Forgiveness

Friendship

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Friendships seem to ebb and flow. One thing I have found is that true friends can be hard to find, especially the ones who will stick by your side through all the ups and downs. I guess it seems more people can find a reason not to forgive and move on to another than those who are willing to forgive and build the friendship. I know that I am forgetting that this world is not full of those who love and know Christ, but so many Christians can be first in line to rip a friendship apart. It just doesn’t seem to matter. We, I included, forget our example in Christ and how to treat each other, love each other, and serve each other. I think we all want more from people who are sinners can provide to our egos. Jesus knew this and that is why he said to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Then again I don’t think I know how to love myself enough to forgive myself, so how can I forgive others. How can they forgive me?

John 15: 12-15 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Of course, I know how to forgive and I try to open the door for forgiveness because I do not want to carry the burden. I want to let it go and seek reconciliation, but sometimes I just have give the burden to the Lord because “the friend” wants to carry the burden. Only God can take that burden from them if they choose to forgive and release it.

Proverbs 17:9 “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.”

Just because I know how to forgive doesn’t mean that my sinful nature forgives the many times that it should the way the Lord expects. I stop sometimes and think back to how many times, I have carried the burden and expected so much from someone because I thought I was the one being hurt. I was probably the one doing the hurting and creating the separation that Jesus does not want between friends. This haunts me. Do I count others over myself, or do I make myself more important. Why is something like forgiveness so hard when in reality it is so easy. I guess I forget so often the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Instead of placing that on others we should first practice it even when we don’t think we should be the one to forgive because when I do, I really see my sin.

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

Luke 6:31 “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

God has recently provided in my reading so much about friendship and related scriptures that I need to reflect on, but the ones that drive me are found in Proverbs. I want to be the friend that loves, that stands by a friend better than family, and shows others Christ in my life and actions. I can’t do that when I hold grudges and fail to forgive those around me, especially my friends. I am listening to you God and trying to focus on the people you place around me. I am trying to be a better friend to those new people you place in my life and those who have been in my life for so long. I realize how blessed I am to meet so many great people you have designed and created. We are all different, and sometimes we forget that you created all those differences in each of us, yet sometimes the differences shine so much we see them as imperfections not gifts.

Proverbs 17:17 “A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”

Proverbs 18:24 “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Proverbs 12:26 “One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”

So I must stop being the one in charge. I must stop trying to make people give me and do what I want. God just calls me to love. Why would someone want to be my friend if I am angry at the world and at them, but at the same time as I love others, I must also be careful of angry people in the world. God does not call me to get wrapped up with angry people who may pull me from the arms of God. As hard as it is to remember, God is the one who seeks vengeance not me, so that I can love even those who bring anger, seek hate, and desire relationships that are not of God. May I be the example of Christ in others lives. May I be the friend that Christ calls me to be. By following Christ’s example may I provide encouragement to others and lead them into your arms, Lord.

Proverbs 22: 24-25 “Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.”

Romans 12: 19-21 “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

Above all may I learn to live by the words of Job.

Job 6:14 “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.”

With God I Can

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Photo Credit to She is Fierce.org

Being Anxious

I recently started a 7-Day Devotional plan in the Youversion Bible app titled “7 Things The Bible Says About Anxiety”. At the end of day one a challenge was offered:

  1. spend 5 minutes in prayer with God and share what you are anxious about – Done
  2. Journal about how you feel and how it is affecting you – Here it is…..
  3. Talk to a trusted Christian friend – still need to do at this point

This is my journal entry about how I feel and how it affects me to hold my anxiety. As I was preparing to write this entry because honestly, I just wanted to put it off, I thought of this picture that I had saved months and months ago. Sometimes a picture just speaks to me and I just hold it waiting for the time I feel God asking me to share it. So here I sit typing my feelings know that I can do this entry, I can overcome anxiety in my life, and I can be honest with myself in Christ.

Life Happens

Funny how life gets in the way and this post got sidetracked, but actually that is probably what God wanted at the time. He wanted me to listen to him. He continued to share devotionals with me throughout the week, and then on Sunday a sermon that caught my attention. Yep, I am listening now God. I know that sin does not define who I am and I can walk believing that my sin can or will consume me. I can walk free and forgiven through Christ. Instead of Can’t – I will give the cross to him so that I Can!

I guess seeing this picture months ago and saving it just for this time in my life is like those little miracles that God places in your life. Just as I read in Esther 4:14 “…for such a time as this.” Thank you God for always being the one by my side.

Final Lessons

So just a few lessons that I have learned from this week about Sin and how it can affect someone – ok someone like me! Our culture today is making is so easy for me to identify with my sin. When I do that I can not see the forgiveness and put the sin in the past. I identify with it and carry the shame of the sin and worry about my future maybe even my salvation. Yet Psalms 62:1 clearly shows me that, “For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.”

One final lesson learned this week was on forgiving of others when they have sinned against me, but they have to engage in the reconciliation. Just as I have to reconcile with those that I have sinned against. Definitely provides a lot of perspective for me. The Lord’s prayer shows us the way in so many areas and sin is not lost in the prayer. “and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12.

Closing Verse: John 8:11 “And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

Challenge: Do not allow sin to define who you are and who God wants you to be!

