Home › Archive for forgiveness › Page 2

Category: forgiveness

By Posted on Posted in forgiveness, grace No Comments

Loving my study in the book of Hebrews. One of the most commonly quoted verses about God’s word is found in chapter 4, verse 12:

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

God’s word gets right down to business. It cuts through our bone-hard self-protection to the soft inner marrow of our hearts. It exposes the root of our sins and problems: our thoughts and attitudes. We are always trying to deal with our sins from the outside, attempting to change our behavior with self-control. God wants to deal with the inner root of the problem in our hearts and in our minds. The disease of sin has infected the marrow of our hearts. The sin we see in our “outer” lives is only a symptom of the inner problem.

Beware…the enemy wants us to believe that God is always pointing fingers at us and frowning upon our sin. This morning, the Lord drew my attention to the progression of verses after the one we’ve been looking at. If we continue in Hebrews 4, we see:

verse 13  “nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. everything is uncovered and laid bare before him…” It is true that God’s word uncovers even the secrets in the marrow of our hearts. Nothing is hidden from Him. However,this is not the end of the issue.

verse 15  “for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have (Jesus) who has been tempted in every way, just as we are…”   What is revealed in my heart… what He finds there… Jesus understands. He walked this earth, fully human. He battled temptation. Someone challenged me with this question: Why would the scriptures say that He was tempted in the desert if it wasn’t REALLY a temptation? If it wasn’t temptation, then it would have been called something else. It was a temptation that He had to battle.  He understands how hard it is to face sin and overcome.

verse 16  “let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and grace in our time of need.”  He does not condemn us for our temptations and our sins.  He offers grace every time. So approach Him with confidence! He knows your struggle.  He has been tempted and angered. He has been rejected, judged, and gossiped about.  He has been desperate to avoid suffering (read Matthew 26 and Mark 14).  He handled all of these situations in a way that pleased the Father, yet He does not condemn you for being unable to do the same.

He loves you! He understands you! Do not hide from Him. You may fear that opening your heart will leave you judged and vulnerable.   However, opening your heart makes it possible for him to pour out his love and mercy. Uncovering the marrow of your heart is the only way to be transformed! He will bring healing where you need it. He will bring the inner change that you need. He will shower you with grace!

Open your heart to Him.

By Posted on Posted in forgiveness 1 Comment Tagged with

Psalm 32

1 Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one whose sin the LORD does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.

We are truly blessed to have our sins forgiven by God. We don’t deserve to be forgiven, but He loves us. His Son has paid the penalty for our sins, so we are free from condemnation.

I will dare to say that we are not truly blessed, however, until we fully open our hearts to receive His forgiveness. Not until we honestly believe that we are forgiven.  Often we know in our heads that our sins are not held against us, but deep in our hearts we still feel shame. We don’t think we deserve the forgiveness, so we hold God’s gift of redemption at arm’s length. In doing this, we forfeit the blessing of peace, joy, and living a blessed, happy life.

I’ll go one step further and say that the reason we do not receive God’s forgiveness is because we have not forgiven ourselves. We have feelings of disappointment, anger, even self-loathing toward ourselves. When our hearts carry these feelings, we often project them on to God or other people in our lives. We begin to believe that we ARE the way we feel about ourselves. We begin to believe that others see us the way that we see ourselves. We assume that God and others are judging us… all because we have not forgiven ourselves.

The Lord has challenged me to take action. Visualize an act of self-forgiveness. Write myself a letter. Be done with the failures I am still holding on to in some ceremonial way. Only then will I stop projecting my self-condemnation onto others and finally be released from the fear that others are judging me.

Read what God says about us in Ephesians 1:3-4…

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

Someone recently explained to me that the word “holy” here means sacred. The word “blameless” means unblameable. You and I are sacred to God. We are unblameable once we confess the sins and failures of our lives. We are unblameable because Jesus died for each and every one of the times that we fall short.  Though Jesus took our sins upon Himself when He died, the bible says that He despised the shame. He refused to take on the shame of our sins.

However, the enemy has convinced us to pick up that shame. He continually tells us that it belongs to us. What a lie… a wretched bondage that the enemy has created!

Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven!

Will you lay down the shame today? Will you forgive yourself and experience the blessedness of Psalm 32?   That is what God desires for you and me today!

By Posted on Posted in forgiveness, the enemy No Comments

Dear child of Mine,

Why do you stay away? Why must I watch from afar while you wrestle with your sins and emotions? I long to be near you.

I gave My life so that you would never stay away, so that you would never keep your distance because of the failures and sins you have committed. I knew you would sin everyday. I died because of that fact. I died to bridge the gap, to draw you close.

It is Satan’s lie that keeps you away. He wants you to think that you can’t come to Me because you have sinned. The truth is that you MUST come to Me because you have sinned. You must! You need my touch. My love. My grace and forgiveness. That is My desire for you– that you would come to Me, confess your sin, and let Me wash it away. That is My utmost purpose as your Savior. I want to draw you in and make you new once again. I long to do it over and over. I never tire of you.

Why do you listen to the lie of the enemy, yet ignore My words of love? I am your connection to grace. To love. To peace. To freedom. Come to Me, child!

I am not looking for perfection. My Father and I are perfect. There is no other. I am looking for you. Just you. You are the one that I love! Whatever you have done… I still love you. I am longing for you, to be with you, to love on you, to forgive and restore you.

You actually make light of My suffering and death on the cross when you stay away. I did it for you. Why would I do it if I thought you could handle being holy and sinless on your own? I did it because you need it. I did it because I love you and I want to have unbroken fellowship with you. Your sin separates you from the Father, but not from Me. I am your Redeemer… come to Me! I will restore you to the Father and we will be one. Come to Me and fall into My embrace.

I am able to save completely those who come to God through Me, because I always live to intercede for you.   Hebrews 7:25 (NIV personalized)