One of my favorite contemporary prophets is Graham Cooke. I have never met him personally but have heard him at conferences and read his books. One of the things I have heard him say that is worth pondering is that, as believers, we tend to be obsessed with our sin while God is obsessed with our righteousness.

His point is that we constantly worry about our past failures and let the enemy beat us up with condemnation and accusation. We often confess the same sin over and over and tell God how sorry we are for what we did years ago when God has completely blotted out any record of that sin in heaven. God is not thinking about our sin because that has been taken care of by the blood of Christ. He is thinking about establishing us in the righteousness that is ours in Christ.

I believe God’s great challenge with most of his children is to get us to understand who we are in Christ. We tend to live up to the view we have of ourselves. If we define ourselves as wretched, struggling sinners who are barely saved by the blood of Christ then we will continue to be just that. Our self-image will not allow us to paint very far outside the lines of our self-definition. Some of us feel like condemnation is the way to maintain our humility and, thus, be pleasing to God. But if that were the case, why would God tell us all these amazing things about ourselves in scripture.

Biblical humility is not self-rejection and abasement. It is the mindset that rejoices in who we are in Christ but always remembers that who we are is a gift from God and not something we have achieved by our own efforts. We do partner with God in many things, but our identity and our standing in heaven is still a gift of grace. If we spent the same amount of time and energy thanking God for who we are in Christ that we use to remind ourselves of our failings, we would be much further ahead. The proverb says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov.23:7). God says that in Christ we are sons and daughters of God, a chosen people, friends rather than servants, priests of the Most High God, saints, holy ones, the righteousness of God, the household of God, those seated with Christ in heavenly places, the temple of the Holy Spirit, ambassadors of Christ, the loved, the accepted, the forgiven, the anointed of God, and so forth.

If we thought we had earned that position and that standing with the Father, we might certainly become proud and arrogant. If, however, we remember that all of that is a gift and an expression of God’s unconditional love for us, then it can only produce thanksgiving. To ignore our standing in some misguided effort to remain humble is to ignore or even reject the gifts of God and to leave much of what Jesus purchased for us on the table.

It is certainly a biblical matter to acknowledge and confess any sin that does arise in our life, but we should confess it quickly and leave it at the foot of the cross rather than carrying it with us. It should never define us. It should never become our focus and certainly not our obsession. Jesus should be our obsession and who he has made us by his blood and his grace should be the only thing that defines our life.

If you are in the habit of rehearsing your past failures over and over and continuing to bring them up before the Lord, let me encourage you to trade that habit in for a better one – rehearsing who you are in Christ and bringing that up before the Lord with an abundance of thanksgiving. That has much greater transformative power than living in the past and is a powerful acknowledgment of what Jesus has done for you. Blessings in Him.

Whenever we review the events of our lives apart from the blood of Jesus, we subject ourselves to the influence of the spirit of deception. In reality, my sinful past no longer exists. The Lamb of God purchased it with a payment in blood, forever removing my sins from the records of Heaven…The devil keeps records of our past. Yet those records are powerless without our agreement. He is the accuser of the brethren, but Jesus is our defender. We make an agreement with the accuser whenever we look at our past apart from the blood. When we agree with the devil, we empower him. When he is empowered, he devours. On the other hand, agreeing with God empowers us…This empowerment is not independent of God; it is empowerment because of God. (Bill Johnson, The Supernatural Ways of Royalty, p.51, DestinyImage Publishers)

When you can’t say something better than the way someone else has expressed it, a quote is on order. I really like Bill Johnson’s quote above and it expresses a truth that the majority of believers, including myself, need to get more deeply in their hearts. It is true, that Paul tells us to examine ourselves and to even judge ourselves in 1 Corinthians 11, but he is not talking about an examination or rehearsal of our pasts, but only the present. As soon as our present sins are confessed with repentance, they also are part of our pasts.

Peter echoed this truth in a sermon to the Jews recorded in Acts 3. There he counseled them, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord^” (Acts 3:19). The idea of blotting out something is to erase it so that no record of it remains. In the first century, some documents or records were written on parchment or vellum. These materials were made of animal skin because they lasted much longer than the forms of paper that were used. The ink used at that time had no acid that ate into the skin. It simply dried on the surface and set on top of the parchment lightly bonded to it. A wet rag would erase it from the parchment like dry erase markers from a white board. That was “blotting out.” When it was gone, there was no evidence of what had been written before. Scripture says that your sins have been treated that way in heaven. That is why, when speaking of the New Covenant, God can say, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Heb.8:12). John also tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

The truth is that the blood of Jesus washes away our sins. The blood doesn’t file away our sins or bury our sins for later retrieval. As we confess with a heart of godly sorrow, our sins are washed away and blotted out. When you stand before Jesus, two things will be read from the books…your name that is written in the Book of Life and your service to God which will be translated into rewards. No sin records will be brought out to shame you or condemn you because no records exist. Scripture declares, “Those who trust in the Lord will never be put to shame.”

