I was listening to Pastor's sermons these few days. He said there was a place in the bible which
mentioned those sins we retained will be retained, those sins that we released
will be released. John 20:23 says 'Whose soever sins you remit, they are remitted
to them; and whose soever sins you retain, they are retained.' It wasn't just
about other people's sins. It was also about our sins.
God has already
forgiven us of our sins but we may not forgive ourselves at times. So we
continue to retain that sin and subconsciously being punished for it. And that
sin consciousness will continue to torture us, open a door for the enemy to
bring troubles in our lives. God has already given us so stop beating
ourselves. Quit living condemned and guilty. Peace is forgiveness enjoyed.
Pastor also said
that the paralytic man needed to be forgiven of his sin first before healing
came. That was why Jesus said his sins were forgiven before He told the guy to
take up his mat and walk. Pastor also mentioned that if we go for hospital
visits, before we pray for healing, tell the person God has forgiven him of all
his sins. Tell him to let go of his own sins and forgive himself. Then healing
can be freely received. Our conscience needs to know someone paid for our sins
so we could enjoy that peace.
Today as I was
meditating on this topic, I was reminded of what God told me on 15 May 2016. It
was about rolling away the Israelites' reproach at Gilgal. That day was a
turning point for me when God opened my eyes to see that I had been retaining
the sin of missing my promised land in 2012. God has long forgiven me and He
wanted me to stop beating myself over it. Jesus paid the price for me.
I now realise that
even though it was a breakthrough for me that night, it was the beginning of a
process. The forgiveness of sins by God was freely offered to those who needed
it but for us to release ourselves fully from our sins, it might take some time. Well
it could be instantaneous for some people but for me it was over a period of
time. In fact, it had been more than nine months since. But at least I thank
God that the process of forgiving myself of that sin is finally completed.
This sin
consciousness was so subtle that I didn't even know traces of it was still
there. I thought it had been completely dealt with last year. Well, my recent
incidents showed that man is so prone to feeling condemned. So we constantly
need to hear the gospel of grace. We need to be reminded again and again that
all our sins are forgiven and God is not angry with us.
Thank God the difference was this year it took a much shorter time for me to discern what was exactly happening. The enemy tried to bring a replay of last year's incidents to convince me that nothing has changed this year and I was still stuck. Not only that through the recent spade of events, the enemy told me in fact, things had gotten worse than last year. Just look at the intensity of the attacks this year. He taunted me with doubts like 'What happened to the word about Jubilee? Is this even Jubilee?'
Thank God for He always brings us victory through Christ! And He opened my eyes to see what was hidden in the dark. Yes the warfare may have intensified due to the closeness to our appointed time. But it doesn't have to be like last year when I was fighting most of the time. This year God told us to rest for the battle belongs to Him. But what God needed me to do was to close the door to fear by releasing myself of my sins. I needed to forgive myself and receive His forgiveness in order to move forward.
I reminded myself
again that God has forgiven me of that sin so I forgive myself. It has been so
many years and it is about time I put a stop to all the sufferings and torture
I put myself through. It was silly for me to be punished when Christ was punished
for my sake. It was like saying His payment wasn't enough. Why continue to pay
my debt when Jesus had already paid for it? God cannot stop me if I willed to
keep paying. No wonder this is the year of Jubilee! I can hear the chains being
broken off me. The age old stronghold has been totally
destroyed. Praise the Lord! I receive this miracle now in Jesus' name!
Not only that I can
expect more good things to come because Jesus has paid it for me. My conscience
is fully satisfied because God is satisfied with Jesus' sacrifice. Besides the
enemy has been caught so he had to pay back sevenfold what he had stolen from
me all these years! It's really payback time! Now the blood is on his hands and
he has no covering for his crimes! He is really doomed this time round. Jesus
has totally defeated him!
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