Dealing with guilt and learning to forgive yourself

Struggling with the guilt of continuously falling into sin and making the same mistakes is not spoken about enough. It is such a difficult thing when you want to serve God and please him but you are gripped by sin. It is not just difficult it is also discouraging. The more we sin the more the enemy lies to us and makes us feel that we have gone too far, beyond forgiveness. So we are left with guilt, shame, and suicidal thoughts. Let us break that lie from the enemy so that you can live a life free of guilt because the truth is, you are forgiven!

God has forgiven us but often it us, who can not forgive ourselves. In Ephesians 1:7 it says: 'He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. ' So there is no doubt that we are forgiven and there is no doubt that God gives us grace and we must also give ourselves grace. We have all fallen short and in Ephesians 6:12 it tells us that we do not fight against flesh and blood. This means that there are spirituals battles that we have to fight. Therefore, we can not fight these battles alone, the scripture says to put on the full armour of God. So if there is a stronghold of sin that is governing your life, you can not fight that alone, you need all of God and his army. However, the enemy pushes us further from God which allows us to go deeper in sin to the point we feel there is no return.

No matter how far you go how deep you go. Jesus is also willing with open arms to embrace you. All you need to do is go to him and confess your sins, because God is a forgiving God. It is time that you also forgive yourself as Christ has forgiven you so that you can live in freedom. As much as the enemy wants you to believe you are not free and keep you in sin, the bible says through Christ you are free indeed.

In Luke 7:37 it talks about a sinful woman, who came to Jesus to wash his feet and anointed them with oil. Many judged the woman and felt that she should not be touching Jesus because she was a sinner. However, this is a beautiful testament of Jesus's love, forgiveness, and grace despite our many sins and mistakes. Jesus said “her sins, which are many are forgiven” and told her that “her faith has saved her and she must go in peace.” (Luke 7:37-50). Even when others feel we are not worthy, even when we feel we are not worthy, God says we are worthy, you are worthy of his forgiveness, despite your many sins just like the woman that Jesus spoke about and forgave.

What comes next now that we know we are forgiven despite our multitude of sins? Go humbly before Jesus and lay all your sins down, ask for those strongholds to be broken, soak in God's word that he has spoken over your life. Sometimes we need to enter into spiritual warfare to fight of things that grips our lives and like the scripture says we need the full armour of God. It is not something we can do with our own strength.

Be encouraged and don’t forget to give yourself grace. Do not think that you have gone too far or sinned so much that God does not forgive you. God loves you and he hears your cries.

Top tips

• Create a jar with all the scriptures that speaks about Jesus’s love for you, his grace and his forgiveness. Pick from this jar as a reminder whenever the enemy tells you any different.
• Speak to God when you are in the car, going for a walk, in your house. Just make time to speak to him throughout your day.
• Take in as much of God as possible, read the Bible. read Christian books, listen to Christian music and podcast, watch Christian YouTubers to encourage your spirit and block out the world.