It’s time to accept God’s forgiveness
Have you ever struggled to accept God’s forgiveness for mistakes you made or sins you committed? And you still feel a burden of guilt even though you’re not making those mistakes or committing those sins anymore? Well, that’s what we’re talking about this week on Freedom Friday.
So let’s jump right into this. How do you accept God’s forgiveness?
Well, what do you do when someone gives you a gift? You either accept it or you don’t. Usually we reject a gift because we don’t feel worthy. We have this feeling of being unworthy of God’s forgiveness. Actually, that keeps us from accepting God’s forgiveness. And that is a gift. When you have your hands full.
If you’re clenching tightly onto something, you can’t receive a gift that someone’s handing you. And it’s the same way if you’re holding on to the guilt and you’re holding on to the feeling that you’re unworthy. If you’re clenching those tightly in your fists, you won’t be able to receive the gift of forgiveness that God gives you.
Important steps to accept God’s forgiveness
Now, there are lots of facets of accepting God’s forgiveness, and I’m not going to touch on every single one of them. I’m just going to share a few basic ideas here to kind of get you started in this process.
One thing that’s important is you need to confess to yourself and to God your sins, even little mistakes, honestly. And be specific.
You’re not trying to tell God something he doesn’t know. It’s about accepting responsibility for what you did. And this is a really important step in being able to accept God’s forgiveness. Because you get it out in the open, you put it on the table, and you look at it a little more objectively.
You are worthy to accept God’s forgiveness
Another thing that’s really important is to realize you are worthy of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness. You can’t earn it, but you do deserve all God’s love under all circumstances because He created you as one of His children. You deserve God’s love. You deserve God’s grace, You deserve God’s forgiveness.
And as I said, you can’t earn it. It’s part of your heritage as a child of God.
If you’re having trouble accepting God’s forgiveness, let go of that feeling of unworthiness and just say these words. And if you have to, say them silently at first, but at some point, say them out loud, not so anybody else can hear, but it’s more for yourself. Say to yourself, “I accept God’s forgiveness.”
And then thank God for forgiving you. Say, “Thank you, God, for forgiving me.” And then you’re going to have to rinse and repeat this, maybe many times, maybe just a few. But every time something triggers you and you remember a sin you committed, a mistake you made, come back to this gratitude that God has forgiven you.
And you can say, “Thank you, God, for enabling me to accept your forgiveness. Thank you, God, for helping me to accept your forgiveness.”
Now, all through this process, don’t forget to spend time studying your Bible and praying. It really all comes down to you’re nurturing your relationship with God. You’re learning to trust him. You’re learning to love him more. You’re learning to accept God’s forgiveness and love for you. You’re learning to see your worthiness in God’s eyes.
If it’s hard to accept God’s forgiveness
And even if you still feel unworthy, that doesn’t mean you’re unworthy. You are very worthy in God’s eyes to receive His love, to receive his forgiveness.
So take these ideas, put them into practice. Just imagine God handing you a gift. Are you going to turn down what God gives you? It is a gift. You didn’t earn it. He’s giving you the gift of forgiveness because He loves you.
And if you have a trouble accepting the fact that God loves you, remember, He’s not loving the bad things you did. He’s not loving the mistakes you made or the sins you committed. He’s loving you who you are as his child.
He sees all the way back to how He originally created you in His image and likeness. That’s what He loves. That’s who He cherishes. He sees you this way, and so it’s easy for Him to forgive you. And the more you can see yourself in that light, the easier it’s going to be for you to accept God’s forgiveness.
Now these are just a few ideas that I’ve shared to help kind of get you started in this process.
And, and if there’s something that I haven’t mentioned that you found helpful to accept God’s forgiveness, I’d love to hear from you.
I encourage you to put into practice these ideas. Especially that simple little process of saying, “Thank you, God, for forgiving me. I accept Your forgiveness.” Maybe you can’t even say it yet. Just write it out on a piece of paper, say it silently until you can say it with your whole heart. And most importantly, remember that you are worthy of God’s forgiveness.
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Photo Credit: Omar Gattis
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and church mentor. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by learning to think, pray, and love like Jesus. Contact him here.
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