6-8-09 Forgiveness

Forgiveness

When we receive salvation, we receive the promise of God that our sins are forgiven and He removes them from us and remembers them no more. That is so wonderful that He forgets them—why can’t we do that!!!

We ask for forgiveness and then we wonder if we are really forgiven for them and has God really forgotten them. It doesn’t matter to Him if our sins are little or huge they are still sin in His eyes and when we ask forgiveness for them, He forgives and forgets them. His forgiveness is complete because Jesus’ work is complete. Because of the cross, God can show His mercy and complete forgiveness to us.

God is not like us. We remember hurts for a long time. In our mind we say that we have forgiven someone who has hurt us but then we keep remembering the hurt. I have heard many Christians say that they have forgiven someone who hurt them but they just can’t forget it. If we can’t forget that hurt, then we really haven’t forgiven them either. When God forgives He also forgets. Being His child that is what He expects us to do also. His forgiveness is unending. He never stops forgiving. We know that He will always forgive.
As His forgiveness is unending and is to be shared with others as He has shared with us.

Sometimes, the hardest place to start is in our own home. Jesus tells us in His word that we are to forgive one another “Seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22) and this is just for one sin. We ask ourselves, “How many times do we need to forgive someone for the same thing over and over?” God doesn’t put a limit on the number of times He forgives. Therefore, we just keep forgiving and praying that they will learn to avoid that same sin and grow from their mistakes. God’s forgiveness changes us as it changes others.

How can we learn from our mistakes? We need to learn to take these sins to the Lord and ask for forgiveness and then accept His forgiveness for them. Trust in His promise that He has forgiven you and that you have received His mercy through Jesus Christ. Our sins have been forgotten and we have a clean slate and second chances. We know that only God can give us that. Ask the Lord to bring to your remembrance people who have wronged you and make a list of them. Then pray and forgive them and the hurt that you felt. Ask the Lord to help you forgive each person and that the resentment will be gone. Forgiveness is a two-way street. God has forgiven you and now you need to forgive others.

It is sometimes hard for us to accept that we have been the cause of hurt to anyone. We all have been guilty of this at times. After praying this through and giving it to the Father, we may need to go to that person and make things right whether it is in person or by calling them or even writing them. This will set both of you free.

After you have done these things, you can begin to praise and thank the Lord that you are free indeed. Now you can become a forgiving person and not a bitter person. The Lord tells us to “be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).

The Lord is an awesome God and we are His children and are to be like Him in all His ways. Be set free so the love that you have within you can be given to others. Truly be His disciple and lead others into a forgiving and loving way.

Rejoice and claim the forgiveness He has given to you.

Diane Harper

6-1-09 Promise of Success

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have SUCCESS. (Emphasis mine.)

God made this promise to Joshua many, many years ago, but still this principle remains true and is available to us today. So, what is success?

SUCCESS:
Webster’s says success is the gaining of wealth and fame.
The Hebrew word for success is sakal which means to have insight, wisdom, and understanding; the potent capacity to understand and so exercise skill in life, a state caused by proper training and teaching, enhanced by careful observation. (Wow! Cool! You should read that again.)

Two very different definitions if you ask me. I think we can all see by looking at the lives of “successful” Hollywood stars that you can gain plenty of wealth and fame without wisdom, understanding, and certainly without exercising skill in life. I believe success is truly more like the ancient definition than the modern. I believe that you can be successful without having riches. I believe that you can have riches and not feel successful at life at all. So, let’s for now completely erase Webster’s misguided and worldly definition and search for what God truly meant in this promise.

Does God want you to succeed? A million times, yes!! He desires for you to live a life of fulfillment and one which you can look back and say, “I did all that I was called to do and succeeded at everything God gave me.” Are you successful? I believe you are! I believe we all are. Any moment that we have shown the love of God, any time we gave of ourselves, any time we stood when others would have faltered, any time we had faith, etc. we were successful! Any time that you have applied God’s word to your life or listened and obeyed the Holy Spirit’s prompting, you were a success! Even in those times when the world called you a failure for what you did. So, go ahead and say it, “I AM a success! I AM successful!”

Now that we have that down…, I believe, though, that this promise offers more than just temporary or momentary success. I believe that God wants for us to be successful in ALL things at ALL times. Unfortunately, this promise works more on a principle and it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. No guarantee that we will become millionaires in 30 days. (Bummer!) So what is the principle? I’ll tell you now: it’s simple but not easy.

I used to paint with my dad. I love to paint. I love that you can see your progress as you go. I love that, as long as you’re painting with a beautiful color, the transformation is AMAZING! The part that I don’t like, as my dad would put it, is the 3 Ps of painting: Preparation, preparation and preparation. This is the part where you have to do all the taping, the sanding, the repair (which can be a whole lot if the carpenter wasn’t any good), the caulking, removing any hardware that should be removed, etc. I do not like the prep work because it normally takes just as long as the painting! But, if you skip the prep, your paint job will show it. Trust me, I’ve tried to take shortcuts when painting cabinets before, and the result is disastrously ugly! But, if you put in the work and time beforehand…Beautiful SUCCESS!!

