Moving Forward through Forgiveness

God became man in order to atone for our sins, because we could never pay the debt on our own (1 John 4:19). Jesus loves us more than a pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45).

Jesus relinquished his royal status and gave His life, so that we can live as God's adopted children and joint heirs with Him to receive all that the Father owns in His Kingdom (Romans 8:16-18).

God forgives us of every transgression of His law; but unless we forgive our self, Satan keeps us under his bondage to degradation and sin. The shame we feel for our behavior is fed by Satan's lies, which He whispers in our heart day and night (Revelation 12:10).

Satan knows that if we ever forgive our self, and dedicate our life completely to the God who saved us, he will lose us forever. There is no thought, word or deed, which we commit, that is too horrific for God to forgive (Romans 5:8).

Most of our choices are mistakes that we make without thinking, although some of them are premeditated. Yet, God forgives each one, which we confess, according to His mercy and justice (1 John 1:9, 3:9). He erases the injustice of our behavior with His goodness and grace.

God has a perfect plan for us and our true joy lies in following that plan (Ephesians 2:10). It is never too late to change. We can lay down our shield of lies and our heavy burden of pain at Jesus' feet.

We come to God in our weariness and hopelessness, and He gives us rest for our soul and births life into our dead spirit, which we carried around within us for our whole life, until the day we repent (Matthew 11:28).

Prayer:

Father God, Your Spirit joins Your Bride in encouraging anyone who reads or hears Your Word to come to Your river of life (Revelation 22:17). Your voice penetrates the hard wall, which we build around our soul to keep out the pain of the past and the eventual pain of the future.

This wall crumbles when we face life's difficulties with Christ in us. Help us not to patch up the wall of defenses and build it higher and thicker, and to realize that only Your love can protect us from life's hardships and storms (Isaiah 4:6).

Complete surrender to Your call on our life will put us under Your umbrella of protection (Job 11:13-15). You give us a place of repose (Isaiah 28:12). You refresh and satisfy our faint heart (Jeremiah 31:25). You give us Your living water to drink for eternity (John 7:37).

Thought for the Day:

Forgiving others and our self is the key to freedom from the destructive aspects of life and it is the door to our freedom in Christ.

Spiritually Minded

The Lord Jesus Christ is our God. He saves us, rejoices over us with gladness, quiets us with His love and rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). He dwells in the midst of our life. His Holy Spirit steadily draws us toward perfection as He convicts us of sin, and empowers us to walk in victory over these transgressions. Slowly, our soul – our mind, will and emotions – is sanctified, and readily rejects worldly pursuits and desires nothing more than to remain hidden with Christ in God.

As we fully absorb the concept that Christ now lives His life in and through us, we, as the Body of Christ, will truly make a difference in the world around us. We seek eternal goals and dreams, rather than material ones. God has a perfect will for our life, which surmounts the physical restrictions of this earthly realm (Acts 8:39). Time, space and matter no longer confine us. Jesus proved this when He walked on water. Christ in us put an end to sin and death in us. Now we can concentrate on His spiritual truth, rather than carnal limitations that we face in life.

We are dead in Christ, but also risen with Christ, in all of His wisdom, power and strength. The negative aspects and encounters we face in life take on a new meaning. We see them as instruments of God to improve our obedience and to perfect our faith. We view trouble and trials from an eternal mindset now. They no longer cause worry or stress, because we know without a doubt that God is in control even in these difficulties. Maybe our house burned down, the boss increased our quota, our loved one passed away, our mate divorced us, the bank account is empty or a child is bent on rebellion, to name a few circumstances. However, God is in control of even these trying times.

The soul in union with Christ no longer wastes any energy on worldly issues. We keep our focus solely on God and His peace reigns in our heart (John 14:27). We live in Him and by Him, because He dwells within us. Jesus gives us this union with the triune God. We have a personal, intimate relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is not reserved for a few individuals, but is available for all authentic Believers who are willing to lay down their life and to allow Christ to live in them and through them (1 Peter 2: 21-25).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we long to live as exact replicas of You! You lived in love, humility and surrender to our Father. Help us to pattern our life after You, so that everything we say and do will last throughout eternity. Your coming brought the eternity into the present for all Believers. We live in eternity with You now, because You reside in our spirit. Thank You for Your sacrifice and for opening Your heart to us and including us in Your Body. You are our joy, our life, our peace and our salvation. We eternally lift up our praises to You .  

Thought for the Day:

We experience God’s best when we completely surrender our life to Him.
 





Thank you, Michelle Benge, for the use of your lovely photo.

Overwhelmed by Excessive Sorrow

Read: Ephesians 1:7-8  

“Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.” - 2 Corinthians 2:7

If you have a hard time feeling joy in your heart, the first place to check is your attitude toward yourself and others. If you are harboring unforgiveness toward yourself or someone else, there is a root of bitterness that is sucking all the life right out of your soul – your mind, will and emotions. 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 apply to forgiving our self as well.

