Help For The Self-Condemning Heart
/What does your heart say? If you are like most others, you may struggle with a self-condemning heart that is shrouded in negative thoughts, gloomy outlooks, and visions of defeat. There is help for the self-condemning heart!
The Enemy doesn’t want us to live with freedom, joy or a light heart. Far from it, he wants us to be weighed down with guilt, pain, regret, and sin. He will take every opportunity to remind us of our failings...and we have them, a lot of them. We fail daily. We are fragile humans in a fallen world dealing with the daily struggle of life.
Every day is a battle. Sometimes it’s easy to see, raging around us, vying for our attention, harassing us at every turn. Other times it’s a subtle oppression that weighs us down, and nearly becomes unnoticeable because we become so used to carrying the weight of it every day.
Our heart speaks to us on a daily basis. It whispers the ‘remember when’ and the ‘you should’ve but you didn’t’. It drags up past failures, the moments of weakness and anger that later brought shame and it puts them front and center in our mind’s eye, reminding us of how pitiful we are and saying things like, “you’re worthless”, “you’re beyond help”, “you’re pathetic” and sadly, we begin to buy into this as our ‘truth’ and believe that it defines us.
Our heart can drive us into the ground and make us weak and ineffective, essentially crippled by our past failures. This is exactly what the Enemy wants. If he can make us ineffective, then we’re not a threat.
What does the Bible say about a self-condemning heart?
Here’s the thing we need to understand. Our hearts lie.
Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
The bigger question is who holds our heart? Who do we really belong to?
1 John 3:19-20 “This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence. If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”
Did you see that? We can set our hearts at rest in his presence!! Stop and think about that. What would that feel like...to have a heart at rest ...in God’s presence?
Check out that second part....”if our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything.” He Knows. He Knows Everything. He knows what we’ve done and said. He knows our thoughts and regrets. And He KNOWS his children. We belong to Him! He knows it all and He still wants us! He loves us in spite of our past. Jesus died to wipe all of that sin and guilt away. Jesus rose again to show His victory and power over every force of evil. If we continue to dwell in the messaging our hearts are feeding us, we’re giving the Enemy a foothold and we’re living like Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t enough.
But, His sacrifice was. It is. It always will be enough.
Related Post: How to Live a Godly Life in an Ungodly World…without Judging
Here’s the grand finale!
1 John 3:21 “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God.”
Confidence! Can you imagine having confidence before God?
Knowing that your weakness and your past failings don’t define you, but that God’s forgiveness and acceptance defines you as his child? Redeemed! Beloved!
How do you rewire the messaging from your heart?
1)Take time every day to spend in God’s presence.
Read the Word. Learn His precepts and be reminded of His promises. If you belong to the Truth, you need to know that Truth. Soak it in and be at rest in His presence.
2) Pray.
Just talk to the Lord as you would a friend. Tell him what burdens your heart. Ask Him to help you, encourage you and strengthen you.
3) Remember, God is big.
God is greater than your heart, greater than your past, and greater than your failings and weaknesses. We have a Champion, a Conqueror who is mighty to save. Jesus died to make the Enemy powerless. Nothing is stronger than He is. Nothing.
Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life.
He is the Way to redemption from sin and reconciliation with God.
He is the Truth, the Truth that decimates the lies of the Enemy.
He is the Life, eternal life in the presence of God, filled with freedom and joy.
Is your heart condemning you? God is greater than your heart.
Contributing Author Brenda Reid
You can find our contributing author, Brenda Reid sharing her gift of encouragement in her Facebook Group Join the PAC-Praying for our Adult Children
