1 John 3:18-22 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and we will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. I read an excerpt from Adolfo Quezada that helped me understand this better. If you have a lot of guilt, and you don't allow yourself to accept God's forgiveness, then you don't allow God the freedom to work within you. When our hearts are free of guilt then we can go before God and enjoy the relationship of a father and child. Very simple it would seem, but many of us hold on to the guilt and don't allow our hearts to believe in true forgiveness. One of my friends wondered if this is why we have so many people with mental disorders now. They have allowed counselors to take the place of God and so they don't have true forgiveness. The guilt eats away at them until they have a mental disorder. Sounded like a good point to me. Not that a counselor isn't helpful, but it takes God to forgive deeply.