Walking in Forgiveness

I was taken aback the other day when a thought came to my mind about something I did about 23 years ago that was not quite reputable. A fleeting thought about a mistake I made even though I knew better. And something that I had already asked forgiveness for and from which I was walking in complete freedom. I hadn't even thought about it in 15 years, much less dwelt on it, so when the memory came to my mind, I felt an instant grip of regret... of guilt... of unworthiness to teach and witness and speak of the glory of God.

I was preparing for my Bible Study class when this happened and it was a great lesson on advancing the Kingdom inspite of circumstances... inspite of limitations.... inspite of selfish motives... inspite of fears... inspite of dissatisfaction in other people... It was as if the enemy spoke this to my mind " who do you think you are? You have made so many mistakes... You aren't worthy to talk about "Godly" living... You aren't good at all... remember when you _________...

And I did remember... I remembered when I said I was sorry... I remembered when I asked forgiveness... I remembered when I turned in repentance (and didn't do it again)... I remembered that I was forgiven and walking in grace... Even after I remembered all this, I needed to be comforted by Jesus and I went to his word in the little book of promises that I keep by my bedside table and looked up "regret" and this is what I found...

The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this:
“I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite
and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble
and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

Isaiah 57:15

God spoke so clearly to my soul... the part of me that was sorry for the wrong that I had done... and told me very gently that HE had forgiven me and that HE knew I was forgiven because I had a repentant heart... I wasn't STILL walking in that sin or attitude of before... I had a changed heart that was healed and free and forgiven and that I had his COURAGE in me to boldly proclaim HIS GLORY to others. To teach others with the authority of one that was walking in freedom and forgiveness and to always know that I was WORTHY to be called a child of his.

This is the attack and the path that the enemy tries to take a person down. He tries to keep you from walking in forgiveness and freedom by reminding you of the bad things you've done. The sins that you've committed and the utter lostness of your past lives...

We are all sinful people and do things we're not proud of. But we have a righteous Father who convicts us of a wrong when we do it and when we come into agreement with Him that it is wrong he will forgive those sins if we ask him to. We then have to turn from the way we were doing things and choose not to do them again if we are in agreement with God that it is wrong for us.

The first part is confession and the second part is repentance... You can have confession without repentance, but God's word clearly spoke to me that I was FREE because of my repentance... Because I wasn't doing it anymore. That I don't even want to do it anymore. That I hadn't even thought about it in 15 years or longer... That's WALKING IN FORGIVENESS... That's Freedom... that's Abundant living and pleasing to God and it's stuff that the enemy hates... He has no power over a person that chooses to walk in Forgiveness... of yourself and of others... We have power to forgive because we have been forgiven...

Does this make sense?

I just wanted to share my experience of what happened to me and the way I chose to overcome it. I choose to walk in forgiveness and boldly profess the name of my savior, JESUS...

I hope you can walk in forgiveness too.

Lea Anne