Guilt - from God or Satan? January21

I remember Garrison Kellior, host of the radio program, Prairie Home Companion, once saying that guilt is the "gift that keeps on giving." For so many of us were motivated, or rather, paralyzed by guilt, we know the residual affects of the manipulation. Don't get me wrong, there is a proper place for guilt, a "godly guilt" that "produces repentance (2 Cor. 7:10)." But as we know, whatever is good, Satan can corrupt. Whatever is true, Satan can counterfeit. The godly guilt that Paul speaks of PRODUCES repentance. It has a positive outcome. "Satanic guilt" immobilizes and paralyzes. It's a fact, as Blackaby points out in our devotional today, that "Satan will try to convince you that your sin renders you unless to God." If you ever wonder if that guilt you are feeling is from God or Satan, they this test:
1. Have I confessed (agreed with God regarding the sin)?
2. Have I repended (turned from it) from the sin?
3. If I have injured another, have I sought to make thing right?
If you can say "yes" to the above, the "guilt" you feel is not from God, but from Satan. We find it hard to believe that God will love us UNCONDITIONALLY. My earthy experience tells me that if I do enough bad things, people won't like (read: won't love) me. That's a fearful thing. As I see it, guilt is based on fear, that people won't love me, that God won't love me. However, if I have confessed, repented and sought restoration, I've done all that God has commanded. I have nothing to fear from Him regarding this. ("There is not fear in love, but perfect love casts ouit fear - I John 4:18) We are right with God... Satan just doesn't want us to think that or feel that. Why? Because Christians who love God with all their being and know that God loves them unconditionally, are winsome to a world where love is fickle and fleeting. The world hungers for a love that is self-sacrificing (like Jesus' love), that is unconditional (like Jesus' love) and is eternal (like Jesus' love). Guilt paralyzes - love liberates.
May God grant you a "liberating" day.
Scott Kilgore