How to Overcome Negative Feelings
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If you struggle with guilt, you’re not alone. Millions of Christians constantly feel weighed down by guilt.
Why? A big reason is that many Christians don’t understand the difference between conviction and guilt.
- Conviction comes from God when we sin against Him. He clearly shows us our sins and helps us repent from them.
- Guilt comes from Satan. Satan will constantly accuse and harass us, either reminding us of sins from which we’ve already repented or making us feel vaguely guilty about something not clear to us.
God wants you to be 100% free from guilt. He doesn’t want you weighed down by overwhelming feelings of guilt. He wants you to walk in freedom and joy in Him.
To help you overcome the accusations and harassment of Satan, He has provided many Bible verses for guilt. Use these verses as a balm for your guilty conscience.
In his book Mastering Your Emotions, Pastor Adrian Rogers says:
If you have confessed your sins to Jesus and forsaken those sins, yet they keep coming back to mind, it is the devil who is accusing you, not the Holy Spirit. You ought to repudiate the devil. Call him the liar he is.
These Bible verses about guilt are your weapon as you battle against the devil.
(Note: If you are considering harming yourself in any way, please call the *National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, counselors are available to talk now)
*Not Affiliated with Adrian Rogers and Love Worth Finding Ministries
Hebrews 10:22
...let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22).
You can come to God with confidence and faith, totally free from guilt and condemnation.
Don’t let guilt keep you from drawing near to God. You have been cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ. His blood is powerful enough for even your worst sins. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see your sins. Rather, He sees you washed clean.
As the classic hymn says:
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Psalm 32:1-2
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit (Psalm 32:1-2).
Pastor Adrian Rogers said:
"From sin’s pollution—He cleanses you. You're not just patched up. You're clean, whiter than snow...How much? All. Don’t believe the devil when he says 'Yeah, but not yours—yours is a biggie.' This is God's triple detergent. You don't need to carry a load of condemning guilt anymore. You can be whiter than snow."
Because you are in Christ, God has forgiven all your transgressions. Not some. Not most. All of them. They are all completely covered by the blood of Christ, and if God has covered them, He won’t keep bringing them up.
Your iniquities were imputed to Jesus, meaning God looked at Jesus as if He had done them instead of you. Because God punished Jesus for your sins, He will never punish you. That’s good news for a guilty conscience!
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
There is only one person in the entire universe who has the power to condemn you, and that is God. Sin is breaking God’s law, and He is the one who is responsible for punishing sin.
If you are in Christ, God wants you to know that there is zero condemnation for you. Jesus was condemned on the cross for your sins so that God could free you from condemnation.
Pastor Adrian Rogers said:
"The next time Satan tries to accuse you and remind you of your sin, just look at him and say, 'My sin is under the blood of Jesus Christ and who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?' (see Romans 8:33). Your sin is forgiven, and Satan can no longer accuse you of it and burden you with guilt."
When Satan hurls condemnation at you, you can simply point to the cross and say, “My condemnation has been handled by God.”
Helpful Tools and Resources on Mastering Your Emotions
How to Overcome Negative Emotions and Feelings
All of us struggle with negative emotions and feelings from time to time. We’re going to look at what God has to say about our negative emotions and feelings.
Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12)
God removes your transgressions as far as east is from west, which is an infinite distance.
When God takes away your sins, He completely takes them away. You could say that He expunges them from your record. They can’t be brought up again. Don’t allow the devil to drag your sins up out of the sea. God has removed all of them and doesn’t allow the devil, you, or anyone else to bring them up again. If you feel weighed down by a guilty conscience, remember exactly what God has done with your sins.
Romans 3:22-24
For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:23-24)
When the devil tells you that you’re a sinner, you can agree with him! But don’t stop there.
Remind him and yourself that God saves and forgives sinners through Jesus Christ. You are justified freely through Christ. Not based on your good deeds. Not because you’re a really good person.
Your salvation is a complete gift from God. When it comes to being “justified” before God, you can think of it like this:
- God looks at me “just as if I’d never sinned”
- God looks at me “just as if I’d always obeyed”
In his book Mastering Your Emotions, Pastor Adrian Rogers said:
"Now, some people are trying to rid themselves of guilt by working on their self-esteem, reading self-help books, and talking about their problems and issues. They’re working hard, but they’re never acknowledging that they cannot clean themselves up. Only Jesus can do that. Jesus is our substitute of righteousness.
1 John 2:1
And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).
An advocate speaks on behalf of another person. Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God and substitute for our sins is our advocate
When Satan accuses us, Jesus steps forward and says to the Father, “I have paid for that sin! It can’t be brought up here.”
In a sense, you could say that Jesus is your divine lawyer. He has taken on your case, and the good news is that He never loses. No matter what guilt you feel or accusations are thrown at you, Jesus handles them. And when Jesus presents you to God, God always says, “Not guilty!”
Hebrews 8:12
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more (Hebrews 8:12).
You may remember your sins, but God doesn’t. Unlike us, God doesn’t keep reminding us of our sins. He doesn’t say, “Remember when you did this? You said you wouldn’t, but you did anyway!”
If God isn’t dragging up your old sins, you shouldn’t either!
Instead of remembering God's grace and forgiveness that we receive through Christ, we live under an overcast of guilt. Instead of judgment, God pours out His love and blessing on you. Instead of wrath, He gives you mercy. As humans, we have a habit of dwelling on our old sins and the sense of guilt that comes with that.
No More Guilt!
These Bible verses for guilt can absolutely set you free. If you believe them, you can be released from a guilty conscience.
Martin Luther is a wonderful example of what happens when you understand the true power of God’s forgiveness. For years and years, he labored under a horribly guilty conscience, convinced that God condemned him for his sins. He didn’t love God, only feared Him.
And then Luther came to understand that in Christ, all his sins were forgiven. He didn’t have to do anything to make himself righteous before God. The blood of Jesus completely and totally cleansed him. When he grasped these profound truths, he felt that he was “reborn” and had been brought through open doors into paradise.
Once he was free from the constant torment of a guilty conscience, Luther served the Lord in incredible ways.
Do you want to be free from guilt and empowered to serve the Lord? Then hold fast to the Bible verses about guilt listed above!
