Ever drive around with an expired sticker on your windshield? I have. It is miserable, because you think that every siren you hear is coming after you. And you think that behind every corner is a speed trap that will take you down for the expired sticker.

That is the feeling of condemnation. It is a consciousness of wrongdoing ever present in mind. Like you are on borrowed time, and the IRS is looking for you. It is this condemnation that steals your life.

My stomach is in knots when I am like this, and I don't sleep as well, etc. It is like my body gets messages from my mind, that I am cursed, and then it produces the curse in my body - sickness, sleeplessness, etc. This is living under condemnation.

So looking deeper at why this feeling of condemnation overshadows me, I recognize that I think I have blown it and the other shoe will drop, so to speak ... because the sticker matters.

But, what if the expired sticker is just for an oil change? And I have convinced myself that I can get a ticket and a trip to jail for an overdue oil change! Then all my condemnation is FALSE condemnation. My lack of confidence before the authorities is based on a lie. I shrink back, but not based on knowledge. I have the awful feeling because my believing has locked me in a prison of doubt.

The same is true if the government repeals the laws about registration and inspection stickers, and I don't know about it.

As a Christian, I have felt that way with God. Lack of confidence, doubting, wanting to get my "stickers up to date" before I let Him see me. This is what religion produces ... a sticky feeling of condemnation. But there is no condemnation for us. We have every reason to be bold before the throne. Christ has given us His stickers, and they never expire.

Why shouldn't I tell a mountain to go into the sea, and it leap and plunge? Well, it must be because of my believing. I am doubting that whatever is true about Christ has become true about me. That I am no longer condemned. That my guilty quotient is the same as Jesus' guilty quotient. That I am as pure before God as Jesus Himself, even better than any innocence that Adam had. To the measure that my believing doubts these things, I shrink back, and try to avoid God and His drag net. I have nothing but doubt about what I say to mountains, etc. It is all tied together.

Literally, whenever we get to the point where our believing matches reality, we can walk with pure innocence in this world, and no accusation can stick to us. We can be so confident in our infused perfection through Jesus, that there is no less of a reason for God not to grant our request for a mountain to be cast in the sea, than for Jesus Himself to say the same request.

Mar 11:23
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not [CONDEMN HIMSELF] in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith

I changed the word "doubt" with "Condemn Himself" above and I submit that the Greek translation bolsters my point.

Those of us that are in Christ, have every reason to be bold, if we can ever get our believing to match reality.

It is only lack of belief in Jesus that any redeemed saint can feel any condemnation whatsoever. Jesus has unlocked that cell, and it cost Him dearly to do so. Lets arise and come forth and leave that prison, knowing that any stumbling is no excuse to wallow in self-condemnation. We fall, but lets fall forward into His arms, not delaying in fear and doubt ... for we know His love has cast all these stumblings into the sea of forgetfulness.

In Him we HAVE reconciliation, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God's grace in Christ Jesus our Lord.

"I died...behold, I am risen...and I live forever...amen. And so, also shall the righteous man live. Even if this same one turn and stumble, his salvation is in no wise lost to him. He has an Advocate with the Father, and One who stands for him, having already paid for his transgression. For lo, his sin is remembered no more and cast into a dark sea of forgetfulness." - Jesus

(besides, such a mind set on Jesus will stumble far less anyway.)