Troublesome Topic: THE ROLE OF GUILT

Guilt can be a very helpful thing and it serves a very important purpose. But Satan takes advantage of every possible situation to find opportunity to shout his negative messages at us.

Satan wants to use the guilt we feel about things we have done wrong in the past to send us the message that our intrinsic value is less because of those acts. He also uses guilt to send us the message that our potential has been decreased.

But guilt has nothing to do with intrinsic value (the value we have in God’s eyes), or the potential God has placed within us. Guilt has to do only with spiritual condition. The message we should be hearing from our guilt is that there is a spiritual problem that requires a spiritual solution; therefore, we should go to the one who offers the only true spiritual solution—Jesus. Of course that is the last message Satan wants us to hear from our guilt, so he shouts his negative messages even louder, and many of us have come to believe those messages are true.

If we have already asked forgiveness for something in our past, we should not feel guilty about it again. If we do, we need to rebuke Satan for bringing back the guilt that has already been dealt with and remind ourselves of the efficacy of Christ’s blood. In those moments it is good to recite I John 1:9: “He (Jesus) is faithful and just; the result of that truth is that, if we confess our sins, He will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

The next lesson is Satan Sends Negative Messages Through Abuse