"I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me."
John  14: 6
The Way Of The Lord Ministries
Reverend Noreen T. Kevern
Mr. Henry A. Kevern
520-237-0329
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Guilt and Sin

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?
I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do
you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you will all perish.”
Then He told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he
said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t
found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
“ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then
cut it down.’ ”
Luke 13:1-9

Do you wonder why things are happening the way that they are in your life? You have no peace; you are depressed, stressed and
become more and more angry with everything and everyone. Nothing seems to be going right. Some people who are depressed
become addicted to drugs or alcohol among other things, compounding the situation. Depression is an ugly lie that the devil enjoys.
Many people with depression give up on everything, thinking that if only the pills would work, if only talking with someone would help,
if only they had enough money, a better job, or more things, that the depression would go away. Being depressed is a human
condition, one that at some point in life, everyone experiences. But sometimes depression gets a hold on people and just seems to
refuse to let go. It becomes a spirit of depression. It interweaves into the very fabric of a person’s being and traps people into
believing that they just cannot do anything and they just don’t try. Depression becomes a way of life and causes people to give up;
sometimes they even take their life, or it makes them have the desire to kill them self. They feel as if everyone hates them and they
wear this mantle of depression as a garment in order to protect themselves. They are angry with their families and friends, feeling that
they just do not understand. Pretty soon they have isolated themselves from those who love them. They feel sorry for themselves
and blame others for their situation.

Does this describe you? It described me at one point in my life. I didn’t know or understand why I was depressed and I sunk deeper
and deeper into depression. Nothing seemed to matter, but I continued on. I tried to hide my depression the best that I could because I
did not want anyone to know I was depressed. After all, I did not want anyone to think that I had given up. I could not hear God talking
to me during this time. I felt alone and scared all the time. I began drinking liquor in secret; which was a dangerous thing for me to do,
as alcoholism has affected and still does many people in my family. I cried and wondered what was wrong with me. Why was not God
listening to me? I prayed and nothing. I cried out to God and nothing. It was like He abandoned me and God did not love me any
longer. I was trapped in depression and didn’t know if I would ever be freed from it.

Sin and guilt takes its toil on people. When you hide from your sin and not repent of it, you lose your way. Guilt has many forms to
trap you. Something that happened to you when you were a child can hold you forever it seems. You may think it was your fault when
it was not. Not having done something when you should have can make you feel guilty. Walking away from a bad situation can make
you feel guilty. When you do not forgive someone for what they did to you, un-forgiveness can trap you with guilty feelings. And
unrepentant sin can make you feel guilty. Sin and guilt will gnaw at your soul, tearing away the peace and love of God. It will continue
until you finally get to the lowest point in your life; it will continue until you give God all of you.

God never gave up on me during my depression even though I did not know it. He was holding me the whole time just waiting for me
to surrender all to Him. I did not understand what total surrender was, I thought believing in God, that Jesus is my Lord and Savior
was enough. I could not understand then how I was depressed and I was so deeply depressed that I wanted to end my life. But God
kept on holding on to me, whispering softly, quietly into my soul, just waiting for me to call on Him. I was praying during my
depression, but there was nothing from God. One morning when I woke, I began to cry and could not stop. I could not get out of bed. I
cried for hours and when I could not take it any more, I cried out to God, “I can’t do this any more. I need You God. Nothing I do seems
to work, I keep trying to do for myself, but it’s not working. I need You to help me God. Please, please, I can’t.”

At that moment, I gave my life to God, I surrendered all that I was, and all that I would become into God’s hands. I stopped taking my
depression pills and I put my life into God’s hands and then I realized that I could hear God! No longer were there any barriers
between God and myself.

God told me that He was glad that I finally realized that He was waiting for me to surrender to Him. He told me that He had always been
with me but that until I would stop being in control and let Him have my life, He could do nothing for me. I grew up believing that the
saying “God helps those who help themselves” was in the Bible. I thought that I had to help myself instead of calling on God to take
care of me. Nowhere in the Bible is that statement; in fact, it is unbiblical. Most attribute it to Benjamin Franklin quote in his Poor
Richard’s Almanac in 1757 but it actually goes back all the way to Aesop’s Fables in 6 BC in the story Hercules and the Wagoner,
when the wagoner’s wagon becomes stuck and he asks for help, Hercules tells him to get to work and the moral is that the gods help
those who help themselves.

