“Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” – 1 Corinthians 5:8 (NIV)
The bread of Bitterness is not what you are eating but what is eating you. You may be consumed by the wrong decisions you have made, the shameless acts you may have committed, the hearts of loved ones you have broken by your callousness, insensitivities, addictions, wrong priorities, and/or wrong words spoken in the heat of anger or selfishness. Some may also be absorbed by past failures and the money and time wasted in pursuing an investment expected to reap a fortune but instead devoured your wealth, plunging you and your families into impoverishment.
These failures and disappointments may have led you to attempt to drown your sorrows in alcohol or try to quell the internal emotional deep-gutted pains in the consumption of drugs but to no avail. Beloved, it is a temporary solution to a permanent problem because after you become sober from the alcohol and/or drug usage, the problems are still present and are now compounded by your addiction. In order to keep you stagnated and in the prison of defeat, the devil keeps recording your horrid past in your mind with the intention of finally driving you insane, hence aborting God’s plan of redemption for your life. You need to forgive yourself and ask others to forgive your transgressions, which will begin the healing process.
Self-forgiveness is only possible when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and confess your sins to Him (1 John 1:9), for it was He Who died for our sins and forgave our transgressions on the cross of Calvary. The basis of forgiving ourselves is the kindness and compassion of God for us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 4:32). All who are in Jesus are freed from condemnation (Romans 8:1) and free to love (Galatians 5:13). It is God’s intention for us to display His mercies as sinners forgiven of their sins (1 Timothy 1:15-16). If you made a decision to forgive yourself, repeat this prayer.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, please help me to forgive myself for the shameful acts that I have committed (name them), for the persons I have hurt (name them), because of the wrong decisions I have made (name them). Give me the boldness to seek their forgiveness. Lord, I release all my insecurities, fears, addictions, and guilt into Your healing hands. Help me to leave the past behind and control my future. Break this spirit of self-hate over my life right now in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Read: Micah 7:18; Matthew 6:15
Bible Reading Guide: Psalm 45:10-17; Luke 16:19-31; Luke 17:1-10; Deuteronomy 23; Deuteronomy 24; Deuteronomy 25
Devotion was very informative