21 Days of Moving Toward GodSample

Day 12: Sin & Unforgiveness

Sometimes the hardest person for us to forgive is ourselves. Perhaps this is true of you: every time you seem to be growing in your faith, that old movie reel of the sinful things you’ve done begins to play in your mind. You are filled with guilt and shame as you are reminded of your failure. You think forgiveness is for other people but not for you because you’ve done too much, gone too far, and feel like it’s just too late.

The enemy loves to remind us of the mistakes we made in the past because guilt and shame keep us in bondage, unable to move forward into the future that God has planned for us. Are you constantly reminding yourself of past failures? Does the sin of your past continue to bother you even though you have asked God to forgive you? These thoughts come solely from the enemy.

Look to Scripture today and agree with God’s perspective on your past. The Bible says that when we ask Jesus into our hearts, our old life vanishes and we become a new person. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

It would be great if once we received God’s forgiveness, we never thought about our past again. But the truth is, the enemy will continue to bring it up every day. He will wait for weak moments in our lives (for example, when we are fasting) and whisper our failures to us.  

The book of Revelation calls Satan the accuser and the “father of lies.” The way we resist him is by knowing and speaking the truth of God’s Word. In Revelation 12, we read about how he is ultimately defeated. So, if the enemy reminds you of your past today, go ahead and remind him of his future! 

When we move, freedom happens.

–Pastor Drew Hage