Why am I talking to you about painting? Because when I saw the steps in this principle of success I felt the same thing I did whenever my dad asked me to start taping up the windows, or pull out the sandpaper. Groan… You will see these steps outlined in the very scripture that this promise originates.

Step 1: Study God’s Word constantly.
NLT of Joshua 1:8 begins with “Study this book of the law continually…” Success at anything starts with a desire for knowledge.

Step 2: Ponder God’s Word continually.
“…you shall meditate on it day and night…” Success at anything involves understanding.

Step 3: Apply God’s Word completely.
“…so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it…” Success at anything requires precise repetition.

If you master these steps each day you are a much more successful person than I am. Even if I get through Step 1, it’s a miracle if I make it all the way to Step 3 when I’m in the middle of a potty battle with my two year old, or walking through the destructive path my four year old left behind. But, I believe that it’s within reach. And I believe that God is proud of me each time I succeed at these three steps, even if it is days, weeks or months between successes.

Let’s take this one step further. In looking at “success” I found a few definitions for SUCCEED that I found interesting.

SUCCEED:
Hebrew word qum means to get up, arise, stand, establish; confirm, restore; to be set up, be raised up.

Webster’s definition is to follow next in order or next after another; especially to inherit sovereignty, rank, title, or property.
Whoa!! So here is the revelation that I have received in this short study of God’s promise for success:

When I take the time to study and understand God’s word enough to apply the wisdom found there to my everyday life in a skillful manner, keeping my eyes and ears attuned to the Holy Spirit who is my heaven-sent teacher, God will establish me as Christ’s successor, in line to inherit all He has!

I don’t believe that anyone could possibly see that as anything but success! So, be it difficult, tedious, even boring at times, I am going to work as hard as I can to take hold of this promise!

Staci Pace

5-25-09 Self-Discipline

Self-Discipline

Oh, how that is my favorite trait. Right? …lol. Some people say it is the character trait that everyone hates. However, did you know it is a quality that God wants for you?

So how’s your self-discipline today? Did you stick to all you needed to get done today? I know I didn’t. Did you have something come up & interrupt your day?
I did. Did you get your devotion time in? I’m still working on it. Your exercise time? Nope. Time with your family? Kind of.

As I ponder on "self- discipline", I discover it is a key trait. For without self -discipline you will not have the ability to have self control, patience, love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, or faith. The very things we want in our lives depend on our self-discipline. For example, if we are not disciplined in our anger, we won’t have peace. For me, two of the hardest areas in my life to stay disciplined in is quality time with the Lord and exercise.

In II Peter 1:5-8 it says, "It is a quality you want to have, a quality that will make you useful and fruitful in the kingdom of God.” Of course this is not a quality Satan wants us to control.

In this world and in our lives we will have trials, heartaches, and interruptions. It is not only in these times we lose self-discipline, it is also in times of blessings. Yes, even in the good times. We get so caught up in the events of things going well, we can get too relaxed or too busy, sometimes even lazy. You can lose self-discipline in both areas, good or bad. It is a constant task to keep self-discipline.

I am reminded and encouraged of Paul when he said, "Why do I do the things I don’t want to do and the things I want to do, I don’t do”. I have always taken great comfort in Paul’s honesty in this statement. How he also struggled in continuing to achieve this quality.

So what can cause this? It can be as simple as everyday requirements of life of our work, family, and school among other things. In II Timothy 1:7 the word says, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline." He has given us the ability to have discipline. I have had to call on His help lately myself. Right now in my life, I have had a hard time balancing:

• Time with God, carpool, school ,homework (my son), family, church, exercising, wedding planning and the list goes on.

When you get overloaded you can loose your self- discipline. Let’s look at what self discipline is. It means, “a calling to a soundness of mind or to self -control."

So how do we obtain this? First and foremost we are to commune with the Lord and seek him in every area. I even have the Lord helping me to learn to run. I know that sounds strange but I can’t run very far, yet. So, he has me run short distances and walk in-between. It is hard to be disciplined in new areas of your life! Stick to it, the reward is great!

Another example: Have you ever lost your control and snapped at your kids? I know I have. Thank the Lord there is no condemnation in those who are in Christ Jesus, that He is still perfecting us. This is an area for patience and peace and we all know it takes self-discipline to have patience.

When we have a soundness of mind, we will have joy, peace, love, kindness. We will be able to achieve the goals God has for us and to walk the path Christ has laid before us. I was reminded tonight of Abraham & Isaac, how through his faith and self-discipline he offered his most precious gift to God, his son. That took a lot of self-discipline and how God rewarded and blessed Abraham through this! It was through Abraham's devotion to the scriptures, setting his mind on God, and making his body obedient to do the will of God that he became the Father of many nations. Unlike another man named Samson who had lack of self-discipline and it cost him dearly. He had been a strong and mighty man, but lost it when he had lack of self-discipline and was foolish. However, in the end even Samson obtains self-discipline.

So my charge to you is to embrace self-discipline and run the good race! You won’t be disappointed.

Blessing to you,
Susie K