Psalm 51:10 ESV
John 16:9 Living Bible
When I’m wrestling with something or about something I did that I’m not comfortable with I’ve found that taking it to God helps me.
That’s because when I sit WITH God and I give Him the “thing” I don’t feel good about takes a load off of me.
Psalm 51:10 says,
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
The problem about giving that “thing” to God is that it isn’t always as easy as it sounds.
I’ve sat with a lot of people who tell me they feel so bad that they can’t let go of the “thing”.
They feel so guilty that’s all they can feel. They focus on their guilt. They aren’t able to feel like they deserve to ask God to give them a clean heart.
When we struggle to let go of our guilt, sometimes it helps to break it down into bite size pieces.
Get a notebook and sit down.
Sit quietly.
Write guilty about the guilty thing. Be brief and to the point.
After you name it, ask why a guilty feeling remains?
Since God forgives, why struggle to LET God forgive?
Is the issue about you? Do you believe you don’t deserve to be forgiven?
If that’s the case, rest assured no one deserves it. Jesus took care of the details.
Do you believe you’ve made the same mistake over and over again?
If that is the case, we all have and God forgives every one every time.
Do you believe you’ve done something that can’t be forgiven?
If that is the case, know that it’s a lie. Forgiveness is complete. According to scripture the only thing we can do that God won’t force on us is belief. John 16:9 says, “The world’s sin is unbelief in me.”
God will not force us to believe in Him. But, if you believe then receive. Receive God’s forgiveness.
I’ve sat with people who struggle to feel good about themselves. It’s almost as if they’ve been trained to feel bad about themselves.
For those people who were trained as a child to feel bad about themselves, they will need to retrain how they think about themselves.
It’s difficult, but do-able. By repetition someone can teach themselves they are good:
God created you. God is good. You are good.
Think of it this way…God don’t make no junk.
Repeat that every day every time you feel bad about yourself.
Eventually, if you repeat it enough, you will begin to believe that God created you. God is good. You are good.
In addition to that, once you start to believe you were created in the image of God and you are good, God will help you renew how you think. God wants to renew your spirit so you are in alignment with God.
Know that renewal happens to be something God specializes in.
Isaiah 40:31 tells us, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Sit with God. Specifically ask God to renew your strength. Ask God to help you to believe you are good and you deserve good things.
Stay with God until you sense there’s been a change…a shift.
Remember the Prophet Isaiah didn’t say God might renew your strength. He said, when you wait God WILL renew your strength.
It’s a promise.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Believe in Forgiveness
You were created in the image of God. God is good. You are good.
God forgives you. God will renew you. God will not fail you. It’s a promise.
In God, Deborah
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