Not Guilty

Not guilty.

Two simple words, but they contain so much power and liberation.

The path to those two words has definitely been trying. I fulfilled every requirement and walked every step I was asked. I had become content knowing the day would never come. I had accepted the reality, but as He tells us in the Word, trust His timing, wait on Him.

I honestly have sat trying to gather my words, and even after a few weeks, I still sit in awe and humility, thanking God and somewhat at a loss for the right words to express. After years of accepting what was, He broke the chains of guilt. He set me free.

Not guilty.

As I have allowed those words to sit and saturate, I have come to accept the latter as the reality. In Romans 3, the Word describes us all as sinners, that none are righteous, none doeth good. The first half of that chapter describes our lost condition and our true sentence of guilt before God. We all fall short of His glory…but God.

Friends, read that whole chapter.

Seriously, before finishing this post, GO READ ROMANS 3.

Now, GO READ EPHESIANS 2.

Let those words marinate deep in your soul. You are guilty. I am guilty. We are ALL guilty. We ALL deserve death and eternal separation from our Heavenly Father. BUT GOD!!

Praise God! As I write these words I am filled with overwhelming emotion of His amazing grace and mercy. His love and forgiveness overcame my guilt and shame! Tears flow down my face, not of sadness, but instead of thankfulness for His sanctification.

He stood in the gap. He offered His own. He exchanged His innocence for my guilt so that I might go free…as a gift of love. He found me not guilty! I did nothing to earn it. I don’t deserve it. But…I am free. Not guilty!

Romans 3:24-26 reads, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” KJV

I am JUSTIFIED by His grace. I am REDEEMED by Jesus Christ. I am saved and set free. His blood has covered my sin, my guilt, my shame. It is by His righteousness, His sacrifice, His blood.

Lauren Daigle’s song, How Can It Be, expresses:

I am guilty Ashamed of what I've done, what I've become These hands are dirty I dare not lift them up to the Holy one

You plead my cause You right my wrongs You break my chains You overcome You gave Your life To give me mine You say that I am free How can it be………

Though I fall, You can make me new From this death I will rise with You Oh the grace reaching out for me How can it be

In this flesh, I am guilty. In my sin, I am in bondage.

In Him, I am found not guilty. In Him, I am set free.

Not guilty.

For those two words, I am eternally thankful. Here on earth and throughout eternity, I am found not guilty through the redemptive blood of my Savior, Jesus Christ. Those are some shoutin’ words folks!

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8 KJV

I plead with you today, and I pray, that if you are bound by your sin, your shame, your regret, surrender it all. Seek the Father. Lay your sins at His feet and cry out asking Jesus Christ to come into your heart, break the chains of sin and set you free for eternity.

Choose freedom today, and trust that on that day when we all stand in judgement you will hear the Father proclaim you to be found not guilty.

May your cup runneth over. ~Jenny