I’ll never forget the day when I finally stopped the mental habit of condemning myself every time I made a mistake! When I learned that it was God’s will for me to be free from self-condemnation, I wanted that freedom. But I soon realized that just knowing that truth didn’t make my mental habit of self-condemnation go away. It was from the chapter “Release from Your Prisons” in the book The Bible Tells Me So, by Victor Paul Wierwille, that I learned I would need to get clear and concerned—clear about what I wanted to manifest in my life according to God’s Word and concerned about receiving it.
The analogy of a camera and what is involved in taking a picture helped me to understand how to get clear and concerned. Three basic steps are involved when we decide to take a picture. First, we decide what we want in the picture; second, we get focused on it for the best result; and third, we decide the proper exposure time.
The first step—choosing your subject is how to get clear about what victory you want in your life. In my case, I wanted a picture of myself living free from self-condemnation. So, first, I drew a mental picture. I saw myself driving on a road, just about to turn left onto a street called Self-Condemnation Circle. But there was a big ROAD CLOSED sign in front of that street. I couldn’t turn down it! So I kept driving right on past it. Wow! What a change in my thinking!
The next streets I encountered in my picture were Apologies Accepted Avenue, Doing-It-Right Road, and Patience Plaza. I added these streets to my picture because, in the process of getting clear, I came to understand that self-condemnation does absolutely nothing to correct mistakes or make the people they affect better. Apologizing to those involved, seeing myself doing it right, and having patience toward myself are all much more profitable!
Now let’s get concerned about receiving the victory. In the second step of taking a great picture, we focus on the picture we want—we keep our mind stayed on it. If we take our focus off our subject, we can get a blurred result. As I chose to focus on God’s solutions, His ways, and His promises for what I wanted in my life, the light of the Word helped me stay concerned about receiving my deliverance from self-condemnation.
I 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.
Romans 8:1:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
I John 3:20,21:
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
These verses remind me that God will always forgive me when I acknowledge my mistakes. He never condemns me. If God doesn’t condemn me, why should I condemn myself?
Now we come to the third step in the camera analogy: choosing the exposure time. Proper exposure is the amount of time that light is allowed into the camera to bring the best results to the picture. This is part of getting concerned about receiving what we want. We allow ourselves time for our clear picture of God’s deliverance to sink into and dwell deeply in our hearts, the place from which our believing emanates.
For me, getting concerned meant letting the Word from the above verses dwell in my heart all the time as I focused on the new, clear mental picture of myself living free from self-condemnation. Whenever a situation would come up where I was about to go down that old condemnation road again, I would remember the verses and get focused again on my new picture; and then I would keep seeing myself getting it right according to God’s Word.
We can be strong in our believing for the victories that are available from God! By choosing a clear picture, keeping our minds focused on that picture, and allowing the proper exposure time, we are getting clear and concerned about receiving our hearts’ desires according to God’s Word. As we stay clear and concerned, our victories will absolutely come to pass!