Psalm 51:4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
The Lord convicts but the devil condemns. A heart that condemns that ‘we are not good enough’, ‘we have gone too far for the Lord to redeem us’ or that ‘we should have known better’, is insinuated by the demonic realm. When condemnation crushes the heart, we must know that it is not from God but from the accuser the devil!
Grace does not excuse us to keep on sinning and wallow in weaknesses. God’s abundant grace does not give-up on us who strive to live holy but fail due to our own human frailty. This grace is available to all; even to the most abhorrent sinner (1 John 1:9). However a condemning heart will traumatize you about your hideous sins 10, 20 or 30 years ago. It will attack you with destructive, self-condemning and shameful accusations and tell you how unqualified you are to be called a redeemed child of God. Once our sins are forgiven and washed by the blood we lose the right to revisit and re-dig into our own past.
Those who believe the lies of a condemning heart that they have become worthless because of their stupor and silly mistakes, will remain fruitless. The devil lies to them that the repetition of the sins has depleted the grace to save, redeem and restore. However the truth is that grace abounds to deliver us from the rut and the reeking rathole of sin. God’s grace never turns a deaf ear to a helpless cry.
Condemning Heart vs Convicting Heart:
1. Too-Short: God’s hand is not too short to reach and pull us out of the barrow that we fall into time and again. The Lord does not vouch or wink at our weakness but He will never turn His face away from a helpless child of God who cries for help. His hand can reach out to deliver us from the deepest, darkest valley of transgression.
2. Too-Big: There is no sin too big that the blood of Jesus cannot forgive. There is forgiveness for any sinner no matter how horrible and horrific the blunder. One drop of the divine detergent, the blood of Jesus, can wipe away the humongous mountain of our sins, transgressions and iniquities.
3. Too-Many: Falling into the same weakness over and over again gives the devil the doorway to condemn, criticize and slam us with shame, guilt and stigma. Drive out condemnation with the whip of God’s word – But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Romans 5:20b).
Seeking the Lord in fasting and prayer will strengthen our inner man to fight against the urges, temptations and enticements of sin. Don’t let the devil condemn but cry out to the Holy Spirit to convict, deliver and redeem.
1 John 3:20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
Prayer: Abba Father, when condemnation gives me a brain fog that I have sinned again and that there is no redemption for me, be my help, deliverer and refuge. Amen
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