Category: forgiveness

A Life with Evidence

If you were to go to court for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you? What are the evidences that would convict you of being a Christian? Often people want to know how to know for sure that they are a Christian, in other words, what are the evidences or how can you know for sure. Great question and the Lord says that we can know without a doubt.

I John 5:10-13 The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for their sins and rose again that they might have eternal life in born again and comes into the life of Christ and the life of Christ comes into Him through the Holy Spirit. If you have received the Holy Spirit through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ then you can know that you have eternal life. He who has the Son has the life and he who does not have Jesus Christ does not have the life.

Romans 8:The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,

The Holy Spirit whom you receive when you become a Christian dwells in you and He will give life to your mortal body. Just as the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, He also will raise you from the dead.

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

If you are a Christian then you will want to do what is right. You may not always know what is right but you want to please the One who died and lives again for you, Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. Also, you will want to be with Christians and you will want to love them. If you still want to be with your nonChristian friends more than your new Christian friends then you need to question whether you are a Christian.

I john 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

When you do what is wrong you not only grieve the Holy Spirit but you also are grieved because you love Him. If it does not bother you to sin, then again, you need to ask yourself if you really have been born again.

Ephesians 4:30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

You will have a hunger for the Word of God. Just as a baby that is born into this world will cry for food and will continue to cry until the baby is fed, so you too, if you have become a Christian then you will long for the Word of God. Hunger is a sign of life. If there is not a hunger for the Word of God then you need to ask yourself if you have really tasted the kindness of the Lord and that the life of Christ in you.

I Peter 2:2,3 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

You will want to become like Jesus Christ. You will be willing to suffer for His name sake as well as desiring to experience all the fullness of His blessings and the riches that are ours in Christ. Your hope will be fixed on Him and on Him alone.

I John 3:2,3 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

Let us therefore, if we belong to Him, “run with endurance the race that is set before us fixing our eyes on Jesus”. Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame for the joy set before Him.

Hebrews 12:1,2 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We too will be filled with great joy if we endure to the end. The Lord says that those who endure to the end will be saved.

Hebrews 10:36-39 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while,
He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

If you belong to Him then you are blessed. May you also bless the Lord by bringing Him great pleasure. Don’t shrink back. Even when it gets hard look to Him and He will strengthen you. Stay in His Word. Nourish your spirit. Ask Christians to pray for you. The Lord never said that it would be easy but He did say that it will be worth it. Keep praying that you may not enter into temptation but that you may be faithful to the end. He is coming and He will not delay.

A Life that Forgives

There are certain commands that carry much greater weight than others and the command to forgive seems to be one of the most important. A lack of forgiveness brings about one of the worse consequences that is mentioned in the Bible. The Lord said that if you do not forgive others then your sins will not be forgiven you.

Matthew 5:14,15 For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

Forgiveness also brings a great blessing from the Lord because He says that if you forgive others then your sins will be forgiven you. We are all sinners who have sinned greatly against the Lord and we desperately need forgiveness from God, the Father. In the same way, we need to desperately forgive others of their sins. You receive what you give away and what you withhold will be withheld from you.

Mark 11:25,26 Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”

The meaning of evil is to cause grief. It is hard to forgive when someone has caused us grief and especially great grief. However, when we see what a great debt that we have toward the Lord and the great grief that we have caused Him then we lean more toward forgiving. However, forgiving is impossible apart from the Lord. He has given you forgiveness and this is the forgiveness that you offer to others. Jesus has forgiven you and Jesus has forgiven them. We can only forgive by the power of the Holy Spirit.

John 20:22,23 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

We forgive by faith, in the power of the Holy Spirit in obedience to Him, not by feeling. Our flesh will never want to forgive and does not have the power to do so.

Romans 8:6-8 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

When you forgive then the Lord releases you from the bitterness and resentment of unforgiveness. You actually are the one who is set free. The person does not have to even be aware of their wrong towards you and they do not have to be sorry for what they did. If they are sorry and repentant then that is wonderful but it is not a prerequisite to you forgiving them. Healing for you comes after forgiveness. There is no pain so great that the Lord can not heal but first you must forgive. He does not hold your sin against you because He has forgiven you. Forgiveness is the promise never to bring it up again. How many times are we to forgive? That is a great question and Jesus answered it for us.