The enemy loves to role out his records, but they have no legal standing in Heaven. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom.8:1). As much as he wants to shout out our failures, he will be silenced in the courts of Jesus. We need to remember what Jesus taught us to pray – “on earth as it is in heaven.” If there are no reminders of our past failures in heaven, we should not allow them on earth either. For a believer, those condemning thoughts are illegal.

If you continue to dwell on your past and if you constantly feel shame and condemnation for things done months or years ago, you are coming into agreement with the enemy. God says that your past is gone. The enemy says that it is very present. Every time you lift your past up again to God, asking for forgiveness, you are expressing unbelief in his Word that says the past is forgiven and forgotten – as if the blood of Christ is not sufficient for your failures. But it is!

Satan’s goal for your feelings of shame, guilt, and condemnation is for you to feel disqualified to serve God in significant ways or disqualified to have your prayers answered. In that setting, discouragement reigns rather than triumph. But Jesus has qualified you and your past does not affect that at all.

Susan and I paid off our house a few years ago. When we did, we got a legal paper from the bank saying, “Paid in full.” The bank has no claim on our house whatsoever. If some guy from the bank showed up at our house telling us that we needed to pay more on the loan, we simply have to wave our “paid in full” receipt in front of him and send him on his way. That is how we should treat Satan when he comes calling and telling us that our debt is not paid. It is paid. Paid in full. And we need to say so. As far as God is concerned, that is the gospel. Don’t let anyone tell you different! Be blessed today and know that your past mistakes and failures are fully and totally covered. They are covered by the eternal blood of Christ. You will be resurrected, but your past never will. Rest in that.

I believe that Satan’s greatest ploys against us are rejection, condemnation, and fear. Each of these is related to the others. Rejection leads to a feeling of condemnation and condemnation leads to feelings of fear. If we experience constant rejection as children, we will develop a sense that there is something wrong with us that keeps others from loving us and meeting our needs. That sense of defectiveness then brings on a sense of shame and self-condemnation expressed through the constant question, “What’s wrong with me?”

As we feel that, we begin to fear that our needs for identity(significance), protection, and provision won’t ever be met. When we begin to fear that no one out there will ever love us, protect us, or provide for us we take on an orphan mindset and begin to build all kinds of walls around our hearts to protect ourselves while at the same time becoming more desperate for someone to love. When we are desperate, we make bad decisions. We trade sex for the temporary feeling of love. We become control freaks in an effort to maintain any relationship that even hints at love. Or we give up and withdraw to places that human love can’t touch.

The real goal of Satan, is to get us to take our human fears, hurts, and disappointments and lay that template on God so that we assume or fear that he, like others before him, will not love us, protect us, or provide for us. If we could look back and see the invisible realm, we would discover that Satan is the one who had been whispering condemnation to us all along which robbed us of our self-worth (identity) and instilled fear in our hearts that our greatest needs would never be met.

I see this dynamic in the parable of the son who left home in Luke 15. Jesus told the story of a young man who grew up with a loving father who provided him with identity, security, and provision. However, the arrogance of youth overcame his surroundings and his good judgment. He demanded his inheritance long before his father died and departed for the big city. We are told, “He squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of the hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father. ” (Lk.15:13-20).

Because of destructive choices, this young man had lost his identity. He had experienced rejection and abandonment from all of those who had been his friends when he used to party and he had felt the sting of hunger and homelessness. He no longer saw himself as the son of a wealthy father but as a hired man or a servant. He was full of shame and condemnation and he feared more rejection even from his father. This young man had forgotten who he was, but he had also forgotten who his father was. He had taken the template of his experiences in the world and laid that template on his father.

I have no doubt that he debated going home for much longer than he should. He anticipated that his father would pile shame on the shame he was already feeling and add rejection to the rejection he was already administering to himself. Only when he felt absolutely desperate did he decide to go home, take his father’s anticipated verbal beating, and settle in as a servant in order to survive.

That is the picture Satan always paints for us when we have stumbled or fallen. He whispers condemnation. “You are no longer worthy to be a son or daughter of God. You have sinned against God and are despised in heaven. You don’t belong there anymore and because you have defiled your birthright, God will no longer provide, protect, or treat you as family. At best, he will take you as a hired-hand, but all you will ever have will be hard work, meager food, basic housing, and the fear of being dismissed every day of your life.”

