Dear Lord,
With all of my heart I ask your blessings of grace, mercy and forgiveness upon all of those less fortunate than me. I lift up to You those who don't know You yet. I call forth Your tender mercies that are new today for those in my heart. Help me by some miracle to be a light, an inspiration and a comfort to everyone You will bring me into contact with today and everyone in my past. Even if it's only through a memory they have of me.
I forgive and release every person who has ever sinned against me. I ask for a full pardon where there has been injury, pride, and unforgiveness. Let no one be held accountable for wrongs done to me, but set them free through forgiveness.
May every mistake I have ever made be used to lead people to the Truth, and let my life be a prayer today. Help me to joyfully give the kindness and love that I desire to receive.
Father, somehow use this flawed life of mine to work beautiful things into the lives of everyone You will bring me into contact with. Thank you for limitless grace.
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Forgiveness
I am a thinker. Because of Parkinson's Disease I have lots of time during my day to think and ponder and read. Last week while doing my daily Bible study my attention was directed toward forgiveness. I looked it up and discovered the root meaning of that word is "away" or "far". I read the verse in Hebrews 8:12 which says, "I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." Keeping in mind Matthew 6:14-15 ("For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."), I became uncomfortable. I was remembering a couple of people who sinned against me repeatedly, and have to this day never acknowledged it or apologized. Oh, I had dealt with this somewhat and intellectually forgiven them, but I still remembered it.
To "remember" means to easily call to mind something that has been there before. I could easily and quickly recall their sins against me and feel the pain that it caused all over again. It was on file in my memory. It wasn't far away from me.
Max Lucado wrote: "God doesn’t just forgive, he forgets. He erases the board. He destroys the evidence. He burns the microfilm. He clears the computer.
He doesn’t remember my mistakes. For all the things he does do, this is one thing he refuses to do. He refuses to keep a list of my wrongs. When I ask for forgiveness he doesn’t pull out a clipboard and say, “But I’ve already forgiven him for that five hundred and sixteen times.”
He doesn’t remember.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalms 103:12 NLT)
“I will be merciful toward their iniquities.” (Hebrews 8:12 RSV)
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I'm going to burn the records of those sins against me. I'm going to put those sins far away from me. I'm going to ask God to help me hold nothing against them and forget any evidence I have of their wickedness. I will get rid of any proof I have of what they did to me.
We must follow the example of our God and in obedience completely let go of the evidence against those who have sinned against us. If our fleshly minds try to hold onto the memories and evidence of wrongs done to us, we must not grow weary of refusing to think on them, but instead giving it to God and asking Him to wipe all of it from our memory.
To "remember" means to easily call to mind something that has been there before. I could easily and quickly recall their sins against me and feel the pain that it caused all over again. It was on file in my memory. It wasn't far away from me.
Max Lucado wrote: "God doesn’t just forgive, he forgets. He erases the board. He destroys the evidence. He burns the microfilm. He clears the computer.
He doesn’t remember my mistakes. For all the things he does do, this is one thing he refuses to do. He refuses to keep a list of my wrongs. When I ask for forgiveness he doesn’t pull out a clipboard and say, “But I’ve already forgiven him for that five hundred and sixteen times.”
He doesn’t remember.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalms 103:12 NLT)
“I will be merciful toward their iniquities.” (Hebrews 8:12 RSV)
___________________________________________________________________________________
I'm going to burn the records of those sins against me. I'm going to put those sins far away from me. I'm going to ask God to help me hold nothing against them and forget any evidence I have of their wickedness. I will get rid of any proof I have of what they did to me.
We must follow the example of our God and in obedience completely let go of the evidence against those who have sinned against us. If our fleshly minds try to hold onto the memories and evidence of wrongs done to us, we must not grow weary of refusing to think on them, but instead giving it to God and asking Him to wipe all of it from our memory.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
I Need to Hear the Gospel
At no time am I more likely to love other people, than when I have been preaching the gospel to myself. I never get tired of hearing it! There is never a time when I don't need to be reminded that while I was a sinner - a dweller in the darkness -, and an enemy of God, He loved me and forgave me of all my sin through Jesus Christ, His Son. There was nothing worthy or beautiful about me, and I certainly didn't deserve His forgiveness. It was His gift to me. I could never have done enough to earn it.
How then can I not pass on this same forgiveness to others? What about someone who has slandered me? What about someone who has ridiculed me and gone out of their way to hurt me? And what about the one who has stolen from me, then told lies to cover it up?
Well what about it? There's really no debate here. There is one answer and one alone for the believer. FORGIVE.
We pass on what has been given to us. It's simple. But what if my feelings are that I don't like this person or trust this one who has been so hurtful to me? Let your mind - not your feelings - tell you what to do. Listen to your conscience and DO the right and loving thing. Fake it until you make it. You don't have to trust the one who has betrayed you.... Look at the example we have in King David. Saul treated him unjustly and even tried to murder David. But David refused to reciprocate that kind of hatred. He treated Saul with the respect that a king deserved. David was a man after God's own heart regardless of what anybody else did.
How then can I not pass on this same forgiveness to others? What about someone who has slandered me? What about someone who has ridiculed me and gone out of their way to hurt me? And what about the one who has stolen from me, then told lies to cover it up?
Well what about it? There's really no debate here. There is one answer and one alone for the believer. FORGIVE.
We pass on what has been given to us. It's simple. But what if my feelings are that I don't like this person or trust this one who has been so hurtful to me? Let your mind - not your feelings - tell you what to do. Listen to your conscience and DO the right and loving thing. Fake it until you make it. You don't have to trust the one who has betrayed you.... Look at the example we have in King David. Saul treated him unjustly and even tried to murder David. But David refused to reciprocate that kind of hatred. He treated Saul with the respect that a king deserved. David was a man after God's own heart regardless of what anybody else did.
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