Fear No Fear

“All these married foreign women, and some of them had wives that had children” (Ezra 10:44, MEV). Confession hurts. Getting right with God HURTS. It is NOT pain-free. But that is not because it is difficult. It is NOT because it isn’t right and good and proper. It is because we are SELFISH. We do WRONG because it FEELS good. And then when we get right we have to admit it all. That we knew better. That we were warned not to by Holy Spirit. That the Word warned us in SO MANY PLACES of what sin IS and what happens to us when we sin. We still lied, hid, cheated, and despised God. It is shameful. But thanks to Jesus and HIS sacrifice and horrific death, we do NOT have to live in shame. Instead, we can lay it ALL at the foot of the cross. We can repent. We can get our thinking in line with His thinking (Romans 12:2). We can get help. We can get counselling. We can turn from our selfish and sinful habits and actions, walking along HIS path, guided by HIS Spirit. Truly leaving that sin behind us and moving forward in agreement with His will. When we are truly repentant, we are given forgiveness. Not because we grovelled. Not because we earned it through suffering. Because we humbly submitted to Him in love and acknowledged His will is right and good and proper to follow in ALL things and ALL ways. We are given it by Grace in His Mercy (1 John 1:9). We are FREE from sin and can walk in that FREEDOM exactly as much as we trust Jesus, believe what He said, and are willing to be led by Him in everything. This is one of Holy Spirit’s ministries: reminding us of who we are in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21) and of who and what we can be through trusting Jesus for everything and every guidance (John 16:8). Thank GOD that He loves us and has given us the tools by which we can be totally FREE!!