Guilt produces in us a deep feeling of anger, resentment, frustration and bitterness. The deep-seated anger in most people is a product of the guilt they suffer from the unrealistic expectations and demands others have put on them at the expense of what they judged they could have done for themselves! Some people, out of guilt, spent their lives doing what they didn"t want to do, going where they never wanted to go, and worse still, at the expense of their own progress - they are going to end up becoming very angry and bitter. Guilt is a wrong motivation for doing things for people. The brother of the prodigal son was very angry, he said to his father "Lo these many years I have been serving you, I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends." (LK. 15:29). His father told him all he had was his! The question is, why hadn"t he ever taken a young goat to make merry with his friends? So many times we place some burdens or restrictions on ourselves that God or nobody else has placed on us and when we find out later how much we"ve missed, we become angry and bitter.

Scripture Reading: Luke 15:25-31

Wisdom Key: Guilt is a wrong motivation for doing things for people.

Personal Application: How can we deal with guilt in our lives?

These prayers by Apostle Paul contain the keys to a future of victory and fulfilment in any Christian"s life. I personally recommend them to all who care to read this. Pray them daily for at least one month. Someone else recommends it be prayed daily for 6 months. I have just used the amplified translation to write out the prayers. Make it personal and you can use it to pray for others too! For eyes to be enlightened, to know the hope to which we are called and the inheritance we have in God and God has in us and the greatness of the power at work towards us who believe. Wow!
Ephesians 1:17-23
[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set- apart ones), And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come. And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church [a headship exercised throughout the church], Which is His body, the fullness of Him Who fills all in all [for in that body lives the full measure of Him Who makes everything complete, and Who fills everything everywhere with Himself].
Ephesians 3:14-19
For this reason [seeing the greatness of this plan by which you are built together in Christ], I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, For Whom every family in heaven and on earth is named [that Father from Whom all fatherhood takes its title and derives its name]. May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality]. May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God"s devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! Be filled with all the fullness of God!
May you function at levels higher than you have ever functioned before as you move up into more of revelation in the knowledge of God and be filled with His fullness. Amen!