The First Legal Right: What You Did
"Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy." — Proverbs 28:13
Three Kinds, Three Remedies
Unrepented sin creates legal rights. But not all legal rights are the same, and — this is the part that trips people up — they are not all removed the same way.
There are three types:
Activity sins — things you did. Unholy soul ties — spiritual connections formed with another person through sin. Agreement sins — things you (or an ancestor) agreed to.
Each requires a different action to break it. And if you cannot identify which type of legal right is operating, or you apply the wrong remedy, you will not get free of it.
This matters enormously in practice. A great many people repent thoroughly and sincerely, see partial improvement, and conclude the whole approach does not work — when in fact they applied the right remedy to the wrong category.
Over the next several lessons you will take each one in turn.
The First Type
An activity sin is something you do that is contrary to God.
It is usually a sin of transgression — rebellion against what God has said. Sex outside of marriage. Harboring anger or resentment. Refusing to forgive. Theft. Lying. Violence. Drunkenness.
Most of the accounts in these lessons fall into this category. It is the most common and the most straightforward of the three.
Duration: the discipline for an activity sin continues for as long as you live — until it is dealt with. It does not expire with time, and it does not expire because you stopped.
Remedy: you repent of the sin.
That is all. Name it, agree with God that it was wrong, express sorrow, turn from it. The legal right is withdrawn.
Why the Simplest One Still Goes Undone
If the remedy is that straightforward, why do so many people carry activity sins for decades?
Because of the difference established earlier: stopping is not repenting. Most people have stopped a great deal and confessed almost none of it.
And because of specificity: "forgive all my sins" does not enumerate anything, so nothing specific gets withdrawn.
And because of memory: things done thirty years ago are not present to the mind, which is why revelation rather than recall is the method.
The remedy is simple. The doing of it takes work. Those are different problems.
Point to Ponder
Three kinds of legal right, three different keys. The right key in the wrong lock opens nothing.
Verse to Remember
"Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy." — Proverbs 28:13
Question to Consider
Have I been applying repentance to something that actually needs a different remedy?
Today's Practice
Start your activity sin list in earnest. Work through categories rather than trying to remember freely — categories jog memory far more effectively.
Sexual — outside of marriage, pornography, fantasy, anything done to another person. Anger — rage, violence, cruelty, words used as weapons. Dishonesty — lies, theft, fraud, cheating, things taken. Substances — drunkenness, drugs, anything used to escape. Relationships — betrayal, abandonment, unfaithfulness, using people. Speech — gossip, slander, curses spoken over yourself or others. Money — greed, debts unpaid, promises to God unfulfilled. Toward God — idolatry, occult involvement, worship of anything else, blaming Him.
Work one category per day if needed. There is no prize for finishing quickly.
For each item, write it plainly, then repent of it specifically and cross it off.
Prayer
Father, I am starting the list of what I have actually done.
Bring things to my mind category by category. I am not trying to produce it from memory — I am asking You to show me.
For each thing You reveal, give me the honesty to name it plainly and the willingness to turn from it. I want every right withdrawn that I have ever granted through what I did.
One at a time, at whatever pace You choose. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
The remedy is simple. That is not the same as easy.