There Is A Man I Admire

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And that Man is Jesus.  

My heart is filled with so much hope and love.  I can walk day to day knowing that Jesus is by my side.  When I read of his life, I wonder how I get to have the life I have and Jesus had to sacrifice so much.  He loved, yet was betrayed by his own people.  “And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”” Matthew 26:21.  He trusted, yet those close turned against him.  With all of this he still forgave and opened the door for mankind to walk into the presence of this Father one day cleansed by his blood.  Why?  That is a deep and longing love for man.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.   That is a heart that I long for to walk like Jesus.  Jesus walked the earth among the sinners he loved and always searched for the good.  He taught us to find the good in others and to love others just as Christ has loved us. One of my favorite stories of Jesus’s love is found In John 8:1-11. 

“1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

John 8:1-11.

I love that Jesus showed true forgiveness in this story and such an example for us all.  

Finding Jesus 

Finding Jesus in man today can be hard.  We are a self-centered people, who long to be right, be better than others, and find fault.  We protect ourselves from our own lives no matter the cost.  This is a hard world to live in and find Jesus.  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, “ Romans 3:23.  Sometimes it seems like genuine Christians are few and far between.  Christians forget who they are and what they stand for sometimes as we walk through this secular world of sin.  God warns us of this world. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.” 1 John 2:15-16.  Yet, even I find myself sometimes lost in the sins of this world.  It can be very confusing to watch Christians live in this world today.  I encourage us all to guard our hearts.  “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.” Psalm 119:37.

There is a Man I Admire

I do live with a man that I see Jesus in everyday.  He loves, forgives, and challenges me to be a better person.  He has been filled with so much pain, yet smiles and lives life to the fullest each day.  Sometimes I wonder how so many people around him can cause so much hurt and leave so much pain.  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24.  I know Christ died for their sins just as he died for mine, so I pray.  I pray for healing, I pray for answers, I pray for forgiveness – I Just Pray!.  “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24.  Jesus left us with a new commandment and my husband lives this commandment each day.  I am challenged to do the same by watching his example.  Love your neighbor.  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  John 13: 34-35.

Closing Verse:  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Challenge:  Seek to be like Jesus and not the world.

The Tongue & Apologies

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Rotten Fruit

How many times have my words cut someone down?  I can honestly say that I am not sure I really want to know the result of my tongue and the lack of my apologies.  Sometimes it is hard to stop and think about the wrongs I have done until I feel the impact of someone’s tongue toward me.  When I eat the fruits of someone else’s tongue, I only taste the fruit of my own.  I have to stop and linger over the rotten fruit that I have produced from my own lips.  “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” Proverbs 18:21.

The Tongue

I believe my biggest sins sometime come straight out of my mouth.  The tongue is such a work of evil that I pray constantly for the Lord to help me bring mine under control.    The Word tells me the only way to keep my tongue in check and I know that I alone can not do that without God working in me, so that my tongue brings more glorification than hurt to those around me.  “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.” Proverbs 21:23.

Apologies

I want my tongue to bring healing and not hurt.  I want my tongue to spread God’s Love not the Devil’s hate.  I want my tongue to show love in all that comes forth, but I fail at this everyday.  When I fail I must sow the seeds of forgiveness by asking for forgiveness and giving it when I am hurt.  I must apologize and bring healing with my tongue when I bring hurt with my words are swords of hurt.  “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Proverbs 12:18.  As I pray and seek God’s word to help keep my tongue in check, I turn my eyes to Jesus and know that following his example is the way to the Father.  “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.

 

 

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Closing Verse:  “For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;”  1 Peter 3:10.

Challenge: Seek the Lord in your words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stopping to Rewind

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Overcoming Hurt

I need to push rewind again, Lord.  One of my first blog post was about how people hurt each other, and I wrote that if we could push rewind and hear what we had said, how would we feel about the words we spoke.  No matter how many times I pray for guidance with my tongue it is for naught when I open my mouth and speak without thinking about those who are impacted by my words.   Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” is beating through me right now.  I am eating the fruits of my tongue.  I did not stop before I allowed my tongue to bear it’s sour fruit, so now I must partake of the fruit.  Yet, even in this moment when I know that God is the only one who can control my tongue.  James 3:8, “But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” These words are a reminder that I alone can not tame my tongue.

God’s Guidance and Healing

As I pray for God’s guidance for reconciliation for the words I have uttered, I find myself seeking God’s guidance from Proverbs.  Reading these words, I see that God is showing me both my wrongs and bringing peace to my heart.  I know that I can not heal the wounds that I have opened, but I pray that God will, as I learn from His words and seek his guidance.  My heart remembers God’s promise in Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”  This verse gives me hope that God will heal and bring good from my tongue.

Proverb’s Lessons

Proverbs is full of painful verses at this time for me, but lessons that I need at this time. God’s word is special that way in knowing just what you need to read or hear whether for comfort or to teach.  Here are my lessons:

Proverbs 12:18, “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Proverbs 13:3, “Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.”

Proverbs 17:27, “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.”

Proverbs 21:23, “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.”

I pray God is speaking before you speak.

Closing Verse: Ecclesiastes 3:7, “A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;”

Challenge:  May God give you more wisdom when using your tongue so it brings knowledge and understanding instead of poison that stabs at those you love.