DYSMAS CONDUIT
FREE FOOD
(Isa 55:1)
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2010
Question for the day: What do I do when I don’t feel forgiven?
What can we pray with YOU about today?
Good morning,
This is just a reminder that every day, while we are studying God’s Word to add to our website, someone from our ministry, Dysmas Conduit, is holding you up before the Lord in prayer. May He greatly bless you today as you pursue His will and He is glorified through you.
God’s blessings, our love,
George & Sidney Granger
CURRENT PRAYER REQUESTS:
Please pray for my sister Lou Ann's friend Jackie Diehl's family. I have copied her post from Facebook below.
For those of you that believe in prayer... I need prayers for my grandnephew Gabriel who is hospitalized in
WE BELIEVE IN PRAYER WITH ALL OUR HEARTS.
Thank you prayer warriors. --Carolyn Young
I am Carolyn Young's brother-in-law and I am asking for prayers for her. She has just been admitted to the hospital in
Please pray for Mike and Sandy Brommer as they spread the Lord’s Seed and witness to His glory while on the road today. Please pray also that the Lord will lead them to Kingdom-profitable loads to carry, and that He grants them safe passage today.
Please continue to pray for Billy Hamburg. He had another surgery and two more tumors were discovered. Discussion is forthcoming concerning bladder removal. Please pray for the Lord’s Hand to help him overcome his anxiety as well as the cancer.
The following is in response to a saint who struggles with feeling forgiven for some things that have happened in their past. Please keep CH in your prayers, that s/he may experience the joy and relief if a life unstained, having been cleansed by the Blood of Christ Jesus.
A word of encouragement for today
“Blessed are the pure in heart:
for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8
You may read this and wonder if you fit the description.
You've read about forgiveness in the Bible. And, in your mind, you know your sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus. But, there may still be a part of you that carries the shame and guilt of past transgressions. Memories of a former life are what Satan uses to torment and haunt you.
Satan does not want you to feel forgiven.
Why?
It is because as long as you feel dirty and ashamed, like Adam and Eve in the garden, you will hide yourself from God.
As long as the devil can convince you that you are still carrying your former sins, you will feel unworthy to even step in the presence of your God Who loves you.
Yes, you used to have spots on your spiritual record. But Satan no longer has the right to put you on trial for any of them!
“...Then God made you alive with Christ,
for he forgave all our sins.
He canceled the record of the charges against us
and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities.
He shamed them publicly
by his victory over them
on the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-15 (NLT)
God has forgiven you. Whether you feel forgiven or not does not matter. You have been set free from God's condemnation. Now, you must set yourself free from your own.
“THEREFORE,
[there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong)
for those who are in Christ Jesus,
...For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus
[the law of our new being]
has freed me from the law of sin and of death.”
Romans 8:1-2 (AMP)
Man might look at your outward appearances and deeds, but God is looking at your heart (1 Samuel 16:7). If you have given your heart over to Him, you love Him, and your desire is to truly follow Him, then He Himself has purified your heart.
That does not make you perfect. But, it does mean that, if you make a mistake, Jesus died so that you could repent, and move on.
Now, repentance does not simply mean asking for God's forgiveness. A mature Christian knows that repentance is an attitude of the heart. You have a heart that aches when you grieve your Father in heaven. An attitude where you want no part of anything counter to God's perfect will and desires for you.
Even more, with maturity comes the understanding that you alone do not have the power to resist sin. You must regularly take yourself before the Throne of God and pray to receive strength not to fall into the same traps over and over again.
A mature Christian knows that, they are not saved by their own works, but by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8,9). Whether they feel pure of heart or not is insignificant. They know it says they are forgiven in the Bible. And They are not moved by their feeling or emotions. They are only moved by the Word of God, and who He says they are.
When the people were ready and anxious to stone the adulterous woman, He told the person without sin to throw the first rock at her. But, of course, none of them fit that description, but Jesus – The one she had truly sinned against.
When He was the last one left there standing, He told her to go and sin no more (John 8:4-11). He showed her His mercy that day. Much like He showed it to you the day that you accepted Him as your Lord.
Now, you have been forgiven.
But, are you like the servant who begged his king to forgive his huge debt, but refused to have mercy upon the one who owed him much less (Matthew 18:23-35).
Or, like your Father in heaven, do you know how to forgive?
We have been forgiven to forgive.
“Blessed are the merciful:
for they shall obtain mercy.”
Matthew 5:7
We all want to obtain mercy from God.. for Him to overlook our mistakes and cover our slip-ups in the blood of Jesus. But are we willing to do the same for others?
I once heard that when people look at others, they see the mistakes that they make. When they look at themselves, they see the good intentions that they had.
Have you ever fallen into that trap before? I know I have.
But, even when we read the Lord’s Prayer, we were told to pray for God to forgive our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE those who have trespassed against us.
Notice that, just like in the Beatitudes, our own forgiveness here is conditional upon whether we are willing to forgive others.
How to Forgive the Unforgivable
What about when someone does the unthinkable? Aren't some things just unforgivable? I know a lot about harboring unforgiveness in my heart. One lie cost me almost thirteen years of my life.
I don't know if you have ever experienced a wrong so deep that, no matter how much you tried by yourself, you could not let go of the fury building inside of you.
But, the saying is true. Hate is like taking a poisonous drug, and hoping someone else will die.
In the end, it will only hurt you and your relationship with God.
If you do not forgive your offenders, then God tells us that He cannot fully forgive you.
Being merciful will open up the door for God to work in every area of your life.
So, how do you forgive the unforgivable? You begin to pray. Not just for yourself, but also for them.
“But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
Matthew 5:44
Why? Jesus Himself says being able to show true mercy to those who do not deserve it is the real sign that you are developing into a spiritually mature Christian.
“But I tell you,
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven;
...For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have?
...what more than others are you doing?
Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that?
You, therefore, must be perfect
[growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character,
having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity,
as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:44-48 (AMP)
When you pray for your enemies, God begins to show you the pains in the offender's heart that led them to their actions. As He heals the pain inside of you, you begin to understand that this person is not really the enemy. They are just a pawn used by your Father's enemy, Satan, to hurt one of His children.
As you mature in Christ, you realize that the real battle is not of flesh and blood… and that the battle is not really you are equipped to fight.
Are there areas in your own life where you still feel tormented by past sins, or even recent slips? Write them all down on a piece of paper. Fold the paper in half, and pray over it. Take them to God's throne and ask God one last time to take them away. Ask Him for the strength not to fall back into them, but to release them forever. Then, believe that He has answered your prayer. And destroy the paper. Rip it up. Shred it. Burn it. Flush it. Just be rid of it forever!
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