Matthew 18:21,22 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Forgiveness is so important that the Lord told a parable about forgiveness to allow His hearers to understand more clearly what He was saying about forgiveness.

Matthew 18:23-35 For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. A day of accounting is coming and it will be too late to settle your accounts with your fellow man. For this reason it is of utmost importance to “keep your accounts up to date”. God declared the man wicked in this story because of his unwillingness to forgive someone else and therefore all of this wicked person’s sins were still on his account and were not wiped out and forgiven. Forgiveness is a matter of the will. It is letting it go and giving it to the Lord. You can’t, He never said you could, He can, He always said He would. Give the matter to the Lord and He will forgive that person through you by the power of His Holy Spirit. As long as you have unforgiveness in your heart then you are in a prison. However, you can settle the account with that person who owes you through your forgiveness by forgiving him. It is after this that you will be released from your prison.

Luke 7:47,48 For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”  Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

Did Jesus offer forgiveness to you? Yes, He did. Go and do likewise that you too may hear the words, “Your sins have been forgiven”.  Forgiveness begins with the prayer, “Lord, I forgive _________. Please forgive me of my unforgiveness and by faith I have forgiven _________. Then you will love much because you too will see how great a debt that you were forgiven by our Lord. Your slate will be wiped clean. You may have to forgive over and over again because the devil might continue to bring it up again but the devil hates to see you forgive and call on the Lord so he will quit bringing it up to you. It is hard to believe when you are in the pain but healing will come and the Lord will truly make something beautiful our of your life.

 

 

A Life of Praise

You worship what you praise and you praise what you worship. There is only One who is worthy of all praise and He is to be our praise.

Revelation 4:11 Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

When you praise Him then it is becoming and truly makes you beautiful. This is the meaning of true beauty. If you want to be beautiful then learn to praise the Lord.

Psalm 33:1 Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones;
Praise is becoming to the upright.

A heart full of joy will make a cheerful face. Your smile is beautiful to the Lord and to others.

Proverbs 15:13 A joyful heart makes a cheerful face,
But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.

There is none like Him.

Exodus 15:11 “Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in  praises, working wonders?

Has He shown you His favor? Has He poured out His anger on Jesus so that you would not be the recipient of His wrath? Praise Him!

Psalm 30:4,5 Sing praise to the Lord, you His godly ones,
And give thanks to His holy name.
For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

Has His Word been precious to you? Has the Gospel been the power of salvation to you when you believed? Praise Him!

Psalm 56:10 In God, whose word I praise,
In the Lord, whose word I praise,

Are you praising Him to the next generation? Are you telling them the praises of the Lord and His strength and all of the wonderful works that He has done? Is the Lord the only explanation for your life? He should be and if He is then let others know and praise Him.

Psalm 78:4 We will not conceal them from their children,
But tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,
And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.

Has He brought up your soul from the pit of depression and discouragement? Then praise Him.

Psalm 30:3 O Lord, You have brought up my soul from Sheol;
You have kept me alive, that I would not go down to the pit.

If He has saved you and redeemed your life and paid your ransom then praise Him. If He has rescued you and set your feet on a firm place then praise Him. If He has allowed you to know Him in His goodness and lovingkindness then praise Him. If you are His child then praise Him!

Psalm 107:2,3 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary
And gathered from the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.

He has gathered us from all over that we might be a people for His glory and that we might give praise to Him. Let us say so!

A Life that is Not Timid

Three times in Scripture the Lord talks about the timid and timidity and uses the same Greek word. The first time is in the Gospels when He was with His disciples and He rebuked them for being timid. He reproved them doubting His love.

Mark 4:36-40 Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you cowardly? Do you still have no faith?”

The word cowardly in this passage has the meaning of being timid. He reproved them because they questioned whether He cared about them during the storm in their lives. The Lord does not reprove us for being afraid but He does reprove us for doubting His love when we are afraid. He wants you to by faith, trust Him and His love for you then He wants you to come to Him so that He can calm the storms in your life. Has He not promised to care for you and He loves you.

