His Heart, My Home

Our last post, was published a few days ago on Resurrection Sunday, and was entitled “The Rock That Rolled”. In it,we focused on the awesome power of Jesus’ resurrection.

The entire time I was writing that post, Holy Spirit kept drawing my attention to the giant stone which had been used to close and seal the tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid.

As I prayed and meditated on this subject, He began to reveal some powerful truths to me. I began to see the stone as a metaphor for a very real, very dangerous, and very debilitating blockage in many Christian’s lives.

This massive obstacle to our freedom and success is the stone of self-condemnation that results from our feelings of guilt.

Self-condemnation is our own inability or unwillingness to forgive ourselves for our past mistakes, failures, and sins. Simply put, we torment ourselves with guilt.

Even though we experienced resurrection life as we were born-again, the stone of self-condemnation, if not removed, will keep us trapped in the tomb of our past failures.

We will sit inside, unable to remove the barrier of guilt and shame that imprisons us in a persistent state of powerlessness in our walk with the Lord.

As long as that stone blocks the entrance to our hearts, it will stifle our joy, smother our witness to others, suffocate our faith, and even strangle our assurance of salvation.

And if guilt’s flame flickers within us you can be sure the enemy will be on the scene, with gasoline can in hand, ready to assist us in burning our lives down to the ground.

I can feel the pain of many in the body of Christ today as they struggle with the same question asked by the women on their way to the tomb. “Who will remove the stone for me?” (Mark 16:3)

Let’s look into God’s Word for the answer to that question. And as we do, Holy Spirit will bring us step-by step from guilt to glory.

THE GRIEF OF GUILT

● Guilt is defined as “the awareness of our own failures and sin.” If we habitually focus on the past, the enemy will continue to haunt us with feelings of inadequacy and guilt, even though we have repented (over and over, probably many times).

If the enemy can keep us focused on our faults and past sins, eventually he will bring us to a place of shame, where we not only wrestle with our past actions, but also begin to doubt our self-worth.

● Shame is the emotion that makes us avoid others due to our fear that they might find out about, not only our failures, but also our character flaws.

Once the enemy has gained control of us through shame he can effectively separate us from other people in the body of Christ. Isolated and alone, we are no match for the constant barrage of lies, guilt, shame, and condemnation, he will heap upon us. Satan will use our guilt and shame to drive us into a state of grief.

● Grief can be defined as a deep-seated feeling of loss for something or someone who is gone. But we also may experience grief for something that remains, something that torments our souls, something we wish we could make go away forever.

An example of this is Peter, who was not only devastated by the loss of Jesus, but was also vexed and grieved by something he wished was gone, the tormenting memory of his repeated denials of the Lord. Peter had a huge stone of guilt-related grief blocking his heart.

That may have been why he was willing to return so readily to his old vocation of fishing, turning away from his calling to escape the pain of his feelings of guilt, shame, and grief. Thankfully, Peter’s story didn’t end there, and ours doesn’t have to end there either!

GUILT-FREE AT GILGAL

During their forty-year trek through the wilderness, the people of Israel had been guilty of idolatry, doubt, fear, unbelief, and rebellion against Moses. They voiced a constant stream of criticism and complaints about Jehovah.

They had been miraculously delivered out of the bondage of Egypt, but they completely abandoned and dishonored their covenant with God; neglecting the commandment of circumcision and the observance of the Passover for those forty long years in the wilderness

That disobedient and rebellious generation died in the wilderness without ever setting foot in the Promised Land. When their children once again came to the Jordan River, they were challenged to follow the presence of God across the Jordan.

What an act of faith by this new generation! What if the huge wall of water collapsed, drowning them in the Jordan as Pharoah and his army had been drowned in the Red Sea? But they believed and acted on God’s Word. And He parted the raging floodwaters of the river, as they walked across on dry ground.

After the crossing, they camped on the west bank of the river, just on the edge of the Promised Land. There they renewed their covenant with Jehovah, by observing His commands regarding circumcision and celebrating the Passover. Finally, they had realigned with God’s purpose and plan for them to possess their promised inheritance.

“Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have removed (rolled away) the shame, disgrace, and reproach of your slavery in Egypt.’ So that place was named Gilgal which means, “rolled away”. (Joshua 5:9, Expanded Bible)

The people of Israel carried the crushing weight of sin and guilt for 40 years through the barren wasteland. But God doesn’t want us bearing a burden of sin and guilt for even 40 seconds.

If we will simply follow Him with faith and obedience He will roll away our heavy load also.

“Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis.” (Matthew 11:28, The Passion Translation)

Please think about this for a moment before we go further. FIRST, Israel crossed the Jordan by FAITH… THEN, the Lord “rolled away” the stone of their guilt, shame, and their over their failure to be faithful to Him. Our step of faith invites God’s saving, delivering power! Selah.

GOLGOTHA AND THE GRAVE

The name Gilgal is closely related to the Hebrew word “gulgoleth”, which is then transliterated from Hebrew into the Greek name… Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified!

God’s Word connects the place-name where the guilt and shame of Israel was “rolled away” (Gilgal) with the place-name (Golgotha) where humanity’s sin, guilt, and shame was forever rolled away, by the death, burial and resurrection of Messiah Jesus!

Wow! What an awesome revelation! What an awesome salvation! And what an awesome God we have!

THE GENEROSITY OF GRACE

We have been delivered from the dark tomb of spiritual death!

“Even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).”
(Ephesians 2:5, Amplified Bible Classic)

The rock, that had sealed the tomb of our doom, has been rolled away, and blasted into a thousand pebbles by our Rock, the mighty Rock of Ages!

Let’s not reassemble it and super-glue it back together! We’re done with the history of our unholiness! We’re forever free!

Now, the Father calls us to throw off the grave clothes of our guilt, put on the robe of His righteousness, and come forth out of the tomb.

Just like the song, Glorious Day, by Kristian Stanfill says, “You called my name, and I ran out of that grave!”

“God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.” (Colossians 1:13, The Message)

GOD’S GLORY

Now we are raised and seated with Christ at our Father’s right hand, freed from guilt and partakers of His glory!

“Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honor, and authority! Yes, feast on all the treasures of the heavenly realm, and fill your thoughts with heavenly realities…
(Colossians 3:1-2, The Passion Translation)

Make this confession of faith with me:

In Jesus’ name, I declare that past sins, mistakes, faults and failures do not define who I am. As a child of the Most High God, I am more than a conqueror. My Father is for me, so who can be against me? Absolutely nothing can separate me from His love.

I refuse to give the devil access to my mind by allowing him to use past events against me. I choose to forgive every person who has ever wronged me, no matter how bad the offense. And I forgive myself. I do not place blame on myself. I receive the Lord’s forgiveness, and I declare that from this day forward, I am free from the past, free from all guilt, shame, grief, and condemnation.

Thank you, Lord, that I am healed of all the trauma from past events in my life. I receive your healing now. I believe Holy Spirit is working in me, removing all guilt, shame, and bad memories. I’m so thankful that in you, Lord, I am free indeed!

Amen!