HEBREWS 10:1-4… For the Law, since it is only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

HEBREWS 10:5-7 … Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,“Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, but a body You have prepared for Me; in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure. “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God.’”

HEBREWS 10:8-10 … After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

HEBREWS 10:11-18 … Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them,” He then says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Oh Lord, My God, I need some help here!  Father, I humbly come to You in Jesus’ name seeking strength and sustenance for my soul.  I don’t know all the reasons why, perhaps just my own self-doubt, but I seem to be having a hard time accepting Your forgiveness way down deep in my heart.  I understand it intellectually, Lord, and I agree with Your word—I know my sins are forgiven and that You remember them no more. But the evil one seems to have no regard for Your promises and seeks to heap guilt upon me. This guilt, Oh Lord, this feeling of extreme unworthiness is, perhaps, good in the sense that it keeps me wholly dependent upon You and Your grace—the blood of Christ to cleanse me, the righteousness of Christ to clothe me—knowing that I have no righteousness or goodness of my own with which to come before You. But when I can’t seem to let go of my sins, when I can’t seem to fully accept the reality of Your forgiveness, when I allow Satan to control me with guilt, then I can’t seem to find the spiritual strength to stand up and allow You to use me to accomplish much of anything.  Sometimes, Oh Lord, I feel so beaten down with guilt and shame that I just want to wander off out into the desert, find a hole somewhere, crawl down in it, pull the earth back over me, and just be forgotten. Yet, I’m reminded, even as I speak these words, I’m reminded of the Psalmist who, like me, cried out to You:

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the dawn,

If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

Even there Your hand will lead me,

And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,

And the light around me will be night,”

Even the darkness is not dark to You,

And the night is as bright as the day.

Darkness and light are alike to You.

(Psalm 139:7-12, NASB)

So I thank You for Your love, Oh God, an eternal love that seeks me out and will not let me go. May Your Holy Spirit help me to fully and completely accept Your forgiveness and, in that acceptance, find the strength, the courage, the faith I need to face each new day with the dignity and joy of a redeemed child of God!

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