How do we forgive our self? First, we realize that God created us as imperfect human beings. We all have faults and make mistakes and are full of weaknesses, fears and insecurities of one type or another - even if you think that you are the exception to this fact. There is also another concept to consider. We need to ask forgiveness from our self and those we harmed in either word or deed, even if our transgression was not intentional?

The second idea to accept is Christ's sacrifice on the cross for YOUR sins. Let go of the anger you feel toward yourself and others (1 John 1:9). God forgives our wickedness and remembers our sins no more (Colossians 3: 13). He actually casts our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). This is endless forgiveness. He remembers it NO MORE (Matthew 6: 12)! We rarely forget as God does, but we can follow God’s example to forgive.

Your past failures, errors and mistakes are just that…an oversight. Even if you did something intentionally, it is still forgivable. If you are serving a sentence in prison for your action, God still forgives you. So, forgive your self. There is no sin heinous enough that God will not forgive it. If He forgives, who are you to hold a grudge toward your self or someone else?

There is no way we can truly love others if we do not first love God and then our self (Luke 10: 27). Forgive and comfort others (and yourself), so that the offender will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow (2 Corinthians 2:7). When we have a festering wound in our soul, which we keep from the revitalizing power of God's healing, we suffer in so many ways. Stress, panic attacks, loss of sleep, inner chaos, grouchiness and strained relationships with others can all be signs of unforgiveness within us. We also run the risk of self-destructive behaviors. We can seek revenge toward our self in subtle ways that we do not even realize.

If you catch yourself getting angry with yourself or feeling self-hatred or blaming yourself, even if you call yourself names at times, this is a signal of unforgiveness. Cynical and distant conduct with others, pessimism, general negativity and a lack of spiritual growth can be indicators too. The overwhelming fear of failure, of making new mistakes, of rejection, of the lack of approval from others and of being hurt again will contribute to our hesitation to forgive.

Acts 13:38 states, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone (even yourself), forgive him (yourself), so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." We are so blessed that our transgressions are forgiven and our sins are covered. The Lord will never count our sin against us, once it is repented of and forgiven (2 Corinthians 2: 7-8).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, help us to replace self-rejection by remembering that even in our failures You already forgave us 2000 years ago. You took from us the burden of guilt for our actions and nailed it to the cross. You already knew about and forgave us for what we have done. Help us to let go of our need to make up for our transgressions. Help us to stop punishing our self and to forgive as You readily forgive us.

Thought for the Day:

Jesus already paid the price for your mistakes and your vile actions…all of them.

He Remembers Them No More

Read: Psalm 103: 9-13

“But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” - Psalm 130:4

God is collecting His anger over the sin of mankind in a cup of wrath. He also declares that He will not always strive with us or harbor His anger forever. God does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). His desire is that everyone will spend eternity with Him. He does not even make us pay the consequences we deserve for our sins. Once we repent, He covers us with the blood of Jesus and He casts our sins

as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).

Imagine a plane flying north. Once it reaches the North Pole, and follows the curve of the earth, it will begin to head south. So, if God removed our transgressions from us as far as the north is from the south, there would be a definite limit to His forgiveness.

Now, imagine a plane flying east. When does it start to fly west? At what point does the east meet the west? It never does. There is no polar axis going through the earth from east and west as there is going north to south. The plane continues flying east until it lands or runs out of fuel. It never, ever meets the west. That is exactly how far from us God removed our sins. They will never ever catch up with us. They will never be returned to us or thrown back up into our face. They are gone forever.

Our Heavenly Father has compassion on those who fear Him. Once we recognize the omniscience, the omnipresence, the omnipotence of God, we realize how truly great He is. Jesus paid a debt, which He did not owe. He suffered persecution and crucifixion for sins, which He did not commit.

When we realize the great sacrifice, which He made for us, we have no recourse but to fall on our face and repent of our sins. We are humbled by His love, grace and mercy, which we do not deserve. We reverence Him as He deserves to be worshipped. At some point we ultimately make up our mind to serve Him with every ounce of fiber in our being, because of the obligation we owe the perfect Lamb without spot of blemish for paying our sin debt for us.

Having an eternal viewpoint of our life on this earth, gives us a whole new perspective on what we experience. The carnal world and fleshly desires fade away, and we focus on doing the will of God (1 John 2:17). We learn to be content just as Paul did when he was shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, hungry, exhausted, lonely and forsaken by everyone he held dear (Philippians 4:12).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we will rejoice in You always (Philippians 4:4). Help us to trust in You, instead of relying on our human wisdom (Proverbs 3:5). This way we will walk in Your perfect will for us moment by moment throughout the day.

Thought for the Day:

As Christians, we receive such a feeling of oneness with our Creator, such fulfillment from helping others in their time of need and such a deep joy in His love that it defies description (1 Peter 1:8).