Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | Let me describe a scenario for you, and you see if you possibly fit in this picture. You know you’ve done something that God isn’t happy about—OK, let’s be honest, it’s sin. But you also know that Christ died for your sins, so you’ve confessed this sin to God, and He has forgiven you, for the Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). That clears your conscience, right?

Well, maybe not. When you open your eyes the next morning, possibly you still have nagging feelings of guilt–You don’t feel forgiven. So you confess your sin all over again and ask God to forgive you. This becomes a vicious circle that you repeat again and again. Pretty miserable!

My Dad, who was a minister for 74 years, believed that it is the devil that makes us feel guilty for forgiven sin because he lies to us. He is called “the accuser of the brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Rev. 12:10b). John says “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

When God has forgiven you and you still feel guilty, it cannot be God who is accusing you, for the Bible says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Who else is left? Only the devil. When you confess forgiven sin, you are really confessing to the devil—agreeing with him that you are guilty before God for something for which He has forgiven you.

But there’s good news. The Bible says us that we can “demolish… every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). Resist the devil’s lies and accept the truth of God’s forgiveness, and joy will replace your feelings of guilt.