We're so glad you joined us for today's encouragement from our daily bread.

I'm James Banks, and I titled our reading, Convicted and Freed.

I didn't do it.

It was a lie, and I almost got away with it, until God stopped me.

When I was in middle school, I was part of a group shooting spitballs in the back of our band

during a performance.

Our director was an ex-marine and famous for discipline, and I was terrified of him.

So when my partners in crime implicated me, I lied to him about it.

Then I lied to my father also.

But God wouldn't allow the lie to go on.

He gave me a very guilty conscience about it. After resisting for weeks,

I relented. I asked God and my dad for forgiveness. A while later, I went to my director's house

and tearfully confessed. Thankfully, he was kind and forgiving. I'll never forget how good

it felt to have that burden lifted. I was free from the weight of guilt and happy for the first

time in weeks. David describes a time of conviction and confession in his life, too.

In Psalm 32, he tells God, when I kept silent, my bones wasted away. For day and night, your hand

was heavy on me. He continues, then I acknowledged my sin to you. Authenticity matters to God. He wants us to

confess our sins to him and also to ask forgiveness of those we've wronged. You forgave the guilt of my

sin, David proclaims.

How good it is to know the freedom of God's forgiveness.

Today's our daily bread devotional scripture reading is from Psalm 32, verses 1 through 7.

Blessed is the one, whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

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