July 17, 2008

Bearing A Grudge or Extending Forgiveness?

Eph. 4:32 AMP “And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.”

Luke 6:37 AMP “…acquit and forgive and release (give up resentment; let it drop), and you will be acquitted and forgiven and released.”

Why is forgiveness so hard sometimes? And why is it that life sometimes catches you off guard and you find yourself instantly in a situation where you know you need to forgive – but your flesh desires to nurse the offense and hang onto it just a little while, just long enough for that bitterness to start to well up…

That happened to me this week… My father-in-law is here visiting for a week. He will be here thru this coming Sunday. This is no big deal, no problem. He is very laid back, very easy to please, very appreciative of anything we do for him, and we are all enjoying his visit. The boys are absolutely loving having him here – I just fear they are being too demanding of his time, they desire to play with him constantly!

So, the incident which brings up my need to extend forgiveness… My husband gets a call from a cousin who is coming through town Saturday. Without discussing it with me first, he invites 7 people to spend the night here Saturday night! I hear him on the phone saying he will just have to ask for forgiveness! I feel the rage and the stress building!! I am a planner, I am an organizer – and this bit of information seems to throw my life in CHAOS!

I am thinking: where will they all sleep, what will I feed them all for dinner and breakfast, even snacks, how can that many people shower and get dressed on time on Sunday morning – we have to go to church, how will I get my house clean again while we still have company, I have already bought groceries for the next 2 weeks, I will have to go to the store again, and on and on the thoughts go.

I even wrote a short, frustrated and irate sounding post, posted it for about 10 minutes but then deleted it – the Lord would not let me leave it up.

I know I need to forgive him BUT… He does not seem to understand why this has upset me. I told him he should at least consult with his wife before inviting 7 people to spend the night, say you need to talk to your wife and you will call them back. I would not have said no, I just wanted to be consulted. It made me feel unappreciated and like all that I do is taken for granted.

The whole time I am mentally ranting and raving, that still small voice is saying “You need to forgive him.” But I reply, “He hasn’t asked for forgiveness, he hasn’t even apologized…” The still small voice replies, “That does not matter, I command you to forgive, whether he ever asks or says he is sorry.”

So, I have forgiven him. That night as we were laying in bed, I had to force myself to tell him that I forgave him for hurting my feelings and not talking to me about having overnight guests before committing to it. He did not apologize then, but he did the next day… but why was it so hard? It is the battle of the flesh against the Spirit, they do not like each other. I strongly desire to be more controlled by the Spirit rather than my flesh, what about you?

Is there someone in your life that you need to forgive? Even if they never apologize or ask for your forgiveness, God has commanded us in His Word that we are to forgive. Ask Him to enable you to forgive, do not let the bitterness, anger, or rage build up for one more minute, one more day. Forgive, and walk in the freedom and abundant life that Christ has for you!


Luke 17:4 AMP “And even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and turns to you seven times and says, I repent [I am sorry], you must forgive him (give up resentment and consider the offense as recalled and annulled).”

Col. 3:13 AMP “Be gentle and forbearing with one another and, if one has a difference (a grievance or complaint) against another, readily pardoning each other; even as the Lord has [freely] forgiven you, so must you also [forgive].”

1 Peter 4:8 AMP “Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].”

Holding on...

Tricia

June 26, 2008

Worshipping God yet Serving Idols…

Jonah 2:8-9 “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the Lord.”

I have had some very hard days lately… I have had to make a stand for my Lord and Savior in a way I never thought I would have to. It has been excruciatingly hard, for some do not understand why I have to be obedient to His Word and to my decision to follow Christ, no matter what… and I never thought I would be in this position. However, I am, and I have chosen to follow my Lord and Savior, to be obedient to His Word, and to cling and hold tightly to Him.

This situation has also led me to examine myself, to lay my heart and life open on the altar before the Lord; so He can reveal to me what in my life is not pleasing to Him. I desire for Him to open my eyes to the things in my life that He longs to remove and replace with Himself…

The Lord is speaking one basic theme to me through just about everything I read and hear. When this happens the Lord gets your attention and you sit up and listen. He is speaking to me about other gods, or idols, in my life. Yes, I worship and love the Lord, but all too often it is the “idols” in my life that I serve rather than Him. I worship Him, but am I serving Him as much as I worship Him. He is beginning to reveal to me the “idols” in my life that I allow to take the place of Him in my heart.

You see, I don’t just want to say that I follow God, and I do not just want to follow Him some of the time, or just be obedient to a portion of His Word. I want to follow Him all the way, no compromises, and no apologies. The recent struggles in my life have led me to look deep into my heart, to examine my desires, my motives, and my attitudes in light of God’s Word. I am asking God to open my eyes to any “idols” in my life.

Notice in this passage of scripture below, how Amaziah serves God, but not wholeheartedly. Immediately after God gives him the victory in battle against the Edomites, he brings back the foreign gods, sets them up as his own, bows down to them, and sacrifices to them. Immediately after God’s hand works in his life!


