daily devotional

Overcoming Guilt by Remembering Whose We Are

Read Romans 8:38-39; Psalm 51:10; Romans 8:31, 35, 37; Colossians 1:12-13; 1 Peter 2:9 

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

Dear gracious Father, we're our own worst enemy. We focus on our failures rather than on Your rescues. We remember our wrongs rather than rejoice in Your power to make us right. We rely on our puny efforts to get through the day rather than on Your sovereign plans for our ultimate good. Even our attempts at being devoted to You are all-too-often self-centred and self-serving. Turn our attention back to You.

Remind us of our exalted position in Christ—that You have qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. Keep uppermost in our minds that You have rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of Your beloved Son.

Refresh us with frequent flashbacks from Your inerrant and reliable Word. "If God is for us, who is against us?... Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us."

Renew our spirits with the realization that we're Your possession—that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for Your own possession.

Then, with those joyful thoughts to spur us on, slay the dragon of guilt within us so we might enjoy, as never before, Your comforting and reassuring embrace. Through Christ our conquering Saviour we pray. Amen.

Excerpted from The Prayers of Charles R. Swindoll, Volume 1, Copyright 2010 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.