Hello, everyone! I’m a born-again believer in Jesus Christ saved by grace through faith alone. I often struggle with the difference between guilt, (beating myself up mentally and becoming emotionally numb), and conviction, (the Holy Spirit tugging me to do the right thing and pointing out my sin). I also struggle with knowing I am eternally secure, having had specific, real and tangible moments where God has spoken to me and I have understood and delighted in the beauty of the Gospel, and then turning around and repeating the same sin. How can I be confident when I die I will be in God’s presence and stop doubting and allowing guilt and the enemy, Satan the accuser, from messing with me? How can I let go of “feeling” saved and just rest?
Discussion
46 comments
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Conviction is from the Holy Spirit and pushes us to God. Condemnation is from the enemy and pushes us away from God. Romans 8:1.
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Given that you turn around and repeat the same sin, THAT in and of itself is going to take away your peace, since it grieves the Holy Spirit who lives within you.
A non-believer may be able to live in sin and enjoy it, like a pig enjoying rolling in mud – but once we are saved from sin, not only do we have the power to say “no” to sin, we also no longer have that enjoyment of sin, because it bothers our spirit and makes us feel terrible being in that sin.
With that said, I highly recommend the book “True-Faced” and “The Cure” for deepening your walk with God and with others, and finding that peace.
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Carter even Elijah, Jeremiah struggle with doubt , depression, keep on trusting,
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Good news your normal. Satan will always be attacking. If he stops then worry.
Have you completed these steps? If you have then your are saved. If you haven’t then complete them ASAP. Then do #6 to the best of your ability. -
You need to watch Andrew Farley. He’s very good in the gospel of grace
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What you were struggling with might fit into the category of scrupulosity. It is being too careful about every little sin and not seeing where Grace is. There was sort of a ritual I was exposed to once when I was a protestant and went to a retreat. We wrote down the sins of our past in our own private slips of paper and we threw them in a bonfire. The bonfire was definitely not my savior but it was sort of a reference point of me saying to God that his grace is sufficient for me. That is not my thing now regarding bonfires but it might be beneficial in your present faith tradition.
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your in romans 7…..there is an answer, watch message of the cross…..on sonlife broadcasting app…SBN
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All of these replies have been helpful, I didn’t post The question but I certainly could have, I’m constantly haunted by past sins, and “feel” like I’ll never be enough and that Christ could never want me.
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R.C Sproul has a great teaching series on “Guilt Feeling” I recommend looking it up
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Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Just as we worship in Spirit and Truth, we have to walk in Spirit and Truth.
Stay/study the Word; especially Grace. The power of Grace is the power of the Holy Spirit. L&P -
You are not born again. Someone told you that you were born again and you believe them, if you were truly born again, born from above, born of the spirit, born of God you would not add your own words the 1st John 5:18, 1st John 3 verse 9 right there where it is written in the original language, tindell’s word for word translation, King James version, whoever is born of God cannot cannot cannot sin, but beings you believe you are born again you cannot understand 1st John 5:18, 1st John 3 verse 9 so you just add your own words until it makes sense to you, and these are the words you add, whoever is born of God does not practice does not continue to send oh, you take one of God’s absolutes and you turn it into a probability. Try that dirty little trick with this cannot, God cannot lie, God does not practice lying, God does not continue to lie, it doesn’t work too well does it. If you knew the true meaning of being born from above, being born of the spirit, being born of God you would not add those words to those two passages, because you would know the truth, whoever is born of God absolutely cannot send because God gives them a seed when they are born of God and that seed makes them incorruptible, that means they cannot sin. You believe John 3 is about baptism or conversion and it is not, it is about two different types of births that produce two different types of bodies, one for the Earth the other one for the kingdom and this was Nicodemus problem. Scripture interprets scripture so a interprets B and if you misinterpret a what happens to B? By necessity it must also be misinterpreted to maintain whatever logic you come up with when you misinterpreted a. So sooner or later you’re going to hit a spot in Scripture where you have to add your own words in order for it to make sense to you, and that is why those words were added to 1st John 5:18, 1st John 3 verse 9 because John 3 is not about baptism it is not about conversion it’s about two different types of bodies and Nicodemus being in the wrong body, you will find the right body for the kingdom in 1st Corinthians 15 verse 35 through 50 where Believers are being born of God, being born from above because that’s where the body comes from I, being born of the spirit because they are being born of a spiritual God and whatever is born of spirit is Spirit John 3. A little leaven overtime leavens the whole lump.
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Be baptized! Through it God removes doubt and clears your conscience. In it He unites you to Christ’s life, death, and resurrection; which means that when God looks at you He sees Christ’s goodness, righteousness, and self-sacrifice instead of your sins, insecurities, and doubts. This is how the Great Exchange works.
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You can be confident that you’ll end up in the glory of heaven right now and until the day you die, because of the fact that you struggle with sin. That can’t come from someone that is devoid of the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there’s life eternal. Because he’ll be with you forever, that’s a promise He made and He can’t lie.
