If I sin my new nature feels bad about that sin because God has written His nature on my spirit and my conscience. My heart is soft before God so I run straight to Him and acknowledge that sin and say sorry for it. I then align my thinking with grace and not condemnation. “Thank you God that I am still fully forgiven even of that sin. Thank you God that I am still the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That there is no more wrath and punishment but there is still perfect peace between me and God because the sacrifice of Christ was effective and enough to bring me into permanent perfect position in Christ.”
I don’t beat myself up with condemnation in hopes that I won’t repeat that sin. No, I build myself up with grace because that’s where the power to live in victory comes from.
My confession and repentance is never to try and get something that I already have. I already have forgiveness, righteousness, union with Christ, no condemnation, no wrath, the fullness of Gods love, peace, eternal salvation and unbreakable relationship with God. If we’re confessing and repenting to try and restore these things in our life it’s a sign we’re walking in unbelief in the finished work of Christ.
My confession and repentance is simply to realign my heart with heaven and with the truth of His grace so that I can live in the fullness of what I already have.
This excessive obsession with confession, repentance and pleading for forgiveness in the Body of Christ is misguided religion that’s rooted in the Old Covenant but borrows a few scriptures from the New Testament. That’s why it almost sounds correct but it’s religion that always leaves you with a sense of pending doom, never feeling good enough, not sure if God loves me and continually questioning, “Is God punishing me with sickness and hardship to sanctify me and am I really saved?”
The grace of God is simple and empowering, religion is complicated and exhausting. Grace is not a licence to sin, it’s the perfect environment that empowers us to overcome sin.