I was reading in my devotional by Sara Young entitled Jesus Always – Embracing Joy in His Presence Sister Young writes her devos as if Jesus is the person who is talking.
Some excepts of this particular devo is as follows: “…you need to learn the art of self-forgetfulness. You were not designed to stay focused on yourself. Selfishness is the natural bent of mankind…but I have designed you to live supernaturally. Instead of making yourself the object of your thoughts, gaze at Me and be attentive to the people around you. You are safe in My everlasting arms and compete in My loving Presence. So turn your attention to trusting in and loving Me.”
For a guy who struggles with putting his hand to the plow and not looking back, this is a word from the Lord. I know that I am forgiven and even though I wish I could retain what I know now and return to the place of my first mistakes and sins and correct them, the Lord would say to me (and to you), He has already done this for us, on the cross of Calvary. The trick of the enemy is to get you to focus on your past mistakes and sin and shame you into not wanting to move forward in your calling. Truth be told, all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory; but thanks be to God that He has forgiven our sins, cleansed our unrighteousness, and made us whole through the shed blood of Jesus.
Our goal here is to forget those things which are behind and press forward toward the high call of God in Christ Jesus. To do this properly one needs to understand the art of self-forgiveness and self-forgetfulness. Our ability to remove the power of negative influences from the devil, certain others, and even ourselves, who would otherwise use our past mistakes to derail our present course and keep us from a prosperous future, must be mastered on a daily basis.
FACT: The devil is a liar and the accuser of the brethren.
The Apostle John reminds us, “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” – Revelation 12:10,11
- In context, this passage is referencing a specific time during the tribulation that the devil’s access to God will be taken away. No longer will he be able to accuse believers for things God has already forgiven them of. ‘The blood of the Lamb’ is our salvation through Jesus Christ; and ‘the word of our testimony’ are those things that we speak that testify to what Jesus has done, and is currently doing in our lives.
This passage refers to a particular group of people, known as the tribulation saints, our future brothers and sisters in the Lord, who will miss the Rapture, but come to salvation during the tribulation period. They will be severely persecuted and martyred for their faith during that horrific time.
However, today, Christians are also being accused by the enemy for former sins from their past; our past.
As Christians, we need to remember that the sins of our past have been covered by Christ’ blood. The devil’s accusations should have no effect on us if we understand this sacred truth of our salvation. There is no past sin to be accused of in our life, because it has all been forgiven by Jesus.
TRUTH: Our past is forgiven, the devil’s future is condemnation. The next time the devil tries to remind you of your past, you remind him of his future!
“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” – Revelation 20:10
In any forgiveness scenario, there are three parties who need to render and receive forgiveness:
1. The offended party. We need to ask forgiveness of those we have offended and sinned against.
Jesus said, “…and forgive us our debts (our sins and offensives) as we forgive our debtors (those who have sinned and offended us).” – Matthew 6:12
2. God. – You need to ask God for His forgiveness and believe that He has forgiven you.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9
3. Yourself. – You need to forgive yourself for your past sin.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” – Romans 8:1
Condemnation vs. Consequence:
There will always be some sort of consequence for your actions, but un-forgiveness and shame should never be one of them.
Isaiah reminds us, “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” – Isaiah 44:22
Webster’s on ‘redeemed’ – ‘to set free, rescue or ransom, to save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences.’
The Hebrew writer said it this way,
| So, friends, we can now – without hesitation – walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of His sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is His body. So let’s do it – full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. – Hebrews 10:19-22 (The Message) |
| When we understand that we are forgiven by the Lord, there is a confidence and a boldness that we receive that comes with forgiveness. It’s a feeling of freedom like non other. This is the way the Lord would have us live our lives, totally forgiven and totally free. David Seamands, in his book Healing for Damaged Emotions, said this, |
| “There is no forgiveness from God unless you freely forgive your brother from your heart. And I wonder if we have been too narrow minded in thinking that ‘brother’ only applies to someone else. What if YOU are the brother or sister who needs to be forgiven, and you need to forgive yourself?” Jesus said it this way, |
“For you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. For if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” – John 8:32,36 (NLT)
TRUTH: Jesus has set you free and forgiven you from your sin. You need to receive His forgiveness by faith and daily walk in the newness of life and spiritual freedom that Christ has granted to you.
