Sins Are Forgiven and Forgotten by God

Last Sunday, my pastor's sermon was "The Power of Forgiveness."  In it he reminded us that God is not consumed with the sins of our past, once we are forgiven of them.  God takes our indiscretions/iniquities and throws our past deep into His sea of forgetfulness.  It is the devil who keeps bringing up our past in order to make us feel guilty or inadequate.  The devil wants us to believe we still are bad and not worthy of God's unconditional love.  Summing up the message from church: condemnation is the devil pointing out our past, whereas God's conviction (followed by forgiveness if we ask for it) is so we can move toward a better future.  

He will again have compassion upon us, he will tread our iniquities under foot. 

Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. - Micah 7:19 (RSV) 

Per the sermon message, there are three steps essential to forgiveness and Christian living.  First, God forgives us! Second, we should forgive others. and third - we must forgive ourselves.  In other words, do not go fishing the old sins back out!  If the devil tries to fish them out to taunt us, we can remind him that we are forgiven and he must flee from us in Jesus name.  If we want to live a Godly life, we must emulate Christ.  When we are having difficulty deciding what to do, we should ask ourselves "What would Jesus do (WWJD) in this situation?"

Submit yourselves therefore to God. 

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. - James 4:7 (RSV)