God's Fullness - Abiding in God's Presence

Any area of our life, which we do not surrender to God, holds us back from receiving the fullness of His presence. Negative emotions are the indicators of areas to which we are still clinging.

When we feel negative, we can inspect our soul to discover the root of the issues. We may need to repent of our attitude or actions, to forgive our self or someone else, or to change our focus about this issue until it no longer bothers us.

Total surrender opens the windows of heaven to fill our life with all of God's fullness and blessings. Obeying God's Word and walking in the Spirit are the steps for success in our journey through sanctification (Galatians 5:15-25).

As we yield to God's will, we learn that He always works out everything - even the most painful human experience - for our ultimate good, if we will only relinquish our plans and embrace His will (Matthew 13: 44-46).

Satan will attempt to hinder us with his lies, fear of the unknown, grudges over past treatment, and carnal desires that thwart God's purposes in our life.

However, Christ in us is greater than Satan and his demons (1 John 4:4). We are filled with God through Christ in us. He fills us with his holiness, peace and joy as He fills us with His Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

We realize that we are simply stewards of all the material blessings, which God gives us; and if we use then as He directs us, He will give us more, and often something better to use and share.

As we grasp the immensity of God's love, we live and walk in His presence, giving preference to His will in our life, rather than pursuing our own goals, dreams and desires.

We have no greater desire than to be used by God to further His Kingdom in this earth and to take as many people to heaven with us who will humble their pride and surrender their life to Him too.

Prayer:

Father God, show us the reality of Your presence indwelling within us (Matthew 28:20). Thank You for walking through the trials of this life with us, giving us green pastures and still waters, and restoring our soul (Psalm 23:1-2).

Remind us not to have faith in what we want You to do for us, but to have faith to do what You want us to do for You. Help us to focus on Your will and to understand that the prayer that never fails is, "Lord, not my will, but Yours be done on earth, in my life and in Heaven." (Matthew 6:10)

Thought for the Day:

The intense focus of God’s heart is to live as one with us, just as He is one with Jesus. - John 17:22:23

New Creation - Part 2

God started a good work in me and continues to make me a new creation (Philippians 1:6). Introspection was an affliction, which contributed to my low self-esteem and introverted tendencies. God's Holy Spirit healed this burden by ending my negative self-talk and filling me with His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23).

I tended to be one-track minded and had no skill for multi-tasking, until my children were born - what mother does not learn to multi-task?

Fighting depressive thoughts and looking at the glass as half-empty were two other melancholic traits, from which God delivered me. He taught me to focus on the eternal rather than the earthly; eventually worldly cares and concerns stopped bothering me so much.

Feeling like a victim or a savior were two other traits, which God freed me from by reminding me that I am more than a conqueror and Jesus is the only Savior the world needs (Romans 8:37; 1 John 4:14).

Holding grudges caused me problems until God taught me about forgiveness - not only about forgiving others, but about forgiving myself as well (Matthew 6:14-15). Mercy and grace became my guide stones.

Worry is another weakness, which plagued my life until God taught me to have faith in His faithfulness and that He would eventually work out everything, even the most negative situation, for my good (Romans 8:28).

Prayer:

Father God, these negative natural tendencies crippled my life and gave me a pessimistic outlook. I could not see the joy You created all around me. As you transform me to have the mind of Christ, all of nature, each person I encounter and every detail of my day become an adventure and a blessing in my life. I look forward to each new day in Your presence. Thank You for making me a new creation.

Thought for the Day:

Transformation is a voyage of discovery of who we are in Christ. – 2 Corinthians 5:17

The Importance of Forgiving Yourself

"God remembers our sins no more.”
- Hebrews 8: 12

Sometimes it is easier to forgive others than it is to forgive our self. However, the same principles in God's Word concerning our responsibility to forgive others, also applies to forgiving our self. As humans, no one is perfect. We all make mistakes. You can eliminate self-rejection by reminding yourself that even in your failures God forgave you 2000 years ago. He took from you the burden of guilt for your actions and nailed it to the cross, because He already knew about and forgave you for what you have done. If God can forgive us, how can we do any less?

Sometimes, we even hold grudges against our self for our past disappointments, failures and mistakes. God holds no grudges. His steadfast love never ceases, His mercy never ends; in fact, it is new every single morning (Lamentations 3: 22-23). He casts the memory of our offenses as far away as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12). Think about that...when you travel east around the globe, there is never a point that you start traveling west. The east never meets the west. God gives us endless forgiveness (Hebrews 8: 12). If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us every time. He will do one better than that! He will also sanctify and purify us from all unholy behavior, if we will let Him (1 John 1:9). As we accept Christ's sacrifice for our sins, we can let go of our anger against our self and forgive our self.

