Why is it so hard to accept His forgiveness?  Why do we automatically think that He is condemning us for the sins that He so readily forgives and forgets?  I remember watching each one of my babies begin to walk.  I remember the praise, the clapping, and oh the hugs!  Yes, they stumbled; and yes, they would fall—but did I ever condemn them?  No…I ran to them, exactly where they were in the exact spot that they fell and I picked them up, held them in my arms for a while, sat down a minute or two just holding them and just being still, enjoying every moment with them.

Don’t you see?  Your Heavenly Daddy does the same thing, except He has the ability to actually forget the sin.  When you accepted Jesus as your Savior, you were made new.  Your name was written down in the Book of Life by the God who created you and the pencil He wrote which has no eraser!  So no matter what you have done or will do, you can never be separated or condemned for your sins.  You may feel a nudge sometimes to repent, but once you have asked forgiveness, you are set free from your sin.

The enemy, however, loves to condemn us and speak lies to us; but that’s what they are—just lies.  The condemnation that you may feel is from him…the same enemy that tempted man to sin in the first place.

At the end of this chapter, Mrs. Myers asks her readers to reflect on a few verses. Let’s read them together shall we?

But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed.
You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you.
These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord,
their vindication will come from me, I, the Lord, have spoken.
Isaiah 54:17

You are His servants…He’s talking about you!  No weapon against you can stand!  He has promised that we will live eternally with Him if we just ask Jesus to be our Savior! He died with our sins on Him.  He cleansed us with His blood.  We are forgiven, made new, cleansed from our filth.

God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save it.
John 3:17

To SAVE it, not to CONDEMN it. He let His only Son die a horrible death, and couldn’t even look at Him because of all the sin that was cast on Him.  Jealousy, addiction, pornography, oppression, murder, robbery are all sins that were on God’s Son when He died.  All that we would do would be undone by Him.

There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him.
But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged
for not believing in God’s one and only Son.
Verse 18

If this (“anyone who does not believe in Him…”) is you, stop now and take a minute and invite Him in.  If you don’t know how, I suggest you reach out to one of us, or a pastor or a friend that you know is saved.  This is the most important thing you will ever do.  And we celebrate with you this day that you become new.

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law.
When He was hung on the cross, He took upon Himself the curse for our wrongdoing.
For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on the tree.”
Galatians 3:13

He has rescued you!  You are promised everlasting life!  This is the heart of our Christian faith, that we cannot get right with God on our own works but by His blood…and by God’s grace we are saved.  He promises us that all we have to do is trust, receive, and just rest in Him.  So I leave you with a question from this chapter:

What makes you most grateful for your new identity in Christ?

(You can leave your answer in your comment under this blog…I look forward to celebrating with you!)

Let us pray:  Dear Lord, thank You that You love us enough to let Your own Son, Who knew no sin, become our sin and die a horrible death so that we may live forever with You.  You are patient, long-suffering, our Stronghold, our Provider, our Comforter and our Redeemer.  Thank You for meeting us right where we are and not expecting us to be anything more than who we are.  You created us to glorify You and oh, how we fall short sometimes but You take us back, just as we are, You pick us up from our many falls and You hold us and love us.  Forgive us when we try to control things around us, for You are in the drivers seat, and we are so grateful.  Gently nudge those today who need You; let this be for someone out there today who needs a Savior.  It’s in Jesus name we pray, amen.