The Fiery Dart of Condemnation

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”

Romans 8:1-2 NLT

One of the enemy’s biggest weapons against you is condemnation. Condemnation robs you of your faith in Jesus Christ to complete the work that He began in you. Rather than inspiring you to continue resisting sin, condemnation pushes you to resign yourself to sin. It tells you that you might as well keep on sinning, since you can’t seem to get victory anyway. Condemnation also robs you of your confidence in the words and spiritual goals the Lord has given to you. “How can I dare believe that the Lord will use me for His purposes after all I’ve done… after all I keep on struggling with?”

Sin breeds condemnation. The remedy for sin is repentance. Jesus Christ gave His life to pay the penalty of our sins, and He rose from the dead to empower us to overcome our sin. If He is your Savior, He lives in you. Jesus has already provided everything you need for repentance and cleansing. 1 John 1:8-9 NLT reads, “8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” Yes, we have sinned, but confession and repentance is the process whereby we are cleansed from our sin and the weaknesses in our heart. It is a process. The process must be a lifestyle.

If the Lord has spoken to your heart and called you to a special place in the Kingdom, no doubt the enemy has spoken words of accusation and discouragement to you again and again. He did it to Nehemiah and the Israelites as they were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In Nehemiah, Chapters 4-6, Sanballat and Tobiah hurled accusations and threats to try to discourage the workers from completing the task that the Lord had given them. They even used legal threats to try to get them to stop. The good news is that Nehemiah encouraged the Israelites to trust in the Lord, ignore the enemy’s threats, and keep on building. It wasn’t easy, but they completed the task the Lord gave them. The walls of Jerusalem were successfully rebuilt.

As you continue to walk towards the vision – the calling – the Lord has given you, remember repentance. As you allow the Lord to cleanse your heart, He will empower you to overcome “the sin that so easily entangles” (Hebrews 12.1 NIV) and fulfill the task He has give you. Remember the words of Isaiah 54:17 NLT, “But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord, have spoken!”