There is no way that we can truly love others if we do not first love God and then our self. Luke 10: 27 admonishes us, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” God calls us to let go of our need to make an effort or to do penance to make up for our past offenses. Jesus already took care of the penalty for us on Calvary's cross (Acts 13:38). If you need to ask someone's forgiveness, or make amends for something you have done, now would be a good time to do that (Matthew 6:12). But even if they will not forgive you, God already forgave you, and Jesus shed His blood to guarantee your forgiveness. If God cares enough to forgive you, then you can forgive yourself too.

If you refuse to forgive yourself, then there are negative consequences ~ stress, inner turmoil, panic attacks, loss of sleep, irritability, chronic physical illnesses, anger, feeling overwhelmed and having strained relationships with others. If you do not forgive your self, you run the risk of more unresolved hurt, pain and suffering from self-destructive behaviors. You have guilt and remorse eating away at you from the inside out. Subconsciously, you may even be seeking revenge and paybacks toward yourself in a way that you are not even aware of. We have a putrefying wound that is never cured, until we accept God’s healing in this area of our life.

Unresolved, unproductive and unnecessary anger, hatred and blaming of your self are counterproductive. It is a trick of Satan to make us pessimistic and negative. It stops our growth in our spiritual walk until we come to the place of forgiving our self. These buried emotions may even make us defensive and distant with other people. We carry our feelings on our shoulders and think other people are talking about us or have an attitude toward us, when all along we are the one sinning against our self. We live in constant fear of failure, of making more mistakes or repeating old mistakes, of being rejected or of not gaining the approval of others, when all along we are the one rejecting and withholding approval from our self.

Sometimes, Satan discourages me into thinking that I am too incompetent to help anyone else. I get disheartened and I want to give up. Whenever this happens, God never fails to send me reassurance through His Word or an encouraging remark from a friend or even a stranger. His perfect plan will use all of my foibles to help someone else in their time of need. Despite all of our failings, God gives us overwhelming victory through Christ who loves us (Romans 8:37). Even if everyone else is fighting against us, including our self, they shall not prevail. God is with us to deliver us in our times of need (Jeremiah 1: 19). The Lord forgives us and we can forgive our self as well as one another (Colossians 3:13).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we are so blessed, because You forgave all of our transgressions and covered all of our sins. You never count our sin against us again. On the cross, You paid the penalty of the sins of the whole world once and for all (Romans 4:7-8). Now, we can forgive and comfort those who sin against us, including our self, so that we will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow (2 Corinthians 2:7). In You, we have redemption through Your blood. You forgive all of our sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace (Ephesans 1:7). We realize that since You forgave us unconditionally, we can follow Your example and forgive others and our self unconditionally as well.

Thought for the Day:

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone (even yourself), forgive him/her (and yourself), so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." - Mark 11:25 

 

 

 

 

 

Liberating Forgiveness

Read: Matthew 18:26-33 

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." - Ephesians 4:32

Over a lifetime, I collected an assortment of both pleasant and painful recollections. The positive memories warm my soul to the core and bring a smile to my face. I drink in their fragrance like little flowers scattered along the pathway of my life. I can enjoy them any time of the day or night. Milestones with children, kindnesses from grandchildren, thoughtful gesture by friends and family all sprinkle sunshine in my heart.

I usually only think about the negative memories when something or someone reminds me of the mental, physical or emotional damage inflicted upon me by some equally hurting soul. These people suffered at the hand of someone else and those internal wounds still fester in them from time to time, especially when we get too close to a sensitive area. Then they unload all of their pain on us, even if we are unsuspecting victims.

I have heard it said, that we only hurt the ones we love. This may be true in some cases. Some of my wounds came during the heat of raging emotions, some by another person trying to be humorous, and others hurt me quite unintentionally. I know you have similar stories to tell. These same people may continue to hurt us throughout the years. We may even try to reconcile with them to no avail.

Medical practitioners say that when we nurse grudges against these unfortunate people, we end up reaping the negative effects. Seething anger reduces the amount of blood, which the heart pumps to our body tissues. This may result in strokes and heart attacks. Unforgiveness also causes stomach and intestinal disorders, kidney problems, eating disorders, obesity, depression, addictions, insomnia, nightmares, and even self-destructive behaviors. Not a pretty picture.

Forgiveness is liberating. It enables the one who has wronged us to be liberated from their guilt, at the same time that it liberates us from negative emotions. Forgiveness allows us to live more fully and freely in the present, because it frees us from the past. When Jesus died on the cross He gave complete forgiveness, not only to those crucifying Him, but also to the whole of mankind both then and forever. He showed us by example how to love and to forgive others. Any pain, which others inflict upon us, is small when compared to the pain we inflict upon our Savior by our daily behavior and choices. Yet, God completely forgives us. Let us also forgive one another.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, with Your undeniable love You washed away the sins of the whole world. Thank You for forgiving us and making it possible for us to enjoy the glories of Heaven with You in the future. In the meantime, help us to shed a little heaven on earth for others to enjoy.

Thought for the Day:

We can share the gifts of love and complete forgiveness with everyone in our past, present and future.