Guilt and shame before God — healthy guilt vs. unhealthy guilt that drives you away from God

Mike distinguishes between (1) legitimate conviction that exposes genuine sin, and (2) unhealthy shame that causes withdrawal from God. Your blamelessness before God comes from Christ's righteousness, not your performance. Mike cites Ephesians 1 (holy and blameless before him in love), Hebrews 4:16 (come boldly to the throne of grace), and 1 John 2:1 (Jesus as our advocate). The relational posture should be bold access, not cowering. He notes he personally went through a season of beginning every prayer with "I'm sorry" and realized this reflected a misunderstanding of his standing in Christ.