Scripture Post

 

Luke 6:28 NIV
" bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you"

Dearest Reader

Dearest Reader,

This past week gone the Lord has been dealing with me quite abit on the topic of "Forgiveness"

I have always thought of myself as being a very forgiving person. In fact I simply can not hold a grudge for any length of time. When I have been wronged by another person then I will first be angry, then hurt feelings settle in and finally I am ready to let it go.

Sometimes it takes a little time to pass between each of these stages before I get to the point that I can let it go and sometimes I can move quickly through each one. I guess it just depended on Who wronged me and What was done and How long I thought about it.

What I have discovered through the years about myself is that the longer I got held up thinking about it was the longer it took me to get over it and put it behind me. Maybe some of you can relate?

I also discovered that no matter how badly I have been wronged by another the moment that the other party said "I'm sorry" then I am more than ready to "kiss and make up". Whatever they did to me is gone; out the window, over, forgotten! Which is not always a good thing- especially if the other party didn't really mean they were sorry or they turned around and did it again .. and again...

I need to learn to look to the Lord to discern each situation and though I may forgive all- I don't always have to allow all to remain part of my life. Sometimes it's ok to just simply forgive and then move on without the other person. The Bible does tell us to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39) but it doesn't say that we need to be a whipping post. Know what I mean?

Read Romans 12:19 and Romans 13:4

I don't like conflict. I don't like being angry and I certainly do not like walking around with my feelings hurt. I love it when I get to the stage of being able to let  - a wrong that was done to me - go and move on. I always feel so much better when I am out from under the weight.

So; when I look at all these things I realized that the Lord wants me to advance and grow to the place that no matter what is going on I am Not going to go through ANY stages. To just simply forgive the wrong; accept it as part of life and move on and allow Him to deal with it when He is ready to.

To get to the point that upon accepting that a wrong has been done to me, Not allow it to have any power over me. I am not going to get angry about it. I am not going to allow it to hurt my feelings. I am simply going to forgive it and move on and allow the Lord - in His perfect timing - to make it right for me.

And if I simply must get angry and I simply must allow it to hurt my feelings (because we are still imperfect human beings sometimes we simply must do things) to at least limit the amount of time that I spend feeling like that to the absolute minimum.

Instead of waiting around hoping for a speedy conclusion to anger, to hurt feelings and finally to letting go and moving on- I am going to start in my mind and make a conscious decision to just let it go and move on. In other words; I am going to pass "GO" and I am going to "COLLECT my $200" worth of Monopoly money and keep playing the game.

Emotions start in your head and eventually makes it's way down into your heart. The Bible says it this way "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45, Matthew 12:34),

Whatever you are carrying around in your heart is what is going to come out of your mouth. If it is anger then you are going to speak angry words. If it is hurt feelings then you are going to speak from that hurt and if it is forgiveness then you are going to speak from a place of love.

What you allow to make it's way into your heart is what you are going to speak out of  your mouth. That is 100% your decision and your responsibility. No one but you can dictate what you choose to allow into your head to ponder on and mull over.

Think about that for a moment.

What are you allowing into your heart?

I love the way Paul says it in Ephesians 4:1-3:
"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace".

Maybe some of you are also struggling with the issue of Forgiveness. If so then I encourage you to continue reading. make up your mind today that when you have been wronged that you will make the conscious decision in your mind to Forgive the person that wronged you. Keep telling yourself that you forgive them until you get to the place that it is in your heart. Only then will you discover the "bond of peace" that Paul speaks of.

God Bless You in the Reading of the Word!

Matthew 6:14-15  NKJV 

 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" 

Jesus gives a startling warning about forgiveness: If we refuse to forgive others, God will also refuse to forgive us. Why? Because when we don't forgive others, we are denying our common ground as sinners in need of God's forgiveness.

God's forgiveness of sin is not the direct result of our forgiving others, but it is based on our realizing what forgiveness means. It is easy to ask God for forgiveness, but difficult to grant it to others.

Whenever we ask God to forgive us for sin, we should ask ourselves, "Have I forgiven the people who have wronged me?"

