Bethiepoo03

Free in the Lord

I have been learning recently about condemnation. About a
month ago, before I came to California, I did something
really stupid. Something that I was very upset with myself
about.
It doesn't really matter what it was, but I was so upset
with myself about the whole thing. It got to the point
where I was almost in a state of pity for myself over what
happened, although I didn't realize that is what was
happening.
I learned something through this: That is what Satan wants
to do.
Please don't confuse conviction with oppression. God
convicts us of our sin, this leads to restoration. When we
are able to see our mistakes and ask for forgiveness there
is then the opportunity for renewal. What Satan tries to
do is completely the opposite: he tries to condemn us and
condemnation leads to oppression. See, the way that Satan
moves is that he is working on grains of truth. When a
person becomes a Christian, their souls are saved from
Hell. I do not believe that a Christian can loose their
salvation, no matter what they have done. Satan can not
take our souls, but what he CAN do is try to prevent us
from influencing other people, and bringing them to
Christ. Satan has many spirits which he tries to send in
to mess us up in our walks with the Lord. Satan uses
things like lust, condemnation, mistrust, addiction
etc...to try to get us to get so focused on ourselves that
we are not able to help others anymore. I'm not saying
that Christians are able to be possed by Satan (although I
do believe it's possible for people who are not Christians)
because we have the Holy spirit living inside of us, but I
do believe that these spirits can cling to areas in our
lives. In order for these spirits to have any power over
us, we must first acknowledge them. For instance, when I
was struggling with guilt over what I did, I needed to
realize a few things: first that I am a child of God and I
have asked for forgiveness, therefore I am clean. I
thought that I didn't deserve to be made clean, and I'm
right, I don't deserve it, but God has given it to me, and
do deny the gift that God wants to freely give me is
denying everything that Jesus did on the cross. When Satan
came in a whispered in my ear "you are such a bad person,
you are too bad to deserve what God has to give you, bla
bla bla" and I listented to it, I was agreeing with the
spirit and therefore giving it power over my own life. If
I had not been sitting there feeling sorry for myself, and
instead declared my freedom in the name of Jesus, I would
have been free from the burden. Eventually that is what I
did. I had some friends pray with me, and I renounced
Satan's power in my own life.
All we as Christians need to do is use the Name of Jesus,
and Satan will flee. He does not like that name.
I don't think I have ever been so open about spiritual
warfare type things on this journal before. If you are
sitting there thinking that Satan does not exist, I must
tell you that Satan's greatest accomplishment is convincing
others that he does not exist. If you don't believe in
Satan then you will not recognize a need for a savior and
then you will reject Jesus in your life. You may be
sitting there and thinking "well, I believe in God".
That's all well and good, even the demons believe and
tremble (James 2:19), but the power is in Accepting the
Salvation that comes from Christ Jesus. Jesus is the one
who died on the cross and Jesus is the one who will save
you. Being a good person isn’t enough to get to Heaven.
You MUST accept Jesus, it sounds so harsh, but when you do,
you will experience a peace and grace in your life and your
heart that you may have never even known existed.
Christianity isn’t about a bunch of rules, it’s about grace
and love.
I don’t say this to preach or condemn, I say it out of
love. I say it because I care so much about all the people
whose lives would be made complete by knowing a real and
living savior. Can you hear Him calling on your heart,
drawing you towards him. Don’t harden your heart. In
Jeremiah 29 it says that if you seek God you will find
Him. If you are searching, ask Him to reveal himself to
you and he promises to do it. There is a freedom in
knowing Christ, a freedom in knowing that someone bigger
and greater than you is able to plan for you and care for
you and love you unlike any earthly father ever could.
Leave me a message if you have any questions or if you
would like to chat.