"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."  — 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)Ann Landers, the syndicated advice columnist, was at one time receiving ten thousand letters a month from people with all kinds of problems. Someone asked her if there was one common denominator among all her correspondents. She said that the great overriding theme of all the letters s...

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." - 1 John 1:9It is crucial to distinguish between our relationship with God and our fellowship with God. When you are a child of God, you are in relationship with God. He's your Father; you are His child. That doesn't change. A doctrine that we need to understand and appreciate is ca...

"He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." - 2 Corinthians 5:21Every now and then, somebody says, "Well, what you need to do is forgive yourself" or "You just need to be affirmed." But that misses the whole point of true forgiveness.Think about it this way: Imagine if I had a guy named Jack and a guy named Bob in front of me, and I punched Jack ri...

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." - Psalm 103:12When God forgives, He doesn't do it halfway. Throughout Scripture, He uses descriptive illustrations to help us understand how completely He removes our sins:He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:11-12). How far is the east from the west? It just continues to go. God ...

"I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man." - Acts 24:16In God's word, we see four different types of consciences that people can have:The Weak Conscience (1 Corinthians 8:7) - People may feel guilty when they should not. Often, people feel guilty about things that are not sins. Paul addressed this when he talked about eating meat sacrificed to idols. There are some areas the...