A Call to Repentance or just feeling guilty over and over again?
Hebrews 4:13-16 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+4%3A13-16&version=NIRV
How often have you been caught in the “guilt cycle” from our past? This involves confessing the same old sin, telling God you’re sorry .. over and over .. and promising not to do it again ( knowing that you probably will since you have been trying to overcome this sin for so long ). Around and around you go, over and over… You’ve come clean dozens of times but still have no real sense of victory. Yet there is a biblical promise that states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, emphasis added).
Friends, God is holding up His end of the promise. It’s people who fall short .. we have turned confession into a recitation of all our shortcomings. The attitude is, I’m disappointed in myself, and I know that I am weak .. God knows that.
True confession of sin – which in reality means – agreeing with the Lord Our God about our sin and it is inseparably linked with repentance – they are two sides of the same coin. To repent is to turn away from wrong. By looking at our sin from God’s perspective, we’ll see a vile, wicked habit with terrible consequences and will want to run from that as fast as possible.
In practical terms, to confess and repent requires the intentional decision to say, “By the Holy Spirit’s power, I’m turning away.” Satan will still tempt you, and failure remains a possibility. But God can break the chains of your sin, and He wants to set you free.
Victory can be immediate — or it can be a process of trading wrong choices for right ones — and the time table is known only by God. In some cases, temptation involving habitual sin never goes away. Then it becomes necessary to face each day in God’s strength. When you forsake sin, the power of heaven is there to help you.
STUDY THIS PASSAGE: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+6%3A10-20&version=NIRV