Monday 4/16 ~ Are you strong enough to forgive?

The scripture for today, April 16 (4/16), is Hebrews 4:16 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Stephen-Cover-Kindle-Thumbnail“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Anyone who has lived very long has committed some sin they hope no one ever finds out about. Some people have committed many such sins. Sometimes because of that one “big” sin or the constant repetition of a particular sin, do you punish yourself by putting words in God’s mouth? Do you say, “God could never forgive me for that”? Perhaps you can never forgive yourself, but God is greater than you.

Jesus told Peter we must forgive our brothers 70 times 7. If kept literally, that would mean we’d have to forgive the same sin 490 times. It is figurative for forgiving all the time. 1st Corinthians 13, the “love chapter” of the Bible, says, “Love…keeps no record of wrongs.” That means not holding grudges.

In addition to forgiving yourself and others, can you reach out to help people who cannot forgive themselves? Are you strong enough to imitate God? Are you strong enough to find enough mercy and grace in your heart to forgive?

Scripture for Wednesday, July 19 (7/19)

The scripture for today, July 19 (7/19) is found in Romans 7:19 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do ~ this I keep on doing.”

Doesn’t this pretty much describe all of us in some area of our life?  It may be eating too much, breaking the law by going over the speed limit, laughing at dirty jokes, habitual lying, stealing “little things” at work, cheating on tests, jealousy ~ any number of things. Sins of habit and attitude are hard to break. So, we go to God over and over asking him to forgive that which, deep down, we know we’re going to do again.

Perhaps this emphasizes the importance of us forgiving others who habitually do wrong to us. If we say, “I’m not going to forgive you anymore. You’ve done this to me too many times,” then God is likely to say the same thing to us.

Jesus said, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” (Matthew 6:14).

Satan wants us to quit trying to do better. And he wants us to quit forgiving each other. Let us not give in to Satan. Let us give in to God.

God’s way leads to ultimate forgiveness.

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#forgiveness, #grace, #mercy, #habits, #sins, #insults, #attitudes, #littlethings, #revenge, #Satan

 

Scripture for Wednesday, June 28 (6/28)

The scripture for today, June 28 (6/28), is Luke 6:28f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 7-ShadowOfDeath-Cover-new-Medium“Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” 

There was a book published several years ago entitled, Hurt People Hurt People. There are some people out there who have been hurt and then turn bitter. They lash out at everyone. One method they use is when someone tries to console them over a lost loved one by saying, “I know how you feel.” Then the hurt person lashes out at the other person and says, “You DON’T know how I feel!  How dare you pretend that you do!”

That is a hurt person trying to hurt someone else. It’s as though they are bragging, “My hurt is so amazingly great, any effort on your part to understand is puny and not worthy of the greatness of my hurt.”

How do you react to your pain? Do you run people off? Or do people admire you for your courage? When you feel cursed, do you curse back, or do you bless?

 

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#curse, #bless, #problems, #troubles, #grace, #hurt, #loss

Scripture for Monday, May 1 (5/1)

The scripture for today, May 1, is Romans 5:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Luke-Slave&Physician KINDLE Cover“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Of course, if we do not have faith in Jesus, we will not obey any of his commands. He said in John 15:14, “You are my friends IF you do what I command.”

Some people say we are not saved by works, and this is true in the sense that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and the wages we earn for sinning is soul death (Romans 6:23).

But faith does lead to works. In fact, Jesus himself said that faith/belief itself is a work (John 6:29). And James 2:18 says we prove our faith by works.

Yes, it is a beautiful thing that we are saved by the Grace of God and the Death of Jesus. That was their part. Our part is to believe it, accept it, and actively follow it.

That, too, is beautiful.

 

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#just, #unjust, #holy, #unholy, #faith, #grace, #works, #death, #life, #heaven, #hell, #salvation, #condemed

Scripture for Saturday, February 4 (2/4)

The scripture for today, February 4, is 1st Timothy 2:4 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK EIGHT-COME FLY WITH ME-Cover“[God]…wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

Some people say, “You don’t choose God; God chooses you out of all the other people of the world.” But God wants to choose us all. He wants everyone to be saved. So, in what sense does he choose us?

He is kind of like an employer who is looking for people to fill certain positions. He chooses those who qualify. He doesn’t have to choose anyone. By the employer’s grace, he chooses people to fill certain positions. He doesn’t have to be in business and he doesn’t have to give someone else a job. He could do the work himself. But he chooses to hire help and give them part of his money.

So how do we qualify for God’s grace? We never deserve it; but because God loves us, he asks just a few things to qualify. Believing is just the first step. Read Romans 10 and Acts 2. Those two chapters pretty much sum up what we do to be qualified. Not many things, but they do qualify us if we follow them.

And remember 2nd Peter 3:9 ~ “He [God] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but EVERYONE to come to repentance.”

#SalvationForAll, #Grace, #Saved, #Choosing, #Truth, #Heaven

The scripture for today, March 5, is Titus 3:5 in the New Testament of the Bible:

WORSHIP THE FIRST-CENTURY WAY-COVER-KINDLE

God is perfectly good and cannot dwell with imperfection. How, then, can we ever live with him in his heaven? After all, as hard as we try, we cannot be perfect. But God loved us so much that he solved our dilemma. He sent his Son to live that perfect life that is impossible for us to live.

Then, his perfect “Lamb of God” took our punishment for our sins by paying the fine. Romans 3:23 says the wages of sin is death ~ physical death (separation from this world) and spiritual death ( separation from God). Jesus took all of God’s anger, terrors, rage, fury saved up from the beginning of time and about to burst ~ all hurled down on sin to destroy it. That would have destroyed us, but Jesus took it all for us. And that included being completely separated from God. At the worst of it, Jesus cried out to God, “Why have you FORSAKEN me?” That’s when Jesus died spiritually. It was we who deserved to be forsaken by God.

Sin and its power now destroyed, God said if we do as Jesus did and follow what he said, he will consider us perfect also. Such amazing, amazing love!

And this washing mentioned here. It is interesting that here is the “washing of rebirth”, for in Acts 22:16 it says, “Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins” and in Romans 6:4, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism in order that…we too may live a new life [rebirth].” God took care of the hard part. He gave us the easy part.

The scripture for today, January 3 is 1st Corinthians 1:3 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

REV-Cover-Kindle“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The apostle Paul began most of his letters like this. In every letter he had something to give. When you are around other people, do you have something to give them? Or do you take? Do you give them your favor, no matter how good or bad they may be, or do you take favor from them by withholding compliments and blessings? Do you give them peace, or do you take peace from them by talking about the bad they do?

There is both good and bad in everyone. What do we concentrate on regarding other people? Do we concentrate on their bad traits or do we concentrate on their good traits? First Corinthians 13:5 says love does not keep track of wrongs, but concentrates on the good others do.

Remember, God treats us the way we treat others. If we want to receive grace and peace from God, we must give grace and peace to everyone (not just some) we meet. This, then, will prove we are like God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.