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Several years ago I wrote a book entitled Why Do I Always Feel Guilty? The reason I wrote that book was because I knew from my own experience and from ministering to women for years that we take on guilt at the drop of a hat! It doesn’t take much at all to make us feel guilty.
God wants to change our names from Bitter to Joyful, from Anxious to Peaceful, from Discouraged to Delivered, from Addicted to Unshackled, and guilty is another name God wants to change.
Is your name Guilty?
God wants to give you a wonderful new name: Forgiven. David said that his guilt had overwhelmed him like a burden too heavy to bear. But then he acknowledged his sin and God forgave the guilt of his sin. God wants to do that for you.
Colossians 1:13-14: For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Psalm 32:1: Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
And God also wants to take away that false guilt you’ve been carrying around. It could be that you are allowing yourself to feel guilty about things that either have already been forgiven and forgotten by God, or things for which you are not truly guilty.
For example, if you’ve confessed your past sins, you are forgiven and you don’t need to carry guilt with you any longer. And if you’re feeling guilty for things totally beyond your control, that’s false guilt that the enemy has dumped on you. God wants you to change your name to Forgiven, and live in the joy that he remembers your sin against you no more.
God knows that old name you’ve got. He knows you and he knows your name. But here’s the best news in all the world: The God who created the heavens and the earth, the only true God, loves you with a love that cannot be quenched or changed. He knows the worst about you and he loves you still. He wants you to know abundant life that is found only in Jesus Christ.
Would you like to claim your new name today? You can do that; whatever it is that has you in bondage, you can leave it behind and move into the life you were meant to live.
(Click here to get a copy of “Your New Name” cards.)
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