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"What I Believe about God Is the Most Important Thing about Me" - A.W.Tozer
| Category: Forgiveness |
As Father’s Day is coming I decided to share with you a very intimate personal challenge I had to face and how God helped me forgive. Sometimes the people who should love you the most will hurt you the most. That makes it even more difficult to deal with it.
“The greatest gift I ever got was a gift from God, I call him Dad” – my kids chose this saying engraved on a piece of stone for my husband as last years Father’s Day gift. Ever since then it is on his night table with a picture frame which says #1Dad and a picture of my three boys.
I often look at that piece of stone with a pain in my heart and a sickening feeling in my stomach. I could have never picked that for my dad. With broken heart I confess that I never felt that my dad was a gift. I would rather say he was a source of pain for nineteen years.
We heard and read many things about forgiveness. There are books, movies and songs which express the importance of forgiveness. The Bible is full of verses which talk about forgiveness and un-forgiveness.
If we are honest it’s hard to forgive when someone hurts you. We can even find this struggle in the Bible wondering how many times we should forgive. "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" ~ Matthew 18:21
Sometimes in life you will find yourself in a situation when you have to forgive to someone who hurt you, but never asked for forgiveness. I found it easier to forgive when someone accept its fault and sincerely seeks reconciliation. It can be really difficult to forgive when the person might not even realize that they hurt you or when they know they hurt you but they just are too proud, too embarrassed or ashamed to ask for forgiveness.
“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” ~ Matthew 6: 14-15
This is one of the most frightening and clear scripture verses of the Bible. If we want God to forgive us, and the question remains how often God has to forgive our sins? Seven time? Oh my, if we are honest, how many times a day we offend and break God’s law…seventy times seven…and we are thankful and merciful that God made it clear that he is willing to forgive as many times we fail. We are glad that his mercy and grace is new every day, because we need it and use it daily. But we have a hard time to extend forgiveness to others.
Once we walk our way through forgiveness with God’s help then what? Should we let the other person know that we extended forgiveness? Is forgiveness really forgiveness if we don’t let the other person know that we forgive them. I can recall few events in my life, when I had to forgive to those who never asked for my forgiveness and I had a hard time to let them know that I forgave them.
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- God’s Desire
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God desires a personal relationship with us. Understand that God wants to give you a life filed with joy and peace. God wants us to have a life not just to make it through but an abundant and eternal life because he loves you.
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." ~ John 10:10
"We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" ~ Romans 5:1
But to giving you abundant life required the supreme sacrifice:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" ~ John 3:16
What a wonderful gift the Father has given. If God gave His own Son to provide an abundant and everlasting life, why more people don’t have what He has designed for us to receive?
- Our Problem
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We were created in God’s image for an abundant and joyful life with the ability and need to know God and have a personal relationship with Him. But our freedom of choice of disobedience caused a separation and gap between God and us.
"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" ~ Isaiah 59:2
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." ~ Romans 3:23
People always try to fill that empty void in their lives with "things." They even try good works, morality, and religion. Yet they remain empty, for only God, through His Son, can fill that emptiness.
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” ~ Proverbs 14:12
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." ~ Romans 6:23
Our Problem is that sin separated us from God. But
God provided only ONE SOLUTION
- God’s Solution
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God has provided only one solution to sin and separation from Himself.
Jesus Christ, His Son, is the only way to God.
Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin and rebellion against God and bridged the gap between God and humanity by dying on the cross, shedding His blood, and rising from the dead to justify and reconcile you back to God the Father.
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." ~ 1Peter 3:18
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." ~ Romans 5:8
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." ~ Ephesians 2:8,9
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" ~ 1Timothy 2:5
Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. “~ John 14:6
God so loved us that he gave his only Son to bridge the gap between us and the Father. God has provided the only way, the only solution. You have to take a decision and choose how to respond to God’s provision.
- Our Response
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Your relationship with God can be restored and you can be brought back into his family by trusting in Christ alone who can save your life from destruction. Jesus is the bridge to the Father but you have to choose to trust him, you have to make a step forward him, you have to step out in faith and give your life to God. At the Cross you can exchange your worst for Jesus’ best.
This step happens by asking Jesus Christ to take away your sin and to come into your heart to be your Lord and Savior.
The Bible says...
"That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." ~ Romans 10:9"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." ~ John 1:12
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." ~ Revelation 3:20
Would you like to invite Jesus to be part of your life, to be your Lord and Savior now? You can start a new life with him. It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, what you did in the past. When you give your life to Jesus you can start all over again. With Jesus you can have a new chance again.
- Receive Christ
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If you too need Jesus to give you a new start, if you realized that Jesus is all you need then here is how you can receive Christ:
Admit your need (I am a sinner).
Be willing to turn from your sins (repent).
Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the Cross and rose from the grave.
Through prayer, invite Jesus Christ to come in and control your life through the Holy Spirit. (Receive Him as Lord and Savior.)At this moment you can pray the most important prayer of your life by simply saying:
Dear Lord Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God. I believe you died for me on the cross and shed Your blood for my salvation. I believe you rose from the dead and ascended in Heaven. I believe You are coming back again to earth. Dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. Forgive my sins. Cleanse me now with Your precious blood. I want to turn from sins. I invite you to come into my heart. I give you my life now. I want to trust and follow You as Lord and Savior. I receive You now as my Savior, my Lord, and my God. I am Yours forever, I belong to You only. I no longer belong to this world, nor to the enemy of my soul. Amen!
If you sincerely prayed this prayer, confessed your sins, and received Jesus Christ into your heart, God has given you the right to become His child.
The Bible gives you this assurance:
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ~ Romans 10:13"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." ~ Ephesians 2:8,9
This is just the beginning of a wonderful new life in Christ. If you have just received Jesus Christ into your life, we want to rejoice with you. Click here to send us your salvation praise report.
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Books I Read
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Outlive Your Life: You Were Made to Make A Difference By Max Lucado |
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The Purpose Driven Life, Softcover By Rick Warren |
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The Hole in Our Gospel - Limited Editon By Richard Stearns |
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The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living as if He Doesn't Exist By Craig Groeschel |
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