But that is not who God is and that is not who you are. When the son came home, he had already determined that he had squandered his position as a son. He awaited the disdain of a father whom he had forgotten. But the Father saw him when he was a long way off. He ran to the son and threw his arms around him. He stopped the condemning speech of the young man, declared that his son was home, put the family robe on him, slipped a son’s ring on his finger, and called for a celebration.

The father waited all that time without condemnation in his heart. He still considered the young man to be his son. He watched longingly for him daily and when the son returned with sorrow in his heart for the life he had lived, he was restored immediately with shouts of celebration. God is not a rejecting father or an abandoning friend. He is not the author of rejection, shame, or condemnation. Satan is the author and sustainer of those dark feelings.

When the enemy comes and whisper’s his lies, refuse to put the template of a worldly father or a failed friend or spouse on him for his love is an everlasting love. Even when we wander away, God always leaves the light on for us. When fear, rejection and condemnation come from the enemy, remember who God really is and who you are in Christ. Be sure to remind Satan as well.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1

For we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. 1 Timothy 1:7

God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ Hebrews 13:5

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4:6-7

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb.11:6). This is a statement from Hebrews 11 where all the great men and women of faith are listed for our consideration. The phrase “by faith” comes up over and over again in that list and throughout the scriptures. Jesus also declared faith to be a central component in many of the miracles he performed. He often said something like, “Your faith has healed you” or “May it be done to you according to your faith.” He declared that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed we could command a mountain to be thrown into the sea and it would be done. At times he was amazed by the faith of a few and, at other times, amazed at the lack of faith of others. Paul assures us that we are saved by grace through faith.

For anyone who has studied the New Testament, faith is clearly seen as a central issue in the life of every person who follows Jesus. Faith is a central issue in our lives if we are going to see God move powerfully in response to our prayers or work through us as we minister to others. Most discussions about faith orbit around our perception of God and his ability to do great things that intervene in the natural order of the universe. However, in my experience, believing that God can heal the sick and raise the dead or that he can move mountains and give great victories in the face of overwhelming odds is often the easy part of faith.

What I have discovered through the years is that my challenge is not to believe that God will move in those ways for his children, but to believe that God will move in those ways for me. Perhaps, you struggle with the same doubts at times.

I find that for many of us, believing that God truly loves us personally and is eager to answer our prayers is the stumbling block for our faith. For many, it is much easier to believe God’s promises for others than for ourselves. We know ourselves too well. We live with a daily awareness of our secret sins, out fears, our defectiveness, and our weaknesses. We know our dark thoughts and shame-filled memories. We reject ourselves so we expect God to reject us as well.

It’s part of our fallen nature to expect punishment from God rather than grace and love. One of Satan’s great strategies is to persuade us that God is a perfectionistic father who requires the same perfection from his children if he is going to love and bless them. We expect him to be angry when we don’t deliver that perfection.

Like Adam and Eve, our first response to our failures is typically to duck into the brush, attempt to cover up our shame, and when God shows up to blame everyone in the surrounding territory for our shortcomings. Why did Adam and Eve hide and blame rather than running to their loving Father and confessing their sin immediately? Perhaps, it was because Satan had subtly convinced them that God wasn’t such a loving father after all. We know what he was whispering to them before they took fruit from the tree and ate, but we don’t know what he whispered the moment after they took that fateful bite.

I’m confident it was a litany of fear-filled claims that God was going to fly into an uncontrollable rage and become a terrifying abuser – that he was going to kill them that day because “ in the day you eat of that tree you will die!” I’m sure he whispered that God now hated and despised them and would never forgive them for what they had done. He probably laughed at them and shamed them in every conceivable way so that they would hate themselves and expect God to feel the same.

Satan whispers to us in our failures as well. He whispers that God only loves the “super-Christians;” he only responds to the prayers of those in the 95^th percentile; or the last sin was the last straw and God is through with us until we can work hard enough to earn his love and mercy again – but we are such losers that we’ll never be able to do that anyway.

Satan persuades us that God is a father whose intimate involvement in our lives, whose love, whose laughter, whose delight, whose abundant forgiveness, and whose approval will never be there for us. And so we pray and believe with reservation – not about his goodness or his ability – but about our “worthiness” for his love and attention.

Faith accepts that our worthiness was secured on the cross apart from our performance. It believes God’s promises for us in spite of our abundant weaknesses and failures. Jesus became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor.5:21). By God’s grace there is no condemnation for us because we are no longer under law (Rom.8:1). You have been adopted into the royal family by a father whose love is unconditional. He knew all your faults before he ever called you to be his son or daughter.

