THE REMEDY FOR GUILT (II)
“Whenever our hearts make us feel guilty and remind us of our failures, we know that God is much greater and more merciful than our conscience, and he knows everything there is to know about us.” 1 John 3:20 TPT
Yesterday, we reflected on the power of confession and the healing that flows from restoration.
But even after confession, prayer, and renewed fellowship, many still wrestle with a silent torment: the inability to forgive themselves. John invites us into a deeper conversation today—not about sin alone, but about the inward war waged by our conscience. The enemy’s tactic here is subtle yet devastating: to make the redeemed live as though they’re still bound, by stirring guilt in the heart God has already cleansed.
Jeremiah 17:9 warns us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. When not surrendered to God, it can become a weapon turned inward. But God alone knows the heart. And more—He transforms it from the inside out to serve His purposes. To hold onto what God has already forgiven is not humility—it is pride. When we refuse to let go, we exalt our opinion of ourselves above God’s declaration over us. Our sins, though real, are not meant to imprison us in shame but to awaken our desperate need for a Savior. Once forgiven, they are cast into the sea of forgetfulness.
Let us not fish for what God has buried.
Prayer: Father, I thank You that You are greater than my heart. When my conscience accuses me, You speak a better word—mercy. Help me not to hold onto guilt You’ve already washed away. Teach me to trust Your judgment more than my feelings, and to rest in the finished work of Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.
CI.
RELATED RESOURCES
• Psalm 103:12
• Romans 8:1
• Isaiah 43:25
