The Battle Is Won
Do you know anyone who has not failed? Or sinned? Or felt guilty? It is human nature to feel guilty when you have sinned. But it is noteworthy to realize that the guilt you are feeling is not coming from God.
Just as a child knows when he has done something wrong, we instinctively know that. However, some people believe that this feeling is coming from the Holy Spirit to convict us so that we will seek forgiveness.
When God looks at you, His child, He sees you like the father of the prodigal son. “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry” Luke 15:20-24.
The Prodigal Son
When Jesus shared the story of the prodigal son, all the Jewish people who heard Him would have been familiar with the eminent punishment of stoning someone to death that the law specified for a stubborn, rebellious son as referenced in Deuteronomy 21:18-21.
The message that Jesus was giving was one of freedom from guilt not because of what you have done but what Jesus did for you. The focus turned from your sin to God’s forgiveness.
Did the prodigal son sin against his father? Of course.
Did the father heap guilt and condemnation on his son before he received his son? No, he did not.
Did it matter to the father that his son’s intention for returning home was simply because he was hungry? No, it did not.
I believe that the father kept his eyes on the horizon daily, hoping that each day would be the day his beloved son returned home. He looked over the fields for a glimpse of his son’s return. He did not dwell on how ungrateful his son was. He focused on his son’s return.No Longer Lost
When the son was still a great way off, his father saw, had compassion on him, and ran to him. He fell on his son’s neck and kissed him. He welcomed him and had a grand feast prepared for him to celebrate the return of the one who was no longer lost.
What a wonderful picture of God’s heart of love and grace. It is an eyewitness account by Jesus of what God the Father is like.
God wants to embrace you and lavish you with His love and blessings. He is waiting to clothe you with the robe of righteousness, put the signet ring of authority back in your hands, and shod your feet with the sandals of right standing with him. He wants to reinstate you, wash you, and throw a party because you came home!
Our Father God is a God who will run toward you with NO condemnation!
You have the right to come boldly to God and experience the intimate love of your heavenly Father in a deep and personal way as never before – because of what Jesus has done for you.
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9.
Repentance
The word repentance in the New Testament is the Greek word for metanoia, which simply means ‘ a change of mind.’ Meta means change and noia refers to your mind.
Repentance does not mean groveling in dirt and condemning ourselves until we feel we have earned God’s forgiveness. At what point do we feel we genuinely ‘repented’? And what happens if we fail? Did we not repent deep enough the first time?
No matter how sincere someone feels when they repent in this manner that does not make it right – or scriptural. Repentance is based on right believing which leads us to heart transformation. Deep sorrow does not equal transformation.
When you develop your relationship with Jesus and experience His love, grace, and power and what He has done for you, you cannot remain the same.
Man-centered traditional teachings on contrition and repentance may sound like the right thing to do but it puts you in a permanent cycle of defeat and anxiety.
When you focus on what the Word tells you in that God has already forgiven you, you will stop condemning yourself and walk in His righteousness that brings victory over sin.
The struggle is in your mind – not your heart -- and when your heart is focused on God, you realize the battle is already won.