Most of us believe in our minds that God loves us. The problem is to believe in our hearts that he loves us and has written our name on every promise. So how do I finally come to believe that every promise is for me and not just for those around me?

First of all, we may ask the Holy Spirit to give us a revelation of that truth in our heart. He is the teacher who leads us into all truth. God speaks of writing his laws or his truth on our hearts. Revelation comes to our hearts, not to our minds, so a consistent prayer for that revelation would be an essential place to start.

Secondly, we need to begin to say what God says about his love and promises for us and refuse to add any disclaimers that disqualify us for those promises. Stop the “buts.” As soon as we say, “ I know what the Bible says, but…” we have introduced unbelief into our hearts and have diluted our faith. If the Bible says it, stand on that without qualifying the scripture or stating a disclaimer about your “worthiness” to receive the promise. Jesus has made you worthy…period. Find a set of declarations about your identity in Christ and read them out loud every day ending them with a thank you to God that he has made you all of those things.

Thirdly, we need to find a promise that becomes our promise – one that resonates with our spirit and one that we will not let go of. Ask God to show you a promise that will anchor all his other promises for you. Memorize it, confess it, and use it against the enemy. When the devil shows up with his truckload of accusations and condemnation, be quick to call him a liar and command him to leave and take his lies with him. Declare your promise over the accusations. That is how you resist Satan and send him fleeing.

Getting the truth that every promise of God is for you and not just everyone else in your church is critical to living a blessed and victorious life. It is a process more than an event and you have a part in it. So get started today and ask the Lord to show you his heart toward you. When we truly understand his heart for each of us, we will be transformed.

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.      But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down…Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” Rev. 12:7-12

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2

The book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into a battle that took place in the heavenlies at some point in the far distant past. Satan, desiring to be on the throne instead of God, formed a rebellion and was cast out of heaven and hurled to earth along with the angels who had sided with him. He is described as the accuser of the brethren who accuses them day and night. In this text, he is said to accuse them before God but one of his primary strategies is also to accuse the brethren by accusing them in their own minds day and night. Satan is a master at bringing up the past and framing our weaknesses and mistakes as things that disqualify us from serving God or from receiving his blessings.

As a strategy, every time life happens to a believer and a challenge arises or a painful moment comes our way, Satan jumps in to accuse us and plants the thought that we are being punished for our misdeeds or rejected for our weaknesses. In a flurry of thoughts, he loves to heap condemnation on us and reinforce an identity of being a gross sinner, a target of God’s wrath because of our evil hearts, an abandoned child because of our misbehaviors, and a hypocrite who should be ashamed for even posing as a follower of Jesus.

Not only do those condemning thoughts rob us of our security but they also take away our joy and our peace. In addition, they prompt us to become accusers of those around us. Since accusation is based on performance, we find ourselves wanting to point out all the faults and failings of those around us in an effort to level the playing field. If you are prone to fault-finding in others or blaming others for the problems in your life, you are likely living with law as a reference point rather than grace.  You are trying to relate to God on the basis of your performance rather than his grace. Paul points out in Romans 8:1-2 that condemnation thrives in an environment of law in which a record is kept of every violation. Satan has the most success with those of us who still tend to view our relationship with God as a relationship defined by law rather than grace.

Law defines my relationship with God as a relationship based on performance. Under law, I am always asking the question, “Am I good enough or have I done enough to be loved, forgiven, and blessed by God?” Under law, our Father in Heaven becomes a perfectionistic parent withdrawing his blessings and affection every time we fail to live up to his lofty standards. On the basis of law, everything is open to accusation and condemnation. Under a mindset of law, Satan is free to accuse us not only of blatant sins but even of our attitudes by degree. Where we have repented, he will suggest that we did not repent enough. When we think about our love for God, he will accuse us of not loving God with all of our heart. When we acknowledge a weakness he will call us hypocrites for pretending to love Jesus when we still fail so often. When we give generously, he will always suggest that we should have given a little more. The accusation and feeling of condemnation is never ending….day and night.

The only escape from the devil’s scheme is to absolutely know that there is no condemnation in Christ because the blood of Christ has removed us from a system of law and placed us in a relationship based on the unfailing love of a Father who does not love and bless on the basis of performance but only on the basis of his heart. You must know that Jesus became sin for you that you might become the righteousness of God. You must know that you have been given positional righteousness in the eyes of God based on what Jesus did, totally apart from your own righteousness or your own spiritual performance. The good news is that God does not love you because you are perfect, but because he is perfect.

The proper response to the accusations of the devil when he brings up your past or even present weaknesses and whispers that you are falling short of God’s standards is, “Of course, I am falling short. So what? That is why Jesus died for my sins and because of that, God does not hold my sins against me. I live in a condemnation free zone by the blood of Christ and by the grace of God. Satan you have no power here and your accusations have no weight. My past has been blotted out. My present is in process and my future is secure. I am justified in Christ and it is you that are condemned. Now go away!”

