How to Live Free from Guilt and Fully Forgiven in Christ

I’m often asked, “If God has forgiven me, then why do I not feel forgiven?” Thankfully, there’s an answer for this exasperation. I understand these frustrations because I counsel with so many who struggle with God’s forgiveness. Usually, once we get right down to the foundation of how people feel, it shouldn’t be a lot that God has not forgiven them, but that they can not forgive themselves. This is why so many individuals don’t feel forgiven.   

1 John 3:19-21 is amongst a few of my favorite verses within the Bible. They are full of life-changing truth that may transform the way in which you each think and feel. They are greater than words on a page. They are life and peace to those that will accept them. 

The Apostle John, the writer of those scriptures, tells us the muse of his pondering. The ultimate goal of those scriptures is to offer us “confidence” in God. Note the contrast that it doesn’t say confidence in ourselves and even confidence in our prayers. Most of us don’t feel forgiven, because our confidence is within the improper place. We worry about whether we’ve prayed enough or said the fitting words. We worry if we’re sincere. Yet, scripture says these will not be the muse of forgiveness. Rather, it’s confidence in God. 

So what results in confidence in God? It is truth. Verse nineteen says that our hearts are reassured by the reality. The problem is that you regularly consider lies, and these lies come from multiple sources. For a few of us, we consider the lies that were told to us by others. “You’re not adequate.” “You won’t ever make someone blissful.” “You won’t ever stay in a relationship.” We allow the negative things that folks have spoken over us to replay in our minds, and it keeps us from living the fulfilled life God wants for us.

Another source of lies comes from our adversary, the devil. His actual name means, “The accuser.” He will often say things like, “Why would God love you?” “You don’t deserve anything from God.” He likes to resurface our past sins and failures. He goals to tempt, to deceive, to accuse, and ultimately to sentence. Jesus taught us that each word that comes out of Satan’s mouth is a twisted lie (John 8:44). If Satan’s lips are moving, you may bet he’s lying, and his goal is to influence your life with nothing but negativity and condemnation. 

The other source of lies is the toughest to disregard and switch off. It is once we deceive ourselves. It is once we bring ourselves into agreement with the critical and cynical things others have said about us, or the accusations Satan has made against us. We so often tell ourselves things that will not be true. We say things like, “If I were worthy of affection, I’d find it.” “If God loved me, He would answer my prayers.” “If I were a greater person, God can be higher to me.”

God doesn’t lie (Numbers 23:29, Hebrews 6:18, Titus 1:2). The great thing about God’s Word is that it’s truth (John 17:17). This means regardless of the Bible says about me is true. What we must do is align each our pondering and our feelings to the reality of scripture. If God says I’m loved, then I want to just accept that as truth, whether I feel loved or not. If God says I’m accepted by Him, then I want to bring myself into agreement with that, whether I used to be ever accepted by friends or family or not. What we bring ourselves into agreement with is the end result we’ll experience. 

The Enemy Uses Shame to Paralyze Faith.

So many persons are held hostage by guilt inside their hearts, minds, and spirits. Do you realize what it’s to wish to pursue God, but then feel hindered by thoughts and feelings and memories of the past that resurface? This becomes the battlefield. Instead of believing God’s Word, His guarantees, and His best for me, we’re going to shy away from God because we feel guilt, shame, and condemnation. Because Satan cannot rob your soul or steal the salvation Christ secured for you on the cross, his aim is to stop your faith from growing, keep you from trusting, and stop you from pursuing God. What he can do is keep you contained throughout the partitions of guilt and shame.

Satan Accuses, but God Sets Us Free.

If Satan’s goal is to erode our faith and confidence in God, then he can contain us to where we not grow spiritually. Conversely, if we start to embrace the reality that we’re who God says who we’re, we’ve what God says we’ve, and we will do what God says we will do, then we bring ourselves into alignment and agreement with the reality of God’s Word. When we step into this truth, Satan has no other hand to play.

Notice 1 John 3:20, “For every time our heart condemns us…” I actually value and appreciate the word, “Whenever.” Scripture doesn’t say in case your heart condemns you, as if some persons are more spiritual than others, or some struggle with this and others don’t. I just like the word every time since it tells me that sooner or later we’re all going to struggle and must navigate our way through these feelings. So don’t think something is improper with you in case your heart feels guilt and condemnation. I’d say you’re quite normal. The query is, “What do you do with these feelings?” 

Once again, we align our pondering and our emotions to the reality of God’s Word. The Bible says, “There is subsequently now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Notice the vital word, “Now.” This means that you’re going to not obtain forgiveness in the future for those who make it to heaven. No! It signifies that straight away in the current tense, you’re forgiven with no condemnation over you. Isn’t that an incredible thought? That’s why it’s called amazing grace. Who can experience such a present from God? “Those who’re in Christ Jesus.” This means, are you born again? Are you a toddler of God? Have you placed your full faith and trust in Jesus for the salvation of your soul? If so, you’re in Christ Jesus. If not, you may be today by a straightforward prayer of religion and repentance.

To move forward in your faith, don’t consider what Satan says about you, and don’t receive your individual negative thoughts and feelings. Instead, bring yourself into agreement with the reality of what God says about you. “For if God be for you, who will be against you?” (Romans 8:31).

Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Fares Hamouche

Chad Roberts is the founder and lead pastor of Preaching Christ Church. He is the writer and Bible teacher for Awakened to Grace. He has authored Calling on the Name of the Lord, Awakened to Grace, and He’s within the Waiting. He has traveled through forty countries, sharing the Gospel, and training leaders. When the unexpected storm of blindness slammed into Chad’s life in 2018, he had a call to make. He could resign to the lifetime of disability or he could go forward trusting God with the unknown. He couldn’t have continued on without the support of his amazing wife of over fifteen years, Sadie. Their 4 children, Piper, Emmy, Hudson, and John Mark, are their best joys. They live just outside the Great Smoky Mountains in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Chad’s pastoral profession has not been defined by blindness. Rather, it’s his clear, biblical teaching that continues to grow an audience. He has traveled through forty nations, training pastors and strengthening churches.

Today, Chad teaches people to trust a God they can not see. His days are full of the things he loves most: leading, speaking, writing, and after all, coffee! He is a spiritual content creator. By God’s grace, he’s emerging as a trusted spiritual voice in people’s lives. Chad could have blindness, but blindness doesn’t have him.