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I once heard it explained like this …..
Do you love Jesus perfectly? Well No! No one has ever loved Jesus perfectly.
Do you love Jesus as He deserves to be loved? Well if you answered no to the first question you have to answer no to the second question. And no no one has ever loved Jesus as He deserves to be loved.
But now I wanna ask you to look deep within your heart and I want to ask you do you know without a doubt that you do have a love for Jesus? Do you have any genuine affections for Him at all? If you answered yes you can know that you are regenerate. Because truly I say to you no unregenerate person has any love nor any affections whatsoever for Jesus, it’s impossible they can’t love anything about Him.
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Personally, I do not think we can entirely rest in Him until we do. There will always be that element of guilt and shame. If you are not struggling with temptations and shame, that for me is a strong sign of whether you are eternally secure or not. Those who are secure are those asking tough questions of themselves. Those that are not secure ask questions of others but never ask tough questions of themselves.
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Hi Carter. The Bible teaches us to examine ourselves and see that we be in the faith.2 Co 13:5 It sounds like that’s just what your doing. Romans 8:16 teaches that God’s Spirit will testify with our spirit that we are God’s children. So God himself assure us that we are his own. You say you know God but still have significant doubt. Galatians 5 may have your answer. It addresses those who were trusting in their works rather than Christ’s sacrifice. Galatians 5:4 says that this is to fall from Grace. Proverbs 24:16 teaches that the righteous man falls but gets back up again. You may have fallen, but give it to God, ask for his forgiveness and move forward brother. Just examine yourself first. It’s about Christ’s work not ours. God Bless.
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Peace and Grace to you. It is wonderful you are seeking God and the correct Way. There are many doctrines out there so keep learning until you come to a better understanding. Jesus said “Blessed are they that seek righteousness for they shall find it” Matthew 6.
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Carter Keller The answers you need are in the Word of God. The more you take the time to read Gods Word, Pray, pray pray. The more you faith will build and the Holy Spirit will teach you. You need to take the time to know God intimately.
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Faith alone….interesting. Carter I have a question. Is there any claim that a person COULDNT take on faith?
I could take the flying spaghetti monster on faith….I would agree with you that I could be wrong, but that is the whole point ….. If faith can lead you down the wrong path than by definition it is not reliable…. if it is not reliable, you could be wrong…..If you could be wrong how do you believe on faith alone?
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Pornography is a devil stronghold!
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First, remember that salvation is NOT based on human feelings, which are more than fallible.
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You aren’t alone in this. I could have written this too.
I’ve bookmarked this link to meditate on whenever I struggle with this. I hope it’s a blessing for you too:
https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/how-to-deal-with-persistent-guilt -
The Promise of Christ is when we are Sanctified, Purified and Justified, we are in Christ and will be taken Home to the Father when the time comes.
Sometimes we are not sanctified, purified and Justified even when we keep the commandments of Christ for a few reasons.
1) unrepentant sin.
We may have sinned against God, that’s a no brainer, though at times we have also sinned against others.
If we carry that guilt of sin around with us as a skeleton in the cupboard, we are not a Purified vassal and that skeleton or even the baggage of the past can stop the freedom and the flow of God through us.We need to address our skeletons or baggage and trust God it will work out fine.
Christ blood covers a multitude of sins absolutely, though sometimes that sin is not against God but others.
Remain within hidden guilt inside of you and continue to hide it, you are not set free and you and can’t know peace until God flows through you.
Paul struggled with his flesh and we all know that our flesh is only skin deep yes.
Paul said I don’t do what I should do and do what I shouldn’t do.We die daily to the fleshy wants and desires and we repent everyday and we ask God to continue to work in us changing us daily as we walk towards perfection everyday.
There is hardly a soul on earth who’s minds don’t go wondering, eyes that see things we shouldn’t and ears hear what is not edifying and oh dear, that little member in our mouth that can start the fires of hell itself.
We are all ignorant in one way or another, though we keep moving forward towards eternity.
Relax, breathe, be open to the Spirit of God and be distracted by God, not of the things of this world.
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Following
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No one can pluck you from his hands. Trust him. Prov3:56
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5 and 6
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Fill your mind with the word , pray for the Holy Spirits guidance and follow His direction . We must overcome temptation and you can . God is not mocked you reap what you sow feed the spirit man and you will find victory over temptation then freedom from guilt and fear will leave.
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And nobody sees the disconnect between this verse and the above OP:
KJV 2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
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Just a thought: have you rebuked Satan and cast aside his attempts to condemn you? Read Luke 10 and James 4. Good, practical stuff.
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It takes practice to stop certain sins. Yes, repent. Ask for help from Him. Strength comes from the wisdom of restraint.