When accusation comes, don’t brood but respond with God’s truth. When condemnation raises its head, dismiss it as a lie. When Satan runs up the flag of rejection, ignore it because that sign has no meaning in the kingdom of God. Too many of us believe that punishment motivates us to change. If that were true, there would be no repeat offenders in prison. Too many of us believe that accusation, condemnation, and self-loathing will prompt us to do better and so we agree with Satan’s accusations.

But accusation, condemnation, and demeaning criticism only solidify our identity as broken and worthless. When the prodigal returned, he was given no lecture, no condemnation, no probation. Instead his return was celebrated and he was immediately given back his identity as a son. His true identity as a respected son of a proud Father was reinforced and that is what will bring our own growth and transformation. So remember, when the devil knocks on the door of your mind, post your Condemnation Free Zone sign and send him on his way.

We need to pay attention to our words because our words are windows into our hearts. Our words expose our deepest thoughts – especially those words spoken under stress. Jesus told his disciples, “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Mt.15:18-19). He also declared, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks” (Lk.6:45).

In our unguarded moments, our words give us away. The words we speak, when we feel threatened or angry, expose thoughts and beliefs deep in our hearts. How many of us have spoken something hurtful, sinful, or unbelieving only to say later, “I don’t know where that came from, that’s not who I am?” I have certainly said that at times but, the truth is, the words came from part of who I am. To be sure, we are flesh and spirit, the new man and the old man, the spiritual man and the natural man. To be sure, the flesh wars against the spirit (see Romans 7), but our goal is to bring everything within us into alignment with the Father’s ways and the Father’s will.

Our words reveal places of misalignment in our hearts. Our words are clear indicators of areas that need the work of the Spirit and our cooperative efforts. Remember, unattended misalignment gives the devil entry into our thought life. Our words are a road map to the places in our spiritual walls that need repair. Pay attention to your words and don’t dismiss those that are misaligned as meaningless. Our words are symptomatic. They reveal spiritual health or spiritual weakness. A wise person will be encouraged by the health that he or she discovers and will take action on the areas of spiritual infirmity that are indicated.

Anything we speak that is contrary to or misaligned with God’s word, values, or priorities gives the enemy a place to slip into our lives and create havoc. The principal is illustrated in Paul’s letter to Ephesus where he counsels, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph.4:26-27). Anger is a work of the flesh characterized in Galatians 5:20 as hatred, discord, rage, and dissensions. Paul allows that we may become angry and not sin. Anger is a very human emotion and even God is said to become angry at times (his being a righteous anger). However, when we hold on to our anger, nurture it, or refuse to forgive, then we are moving into the arena of sin.

The original word translated as foothold is topos. It means a place, a territory, or even a sanctuary. It was used of sacred places, including the high places where false gods and demons were worshipped. When we nurture our anger we give Satan a place, a sanctuary, or some territory in our lives. In the same way, words spoken frequently that are aligned with Satan rather than with the Father, can give Satan a foothold as well. Eventually, a foothold will become a stronghold and Satan will wield tremendous influence in some part of our lives because he will strongly influence our thinking in that area. Our words will reveal that influence but it may take others to point out how misaligned we are in that slice of our life because the Satan is a master deceiver.

A wise person, then, will monitor his speech and ask others to alert him to speech that is misaligned with God’s truth.  Our words are symptoms of something in our heart that may need to be touched by the grace and healing power of God or that may need the balm of repentance.  They are great indicators of spiritual and emotional health or a lack of health and, like blood pressure, need to be checked on a regular basis.  Remember, the tongue has the power of life or death.  Choose life.

I know a highly successful man who is highly critical of others and himself. His rationale for pointing out even minute flaws in others and himself is that by making people aware of their shortcomings, they can improve. He sees his critical spirit as a public service. He said one time, “What my father did for me, I do for others.” By the way, he’s divorced now.

But there is a little of that mindset in most of us, in the sense that we often think we will do better if we demean ourselves, criticize ourselves, or even call ourselves names. We feel that humbling ourselves before God by emphasizing our weaknesses or failings pleases him. Sometimes we even feel guilty about enjoying our blessings because we feel that we don’t deserve them or because others don’t have what we have.   Sometimes, we often do a kind of penance by recalling past failures and moments of shame as a way of beating ourselves up. Our logic is that if we feel bad enough about what we did, we will never do it again. We often employ that strategy when we want others to “never do something again” as well. We try to shame ourselves into being a better person. This may have some semblance of logic to it, but it simply doesn’t work and it is just the opposite of God’s directives for “better living.” God does not call us to nail ourselves to the cross because Jesus did that for us. We don’t find our lives on the cross but because of the cross.