I Peter 5:6,7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

It is more tempting to doubt His love than to doubt His power. Martha and Mary did not doubt His love but His power when their brother died. 

John 11:21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

Again, if He had been there the situation would not have happened.

John 11:32Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Often we do not come to Him because we feel that He really does not care about us in our situation.

II Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

The Lord says that He has not given us a spirit of timidity. He wants us to come to Him to receive power to face the storms that He will still. He wants us to love Him and loving Him is coming to Him with our fears. He wants us to be disciplined in our relationship with Him and give Him our cares and concerns every morning before we face the day.

Revelation 21:7,8 He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

The word here “cowardly” in the book of Revelation means the same as timid. In all three of these instances in Scripture it is the same Greek word, which means timid or cowardly or afraid. The second death is hell. These are the cowards, timid and those who are afraid to come to Him. Sin and unbelief causes us to not go to Him.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Grace is an invitation to come to Him and faith is coming to Him. Salvation is the gift He gives to those who come to Him. His salvation includes not only eternal salvation in the life to come but saving us from the storms in this present life, .

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Are you struggling with storms in life? Go to Him and experience His rest for your soul in this present life. Are you struggling with sin and guilt? Go to Him and experience His forgiveness and cleansing. He loves you and cares about the things that concern you, whether it is an outward storm or an inward storm. Jesus is our salvation and came to save us.

 

A Life that Is Forgiven and Free

There is one thing that man can not live with and that is guilt. The Lord never intended man to live with guilt and when sin came into the world then guilt came also. The Lord made a provision for man’s guilt through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He died for the world that all who believe in Him may receive forgiveness of all of their sin. This word sin is all encompassing of everything that each person has done wrong that has brought guilt upon him. Jesus took our guilt as well as our sin. We are forgiven if we have received the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

John 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

All of us have believed the lies of the devil and have taken refuge in those lies. Those lies have led to our destruction and our sorrow.

Isaiah 28:16,17 Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be disturbed.
“I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And the waters will overflow the secret place.

The devil is a destroyer and his goal is to destroy your life and to have you experience sin, guilt and ultimately death. Jesus came to give us life.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

The devil destroys us through lies and when we are deceived we believe the lies. They may seem appealing at first but the end is death.

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.

Death to the soul is the guilt, sorrow, grief, regret, sadness, depression and despair that we experience through believing and acting on the lies of the devil, thinking that it is the right thing to do. We have taken the bait of the devil and been deceived through our own desires and brought about our own death. Death to the body is not the end but only the door into eternity. Those who have believed and received Jesus, the Lamb of God, will go into heaven and those who continued to go their own way and never turned from their sin to the Lord, these will go into hell.

Hebrews 9:27,28 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

God will judge everyone first and foremost on what they did with Jesus Christ…either receiving Him or rejecting Him. This judgment will be just because God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for the world.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

We must be ready for the moment we see the Lord for we do not know what hour or day that will come. The only way that we can be prepared is to be right with God and this only comes through Jesus Christ. He is the only way to God.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

The Lord says that today is the day of salvation. Once you receive Him then He gives you a new life in Him and sets you free from the lies of the devil and the sins that once controlled you. He sets you free to live the life that He designed for you. His plans for you are to live a good life and a blessed life, free of guilt as you allow Him to be your Lord and Savior.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

 

 

 

A Life that is Faithful

At the end of your life there will only be one thing that matters and that is God’s judgment of you. What will you hear Him say? It will not matter how pretty you were, how much money you had, whether you came from a well off family or from a family that struggled to make ends meet. It will not matter if you had two parents or one parent or no parents around. It will not matter what others thought of you, whether you were “accepted” or not. There is only One who will determine if you are accepted and what He will say to you will echo in your ears for all of eternity.

Matthew 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

What is His will? What will he be looking for in you?

John 6:40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Very simply, God’s will is that you believe in Jesus Christ who He sent into the world to save you from your sin…to die for you, to be raised from the dead and to ascend into heaven.

John 6:39 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.

