MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT FORGIVENESS 2 In reaction to some comments on the first part one of this post,I will explain some points. Of a truth,we are right to sayno sinner will go unpunished,but since we were all born sinners,that means we all should be punished,with no one excepted,but this is not so because Christ died for us to be saved from earthly and eternal punishment of sins(Romans 5:8). Once we were sinners and deserve the judgment or punishment for sins ,but now we are saved not sinners anymore,so by grace,our sins are pardoned through the blood of Jesus and we are justified from any punishment for our past sins. Also,when God forgives us,He doesnt punish us for it again. Can anyone sight an example to me in the New testament where God forgave sin yet punish the person? None! It may have happened this way in the time of the laws and the prophets,but not in the dispensation of grace,remember Peter? For example,I stole a meat from a hot pot of soup,it got my hand burnt,later I confessed to my mother what I did and she forgave me. My sins have been forgiven,but the burns(the consequence of the sin) sustained from the act remains,will I be right to say my mother is punishing me for my sins because of the burns? Same way it is when we sin and face its consequences,the consequences came as a result of what we did by ourselves which gave the devil a chance to punish us,it is what we did that made us victim to such consequences. So,how then do we say God is punishing us for such sins? Over and over again,the devil brings the memories of our past sinful deeds into our minds,he does this either to create a desire for such sins in our hearts again or make us feel condemned and regret for ever doing it,and at times,he haunts us with it. All these brings about guilt and fears in our minds. We suddenly lost our peace and doubts arises in us,making us feel guilty and condemned for sins we have been forgiven by God. So,how do we overcome this? 1. Leave no sin unconfessed to God and restitute if necessary. Any unconfessed sin gives the devil an opportunity into your life,remember he is the accuser of the brethren,so he always look for such opportunities to use against us,but thanks for the mercy of God prevailing over our lives. Let no secret sin remain untold to your partner i.e fiancé or fiancée,husband or wife,or anybody you sinned against provided they are alive. Here is my own experience: Before I got saved,I took what belongs to a woman who loved me and took me as her sister,after I was saved,I felt condemned for this although I had confessed and knew God has forgiven me,so I decided to confess to her. I and my pastor went to the her, I confessed and apologize to her,and she told us that out of anger, she had previously cursed the person who took the thing. Although,she was greatly disappointed that I did it,but she forgave me, prayed for me and took it back. From this example,you can see that confessing your sins to God makes you right with Him,but restitution makes you right with men,both work together for your justification from sin and its consequences. Note that in doing restitution, godly counsel should be sought and wisdom applied. 2. Repentance from sins must follow confession of sins. Confession of sin meansto admit a sin,so we confess our sins to God because we admit we are guilty of it, need to be forgiven and made holy through the blood of Jesus,then followed by repentance from such sins which meansturning away from sin and turning to God. Repentance is a conscious decision to desist from sins and turning to God for strength to overcome them,thus we live righteously. It requires that our actions should back up our confession. Some believers do a lot of confession without repentance,whereas your desire to repent should lead to confession. Repeated confession of sins without repentance from them makes one prone to consequences of such sins. 3. Confess what you believe,2 Corinthians 4:13 saysBut since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, I believed; therefore I spoke , we also believe, therefore we also speak. If truly you believe you have been forgiven,then as many times as you feel guilty about your past sins,confess with your mouth that you have been forgiven and justified from them. Let your what you confess match what you believe. Do this is as often as the feeling of guilt arises in you,this was how I overcame guilt in the time past. Most times,the devils stir up these feelings of guilt in our hearts through our thoughts,so you can reply him in your thoughts too or open your mouth to confess it loudly. When he reminds you of your past,you remind him of his own past,because your past(hell) is his future and your future(heaven) is his past. Tell him you are not his mate,you are his boss,seated with Christ far above him in heavenly places(Ephesians 2:6),under your feet is his dwelling place so he has no right to condemn you who Christ has justified because there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ(Romans 8:1). Do not open your heart to any influence of the devil,dont negotiate with him over your life,remember Eve,the bible saysResist the devil and he will flee. As many times as he comes,confess what you believe,resist him! Do what Christ did,talk back to him- Get behind me satan!.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 12:37:41 +0000
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