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Carter Keller here lies what your thoughts need to be pondering upon
Romans 6: 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?If we are truly repented of ours sin we would have no desire to commit them neither we would commit them, but again the flesh is weak but the spirit is willing pray often and ask God to make your weaknesses strength. But until you are truly repented and desire your sins wipe away you will not experience just a piece but the darkness of the damn
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I know your struggle. The sinful nature is still present. Grow in the grace of God through scriptures, fellowship and prayer. He will sustain you until the day of our transformation
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Read 1 John. That epistle basically made my faith. I was almost an apostate, but that book shook me to the core. It offers both assurance (even explicitly telling us we can know we have eternal life), and encouragement to endure.
This much I will say: If there’s nothing you can do to earn salvation, there is nothing you can do to lose it either. By grace through faith, not of works, MEANS by grace through faith, not of works. No one in Heaven will be able to say “I was good enough to keep my salvation”. Only that Jesus was good enough to keep it for us.
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Just believing the gospel tells you you are saved and sin is forgiven. Period. Most people have not been given the correct gospel to believe so they keep struggling.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
…That if you believe Christ died for your sins, was buried, rose again fulfilling the scriptures, you will be saved…
Paul is the apostle to the gentiles and he wrote Romans through Philemon for our instructions. Focus on Paul’s epistles because that’s why Jesus sent Paul to us. Study all of scripture But know where your instructions are: Romans through Philemon.
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I feel the same way!
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Carter. I am with you. You could be struggling with performance based Christianity. This means it is “up to you” and what you do not WHAT THE LORD DOES IN YOU BY HIS POWER. This is very subtle. IT is a form of idolatry or at least it was for me. I was walking one day after coming back to the Lord many years ago. A serious sin was on my mind. As I was praying the regret overwhelmed me. As I restarted to ask God for forgiveness I had a strong sense of “STOP” “YOU ARE CROSSING INTO UNBELIEF”. So I was reliving my guilt and shame rather than putting those sins on Christ and leaving them there. Not long after this I was going through some self pity over some regrets. I heard again. STOP. YOU ARE NOT TO REGRET. LEARN WHAT YOU NEED TO LEARN AND THEN MOVE FORWARD. NO MORE REGRETTING. That changed my life. Hope that helps. Change your posture toward the word of God and seek to read it to get His perspective and to be obedient through His help. A great bible teacher with a ton of videos is loveisrael.org.
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The enemy wants to steal your JOY and PEACE . Surrender EVERY day, one day at a time and allow JESUS to LIVE HIS LIFE through you.
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Wow, I needed this post. God bless you all ?
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If, you are saved by grace through faith (Eph 2: 8 -9) then salvation is not dependent on you. If you are a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 5:17) then you have been made entirely new and once that happens you cannot go back. The Father doesn’t look at your sin, He looks at Christ righteousness, always, so even though you may sin, you don’t live in a place called sin (Romans 5 and 6). Stop being sin conscience and start being righteousness conscience. Be blessed
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A couple of things. If the Spirit of Truth is convicting you, you are in our Lord’s presence now. Submit to His discipline and stop sinning. He apparently has work for you to do that He has prepared in advance. If you submit you will learn obedience and become a fit vessel for that work. When you are fit it will be God working in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Then you will understand that you are more than a conqueror through Christ who strengthens you. There is much work our God is doing these days… you are needed. Stop sinning and join the spiritual battle that is upon us as we speak. Trust not in the theologies of men. They are stumbling blocks. Seek our Lord’s face only and wait for His answer. Consider the words of Yeshua only for they are the very words of God… and let the council of His apostles only be your anchor… for they did not fail to declare to us the whole council of God. Today if you hear His voice do not harden your heart… then you will find that Sabbath rest you are seeking. Let no man hinder you in your pursuit of our God. He alone is a rewarder of those who diligently seek His face. Prayers for you… ?
Edit to add: don’t let another man decide for you what is sin. Follow your own conscience and let it guide you… if it be the Spirit of Truth at work there. Blessed is the man who doesn’t condemn himself by what he does. Truly, it’s not what goes into a man that defiles him… it’s what comes out.
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If you know that He is absolutely righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.
1 John 2:29 -
Carter Keller I would like to share this with you. It encourage me so much today. I feel your pain. God bless
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Pls read 1John chapters 1 & 2
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God loved you so much, He died for you. That love is beyond our pay scale. We all have the same feelings at times and they are not from God. What I do is close my eyes and think about all the “Goodness” God has given me with Salvation and looking at His Creation, nature, and all the things He Created. Jesus tells us in John that what the Father has given Him, no man can take away from Him. Jesus today is in Heaven in the same human body He had while on earth praying for you now, understands what you are going through. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. I also read the Psalms for a mind changer and calming effect. Just tell Satan where he is going and get out of my life, I covered with Christ Jesus’ blood. Have your name on my prayer list, wish you the best and have a blessed day.
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I don’t know who told you that you were secure in Christ and that you can do what you want to. they lied . read Hebrews 10 ;26 if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.
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