Think about it. Jesus told us that the world will know that we are his disciples by our love for one another. Paul defines love by actions and attitudes in 1 Corinthians 13. Love is patient. Love is kind. It keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, trusts, hopes and perseveres. Notice that loves is not critical, blaming, always bringing up the past, harsh, demeaning, or humiliating. The way that God directs us to treat others is, essentially, the way we should treat ourselves. A major part of God’s program for transformation is not condemnation and rejection but acceptance and a call to a new identity. If he reminds us of the past, it is simply to remind us of who we once were but are not now, and how much his love has forgiven and forgotten.

In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul said, “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers…will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord” (1 Cor.6:9-11). Notice the past tense – that is what some of you were. Paul is calling them to their identity in Christ. You may have been that person before the Holy Spirit took up residence in you, but that is not who you are now! Don’t live like the person you used to be, live like the person God has made you to be. The Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (KJV). In other words, we live up to or down to the image we have of ourselves. God wants to increase our image so that we may live up to the call he has placed on our lives.

I like what Bill Johnson says about this in his book, When Heaven Invades Earth. “The boldness we need is not self-confidence but the confidence that the Father has in the work of his Son in us. It is no longer a question of heaven or hell. It is only a question of how much of hell’s thinking will I allow into this heavenly mind of mine. Doesn’t it honor Him more when his children no longer see themselves only as sinners saved by grace, but now as heirs of God? Isn’t it a greater form of humility to believe Him when He says we are precious in His sight, when we don’t feel very precious? Doesn’t it honor Him more when we think of ourselves as free from sin because he said we are? At some point we must rise up to the high call of God and stop saying things about ourselves that are no longer true. If we are going to fully come into what God has for us…we’ll have to come to grips with the issue of being more than sinners saved by grace.     (P.168).

It is the nature of Satan to condemn and accuse. It is not the nature of God…especially toward his own children. In our internal conversations, we need to say what God says about us. We need to leave our past buried (we died to sin) and speak in the present and the future. We are redeemed, forgiven, accepted, children of God, royal priests on the earth, saints (all of us), God’s beloved, His called out, destined for greatness, ambassadors of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, sons and daughters of the King, holy, the righteousness of God, appointed and anointed, and more.

When we see ourselves as God sees us, we will live up to that image. It is true for those around us as well. If God says that is who we are, then that is who we are – since it is impossible for God to lie. Let me encourage you today, to increase your transformation by increasing your identity in Christ. In word and thought, say what God says about you and call any other identity a lie. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a revelation of your identity in Christ. Speak the same things over your children, your spouse and your friends in the Lord as well. The truth we call out in Christ becomes a reality, because God’s word, whether from His lips or ours, has creative power and always fulfills its purpose. Be blessed today because you are the redeemed of God, perfect and righteous in His sight.

None of us enjoy rejection. We don’t wake up in the morning excited about the possibilities of being rejected multiple times during the day. We may wake up with an expectation of rejection, but not a desire for it. Rejection wounds like nothing else because it suggests that we are unacceptable, unworthy, unlovable, or defective.

Contrary to most psychological theories today, I believe that we are born with a deep-seated sense of defectiveness that has been passed down to us since the Garden of Eden and the fall of man. Its hard to recognize but at some level it nags at us. Remember, before Adam and Eve took a bite from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they walked around naked, “in front of God and everybody,” and felt no fear and no shame. They were completely secure in their sense of who they were and in their relationship with God and one another. Then they ate and the universe radically shifted. Suddenly, they were afraid and ashamed. They were hiding from God, scrambling to cover themselves, and blaming everyone else for what had just happened.

As a result, children (and adults) have an innate need for affirmation. Some crying is simply to find out if someone will come and comfort them so that they have a sense of significance in their own little world. Why do most small children want to be held? Why do they constantly cry, “Look at me!” if not for some kind of affirmation? Why do they constantly bring their “art” work to parents for some kind of approval, seeking coveted space on the refrigerator door? I think it is because, they are uncertain of their worth and their significance. They want someone to tell them that they are okay because, deep inside, something hints that they may not be.

Why does it take ten positive statements to overcome one negative statement? I think it is because our default setting is a feeling of defectiveness that hurts deeply when something or someone suggests that we are, indeed, defective. Children who get healthy attention, nurture, and affirmation growing up seem to cope fairly well with the niggling question of whether or not they really matter. Those who are not nurtured, but are abandoned, abused, or neglected fight a terrible uphill battle with rejection most of their lives.