If not then perhaps it is time that you did.

STOP!

Forgetfulness ...  in His Name Sake

Isaiah 43:25  NKJV 
“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins. 

How tempting it is to remind someone of a past offense in the heat of an argument! But when God forgives our sins He totally forgets them. We never have to worry that He will remind us of them later- He has forgotten them.

Because God forgives our sin, we need to forgive others, forget them and move on along. The next time that you are tempted to remind another of a wrong that they have done; stop! take a moment and ask yourself:

Am I better than God?

If the answer to that is "No" then don't bring it up. Let forgiveness and forgetfulness go hand in hand as God has done for you.

Living Life Through Love

Knowing God Through Love

1 John 4:7-21 NKJV

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who
loves is born of God and knows God.
8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Seeing God Through Love

12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

The Consummation of Love

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Obedience by Faith

20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God
whom he has not seen?
21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.


Jesus; Our Example

Love is something that can be seen. It is seen in the fruit of the Spirit working in our lives, in our behavior and how we treat people. Love has many facets, or different ways we can see it. For example, when a diamond ring is held up to the light, it can sparkle in various ways depending on which way it is turned in the light. I believe love also sparkles in different ways depending on how we look at it.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 gives us examples of the many facets of love:

Love endures long, it has the ability to put up with stuff for a long time.

Love is never envious, it doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love is not boastful or vainglorious, it doesn't call attention to itself.

Love is not conceited or rude.

Love doesn't insist on its own way.

Love pays no attention to a suffered wrong.

Love never gives up!

These are just a few ways we're supposed to love others...and it's also the way God loves us. First John 4:8 says that "God is love." He loves us and has saved us, so now we can share His love with others. Obviously; at some point in our lives we are going to happen upon some people that just make it difficult to love them. They are going to wrong us, gossip about us, say things that are not true or just be mean for the sake of being mean. Still; we must love them and be an example to them of what living a life of love is all about. In other words; we have to be the bigger person.

To imitate God, we have to look at Jesus, a perfect representation of God who lived out all of the descriptions of love in 1 Corinthians 13. He always acted in love in every situation, even when people came against Him. He always showed loving kindness towards everyone but He was not their doormat. He showed them the example of treating people with love, with respect, with dignity and with grace and then He moved on.

Colossians 3:12-14 says to "clothe yourselves therefore, as God's own chosen ones.... And [put on] love"....

Like Jesus, let's clothe ourselves in love and choose to follow His example, bringing honor and glory to God. People may not always respond in kind to the love you have shown them but at least you can move through life knowing that you set the example of how they should be living. Plant the seed of love in others. Then leave the watering and tending to God. Amen?

Zip Your Yapper

Not Another Word!

Stop Bringing it Up!


“I, even I, am He that blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and remembers your sin no more."
Isaiah 43:25


When someone reminds you over and over of the things that you have done wrong in your life (your sins), have you ever felt like shouting, “I wish you would STOP bringing that up?!”

When Jesus went to the cross He died for the sins of all mankind and He also died for the sins of those who had just sinned against Him. The ones who sinned against Him were His disciples; the closest ones to Him, the ones He poured his life into for three years. Think about what they did to Him, they abandoned Him at His darkest hour. Peter lied and even denied he knew Him. But, after the cross Jesus didn’t even mention it, He didn’t bring it up ever again! He Forgave them!

To be Christ like means we forgive people for the wrongs that they have done and we don’t keep making the person pay by bringing up their sin(s) over and over, again. 

To be Christ like, we must travel through and on to the Cross and declare that it is finished; the blood of Jesus paid the debt they owed. It is enough.

Precious Lord, please help me to be Christ like all the time and not just when it is convenient or suits me to be. Help me to treat those who have hurt me the way you treated your disciples. Help me not only to to forgive them but also to completely and totally let it go forever, and not bring it up to them again ... ever! Lord, remind me and humble my spirit when I keep bringing up someone’s mistakes (sins) that what  I am really saying is ... that Your blood was/is not good enough.

Please forgive me Lord.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen