember talking to some ladies and saying that when we think about the crucifixion of Jesus, most of us do not dwell on the physical pain that Jesus endured. Nails being driven through the hand and feet and then being mounted up, can you imagine the pain of that. I really think that we gloss over it and we do not associate his pain with the same pain that we would feel if we were in that same position. So the question still remains, how many of us would do that to one of our own children, our own flesh and blood? I can honestly say that it would be hard for me. THAT IS GOD’S LOVE!!!!

So I am saying this is the same God who loves us, sent his son to die for us and made the way for forgiveness of sins and no more condemnation. So let us stop preventing ourselves from experiencing the love of God by allowing the enemy to enter our thoughts and then our hearts. Let us give ourselves permission to believe that God loves us and that’s all we need, to forget our past mistakes. We have to give ourselves permission to accept that we were once in darkness but now we are in the light. We are free to live a renewed life one that accommodates only good thoughts, love for ourselves and love for others. We have to give ourselves permission to  believe that our slates have been wiped clean, no more condemnation, only the grace of God which has set us free to live our lives in the way that He intended us to live.

So I will end with this word of encouragement to anyone who is going through a season of not being able to let go of past mistakes, just remember the following verse and really reflect on the words.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19(ERV) When anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new world. The old things are gone; suddenly, everything is new! All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between himself and us. And God gave us the work of bringing people into peace with him. I mean that God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold people guilty for their sins. And he gave us this message of peace to tell people.