Regret is a feeling of sorrow or remorse over something that had happened or had been done or for a mistake or failure. When people accept Jesus in their lives, it is not uncommon for them to feel regret over the things they had done in their life before meeting Jesus.
This is appropriate in those circumstances until we learn of God’s unconditional love and grow in the knowledge of God and His forgiveness. However, if regret over past sins persists even though we have renounced our old way of life, we can be sure there is another influence at play.
Regret is the poison Satan uses to get into our souls and make us doubt God’s ability to forgive us and cleanse us from ALL sins. Satan’s attack on our spiritual walk with God is relentless and he will use any means possible to frustrate our relationship and walk with God.
God, on the other hand, does not want us to dwell on the past, because His redemptive plan of sending His son to die for our sins was enough to take our guilt and shame away.
When we live in regret, we cannot live a victorious life. To regret something, we have to return to the past and remember it in order to regret it. Satan uses this strategy to keep us connected to our past and if we don’t address this, we will never be free from the ghosts of our past.
God says in Isaiah 43:25 “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
God called us out of death into life.
This means we are no longer the same person that committed those sins. Our spirit man has been renewed. However, if we are still committing those sins from the past then the Holy Spirit will convict us. When we are convicted, we need to go to God, repent and allow the blood of Jesus to wash us then the Holy Spirit will deliver us and help us to walk in righteousness.
God is able to deliver us from all past sins and bondages that are rooted in addiction and behaviours that separate us from Him.
The enemy cannot prevail when we know that Jesus’ redeeming blood has washed us from all past sins. When regrets hinder our faith and walk with God, we can recognise the enemy’s hand in it and use God’s Word and the blood of Jesus to overcome him.
Here are some verses that talk about how God does not want us to dwell on and remember the past, but to walk in the freedom He has secured for us through the blood of Jesus.
Do not remember the past when God has already washed it away
Philippians 3:13-15
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
Isaiah 43:18-19
Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
We are called to repent and confess our sins, then walk in righteousness.
2 Corinthians 7:10
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Mark 11:24
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
1 Corinthians 5:7
Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Acts 3:19- 21
Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.
Leviticus 26:40-46
“But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.
Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Acts 17:30
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
Luke 15:7
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Hosea 14:1-9
Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.” I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon.
God will restore us and not remember our sins.
Joel 2:25
I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
Ecclesiastes 5:20
For he will not remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
Psalm 30:5
For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Isaiah 38:17
Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
Hebrews 8:12
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.
Micah 7:18-19
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
1 Peter 5:10-11
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
God wants us to remember Him and His love for us.
Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Psalm 139:1-24
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
The enemy will come to accuse us.
1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
How can we resist the accuser?
Let us not allow the enemy to devour us by dragging us back into the past, but let us secure God’s word in our hearts so that when the enemy comes, he cannot prevail over us.
I pray this word blesses you, Amen.
