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PART ONE
Chapter One: Who Condemns Us?
Chapter Two: Perfect In Christ
Chapter Three: Striving To Do More
Chapter Four: Self Analysis
Chapter Five: Forgiveness
PART TWO
Chapter Six: Accepting Ourselves.
Chapter Seven: 'And He Loves Me'
Chapter Eight: Glorious
Chapter Nine: Other People

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How do we see ourselves? What do we think of ourselves?

At different times, in different moods, in different states of mind we may give a different answer.

Of course what really matters is not how we see ourselves, but how God sees us.

Has the following ever been a summary of how you have considered yourself at some point?… "
Oh I am fed up with myself. I am useless, I am pathetic as a Christian. I am so far from what I ought to be. I don't pray enough, read the bible enough, witness enough, or praise You enough Lord"
Whether we realise it or not this can be one of the subtle forms of condemnation.

At other times we may find it 'hard' trying to come into the Lord's presence: - "I feel so unclean, so unworthy, how could the Lord look on me?"

Later we will look more at these examples of these condemnation, but let me first ask ' who actually condemns us (the Christian)?
God does not condemn us: - " There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." (Romans 8:v1).

So we see that the Lord does not condemn us. Do not be unduly concerned about the bit that says "Who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit", this does not mean that there is a condition attached i.e. that God does not condemn us when we are walking after the Spirit, but he does condemn us when we are walking after the flesh. No, this 'who walk after not the flesh but after the Spirit' in this context is a description of every believer as shown in Romans 8:v 4.

It is actually the devil that condemns us: -
"…For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (Revelation 12:v10). See also 1 Timothy 3:v 6. So we need to resist the devils accusations in the name of Jesus (James 4:v7). When the devil condemns us let us remember he is a liar through and through (John 8:v44).

The devil is not the only one that condemns us, sometimes we may make the mistake of condemning ourselves. (1 John 3:v20). Finally, sadly sometimes other people may condemn us. When doing so they are obviously speaking what the devil wants them to say not what God wants them to say.

Now that we have looked at who condemns us I want to dig a little deeper to consider forms of condemnation we may encounter and what our response should be.

Identifying Condemnation
Perhaps when we identify more clearly how the devil accuses us, we will recognise his lies and overcome him with God's truth.

Condemnation is not to be confused with conviction. Condemnation is from the enemy, conviction is from God. Condemnation seeks to pull us down and bind us, conviction has the end purpose of lifting us up and setting us free. When there is sin in our lives God convicts us so that we can once again get right with Him and continue walking with Him. The Holy Spirit shows us we have sinned in order that we should repent and be forgiven. In contrast condemnation doubts God's forgiveness and wants us to make us feel unclean. The intention of condemnation is to keep our eyes off the Lord and on ourselves where we despair.

Now I want to give four examples of condemnation each of which we will review in detail in the following four chapters. You will note that I have already referred to the first two examples at the beginning of this chapter as follows:-

1.When we feel that we are really bad….. "I am so unclean so unworthy" Or the devil may accuse us… "you are proud….selfish….filthy….etc….", general sweeping statements with little supporting evidence.

2.Where we feel condemned that we are not doing enough for God, "not praying, reading the bible, witnessing enough, etc…

3. We feel that there must be something wrong inside of us that is not pleasing to God.

4.We may have committed a sin and we feel God will never forgive us.

God does not want us to be weighed down with statements like the above. He does not want us to live in shame. In the next chapter two we will start with example 1. above.

Who Condemns Us? / Perfect In Christ / Striving To Do More / Self Analysis
Forgiveness / Accepting Ourselves. / 'And He Loves Me'
Glorious / Other People

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