The Truth Sets You Free

"That's all very well... but..."

Many of us, of course, know all this and yet still cannot find freedom from guilt. Some of us only experience freedom part of the time; others find it impossible to feel free of guilt at all.

In these situations there must be some deep-rooted reasons why we are trapped in the pit of guilt and unforgiveness. We certainly cannot escape from the pit by abandoning Christianity. We will probably merely replace it with another experience of 'failure' and react similarly to that. For example, if we try gay or lesbian relationships and find they don't live up to our expectations, we may say, "I've tried gay relationships and they don't work either!"

If the deep-rooted problems for our despair stem from the 'demanding parent' who would not allow us to 'be', perhaps the unexpressed anger and hurt needs to come out. Sometimes it will be the hurt of the parent as well as the hurt of the child, and forgiveness and freedom can be experienced quite dramatically. At times the anger and hurt a person is expressing can seem alarming and thought of as demonic. However it is probably not demonic at all, but simply the hurt and pain of years coming out and being expressed. Sometimes it may surface in a very different situation from where it originated, and something or someone else can become a kind of 'scapegoat'. In these situations the truth of what happened, and is happening, needs to be identified – as does the truth of God's response to it. This would not be the end of the matter of course, because all of us need to experience ongoing healing as we work with God towards the freedom He longs for us to experience. Those of you who know me will appreciate that I am speaking to myself as much as to anyone else!

I sometimes write down the negative thought that I have about myself and then almost immediately expect God to respond. I write down His response from the TRUTH of what I know it to be in my own mind, rather than what I feel it might or should be. This is right for me, because I know if I didn't do this I would take some convincing that it was God speaking. Sometimes, of course, it won't be God who responds to us - it may be our own fears, wishful thinking or whatever. However, I find I can usually tell if it's God or not by comparing it with scripture. For example, one day I wrote in my diary "Lord, I feel so unrighteous." Immediately the response came, "You have my righteousness." I paused for a minute, and then thought "Hey, that's right! ... I'm counted as righteous before God." (Rom.3: 21-22)

Sometimes I try this out with people who come for counselling, and it often brings a smile to our faces. For example, I will say to the person, "OK, so you believe that you are unlovable and unforgiven by God?" He or she often replies a bit hesitantly, "Er... Yes." I then say, "How does God reply to your feelings? Does He really say, 'Yes, you are unloved and unforgiven.'" This is where a smile usually comes to our faces because we know this is simply not what God would say, and yet it's often what we seem to believe! Perhaps we sometimes want to!