Satan maneuvered Adam and Eve into a scenario that had the flavor of rejection – expulsion from the immediate presence of God. They did not see removal from the Garden as discipline or even grace but feared that it meant total rejection and abandonment by their Father. I think Satan fueled that fear. How many of us have seen a child (or an adult child) goad someone into breaking the rules and then begin to crow, “Oh, you’re going to get it now!” I sense that echoes Satan’s follow up to, “you won’t surely die.” Rejection taps into that most ancient of fears and wounds us at the deepest levels.

Rejection comes in all forms…neglect, abuse, criticism, slander, accusation, abandonment, harsh and demeaning words, being ignored, unfaithfulness in a relationships, being passed over for promotion, etc. Rejection hurts because we tend to accept the evaluation of the one rejecting us. We receive their evaluation and conclude that we must indeed be unworthy of love or consideration. Our greatest fear – that we are defective and unworthy – seems to be validated by experiences of rejection, which simply deepen our sense of defectiveness.

Jesus understood our dilemma when he told us that when the world rejects us, it is not us that the world is rejecting, but him. At the core of the gospel is the message that God counts us as immensely significant, that he will never leave us nor forsake us, and that he loved us enough to die for us. Not only that, but he has taken away our shame and made us worthy in Jesus. We are new creations, sons and daughters of the King, with an inheritance of glory. But even with that revelation, we are fragile creatures in this arena of self-image and rejection – so much so that demonic spirits come to magnify the rejection.

In most cases of demonization, the first demon on the scene in a person’s life is a spirit of rejection, who constantly accuses and condemns us, so that our early experiences of rejection, which tapped into our ancient sense of defectiveness, never heal. It is as if the demon keeps tearing the scab off the wound so that it cannot mend. That spirit then projects a filter, so that even innocent statements sound like hateful criticism. Discipline feels like abuse. Correction feels like victimization and humiliation. Because of that filter, our over-the-top pain response to innocent or neutral statements by others, invites rejection because people do not want to be around people who overreact. That demonic filter even makes us immune to compliments and affirmation by suggesting that the affirmation is insincere or that it would not be said if that person really knew us. All of that magnifies our pain and fear of more rejection.

Because of this foundational hurt in the human soul that gives the devil such opportunity, Paul says, “Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only that which is good for building up the other person according to knowledge” (Eph.4:29). The writer of Proverbs sums it up this way: “Reckless words pierce like a sword” (Pr.12:18).

We need to be a constant source of blessing and affirmation to the world around us. When we do need to point out areas that must be improved, we need to begin with sincere affirmations before we get to the problem. Notice how Paul addressed churches to whom he was writing. He was nearly always writing about some problem that needed to be corrected but, inevitably, hr started by affirming his love and telling them the things he appreciated about them before discussing the problem. He then ended with more affirmation of his love. Jesus took the same approach in his letters to the seven churches of Asia in the Book of Revelation.

The world, for the most part, struggles with a sense of rejection and the enemy fuels the flames. Encouraging, affirming words are like oxygen to a drowning man for most people. The tongue has the power of life and death (Pr.18:21) and we are to be a source of life to all those around us – as much as possible. If we are the one who is tormented by rejection, we need to seek healing from the Lord and get in the business of rebuking spirits of rejection, condemnation, and accusation.

In Christ, we are anything but rejected and we need to make a habit of saying so. We need to make a habit of saying, about ourselves, what God says about us while we ask the Holy Spirit for a revelation of that truth in our hearts. If we are in Christ, we are not rejected, not defective, not unworthy, not incompetent, and never alone. We are loved, glorified, and destined for greatness. That is the truth that sets us free. As believers, we should affirm those truths in ourselves as well as in others and we should do so at every opportunity.  Be blessed today by who you are in Jesus.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.             Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Eph.6:13-18)

The second part of God’s armor that Paul lists is righteousness. We are to wear it as a breastplate. I believe Paul is referring to righteousness as a quality of faith and character that guards our hearts from the attacks of the enemy. As believers, we possess righteousness in two ways. First of all, the Father declares us to be righteous on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). We also possess a righteousness in proportion to our righteous living. The first thing every believer must know and stand on is that our salvation comes from a righteousness that has been imputed to us by the grace of God because Jesus paid the price for our sins. Our salvation does not initially stand on the basis of our own efforts and it is not sustained by our own efforts. We are saved by grace and continue by grace. The enemy would have us believe different.

