DO YOU HAVE A CONNECTION AND COMMITMENT TO THE HOLY SPIRIT? IF NOT THIS BLOG WILL HELP YOU LIVE IN, FOR, BY AND WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT SO YOU CAN HAVE A VITAL LINK TO JESUS CHRIST.
Your past sinfulness that flash in front of your mind are not meant to create guilt but rather to make you aware that you are a new being in me. It is meant to give you a view of who you were when you controlled your life and who you are now as a being in me. These past happenings which I bring up to you remind you that your humanity is being replaced with my divinity. It is not easy, I know, but it is better for you that you are of me rather than of yourself. Before our intimacy, it was all about you, but now in me, it is about death to yourself and life in me. Do not dwell on these sinful remembrances when they come to your mind do not feel the guilt but rather the gratitude of knowing you are now of me.
Dr. Don’s Reflection
This is a powerful Whisper and one I just received in the last few days. It is said when you are dying your life flashes in front of you. If so, I guess these flashes I have been having are premature, or I am dying because so much of my sinfulness of my past life is flashing in front of me. And some of these flashes were not sin to me at the time, but now in the light of Christ, I can see how wrong they were. For the most part, I am not talking about serious sin, although that too happened, I am talking about simple things I said and did that seemed my right to do so at the time.
When it comes to seeing my past and present sins, I think of this example. Many times I have washed a window and stepped back to see how clean and clear it was. But as soon as the light of the sun hit it, I could see the streaks left on the window. I thought it was so clean, but it was not so, in the light of the sun. So too is it this way with God, we think we are so clean and clear of sin, but when Christ shines his light on us, we see the sinful streaks of our life, sins that we would not acknowledge or see if it were not for the light of Christ.
Many incidents, things I did and said, I did not think were wrong at the time. I felt I had the right to feel that way or to say what I said or do what I did. It was OK because I made it OK with me. For life in those years were all about me. I controlled my life. But now my life is all about Christ and controlled by him, and in that light, I see so many sinful situations. At the time, I did not see it as sin and most likely never confessed it. However, now in the control of Christ and in his light, my past unseen sinfulness to me is astonishing.
When these incidents of sin came up in my mind, I felt great guilt, but in this Whisper, the Holy Spirit is telling me do not feel guilt but feel gratitude that you now see these situations as sin and in doing so, ask God for his forgiveness. This Holy Spirit’s Whisper is pointing out that these sinful incidents come to me not so I feel the guilt but so that I can become aware of how much I have changed by now being in, by and of the Lord. Believe me, now in his light, I know when I sin, and the Holy Spirit is quick to convict me in order that I may repent immediately.
From guilt to gratitude, that is the way of the Lord; It has been a great relief and release to rid myself of the guilt of past sins and to say. “Thank you, dear Lord, for giving me the grace to see the error of my ways and to feel grateful that I am blessed to be in your light in my walk with you.
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalms 119:105). May you always guide my walk.
Dr. Don’s Comments
Are you walking in the light of God’s grace now but being burden by remembering sinful words and deeds of the past that make you feel guilty? The fact that you feel guilty is a good thing for if you were not presently basking in God’s goodness, you would not think of past sinful situations as bad. You would not even realize that you were amidst sinful ways. You would just think it was life the way it should have been.
One of the best ways of determining if you are maturing in your walk with God is realizing what you use to think as a normal way of life seems sinful to you now causing you guilt feelings. It is important to realize that this is a good sign because if you still thought that your past sinful ways were OK, then you have not made spiritual progress with your walk with Christ.
Looking at what you did in the past and realizing that it was sinful, that is, it took you away from God and not toward him (My definition of sin is anything that moves you further from God and Grace is anything that moves you closer to God) is a good thing. And while you may experience guilt feelings when you remember these things, the Holy Spirit is there to remind you that your feeling should not be of guilt but of gratitude for it is through God’s grace that you realize your words and deeds were sinful. Now that you are of God, you realize that you are sorry for all your sins past and present and you move ahead greatly more empowered and deeply more blessed.
When your past sins come back to haunt, you do not dwell on guilt but rather on gratitude. Be grateful to God that his Holy Spirit has led you to a place where you see sin for what it is and have sought the forgiveness of God and now you walk in his light.
One thought on “GRATITUDE NOT GUILT”
Dr. Don says:
Joe, somehow I deleted your comment, but I still wanted to answer it.
What I have found out that when the Holy Spirit speaks to me in his Whispers that what he has to say usually has a universal application. By that I mean he may Whisper something to me, but it applies to so many souls because the Holy Spirit talks in a universal voice.
We as humans are very likely to sin and fall in the same way, and that is usually one of seven deadly sins. So when the Holy Spirit Whispers convicts me, comforts me, counsels me, and teaches me, he usually does so with a meaning that can reach many other souls. But we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is the Godly agent of Jesus Christ and the distributor of his saving grace. It is in that grace that we are allowed to continue on the road glory.
Henri Nouwen, international priest and beloved pastor who has written 39 books or more wrote in his book entitled, “Here and Now” the following, “true spiritual gratitude embraces all our past, the good as well as the bad events, the joyful as well as the sorrowful moments. From a place where we stand, and we want to remember all of it as part of God’s guidance. That does not mean that all that happened in the past was good, but it does mean that even the bad did not happen outside the loving presence of God.”
And so it is with us, Joe we are a sum total the events of our life both good and bad and our God knows that and accepts it. It is we who cannot accept it.
Dr. Don says:
Joe, somehow I deleted your comment, but I still wanted to answer it.
What I have found out that when the Holy Spirit speaks to me in his Whispers that what he has to say usually has a universal application. By that I mean he may Whisper something to me, but it applies to so many souls because the Holy Spirit talks in a universal voice.
We as humans are very likely to sin and fall in the same way, and that is usually one of seven deadly sins. So when the Holy Spirit Whispers convicts me, comforts me, counsels me, and teaches me, he usually does so with a meaning that can reach many other souls. But we need to remember that the Holy Spirit is the Godly agent of Jesus Christ and the distributor of his saving grace. It is in that grace that we are allowed to continue on the road glory.
Henri Nouwen, international priest and beloved pastor who has written 39 books or more wrote in his book entitled, “Here and Now” the following, “true spiritual gratitude embraces all our past, the good as well as the bad events, the joyful as well as the sorrowful moments. From a place where we stand, and we want to remember all of it as part of God’s guidance. That does not mean that all that happened in the past was good, but it does mean that even the bad did not happen outside the loving presence of God.”
And so it is with us, Joe we are a sum total the events of our life both good and bad and our God knows that and accepts it. It is we who cannot accept it.