Not Guilty

Romans 8:^1-2 “So now, those who are in Christ Jesus are not judged guilty. I am not judged guilty because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made me free. It made me free from the law that brings sin and death.” (ICB)

A drift is when someone unconsciously moves very slightly off his or her course like we see in the image attached. The course of the plane is point O to B, the line labelled C is the drift line. Initially, it seems like nothing significant but as the plane keeps moving, the drift becomes more and more obvious. Unlike a shift, a drift is a tiny diversion. But if you do not pay attention to it, it gets wider and wider. We all have personal drifts; therefore, it is important to know how to overcome them.

We overcome drifting with accountability. There should be people in your life that can say to you, this is where we said we were going. That is why you should tell people; if you are married, your spouse, where God is taking you as a family. So that when you want to drift out of the pressures of life, you can have someone realign you. Drifting is very, very subtle, and you need people in your life that can lovingly set you straight. The truth is, when a life is light forward, the enemy uses a lot of things to attack that life. We are going to look at three things that the enemy uses to attack a light forward life.

The first thing the enemy uses to attack a light forward life is Guilt. 2 Corinthians 7:¹⁰ “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” Worldly sorrow is guilt. So, someone has done something wrong and the enemy attacks him with guilt and guilt drains spiritual life. Guilt is different from conviction; while conviction will always lead to life, guilt will always lead to death. Conviction is from the Holy Spirit; guilt is from the devil. Guilt insists that this is who you are based on what you have done. For instance, you are a Christian, you should not tell a lie, right? Guilt says, you told a lie, so you are a liar. If you embrace it, it goes straight at your identity.

You should not steal but you just could not resist, and you stole a piece of meat. Guilt will say, you are a thief. Conviction will say, you know you should not steal. What are you going to do about this stealing? Conviction says you are not to steal. Guilt says a thief is who you are. Conviction says this is not who you are, you are not a thief, so you should not be behaving like this. Conviction brings you to a place of repentance. Guilt on the other hands brings you to a place of spiritual death or destruction.

Prayer: Father, I declare that I am in Christ Jesus therefore I am not guilty because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made me free, in Jesus Name. Amen!