No Condemation in Christ Jesus, Period.

I hated being hurt by people.

I walked around for a long time with a grudge, a chip on my shoulder the size of a boulder.

Ouch.

It is painful to go through life thinking that you have to one-up everyone, teaching them a lesson every time they hurt your feelings.

Come to think of it, how painful it is to go through life having to keep your feelings and thoughts in place, hoping that no one easily offends you.

For the longest time, I could not understand why I was so easily hurt, easily pained, easily offended.

I just could not understand why other people seemed to have all this power over me.

The bad thoughts and comments of others, they seemed to take away my peace so easily.

Today, because of a deeper revelation of the righteousness of God in Christ, I understand what glory and power we have in this promise:

"There is therefore now no condemnation in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8: 1)

There is no condemnation at all, ever, and forever.

All the shame, guilt, and condemnation were paid for at the Cross.

There is to be no more consciousness of sins, at all.

We are set free from sin and death.

So today there is no room, there is  no excuse for us to feel bad, to feel ashamed, even when we feel, even if we do not measure up to certain standards, even if we try something and yet it does not work.

I looked back over many of the struggles in my life., Whether I was struggling to pay my bills, or get along with other people. .

And worst of all, when other people had taken advantage of me and hurt me. . .

That last part had brought me into the greatest bondage for the longest time.

A sense of shame had followed me for the longest time about people who had done great wrongs to me, and I had felt so trapped, that I could not do anything about it - or at least I had believed that.

First, I was under the condemnation of "what will I do, or what will they do?" if I stood up to abuse or did something about the wrong things that people were doing.

Then there was the shame that followed, because I had failed to do something, anything about the abuse:

"You should have said this, you should have done that. etc. . . ."

The more that I understand the grace of God in my life, the more that I see how He has provided everything for me, and that I have all things and more in my life because of Him, the less I find myself getting angry or hurt about the things that other people have done to me.

His grace indeed is sufficient for me:

"9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." (2 Corinthians 12: 9-10)

Another revelation which buttressed this truth of the Grace of God? That the Lord is my shepherd and therefore I shall not want (Psalm 23:1). His peace and presence in my life have nothing to do at all with what I am thinking or feeling. It is all dependent on what Jesus did for me, not what I do for Him.

The sense of fear, panic, pressure, depression, all the rest -- it was all indeed a manifestation of condemnation, shame, a sense of guilt and wrongdoing which had weighed so heavily in my life.

All of that was borne of a sense of condemnation, and until now, I was constantly fighting with the other feelings. Yes, I had been listening to sermons from Pastor Joseph Prince for a long time about fighting against condemnation, that the gift of righteousness is absolutely crucial and essential in our walk with Christ Jesus and our growing in grace.

I just never understood how far growing in grace would take me, and what fights would need to be fought in order to walk in the truth.

When John wrote "Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers", he was not kidding. Everyone of us must walk in the truth of the Gospel, in no condemnation, in order to have His prosperity in all other facets of our lives.

If we walk around in a sense of fear or panic, if we walk around with a sense of regret and loss, all of that is a mere manifest of condemnation, that we are doing something wrong, and have to pay or work off that debt.

Wow. All of this revelatory beyond anything that I could have ever understood. Ever.