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Forgiving Yourself — The Hardest Person to Forgive
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
— 1 John 1:9
God does not keep a record of forgiven sin. When God forgives, He is not grudging about it. He is faithful and just — meaning He cannot hold against you what the blood of Jesus has already paid for. To refuse to forgive yourself after receiving God's forgiveness is, in a strange way, to say that your standard is higher than God's.
"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more."
— Isaiah 43:25
God blots it out. He does not file it away — He destroys the record. If the Judge of the universe says 'not guilty,' no internal prosecutor has the authority to overturn that verdict.
Paul called himself the 'chief of sinners' — 1 Timothy 1:15. He had watched Stephen stoned to death. He had dragged believers from their homes to be imprisoned and killed. He had blood on his hands. And yet he could write in Philippians 3:13: 'Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal.'
Paul did not forget what he had done. He referenced it regularly. But he did not allow it to define his future. He took the forgiveness of God seriously — seriously enough to live like a man who had been forgiven.
A woman in her forties came for prayer after a Sunday service. She had had an abortion at age 22 — a decision made in fear and desperation. For twenty years she had lived with profound shame, convinced that God could never fully use her. She read her Bible. She volunteered at church. But she kept herself at a distance from real intimacy with God. During a prayer session, she felt God say to her clearly: 'I forgave this the moment you asked Me. Who told you that you needed to keep paying?' She wept for a long time. Then she laughed. She said it was the first time she had laughed from deep inside in years. Today she leads a ministry that supports women in crisis pregnancies. The wound became the well from which she draws healing water for others.
You are not your worst moment. You are not the sum of your failures. You are who God says you are — and He says you are forgiven, redeemed, and called. Receive it today.
Heal The World Podcast by Aaron Esenam Ansah
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By Aaron Esenam Ansah "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
— 1 John 1:9
God does not keep a record of forgiven sin. When God forgives, He is not grudging about it. He is faithful and just — meaning He cannot hold against you what the blood of Jesus has already paid for. To refuse to forgive yourself after receiving God's forgiveness is, in a strange way, to say that your standard is higher than God's.
"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more."
— Isaiah 43:25
God blots it out. He does not file it away — He destroys the record. If the Judge of the universe says 'not guilty,' no internal prosecutor has the authority to overturn that verdict.
Paul called himself the 'chief of sinners' — 1 Timothy 1:15. He had watched Stephen stoned to death. He had dragged believers from their homes to be imprisoned and killed. He had blood on his hands. And yet he could write in Philippians 3:13: 'Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal.'
Paul did not forget what he had done. He referenced it regularly. But he did not allow it to define his future. He took the forgiveness of God seriously — seriously enough to live like a man who had been forgiven.
A woman in her forties came for prayer after a Sunday service. She had had an abortion at age 22 — a decision made in fear and desperation. For twenty years she had lived with profound shame, convinced that God could never fully use her. She read her Bible. She volunteered at church. But she kept herself at a distance from real intimacy with God. During a prayer session, she felt God say to her clearly: 'I forgave this the moment you asked Me. Who told you that you needed to keep paying?' She wept for a long time. Then she laughed. She said it was the first time she had laughed from deep inside in years. Today she leads a ministry that supports women in crisis pregnancies. The wound became the well from which she draws healing water for others.
You are not your worst moment. You are not the sum of your failures. You are who God says you are — and He says you are forgiven, redeemed, and called. Receive it today.
Heal The World Podcast by Aaron Esenam Ansah