Now this belief is not merely an intellectual belief. You can look at a chair and believe that it will not fall apart if you sit in it but it is not until you actually sit in the chair do you believe that it will hold you up. In the same way, you can believe in Jesus but if you are not reading His Word and doing what He says to do then you are only giving intellectual assent to his claims. You are believing with your mind but not with your heart. Those who will come to him on the last day and say, “Lord, Lord” and He rejects them did not believe with their heart but only with their mind.

Matthew 7:22,23 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

They did not obey.

A Life that Is Not Judged Unworthy

The Bible says that we are the ones who judge ourselves. We can judge ourselves unworthy of the blessings of God and even judge ourselves to be unworthy of eternal life. Maybe on the great Judgment Day, the Lord will only be agreeing with the judgment that we ourselves have already pronounced over our lives.

Acts 13:46a Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life,

The hearers to whom Paul and Barnabas were sharing the word of God, repudiated the word of God and thereby judged themselves to be unworthy of eternal life. Repudiate means to “refuse to accept or be associated with” or “deny the truth or validity of”. They were rejecting the word of God and did not want to hear it. When we repudiate the word of God in any area in which He speaks then we are also judging ourselves to be unworthy of the blessing in that area of our lives. For example, if we repudiate what His Word says in the matter of marriage then we are judging ourselves to be unworthy of the blessings of the gift of marriage as He has designed, which is for the husband to love the wife and the wife to respect the husband and the oneness in marriage that God designed. His ways are perfect and marriage as He intended was meant to be a taste of heaven and the sweetest, most loving and harmonious relationship on earth.

Acts 7:39 Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt,

When we repudiate the Lord, which is the same as repudiating His Word, we are unwilling to be obedient to Him. When we repudiate Him and His Word then it leads us back to slavery again. Egypt was when God’s people were enslaved. Obedience to God’s Word makes us free.

John 8:31,32 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

It is when we love the Lord and His Word and are obedient to Him and what He says that we experience the blessings of God and the freedom for which He designed. Blessing means happiness. The Lord wants to bless you. He does not want you to be sad and enslaved.

Galatians 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

You will find that when you love the Lord and love His Word that you have great peace and great blessing.

Psalm 119:165 Those who love Your law have great peace,
And nothing causes them to stumble.

 

A Life Whose Debt is Canceled

We owe a debt we can not pay and there is One who paid a debt He did not owe. We were helpless and at the right time, our debt was paid and our certificate of death was canceled.

Romans 5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

When Jesus Christ came and became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, He became our substitute and took the punishment that we deserved and paid the debt that we owed. Death was what we had earned by going our own way and doing our own thing. We wanted to rule our own lives rather than have the One who made us and created us to be in relationship with Him, to rule us. Sin is wanting to be your own god and the outcome is death spiritually, death to our soul and the death of our body.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Wages is what we deserve but a gift is what we do not deserve and have not done anything to work for it. We earned and deserved death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. When He becomes our Lord then we receive the gift of eternal life and with the gift of life comes the cancellation of the certificate of death.

Isaiah 28:16-18a Therefore thus says the Lord God,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.
He who believes will not be disturbed.
“I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
 “Your covenant with death will be canceled,

When we become a Christian then our eyes are opened to the lies that we took comfort in and the secret places of our heart where our sins dwell. Jesus is the foundation and that Cornerstone God sent on which He will build His church. Those who believe in Him will not be disappointed but those who do not believe and are disobedient to His Word will stumble over the rock of Christ and experience doom.

I Peter 2:6-8 For this is contained in Scripture:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone,
And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,

“The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the very cornerstone,”and,

“A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”;

for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

Those who believe in Him, not only do they receive life and their certificate of death is canceled but the accusations and certificate consisting of decrees against them is canceled. He nailed it to the cross. The certificate of decrees against you are all of the sins that you have ever committed or will ever commit. Everything that you have ever done wrong is recorded and that record was nailed to the cross. (Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, the record of all of their sins will be read on Judgment Day and they will have to pay their own debt for their sins.)

Colossians 2:13,14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

When you were dead in your sins, Christ died for you, and made you alive together with Him. He has forgiven you of all of your wrongdoings. Because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and lives, you also became alive and will be raised from the dead and will live forever with Him IF you have received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and the gift of eternal life in Him. The gift is offered to all but only given to those who will receive it. For God so loved everyone in the world that He gave His Son.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

You must call on the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior to receive Christ into your life and be saved. When He saves you then He also forgives you and gives you the gift of eternal life.