2 Chronicles 25:1-14

“Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in
Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother's name was Jehoaddin; she was from
Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.
After the kingdom was firmly in his control, he executed the officials who had murdered his father the king. Yet he did not put their sons to death, but acted in accordance with what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded: “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sins.”

Amaziah called the people of Judah together and assigned them according to their families to commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He then mustered those twenty years old or more and found that there were three hundred thousand men ready for military service, able to handlethe spear and shield. He also hired a hundred thousand fighting men from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

But a man of God came to him and said, “O king, these troops from Israel must not march with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—not with any of the people of Ephraim. Even if you go and fight courageously in battle, God will overthrow you before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to overthrow.”

Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about the hundred talents I paid for these Israelite troops?” The man of God replied, “The Lord can give you much more than that.” So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from
Ephraim and sent them home. They were furious with Judah and left for home in a
great rage.

Amaziah then marshaled his strength and led his army to the Valley of Salt, where he killed ten thousand men of Seir. The army of Judah also captured ten thousand men alive, took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces. Meanwhile the troops that Amaziah had sent back and had not allowed to take part in the war raided Judean towns from Samaria to Beth Horon. They killed three thousand people and carried off great quantities of plunder.

When Amaziah returned from slaughtering the Edomites, he brought back the gods of the people of Seir. He set them up as his own gods, bowed down to them and burned sacrifices to them.”

That just amazes me, that immediately after God moves and provides for Him and the people of Judah, he turns and serves other gods. But how often do you and I do the same thing? God works in our lives, we are pleased with how He has provided and answered our prayers, and then we just turn back to the things of this world rather than drawing closer to our Lord. In essence we are taking the presence and power of God in our lives for granted! How dare we take for granted the God of this universe… He is a holy God, and is worthy of all the praise, honor, and glory we can give; yet how quickly we turn away and give our time, energy, and yes, praise and glory to the things of this world.

My prayer is that God would open my eyes and would allow me to see myself as He seems me. That He would give me a burning desire to run from the things of this world that distract me from Him, and to run wholeheartedly toward Him. That I would be so in love with my Lord, and so in awe of Him that the things of this world would pale in comparison and would lose all power to lure me away.

What about you? Are you worshipping our Lord but serving “idols”?

Ask God to open your eyes and reveal to you any idols in your life that are preventing you from serving Him wholeheartedly. Determine to do away with them, and run wholeheartedly to our Lord and Savior, and allow Him to give you a heart that longs to wholeheartedly serve Him.

Holding On,
Tricia

June 12, 2008

The Truth

This Sunday in church we heard from several men who have been set free from the addiction of drugs and alcohol. They were all set free by the Truth, by Jesus Christ. He and He alone is their deliverer! Praise to Him for the mighty power of His deliverance which brings complete freedom from the bondage of sin!

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

What is this truth, and what does it set you free from?

The Truth is Jesus Christ; He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). And only through Jesus Christ can we find freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom from having to conform to the ways of this world, freedom from trying to find your self-worth and fulfillment in the things this world has to offer and not succeeding, freedom from the fear of man and the pride of life.

It is only through Jesus Christ that we can say that we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to obedience which leads to righteousness (Romans 6:16). Jesus can set us free in an instant from sin that has held us in bondage for years. He can set us free from the guilt, condemnation, and self-loathing that living in a lifestyle of sin often brings to our lives; and He can replace them with joy, peace, love, hope, and contentment. The Truth gives purpose to your life and guidance to your days.

How can we know this Truth? We can know this truth by spending time studying and rightly dividing the Word of Truth, the Bible; and by spending time on our knees in prayer before God the Father. All throughout the gospels Jesus prefaces the majority of His statements with “I tell you the truth…” Jesus is the Truth and He always speaks the Truth. The Bible is the absolute truth. Many people today do not believe in absolutes, they believe what fits their situation and what makes their desired choice of a lifestyle acceptable. But God’s truth is absolute, it is free from imperfection, it does not change with the culture, and it will always lead you down the right path (which often looks very different from the path the world is offering).

Many today have chosen lies over the Truth. They have chosen to believe lies straight from the father of all lies, Satan. Satan masquerades as an angel of light, making you believe what he tells you is the truth; but everything from Satan is a lie. Satan feeds us these lies through various avenues. He greatly uses all sorts of media: worldly shows we watch that depict lifestyles far from what God ordains, songs we listen to which fill our minds with things we do not need to think on, and numerous things we read which create longings and desires in us we do not need to have. Satan likes to use the media to deaden our senses to sin. Then when our guard is down and we are “desensitized” to sin, Satan steps in with that temptation, and we easily fall prey.

In Matthew chapter 4 Jesus was also tempted by Satan, but Jesus won the battle, and He won it with the Word of God! Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness with the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes. The very same way he tempts us today! We can win the battle the same way that Jesus did, with the Word of God, the Truth, Jesus Christ.

• So take inventory of your life, what lies are you being fed by Satan that you are believing?

• Ask God to reveal them to you, and then ask Him to reveal to you His Truth to combat those lies.

• Stand firm in Christ, be grounded in the Word of God, and walk (or maybe run) in the freedom for which Christ died for you.

“I run in the path of your commands for you have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32

Holding On...

Tricia