“It’s not whether you get knocked down that matters, it’s whether or not you get back up again that counts.” – Vince Lombardi
| “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed (let go) our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:12 If God has let go of our sin, then how can we still hold on to it? If Jesus sacrifice on the cross wasn’t good enough for our forgiveness, nothing will ever be. Paul reminds us, “For the death that Christ died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:10,11 Not forgiving yourself for your past sins would be like a man being released from prison, but refusing to go. When you hold on to your sin after God has let it go, what message are you sending to God? You are in essence telling God that sending His Son to die on the cross was not enough to forgive you of your sins. You are telling God that your sin is too great for His sacrifice to cover. You are trying to be mightier than God. By not believing or putting into practice what God’s Word says is true about our forgiveness, it will only keep us on a path that God never intended for us. If we do this, we are never allowing ourself to live fully in the present because of the hold we keep on ourself from our past sins and mistakes. |
“All things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28
R.T Kendall, in his book Total Forgiveness, says, “God can take your sinful past and make it work together for your good – so brilliantly and beautifully that you will be tempted to say that this is the way it was supposed to be! Some Christians who can’t forgive themselves are, underneath it all, angry with themselves. But God can begin today to cause all that happened in your past to fit into a pattern for God’s good. Begin to forgive yourself; don’t feel guilty about doing so! God says, “Take your forgiveness and don’t look back.” God will take the wasted years and restore them to good before it’s all over. It is just as the prophet Joel promised: “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten” (Joel 2:25).”
God’s plan for our lives is to be totally set free from our sin. As believers in Jesus, this principle should be a basic concept, however, with the onslaught of the enemy, even simple principles in God’s Word can be hard to grasp when in the snare of self-guilt and self-un-forgiveness.
Bottom line: You need to forgive yourself and receive God’s grace and mercy. Prayer and faith confession go hand in hand: When we speak words of faith, we create the reality that God has intended for us. Believing that we are forgiven is part of that ride.
Here’s a little prayer for self-forgiveness that might help you to get to that place:
“Dear Jesus, I praise You and thank You Lord. You have given me so much and for that I am very grateful. I want to ask You right now to hear my prayer. This is one of the most important prayers I have ever prayed in my life and I don’t want anything to stand in the way of Your hearing it; please wipe away any and all sin in my life. I want to be spotless before You. Lord, I want only Your will for my life.
I know that You created me in Your image and Your image does not include all the baggage that comes with my sin. I am ready to lay this baggage down. I have been mentally and physically drained at times from carrying it around and I now know that this way of living and thinking is not Your will for my life. Lord I want my life to reflect Your will on earth, as it is written in heaven.
I want to walk as closely to You here on this earth as I can. Lord, I will trust You daily. Please help me when I start to think and worry about my past sin and when I don’t feel forgiven. Remind me to enact my faith. Let me have the peace of knowing that it doesn’t matter how I feel, my faith and Your Word tell me that I AM FORGIVEN! I have learned that because You have forgiven me, I must no longer hold on to the pain of my sin.
Deliver me from it forever Lord. I lay it down once and for all, never to pick it up again. The pain, the shame, the sorrow, and regret I have felt from the choice of my mistakes will no longer have a hold on me. Thank You Lord Jesus for giving me the boldness and authority I needed to pray this prayer. I will forever love You and praise Your name. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.”
If you prayed that prayer with a sincere heart, you are on your way to understanding that God’s love for you and His grace provided you at the cross is part of the process of being forgiven and set free from sin. Sure we will struggle from time to time, but God is with us and He is faithful. Trust in Him, He loves you.
Maranatha!
Encouragemen is a blog written by Pastor Rob Lee, recently relocated to Northwest Missouri. He lives with his wife of 35-years, near their three adult children, their spouses, and children (their grandchildren). Pastor Rob is an Ordained Assemblies of God minister, a former Lead Pastor (25 years), police chaplain, and community advocate. He continues to serve, consult, and disciple men of God, including those who are in the ministry.
Encourage Men 