Romans 10:11-13 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

He who has Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has the life. He who does not have Christ does not have the life. These things have been written for you who believe in Jesus Christ in order that you may know that you have eternal life. Your debt of sin and certificate of death is canceled forever.

I John 5:12,13 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

 

 

 

A Life that is Forgiven

The Bible says that the one who is forgiven is blessed. How sweet it is to know that you are forgiven for everything that you have done. There is no sin that is too great for God’s forgiveness. How easy it is to ask the Lord to forgive you over and over again. However, His forgiveness is complete and we only need to ask once.

Psalm 32:1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!

Not only will He forgive you but He removes the guilt of your sin.

Psalm 32:5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”;
And You forgave the guilt of my sin.

However, you must confess your sin to Him and ask Him to forgive you. Don’t minimize your sins or hide them.

Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

Your sins have offended Him because He can not look upon evil. He is a holy God.

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

The Lord is compassionate and wants to forgive you. He wants you to return to Him. Remember when you were a child and you used to love to hear about the Lord and you wanted to come to Him. Return to Him and He will come to you.

II Chronicles 30:9 For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

He is waiting for you and wants to forgive you and cleanse you.

I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Jesus Christ died for your sins. He died once for all of your sins. He died for you so that He might bring you to God.

I Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

If you are still struggling with your sins then either you have never surrendered to Him or you are living in defeat. He took the punishment for your sins so that you could become spiritually alive. If there are doubts about your salvation then tell Him and ask Him to come into your life if He is not already there. He will make Himself known to you. When you become a Christian you become born again spiritually and then you become alive to God. What it means is that you can not continue on the same path of sin that you were on before. He forgives you, cleanses you, gives you a new life and changes your path.

II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

As you learn to walk with Him then you will learn to have fellowship with other Christians.

I John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses  us from all sin.

Don’t let the devil weigh you down with guilt. People who do experience God’s forgiveness will often make poor decisions due to the effects of their sins.

II Timothy 3:6 …weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,

He offers everyone forgiveness. God so loved the world that he sent His Son to die for all of our sins. It is a gift but we must receive it. If you are not a Christian yet then come to Him and get it settled. If you are a Christian who is still struggling with sins then come to Him also for cleansing and forgiveness. Confess your sins and experience His forgiveness. The Bible says that in the same way that you received Christ, which was by faith, then learn to walk with Him by faith and that requires a continual confessing and cleansing. We all mess up and sin but He forgives. How blessed is the one who sin is forgiven and whose guilt is removed.

 

 

 

A Life that is Moral

Morality and immorality are opposites. Immorality is exchanging eternal values for  temporal values. Esau was immoral by trading his birthright for a meal. His birthright was his so why was his action immoral? His birthright was what had eternal value and the meal had temporal value.

Hebrews 12:16 that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal.

If we do not wait for God’s timing then we are also godless. Esau would have gotten some food but he could not wait.

Isaiah 64:4 For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear,
Nor has the eye seen a God besides You,
Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.

The Lord has far more for you than what you can see or have heard of if you will only wait for Him.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

He can even do more than what you can think of if you will only trust Him and wait for Him.

James 1:16,17 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Do not be deceived and listen to the lies of the devil that come out of the world or that even come into your thoughts. The Lord wants to give you good things and perfect gifts.

Isaiah 55:8,9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Learn to think His thoughts and learn His ways. His thoughts are revealed to us in His Word and that is also how we learn His ways. He has given His Word to us. It is His revelation of who He is. It is the only way that we know the only true God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us through Jesus Christ.

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

He wants to teach us His ways and He wants us to observe His Words, by observing He means to study, know and obey them.

Psalm 25:4 Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.

Are you thinking His thoughts and learning His ways. It is a lifelong process and the more we know His ways then the more we will know Him and experience His good gifts. That is why the Lord says over and over again in His Word that the ones who keep His commandments and follow His ways are blessed. Morality is keeping His ways and being obedient to His Words, which are eternal values. Immorality is doing what you want to do and satisfying your flesh, which are temporal values.