Encouragement
There are so many folks carrying around guilt these days. It is a burden so large that they can't seem to handle it from day to day. Why are those feelings there? Where are they from? Why must I always feel like I am letting someone down?
Where do these feelings come from? The feelings of GUILT, for ALL things, are from the pit of hell. But why? The enemy wants us to have our eyes on something else besides the Lord. He wants us to feel that we cannot go to the Lord and talk to Him about our problems and sins. But God is wide open to listen to us when we need to talk to Him. So dont run from God when you have a feeling of guilt. Run TO Him. He will take care of it for you. God WANTS us to feel the 'need to repent' but He does not want you to feel guilty nor has He EVER given you guilt feelings. (The word 'repent' means to turn and go the other way. In other words, change the way you do things because in your heart you know it is wrong.) Guilt is straight from the devil. It is not surprising to know that the devil would not like it if you were to have joy by being close to the Lord.
In the Bible, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to Him while Martha was busy doing things in the kitchen. Martha tried to get Mary to feel guilty for giving her time to the Lord when there was apparently so much to do. But the Lord made it quite clear that Mary was right to sit at His feet and listen. (Luke 10:38-41)
It is evident that the Lord appreciated Mary's attention to the Word and to Him rather than all the things going on in the kitchen which represent the worldly things. Marthas attention was on the job she was doing and Mary's was on the Lord. Therefore, it does not surprise me that the joy of the Lord comes when you are paying attention to Him first. The Word also says: Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt. 6:33) That tells me to keep my eyes on the Lord and all things shall be handled by the Lord, no matter what it looks like. Hey, I didnt say it would be easy at first, but like anything that you want to do well, with practice it works!
So, receive the joy in your heart and do not allow the devil to convince you that you are guilty. It is very distructive and the devil knows this. Guilt and condemnation are some of his favorite things to throw at someone. Take your guilty feelings to the Lord and lay them at His feet and leave them there. Then when the enemy brings it up, (have you ever noticed there are times when you would NOT have thought of the thing you feel guilty about but it popped into your head anyway? Thats from the devil, not from you) you tell him that you are not guilty of that. Tell him to go talk to the Lord about it. By the way, it is NOT a crime, nor a sin, to enjoy the things of the Lord and the things you like to do, as long as sin is not a part of that thing you love to do. God put things on the earth so that you might enjoy them. And He most certainly wants you to take time for yourself. He did!
Wait a minute!! What did you say? God took time for Himself. Didnt He rest after 6 days? That was time off. Jesus also spent time away from His followers. How many times did you see in the Word where Jesus went off to be by Himself? The world didn't allow it very often but He DID get by Himself. Don't you think that some of that time was because He wanted to enjoy the time with the Father? Certainly it was. There is joy in just being with the Lord on a daily basis. It is empowering, refreshing, rejuvenating, healing and enjoyable as well as a time for learning. Hallelujah!
So, where do you turn when you are feeling guilty? Take it to the Lord and lay it at His feet. It does NOT matter what the sin is. To the Lord, all sin is the same. Its TRUE! So it doesnt matter what you have done, go to the Lord and ask Him to forgive you. And then, if you arent a part of the family of God, then ask the Lord to come into your heart. Oh what a joyous time that is. At that time, you are a newborn person in the Lord. You are forever changed. It is an exciting time.
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