The greatest attack on our faith comes from the enemy planting seeds of doubt in our hearts through thoughts of condemnation and accusation. As soon as we feel condemnation we assign the thoughts and feelings to God. At that moment, we sense rejection and begin to feel as if we are on our own in this world and will need to earn or work our way back into his graces. Those of us who feel alone will typically shift into a “high-control mode” because if God is not caring for us then we have to take care of ourselves, provide for ourselves and protect ourselves. We become number one in our lives. Our grace for others, our patience, and our forgiveness are curtailed because each of those actions makes us vulnerable. Both relationships and faith go south when we are feeling condemned and rejected by God.

However, condemnation and accusation are NOT from God. Satan is the “accuser of the brethren” (Rev.12:10) and for those in Christ there is no condemnation (Rom.8:1). Knowing that our righteousness is a result of our position in Christ rather than our condition in this world guards our heart from the attacks of the enemy. It is true that the Father expects us to mature and grow in righteousness as believers, but there is never an expectation of perfection. The enemy constantly hoists that standard as a source of accusation and discouragement but we do not have to live perfect lives because we have a perfect savior.

Even though the blood of Christ gives us a righteous standing in heaven, we should still be committed to living righteously. Our own righteous behavior is a safeguard to our hearts because it keeps us aligned with the Father and prevents the enemy from gaining any kind of foothold in our lives. Paradoxically, part of being righteous is consistently acknowledging our own unrighteousness before the Father rather than pretending a self-righteousness. John reminds us, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn.1:7-9). Satan would have us think that sin after salvation separates us from God and the greater the sin or the greater our awareness of sin the greater the separation.

But John is clear that to claim to be sinless on the basis of personal righteousness is a delusion at best and most probably a lie. However, confession of sin keeps us in the purifying stream of Christ’s blood and is intended to take away the shame and stain of sins we may commit. The spiritual discipline of confession slams the door on Satan and allows our standing as righteous and our desire to be righteous to continue to guard our hearts against the attacks of the accuser. Righteousness, then, is the breastplate of the believer. God has given it to you so wear it with confidence.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Rom.8:31-35)

As Paul begins to wrap up this section of his letter to the church in Rome, we should be full of confidence because of our relationship with the Father. He has already declared that because you are in Christ you are no longer subject to any condemnation. Christ became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor.5:21). His righteousness is assigned to us and, therefore, never waivers. Our spiritual condition may bounce around like a cork on a windswept lake but our position remains constant because God’s righteousness has been assigned to us rather than our own.

We have been adopted into the family of God and have great standing as his children. In addition, we have the Spirit of God living in us who is willing and ready to direct our steps at all times. His Spirit intercedes for us even when we don’t know how or even know that we need to cry out to God. Our Father has promised to intervene in even bad situations to draw good out of those situations on our behalf and he has set (predestined) ahead of time, all kinds of opportunities for us to grow in Christ and to bear fruit in his kingdom. He has already called us, justified us, and glorified us.   What more could we need?

After enumerating all the things that the Father has provided for our salvation, Paul summarizes in one sentence one of the great corollaries of scripture. In so many words he declares that if the Father has already, willingly and lavishly, given us his most precious gifts (his Son and his Spirit), why would he not give us everything else we need for this life? If Jesus has already willingly died for us and is interceding for us now, why would we doubt the love and provision of the Father? Paul has already underlined this proposition earlier in his letter. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And yet we so often do doubt his care and provision.

For the most part, when we doubt, I don’t think we judge God as uncaring. Instead, I think we hear the accuser telling us that we have not measured up in our walk with the Lord and that our sins and weaknesses have disqualified us from his care. When we allow ourselves to think that way, we have slipped back under a yoke of law that requires us to enter God’s grace on the basis of our own righteousness rather than on the basis of his love and righteousness. Then the enemy tells us that salvation came to us by grace because when we sinned we didn’t know any better. But now that we are saved, we do know better so our sins disqualify us now. The truth is that we began our relationship with God on the basis of his grace and we continue it on the same basis.

I have found that the great battle for most of us is in the arena of refusing to allow the accuser of the brethren to allow us with condemnation where we put the emphasis on ourselves and our own spiritual performance rather than on the love and provision of God. As soon as our emphasis shifts to our own worthiness, we immediately feel disqualified to receive blessings, to operate in anointing, to command the enemy, or to witness to others. We start feeling like hypocrites and start shrinking back to the corners or trying to operate in our own strength. God does not expect perfection from his children any more than you expect if from your children. He does want love and a desire to grow and be pleasing to him but he knows that, in this life, we will always need an intercessor in heaven and his Spirit directing and redirecting us on earth. So, Paul reminds us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ and since God has already given us his most precious gifts in the midst of our sinfulness and imperfection, he will not hold back on the other things we need as long as our hearts are still turned toward him, imperfect as we may be.