Justification is not only “just as if I’d never sinned” but to be declared as morally perfect as Jesus! Rom 3:12-25. The war is over, we have peace with God. You are pleasing to God; not by your performance but by your faith.

When man sinned, God stopped acting in the role of Father and took on the role of Judge. The orientation of a judge is right and wrong, guilt and innocence, crime and punishment, judgment and law, eye for an eye, but the orientation of a father, is grace, mercy, understanding and sympathy. He just wants to see his child make it. The motivation is completely different. Jesus has done something that has changed everything. Judgment is done. When Christ died on the cross the Father God took off his judge’s gown and allowed mercy to flow again. So we need to forgive ourselves, put things right with God and put thing right with others. We call that submitting to God.

Then we need to resist the devil. If we don’t, we might find ourselves tempted to go back to that behaviour again. People confess their sin to God, but they never renounce the devil, commanding him to leave their life. Submit yourselves to God is repentance and resisting the devil is renouncing his right to affect your life.

Friend, stand up as a blood-washed saint with your Fathers authority and declare that is now the devil has no legal right to remain in your life.