No condemnation

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

Even though the Bible clearly says that there are now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, we still so often feel condemned or guilty. Maybe you do something that goes against what you learnt as a child or maybe it's judgemental words from a friend or family member? The point is that the devil will use any opportunity to make us feel guilty, because guilt makes us feel unloved and unworthy and ultimately makes us feel like God cannot use us or doesn't approve of us. These are all complete lies!

Jesus has already died for everything which we can ever possibly do wrong and not accepting His sacrifice and feeling guilty about it is a slap in the face. Facing the cross was not easy for Jesus, it was a massive sacrifice on His part and it was all for us, to allow us to walk in freedom and relationship with God. We should never let our communication or relationship with God be broken or become 'disconnected', because we feel guilty or condemned. God does not condemn. If you have strayed off track or if you are busy hurting yourself He will tell you and the Spirit will convict you. You will immediately know and He will at the same time give you the grace to deal with it. He always wants us to run into His arms and not away from Him. When we do something wrong we should run to Jesus, not hide from Him. There is nothing that we need to be ashamed about, He knows it all and He loves us despite our shortcomings and sins. His mercy is great and His grace knows no bounds.

The point of guilt and condemnation is to push us away from God and make us feel disconnected from Him. This is definitely not from God and red flags should pop up in your heart when you have these feelings. God knows that we are not perfect, but He loves us regardless and when He looks at us, He sees us through Jesus and that makes us look perfect. He is far more interested in what He can do in you, so that He can work through you, but the devil tries to convince us that God continually looks at our sins and tries to make us feel useless and worthless.

Do not fall into the devil's trap, but run in the freedom which we have in Christ. His love for you is unimaginable and He desires so much to spend time with you. He is the good Father and we are always welcome in His arms.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 2 Corinthians 3:17

"For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:10 - 11

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An overflow of love!

Today I just want to share about how amazing God is! I just feel such an overflow in my heart as I feel Him loving me and see Him loving people around me. I have noticed how it’s the people who don’t realise that He loves them so deeply, the people who feel disconnected from Him or the people that are so flustered in life that He just surprises with His love. It’s so amazing. He is so good and there is no requirement to receive His love. You might think this is ridiculous, but 8 weeks ago I stuck a note on my door saying God loves me and I’ve made a point to think about it more and more during the day. I truly believe that our revelation of His love for us cannot be too big! He loves us more than we can ever imagine!

The problem comes in that it’s often so hard for us to believe it, even a little bit. The lies in our minds also don’t help as they constantly remind us of how we fall short and try to convince us that we are doing something wrong. The truth is that we really do fall short. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 BUT “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

So yes, we do fall short as we all have sinned in our lives, but because of Christ’s love for us that sin cannot hold us back from God, it cannot separate us from God’s love for us and it cannot be used as an excuse to not receive God’s love. Nothing we can do can stop His love. Sin is powerless. His love is available to us, we just need to believe it. I have started making a habit of quieting the voices in my head. When they come against His love and try to make me feel guilty and condemned, I actually tell them to shut up! And I can honestly say that the less I listen to them, the quieter they have become.

When we believe in His love, it empowers us, it gives us confidence, because it teaches us who we are and that the God of the universe and our best friend is standing right beside us.

I doesn’t matter what you are going through in your life, God loves you and He is with you. Nothing you can do can scare Him away! He is the God of compassion and He doesn’t want anyone to be excluded, not one single person. Jesus didn’t die for some, He died for all and as He showed this love to us, so we should be the conduit of His love to the world. You will be amazed how He will start loving people through you if you allow Him to.

Maybe you feel like your rivers of living water have dried up? Do not worry or be anxious He has more than enough! Everything that you need is in Him. Sit with Him today and fill up until you overflow with His love.

“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Picture credit: Daylightstarlight

Not condemnation, but freedom

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:16, 17 ESV)

John 3:16 must be the most well known scripture and before I met Jesus, was the only scripture that I could quote from the Bible. This scripture popped up as the "verse of the day" when I opened my eBible today. Although I know verse 16 very well, I haven't read verse 17 as much and when I read it today, I felt to share the following.

God did not send His Son into the world to condemn us, but in order that we might be saved through Him. He sent Jesus so that we might be free and so that we might have life. Jesus says "The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10 ESV)

Jesus doesn't want to condemn people. People often think of condemnation when they think of Jesus, instead of freedom. Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden the world has been condemned, they chose themselves over God and selfishness led them to turn their backs on God and His ways. They wanted to be better and more intelligent and they fell for the lie of Satan as he said that they would be like God if they ate from the tree and they will know good and evil. Instead they separated themselves from God by allowing evil into their pure hearts and their immortal spirits died.

How often do we still fall like this? No wonder we call it the "oldest trick in the book". How often does Satan whisper to us a false idea? "If you do this and that, then you will gain this and that. It won't hurt anyone, they won't even know, just slander that person, tell this lie, just take the praise for that and give the blame there." It's in our blood and we cannot deny it. We want more wealth, power and success. We think we are all-knowing and no one can teach us anything. Greed, vanity, pride and lust, all of these have the root of selfishness. We condemn ourselves just by being ourselves and submitting to our selfish desires. Our own heart and conscience condemn us and tell us that what we are doing is wrong. We justify, we fight and we try to convince ourselves and others, but deep down, the truth is imminent.

What did Jesus come to set us free from? Why do we need saving you might ask? We need to be saved from ourselves, from the condemnation in our own hearts, from the lies of this world and the blindfold over our eyes. The blindfold makes us think we are superior, strong and intelligent, but compared to God, we are only fools. But the blindfold (lie) keeps us arrogant and proud, it convinces us that we don't need God. That is the sole purpose of Satan, to keep us away from the truth, away from Jesus and away from freedom. Satan tries to convince the world that they are free and that God equals rules and condemnation.

The Bible says: "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV)

When you are wearing a blindfold you cannot understand the words of God, they are foolishness to you and even if someone explains to you the truth it sounds foolish. Choose today to remove the blindfold from your eyes and live in true freedom. I cannot remove the blindfold, but God can, His love and truth expose the lie, the oldest trick in the book. Ask Him today to save you and to open your eyes to see and your ears to hear. Ask Him to forgive you for the way you talked about Him and the way you maybe mocked His people. His heart is for you and His desire is to reach each person.

"So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." (Matthew 18:14 ESV)

You have been forgiven before you even ask for forgiveness, Jesus paid it all for you and He just knocks at your door and asks you to let Him into your life. He brings no condemnation, but rather love and freedom. He's calling you back to life and into a relationship with Him. All you need to do is say yes.

"For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them." (Matthew 13:15 ESV)

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