Group 2 – Section 3

… (Your name), listen to what you are saying. Let yourself believe, love, and be thankful for the truth!

Heart hear this: God is good. It is evil that is evil! God is your friend! (pause and think of Him that way!)

… (Your name), I grab my soul and I turn it away from having to make the payment for what I do wrong! The pain Christ suffered and His death was enough for my sin—I love YOU, God. I CAN draw near because YOU paid it all… (pause to let yourself feel confident because of the truth!)

… (Your name), IT IS WRITTEN: “…He loved us and sent His Son to be the [payment] for our sins.” (1 John 4:10; propitiation = payment). Jesus Christ paid for my sin—my faith is in the payment that He made for me, NOT in any payment that I could make… (pause to hear, believe, and love the truth!)

… (Your name), I CAN stop trying to change by making myself feel regret (or remorse): “…the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Cor. 7:10). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

… (Your name), it is right and good for me to be confident and secure about my relationship with God because I am God’s, and God is mine (2 Cor. 6:16). God has bought and paid for me with the blood of Christ — I turn my heart to enjoy and be thankful that Jesus was punished enough for my sins (1 Cor. 6:20; Rom. 3:24,25). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

… (Your name), I am confident and secure because “God is not a man, that He should lie…” (Num. 23:19). And, “…having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

… (Your name), you believe in your head already; your heart doesn’t get it. So, I am commanding my heart to hear, believe, and love that the power of the cross of Christ is far greater than my sin: “…and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:19-21). (pause to let yourself feel relieved and reassured!)

… (Your name), I repent of feeding on religious pride from how well I put myself down: “…the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement…are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” (Col. 2:23). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

… (Your name), I repent of trying to change by how well I perform and then condemning others when they don’t. It feels religious, but it only shuts me — and others, off from being able to experience God: “…woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people…” (Mat. 23:13). (pause to let yourself feel relieved and reassured because of the truth!)

… (Your name), I repent of condemning and making myself feel guilty for sin because “…the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). (pause to hear, believe, and love the truth)

…I humble myself away from loving how well I punish myself. I repent of punishing myself even where I sense that my humanity is not enough—I don’t have to be! God designed me inadequate so that I could depend on Him. Lord, I love Your nearness as my adequacy—You are what makes me enough. (pause to let yourself feel confident and be reassured by God’s presence!)

…Heart, rejoice in the truth that I don’t have to hurt myself—even when I know that something is wrong with me. No amount of self-inflicted pain will ever earn justice for what I do wrong—Jesus, You paid the price. It is safe and right for me to trust God and not myself. (pause to feel confident about it!)

…it doesn’t hide me from God to harden my heart by self-condemnation—that will never justify what I do wrong. Jesus, You took the punishment for my sin—You died so that I wouldn’t have to. Lord, I love the power of the cross. (pause to let yourself feel reassured because of the truth!)

…I grab my soul and turn it away from trying to feel bad to earn forgiveness for what I do wrong. The death of Christ is more powerful than my sin. I repent from trying to improve by self-condemnation… (pause to let yourself feel confident because of the truth!)

… (Your name), it is right and good for me to be confident about being justified. Being justified by God is far greater than anything I could ever earn. I am justified as a gift from God when I believe He does it apart from my self-efforts (Rom. 3:24,25; Eph. 2:8-9). I don’t have to work at justifying myself to God because God has done it all.

… (Your name) hear this: Jesus took the punishment for my sin so that He could bring me to the Father!

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God…” (1 Peter 3:18). (pause to let yourself feel confident because of the truth!)

“Jesus said…no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6). (pause to feel reassured by it!)

… (Your name), it is right and good for me to be confident about God forgiving me because it says of Jesus that “…He Himself is the [payment] for our sin…” (1 John 2:2).

… (Your name), the pain that Jesus took on Himself is payment and justice enough for my sin… “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried…He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” (Isa. 53:4,5)

“…we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified” (Gal. 2:16).

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” (Rom. 1:16).

“But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,” (Rom. 4:5)

“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:21). I love You, Lord. I love Your presence—and I set my heart to love You with more and more freedom and delight all the time.

… (Your name), I am confident and I am secure because “…having forgiven us all our

transgressions…[He] canceled out the certificate of debt…against us…having nailed it to the cross.” (Col. 2:13,14). I love my God who is close: “…He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness…” (1 Peter 2:24). (pause to hear, believe, and love the truth!) …I rejoice that I can humble myself from loving pride because of how much I think I deserve to hurt other people. I CAN stop punishing other people in order to make them pay the price for what they do wrong because Jesus paid the price for their sin too. (pause to hear and love it)

…Heart, rejoice in the truth that I don’t have to punish myself for my human inadequacies. I rest in the truth that my humanity will never be enough—it doesn’t have to be because God is my adequacy (2 Cor. 3:5). Lord, I love that You want to be my God. (pause to let yourself feel confident because of the truth!)

…I grab my soul and turn it from trying to feel bad to earn justice and forgiveness for what I do wrong. The death of Christ is more powerful than my sin. I repent and turn from trying to improve by self-condemnation. (pause to let yourself feel confident because of the truth!)

… (Your name), I am confident and secure in the truth that my God is “…a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” (Psa. 86:15 NIV). (pause to enjoy it!)

… (Your name) IT IS WRITTEN: “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:21). (pause to let yourself feel confident because of the truth!)

… (Your name), it is right and good for me to be confident and secure because “…I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation” (Psa. 13:5 NIV). “…soul…my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation and my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God” (Psa. 62:5-7). (pause to hear, believe, and love the God who is close)

… (Your name), I repent of trying to achieve my own righteousness. I repent of trying to improve through anger toward myself because “…the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:20).

… (Your name), I am turning away from a hard heart and I am letting my heart hear, believe, and love that the power of the cross of Christ is far greater than my sin: “…and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:19-21).

… (Your name), I grab my soul and I turn it away from trying to earn justice and forgiveness for what I do wrong. The death of Christ is more powerful than my sin. I repent and turn from trying to improve by self-condemnation.

… (Your name), I set my faith in the death of Christ as payment for me because “…He Himself is the [payment] for our sin…” (1 John 2:2). I am confident and secure because God has given me His righteousness. I am not sin any longer. God has made me to be the righteousness of God because of my faith in Jesus Christ—God has done it! (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 3:22). (pause to hear, believe, and love it as the truth!)

… (Your name), if I do sin, I can still be confident because Jesus Christ is speaking to the Father in my defense (1 John 2:1 NIV). (pause to let yourself feel reassured because of the truth!)

… (Your name), I am confident and secure because “God is not a man, that He should lie…” (Num. 23:19). “…having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). (pause to let yourself feel confident about it!)

… (Your name), I grab my soul and I turn it away from having to make the payment for what I do wrong! The pain Christ suffered and His death was enough for my sin—I love YOU, God. I CAN draw near because YOU paid it all… (pause to let yourself feel confident because of the truth!)

… (Your name) IT IS WRITTEN: “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail” (Lam. 3:22). And, “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yes, our God is compassionate” (Psa. 116:5). “…His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime…” (Psa. 30:5).

Thank You, God, that Your favor toward me lasts my entire lifetime! (pause to let yourself feel confident because of the truth!)

… (Your name), the pain Jesus suffered was enough so that I CAN draw near to God without fear: “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God…” (1 Peter 3:18).

… (Your name), determine to be joyous about God: “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God…” (Psa. 36:7). Thank You, God, for this wonderful truth. (pause to let yourself feel reassured because of it!)