Category Archives: Forgiveness

Forgive Us This Day??? Bible Ballistics: BBs #422

28 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by in Abundant Life In Jesus, Confidence, Forgiveness, Jesus Is The Only Way!, My Grace Is Sufficient, SIN, The Only Way, The Word, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done

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Bible Ballistics: BBs #422  Forgive Us This Day???

 

As we approach a new year, I want to do a little “house-cleaning” for the soul and I invite you to join me. One of the things that tend to hide from our view is unforgiveness, and it is a killer—it kills our joy, our peace, and our ability to obediently go forward with Jesus.

In the ‘Model Prayer’ Jesus reveals the import of forgiveness to every believer.

“After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

in earth,

as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day

our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory,

for ever.

Amen.”   Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus calls us to forgive, not just because He ‘says so’, but because we are ever seeking God’s forgiveness! How can we claim to be children of God, who are forgiven, yet withhold forgiveness from those who have offended us? What sin could I justly fail to forgive others of that would be equal to or greater than the sin that God has forgiven me of? There is none! But so often we look at our own sin through those “rose-colored glasses”, rather than seeing sin as God sees it. We can incur God’s judgment and discipline in our lives when we hold others to a different standard than ourselves. So just a simple reminder for us all today, God has called us to judge rightly or not at all.

“Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matthew 7:1-2

Without getting into the great debate, Jesus doesn’t call us to ‘never’ judge, but to judge with right judgment. And the place where that must begin is with “me”.

“For if we would judge ourselves,

we should not be judged.

32 But when we are judged,

we are chastened of the Lord,

that we should not be condemned

with the world.”    1 Corinthians 11:31-32

Another thing that we learn from the Apostle Paul is that we should always recognize that our sin debt was immeasurable; we can never save ourselves—for we truly are ‘sinners’ saved by God’s grace and the blood of Jesus.

“And the grace of our Lord

was exceeding abundant

with faith

and love

which is in Christ Jesus.

15 This is a faithful saying,

and worthy of all acceptation,

that Christ Jesus came into the world

to save sinners;

of whom I am chief.”     1 Timothy 1:14-15

Jesus came “to save sinners; of whom I am chief”, and praise God He did!!! I am surely glad that He has forgiven me! How about you? Are you holding others to a higher standard than you think God holds you too? Or are you judging rightly, and extending to others the grace and forgiveness, which you have received? One of my favorite verses, which I still have to remind myself of, says it all:

“Let no corrupt communication

proceed out of your mouth,

but that which is good

to the use of edifying,

that it may minister grace

unto the hearers.

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,

whereby ye are sealed

unto the day of redemption.

31 Let all bitterness,

and wrath, and anger,

and clamour, and evil speaking,

be put away from you,

with all malice:

32 And be ye kind

tenderhearted,

forgiving one another,

even as God

for Christ’s sake

hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:29-32

I’m to guard my heart, guard my mouth, bringing no grief to The Holy Spirit, as I refuse the wrong and cling to the right, “kindly” forgiving others because I AM forgiven!

Amen and Amen!!!

Confession & Rain??? Bible Ballistics: BBs #415

29 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by in Confidence, Forgiveness, I Will Never Leave You, Jesus Is The Only Way!, SIN, Walking With Jesus

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Bible Ballistics: BBs #415 Confession & Rain???

 

Confession? A seemingly strange thing for us to be discussing this week but I couldn’t help think about the similarity between the two. Confession is an interesting thing. The Biblical word for “confess/confession/confessing” means “to agree with…..or acknowledge….”. That is where I’d like us to camp out this week, so to speak.

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

John reminds us that we can be forgiven, but it requires a simple thing called ‘confess’ion. But what does it mean to confess our sins? Simply, it means that we “agree” with God that sin is sin, or acknowledge our own sin. If we never see our sin, we can never ‘agree’ with God that it is sin, we will never confess it as sin, and we will never receive the ‘forgiveness’ of God.

Why is that important? It is imperative because without forgiveness of our sin, we can never be one with God.

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:” Colossians 1:12-14

Forgiveness of sin is one of the themes that runs through the book of Acts. Let’s look at some things we learn from Acts.

“Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” Acts 5:31  

“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:” Acts 13:38

“To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” Acts 26:18

All of these verses remind us that Jesus came to “..save his people from their sins…” (See Matt. 1:21). They remind us that only the cross provides forgiveness of our sins, and only through the blood of Jesus. The cross IS the emblem of God’s salvation, for only “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (See 1 John 1:7); The Lamb of God, who “….loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,”. (See Revelation 1:5) Oh, how grateful I am for that wonderful blood of Jesus. As the old song says, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus”!!! Praise His name for that.

But do we need to confess only once? Let me share 1 John 1:9 in a different format:

“If (conditional: I have a choice)—

we confess (agree with God) –

our sins (PLURAL—sinS. Not other’s sinS, but MINE)-

HE is faithful (He is true and right toward me no matter how I am)–

and just ( he is legally right because HE has paid the price for sin)–

to forgive us (release from the penalty due for sin)–

our sins (for each and every sin—my sinS)–

and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (he not only forgives me but cleanses me from all the sins I confess to HIM—remembering to agree with HIM that it is sin).

IF we confess: not just to be saved, not just once in a while, but every day, every time—each and every time I sin.

But what about rain? Well, living in Oklahoma, we know about drought; about times when it doesn’t rain; times when things get brown, times when things die from the lack of moisture. And it can be the same in our spiritual lives when we go without regularly examining ourselves and confessing our sin to our Father. He wants to hear from us, and while He already knows what’s going on anyway, He wants to hear from us and know we desire His love and forgiveness. He is there—He is here—and He always will be.

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Hebrews 13:5-6

When we walk with God…

When we learn to lean on Him….

When we learn the art of contentment ……

When we stop wanting all those things that we “DON’T” have….

When we “confess” our sins…..

Then the rain of God’s presence, power and purifying fire will keep us lively, and growing like the grass that has the continual rain upon it. Without rain all things will eventually die. Without keeping a short list of sin, our relationship with God will suffer the ravages of drought.

We won’t have His intimate presence–

We won’t have His life sustaining power–

And we won’t have real confidence that knows—

“…. that we may boldly say,

The Lord is my helper,

and I will not fear

what man shall do unto me.”  

May we keep our lead-time short by, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”? May we let the rain of confession make our walk abundantly bountiful toward God, His kingdom, and the world? Then the world will see Jesus in us, and be drawn to His love, and forgiveness and cleansing. Let’s be God’s water for those around us today!

“For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:”    Isaiah 55:11