If the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:36
I have been trying to encourage a woman who said she had strayed from the Lord for a period of years because of several disappointments she'd experienced some time ago...
you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:36
I have been trying to encourage a woman who said she had strayed from the Lord for a period of years because of several disappointments she'd experienced some time ago...
And along with this came prolonged and crushing guilt because she had had a total of four abortions as a result of different relationships. In her own words, she wrote, "I had killed four of God's precious children." Understandably, her heart aches, and she feels ashamed; her soul is in great pain, too.
Therefore, it is a big responsibility for me to try to provide her with helpful advice, and to attempt to encourage someone I have never met. This woman is a stranger who has reached out to me for counsel. I know it makes little sense as well, because here I sit in a prison cell. I've never attended Bible college. I am not a licensed minister. I'm only a simple Christian who loves God, and loves people. I've no degree in counseling. So what can I do but to seek the Lord for guidance and wisdom? And, then, to trust God for the words to say that will help her to heal, and not lose hope.
Nevertheless, after much prayer for wisdom, I began to prepare my reply. But the good part is that she had only recently recommitted her life to Jesus Christ, she told me, after hearing my three-part interview with the Focus on the Family radio program. Thus, at the time she wrote, she was already back with Christ.
Well, I shared with her my own personal struggles with feelings of guilt. How that, even though I'd given my life to Jesus more than twenty years ago, Satan still tries to afflict me with feelings of guilt, and with the thought that God really hasn't fully forgiven me. All lies, of course. But, as I explained to her, one of the devil's roles is "accuser of the brethren" (see Revelation 12:10-11).
Therefore, I wrote, we must know God's word as it deals with forgiveness of our sins, and we must apply it to our lives by faith. We are to believe God's word, which is truth. We are not to doubt it. Nor are we to believe the lies of the adversary. I explained, as well, that more than a thousand precious promises in the Scriptures are for every child of God to rest in, and to rely upon.
All of our sins, past, present, and future, I said, have already been forgiven because we are in Christ. We've trusted in Him for salvation. I told her, too, that she has to likewise learn to forgive herself. She should see herself as God sees her. This being as His precious child, washed clean by the blood of Jesus, and now sitting with the Father in "heavenly places." And if she could but grasp these truths and walk in them, she will have victory over all those bad memories and guilty thoughts. In addition, she will possess the peace which passes all human comprehension (Philippians 4:6-7).
D.B.
Therefore, it is a big responsibility for me to try to provide her with helpful advice, and to attempt to encourage someone I have never met. This woman is a stranger who has reached out to me for counsel. I know it makes little sense as well, because here I sit in a prison cell. I've never attended Bible college. I am not a licensed minister. I'm only a simple Christian who loves God, and loves people. I've no degree in counseling. So what can I do but to seek the Lord for guidance and wisdom? And, then, to trust God for the words to say that will help her to heal, and not lose hope.
Nevertheless, after much prayer for wisdom, I began to prepare my reply. But the good part is that she had only recently recommitted her life to Jesus Christ, she told me, after hearing my three-part interview with the Focus on the Family radio program. Thus, at the time she wrote, she was already back with Christ.
Well, I shared with her my own personal struggles with feelings of guilt. How that, even though I'd given my life to Jesus more than twenty years ago, Satan still tries to afflict me with feelings of guilt, and with the thought that God really hasn't fully forgiven me. All lies, of course. But, as I explained to her, one of the devil's roles is "accuser of the brethren" (see Revelation 12:10-11).
Therefore, I wrote, we must know God's word as it deals with forgiveness of our sins, and we must apply it to our lives by faith. We are to believe God's word, which is truth. We are not to doubt it. Nor are we to believe the lies of the adversary. I explained, as well, that more than a thousand precious promises in the Scriptures are for every child of God to rest in, and to rely upon.
All of our sins, past, present, and future, I said, have already been forgiven because we are in Christ. We've trusted in Him for salvation. I told her, too, that she has to likewise learn to forgive herself. She should see herself as God sees her. This being as His precious child, washed clean by the blood of Jesus, and now sitting with the Father in "heavenly places." And if she could but grasp these truths and walk in them, she will have victory over all those bad memories and guilty thoughts. In addition, she will possess the peace which passes all human comprehension (Philippians 4:6-7).
D.B.
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