Let’s look at some of what the Scriptures actually say. Romans 5:6: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless,
Christ died for the ungodly. In Psalm 27:7-9: Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of
You, “Seek His face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have
been my helper. Also Psalm 62:5-8: Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my Rock and my
Salvation; He is my Fortress, I will not be shaken. My Salvation and my Honor depend on God; He is my mighty Rock, my Refuge.
Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to Me,
all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I AM gentle and humble
in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

And when we look at the parable in Luke 13:6-9, Jesus describes humans as fig trees, planted in the vineyard (the earth), and one fig
tree (human) was not producing fruit. That is how we are when we are depressed; we don’t produce any fruit in our faith. We allow the
lies of the evil one to fill us and wallow in self-pity and because of that, we cannot bear fruit. God is the owner of this world and of our
selves, He created us and tried to teach us, but oh so often, we let ourselves get out of doing His way and we lose our direction. We
become mired in our sins and guilt and lose ourselves in depression. Jesus came and died on the cross, digging us out of our sins
and guilt, so that they would be removed. God’s Word, His way, His truth and His life is our fertilizer. If we get ourselves right with
God, then we will produce fruit.

When we turn to God and give Him our lives, we have to let God search us, to look deep into our very beings where we really don’t
want God to see, so that He can bring out our hidden sins and guilt, then we can repent of them and free ourselves from them. We
cannot move into fruit production until we do so. I had to forgive those who had hurt me as a child. I could not get on with my life until
I did and then I was free from my depression. What holds you in your depression? The road to God is very narrow, and there are
many sins out there that keep us from the path. Are you hiding evil thoughts, do you envy others, do you wish you had what others
have? Have you stolen anything, or are you greedy and not willing to share with others? There are a multitude of sexual sins: lusting
after someone even without touching is still lust and that is adultery. Being with someone who is married, even if they are separated is
still adultery. Are you caught up in pornography, trapped within homosexuality, or living together without the benefit of marriage?
Remember that God created marriage as we read in Genesis 2:24: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be
untied to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Even being lewd which can be showing off your body and causing others to lust
after you, or crude language especially in front of children is sin. Do you have malice or hatred toward another; are you arrogant or
prideful in your life? Do you commit folly believing the lies of the devil instead of walking in the Lord?

Believe me, I am not judging you in whatever sin you are in. I have sinned and repented and have changed my life into walking with
the Lord. Because of my walk in the Lord, His rebuke when I sin still will come, but now I live my life with the Holy Spirit teaching me
to be perfect as the Father is perfect though still sometimes I fall. One sin is not greater than the other, except of course the sin of
cursing the Holy Spirit. But all other sins are forgiven; Jesus did that on the cross. He spent time here on earth to teach us what God
wanted, to show us the way of the Lord and to lead us to repentance of our sins. Jesus tells us in Luke 13:5: “But unless you repent,
you too will all perish.” We will be judged on how we repented. But if we confess our sins and ask God’s forgiveness, and continue on
in that same sin, how then have you repented? Repentance means to have regret, to make up for, to have sorrow, to have shame for
your sins; it does not mean to continue in lust, or greed, or murder or any other sin.

I am so thankful that God has blessed me with His Word, the Bible. Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth is a wonderful acronym for
the Bible. It is where we can go to so that we can learn from God. I am amazed that over time how much the Bible has become so
much more to me. It is my companion on the journey of life. It’s my map book, showing me the way that God wants me to live my life.
It’s so wonderful that the more I read, the more it consumes me, causing me to want more and more. I did not always read my Bible
daily. It took time for me to take time to learn to read my Bible. I tried reading from the very beginning but it only seemed to confuse
me. I found that by starting with the Gospels and learning about Jesus first, that God was able to show me how great His love for me
is.

When you rid yourself of your sins and guilt, you will find depression leaving your life. It’s not that I don’t get depressed every now
and then, but I no longer have a spirit of depression, chaining me to the lies of the evil one. I have been set free by the cross of Jesus!
I have been washed clean by His blood! You can be free from depression too! Just go to Jesus and tell Him your sins and ask Him to
forgive you. Forgive those in your life that need to be forgiven and be free! Let God tell you that you are forgiven, and let Him heal you.
Give God your best of everything, place God first in your life and watch how God will work out His will in your life. He has good things
in store for you but only if you place your trust in Him. He loves you and has wonderful plans for your life. With Him is life eternal,
without Him is hell. Let Him heal you. You cannot live without Him. It’s a two-way relationship with God. Give Him your best, and He
will give you His best. And you can be sure that His best is better than anything we have.  Then when we pray for His help God will fill
us with His strength and we can do whatever there is before us. Know that whatever you are going through, God knows you are
capable of overcoming, because He overcame death and sin! Remember we are here to learn to love Him and prepare ourselves for
our real home.  
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and
showing that his word has no place in our hearts. 1 John 1:8-10
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