Forgiveness

Forgiveness: To pardon, to give up resentment. to grant as a favor, a gift

You know how we always like to receive presents from people? Well what about giving yourself a gift? I'm talking about the gift of life - Forgiveness.

No matter what we perceive has hurt us or has caused us shame and grief, we must always remember to forgive. Forgiveness is our path to healing, not to mention, it's what God expects us to do.  If we offend someone; we must quickly repent. If someone offends us; we must quickly forgive. Ephesians 4:32 reminds us, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

Forgiveness is big with God, because it's an expression of His love. When we choose not to forgive, we are putting limits on ourselves... as well as on the Lord. We are holding back on His love, His joy, and His peace that we should be showing one to another - instead we carry around all sorts of unprofitable weight.

Matthew 18:21-22 says, "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." (In case you were wondering - that’s every 2 ½ minutes.)

Forgiveness is a choice - if we are on the receiving end of someone’s unkind words or if there were unkind deeds that were done to us in the past, we have a choice. We can choose to forgive and move past barriers that will separate us from others (and from the Lord) or we can tie God hands with our unwillingness to forgive. How easy is it for us to forget that we have made mistakes in our life?? Keep that in mind next time you're holding a grudge. We must forgive others so that we can too be forgiven.

We have no excuse for holding grudges; for not forgiving others... while Jesus was hanging on the cross He said, "Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Surely we can do the same, right? Especially since we're not hanging on a cross! Forgiveness is a gift - one that we can all use and one that we all need.

I read this in my email a couple of days ago, I want to share it with you. Forgiveness is the economy of the heart...forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, and the waste of your soul.

With all that said; let the Church say amen... and AMEN!

God Is Love

Love: Attachment, Affection, Adore, and Worship

God is the only one who knows how to REALLY love. His love is real, it’s unconditional, and it’s eternal. His love picks us up when we are down... and we were down - WAY DOWN - but God loved us so much that He sent His son - His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. God didn't have to do that. And He didn't do it because WE loved Him, but because He loved US. He is our saviour, our hero, our redeemer. He said in His word, He would never leave us nor would He ever forsake us. Why?  Because God is love!

Isaiah 49:15 asks the question, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Why?  Because God is love!

God's love will never fail; it will never fade out or become obsolete, and it will never come to an end.  If we go down a path that’s not pleasing to the Lord, He said My anger is not turned away, but my hand is stretched out still. His hand is stretched out because He wants to pull us back to Him. Why?  Because God is love!

He will never give up on us and He will never put us down. He’s attached, He adores us. His love for us endures long and is patient and kind; it is not conceited, it’s not rude. His love toward us is SO AMAZING! I’m not saying that there will never be unpleasant times in our lives - there will be - but just know that His love and His mercy is there to gather us up with His arms and carry us in His bosom and gently guide us. He told us that He will stick closer than a brother - if we will just trust Him; He will redeem us out of our unpleasant situations. Why?  Because God is love!

There's a song that says "What the world needs now is love, sweet love, that’s the only thing that’s there’s just too little of," In my opinion, what she was really saying is - "What the world needs now is God." Why?  You got it - Because God is love!

With all that said - let the church say amen... and Amen!         

Sometimes We Have To Lose In Order To Win...

Lose: Fail, surrender, sacrifice, forfeit
Win: Gain, succeed, achieve, obtain

In this life no one likes to lose - just ask the next person you see and I'll bet their reply will be the exact same as yours - a big, fat N-O! However, let me take just a few minutes of your time today to show you that it is okay to surrender, sacrifice, and forfeit in order to gain, achieve, and obtain!

Paul said in Philippians 3:8, "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ."

When Paul realized and recognized the goodness of God, the pleasures of the world were no longer important. Like Paul, we too must fight the good fight of faith and lose the pleasures of this world that are not like our Lord. Those things are the essence of our former behavior of the old man (i.e. us before we got religion), which is corrupt with lying and evil or morally deprived communication that comes out of our mouths (that includes emails & texts, you know!). It's imperative that we also lose all of our bitterness, malice, covetous, anger, and unforgiveness... and just a few off the top of my head!

We will win - gain, achieve and obtain - by putting on righteousness and true holiness. By showing love and always giving thanks for all things; by being kind one to another, by being tenderhearted and forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32).

On the 6th of August, my cousin Janice passed away. Don't get me wrong - I share this not for sympathy - but for testimony! Janice had lost all the things I just shared with you in order to win Christ. She fought the good fight - both naturally and spiritually - and she has finished her journey. I truly believe that she has won that crown of rightouness that the Lord has laid up for all those believers who are not afraid to lose the things of this world that are not like Him. She has gained and obtained the best achievable and imaginable prize - eternal life!

So my friends, I say again: there are things we must lose in order to win... thank God that this particular prize has no end!

With all that said, let the church say amen... and AMEN!

God Is A Balanced God

Balance: Equalize; to be an equal counterpoise

God is balanced! He created hot and cold, big and small, peaks and valleys, up and down, good and evil, pain and pleasure... and the list goes on. The Lord doesn't like an unjust weight - you know, where it's always cold and never hot; where it's always pain and never pleasure. Imagine a scale where one side is always up and the other side always down - thats unbalance. Our Father doesn't want us to be one-sided. He adds to the other side of the scales just what we need in order to be balanced.

Proverbs 11:1 tells us that "A false balance is adomination to the Lord: but a just weight is His delight." God is a balanced God. If we always had sugar and never had anything else to balance that sugar out, we would have one bad stomache ache, right? We're not going to always have pleasure and never have pain - if we didn't have pain, we wouldn't appreciate the pleasure. The same goes with hot; we would be most miserable if it was always hot and never cold to balance things out.

The Lord has a reason for all of this - He allows us to have valley experiences - those painful situations, so we can learn to praise Him, to trust Him, and to lean on Him. In these times - those valley experiences - He seems so far away, but let me assure you, He's right there. You see, if we never had a problem, we wouldn't know that He could solve it. When He sees that we have humbled ourselves and have come into agreement with His headship, then He puts pleasure in the scales on the other side. That way we have the same amount of pleasure for just as much pain as we had - that way the scales are balanced. As it says in Proverbs 16:11, "A just weight and balance are the Lord's: all the weights of the bag are his work."

Just remember - you must have humility before exaltation - that's God's order. Joseph had much pain, but there was a lesson in each situation and God came back and balanced the scales tremendously and as a result, Joseph was highly exalted. Just think - that could be YOU!

With all that said, let the church say amen... and Amen!