Your Sins Are Forgiven

One of the difficulties for many are to believe that God has forgiven their sins. There are two primary reasons for this. First is because we still have sin. That is true of us all. John says, "If you say you have no sin, you life and do not the truth.1 John 1:8. The second reason is satan, who tempts you to sin and who launches lies concerning your sin. He makes false claims such as, you've gone to far, you did it to many times, God is angry at you, you are a failure, look at what you did or said or thought. For these two reasons believing that you are fully forgiven can become a war at times. But it is a war worth fighting so that you believe that your sins are truly forgiven.

Its not hard to fight the war. Its simply a decision that you make to believe what God has promised above everything else. Above your feelings and above any the voice that continues accusing you.

Read Colossians 2 very carefully. …"When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses, having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross! Col. 2:13-14. Of course we all owed a debt for sin. That debt we owed was our very lives since the wages for sin is death. Rom. 6:23. Yet Jesus death on the cross paid our debt in full. and the debt was cancelled forever. Hallelujah!

The very reason that you are given eternal life when you come to Christ is because the debt was cancelled forever. For all eternity.

One day I as so angry at my husband I thought that I would never be able to forgive him. He had offended me in a way that broke my heart. As I lay in bed with no desire to get up i started surfing through the television channels and ran across a round table discussion between Jeremy Copeland and Joseph Prince. Joseph Prince was promoting his book entitled Right Living. He began to take about how the Israelies after hearing the law of Moses, began to chant "we can do it". That was their failure. Believing that they could keep Gods law was a huge mistake on their part. Those who trust in Jesus do not say we can do it, we say "Jesus did it". He kept the law of God perfectly and when he took our sin, He gave us imputed righteousness Simply put, we are righteous by believing in his sacrifice. While listening to Joseph Prince explain that, the Holy Spirit washed my heart clean of the unforgiveness. It happened in a moment and it was so complete that i honestly could not remember why I was angry at my husband in the first place. It was indeed a miracle. I was set free from the hurt, betrayal, disappointment, fear and everything that accompanied the anger that I had been feeling.

Afterward i got up, got dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen. My husband, knowing how angry i had been, was fumbling around in the kitchen, to find breakfast. I gently said to him, you can go sit down, I'll make your breakfast. He looked shocked, even confused. He knew that something had occurred that was divine and He was grateful.

Here is what is most important. Afterward I was in awe. I had never experienced complete forgiveness in that way where even the memory of the offense was taken away. Instead of feeling angry at my husband i felt mercy and compassion. Then the Lord enlightened me. That is how God forgives our sin.I had an encounter with divine mercy and the outcome was immediate and complete forgiveness toward my husband. God is merciful and compassionate every day. And his mercy never wears out or runs out. Hebrew says

"For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” Heb. 8:12.

I thank God for that encounter with divine mercy. However you don't need your own encounter to believe that your sins are forgiven. Jesus paid for your debt of sin. He paid a great cost for sin and God holds that truth very close to his heart. You should also. Otherwise the enemy will try to hold your sin over your head and cause you to wallow in condemnation. But the Apostle Paul is clear, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Rom. 8:1. Therefore when God says that he paid the debt. believe Him. "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" Numbers 23:19. People sometimes do not forgive your offenses, but God does. People also will forgive and then change their mind and take it back, but God doesn't change his mind. He Keeps his promise of forgiveness to those who trust Him.

Gods forgiveness is not earned or deserved. It is a grace which makes it undeserved but granted because of Gods faithfulness. Paul writes, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" Eph. 1:7. We cannot even fathom the richness of Gods grace. There is nothing to compare it to. It seems unimaginable to us for God to freely forgive our sin. However it is the truth. Its what we mean when we speak of Gods goodness.

Just the other day, the Lord laid this scripture on my. heart. "He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus" Just meditating on that scripture brought tears to my eyes. It makes no sense to the human understanding for Christ who never sinned, to give his life for us sinners. It seems irrational, illogical and incomprehensible; but the reason is explained in one word. LOVE.

Beauty for Ashes Lifechanging Ministry