Monthly Archives: April 2013

FORGIVENESS

The Bible instructs us to forgive as the Lord forgave us:

Colossians 3:13

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. NIV

It is not uncommon for Christians to have questions about forgiving. Forgiveness is not very easy for most of us. Our natural desire think self-protection when we’ve been injured. We don’t always act upon mercy, grace and forgiveness when we’ve been wronged.

Is forgiveness a  choice, a physical act involving the will, or a feeling, an emotion? The Bible offers insight and answers to these and many more questions about forgiveness. We’ll take a look at the some asked questions and find out what the Bible says about forgiveness.

What is forgiveness?

Usually, forgiveness is a decision to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. The decision to not what to get even with the one who hurt or offended you . Forgiveness can lessen the  grip on you and help you focus on other, positive areas of your life. Forgiveness can even lead to feelings of understanding, empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you.

Keep in mind, that forgiveness doesn’t mean you deny the other person’s responsibility for hurting you, and it doesn’t minimize or justify the wrong. You can forgive the person without excusing the act. Forgiveness brings a kind of peace that helps you go on with life. Believe me its worth it!

What are your benefits of forgiving someone?

Healthier relationships,  Greater spiritual well being, Less anxiety, stress and hostility,

Lower blood pressure and Fewer symptoms of depression.

Philippians 1:6

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. NLT

How will we know if we have truly forgiven?

Lewis B. Smedes wrote in his book, Forgive and Forget, “When you release the wrongdoer from the wrong, you cut a malignant tumor out of your inner life. You set a prisoner free, but you discover that the real prisoner was yourself.”

Let me mention we will know the work of forgiveness is complete when we experience the freedom that comes as a result. We are the ones who suffer most when we choose not to forgive. When we do forgive, the Lord sets our hearts free from the anger, bitterness,  resentment and hurt that previously imprisoned us.

However, forgiveness is a slow process.

I  alway find prayer is one of the best ways to break down any unforgiveness in my heart. When I  pray for the person who has wronged me, God gives me new eyes to see and care for that person. As I pray, I start to see that person as God sees them, and I realize that he or she is just as precious to the Lord as I am.  I also see myself  just as guilty of sin and failure as the other person. I too am in need of forgiveness. If God did not withhold his forgiveness from me, why should I withhold my forgiveness from another?

What must I do  to be saved we must:

1.) Hear the “good news” (i.e. the gospel) of Jesus Christ(Romans 10:14)

2.) Believe(Hebrews 11:6; Acts 8:37; Mark 16:16; John 8:24)

3.) Repent of our   sins (Luke 13:3,5; Acts 2:38; Acts 17:30; Mark 10:15)

4.) Confess faith in Jesus Christ(Acts 8:36-37; Romans 10:9) {Footnote}

5.) Be baptized (in water) for the forgiveness of sins(Acts 2:37-41; 1Peter 3:21; John 3:3-5; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-8; Colossians 2:12; Galatians 3:26-27; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 8:34-39; Titus 3:5; Ephesians 4:5)

6.) Remain faithful for the rest of our lives and carry our cross daily(Revelation 2:10; Matthew 24:13; Luke 9:23) (What about, “Once saved always saved”?)

Note:    This process of “remaining faithful” consists of striving to develop and let Christ within you. The Holy Spirit will be your guide.

 

Disciples of Jesus

> Disciple means  student, and the disciples were people who chose to follow Jesus and to learn from his teaching. They called him Rabbi, or Teacher. The twelve disciples were followers of Jesus whom he had chosen to become his  group, the people he talked things over with and depended on.  Simon and his brother Andrew were the first disciples Jesus chose. Next Jesus called James and John, then Philip, Nathaniel (also called Bartholomew), Matthew, Thomas, and James, son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, son of James, and Judas Iscariot.  According to the Gospel of John, Andrew and one other of the disciples had first been disciples of John the Baptist.  The disciples were more interested in telling Jesus’ story than in telling their own, but we do know a few things about some of them.  Jesus nicknamed Simon Peter, and the nickname stuck.  Peter, Andrew, James and John were commercial fishermen. They (or their families) owned boats. James and John were the sons of Zebedee, and  John may be the person who wrote the Fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John. Andrew and Philip have Greek names and spoke Greek to the travelers who came from Greece to hear Jesus preach. It is unsure if they had Greek relatives or Greek or Roman educations.  Matthew had been a tax collector, which at the time was a disrespected way of earning a living. Everyone believed tax collecter were totally dishonest. Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot may have been political activists, belonging to some of the many groups that wanted to overthrow the Roman government. The Jews at that time wanted very much to have a Jewish king and Jewish courts that understood their beliefs and the way they observed the religious laws.   We only know Thomas’s nickname: both Thomas in Aramaic and Didymus in Greek mean twin.  What we know for sure about all the disciples is that they all left their livelihoods and commitments to follow Jesus as he traveled around the world, preaching, teaching, and healing.

Read Matthew 9: 35 – 10: 8 ; Mark 3: 13 – 19; Luke 6: 12 – 18 ; John 1: 35 – 42

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God often compares us to an Eagle……just a glimpse to WHY?

Eagles

When the babies are born, both parents assume responsibility for their care. They are gentle parents, sitting on the eggs
for one month. The parents bring food up to the nest and
feed them small pieces of meat. Within 45 days, they
can weigh nearly 40 times their birth weight.

At three months they get special feathers for flying and a
new learning experience begins. The Mother eagle flies into the
nest and begins to thrash around causing a great commotion.

Eventually, one of the babies will fall out of the nest and
will begin heading for the earth below. Never having used
his wings before, he’s not really sure what to do, but
does do a lot of flapping while heading straight down.

But just before the baby eagle hit’s the ground, the Mother
eagle flies underneath in order to catch the baby on her
powerful wings, as she flies him safely back to the nest. This continues on day after day until all the babies learn how to fly

There are two verses in Scripture that actually mention this routine
of the eagle. In

Deuteronomy 32:11, Moses reminds the children of
Israel how God cared for them and guarded them just like an eagle
that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings
to catch them and carries them on its pinions. Again in
Exodus 19:4,
God says that “He will carry the children of Israel on eagles’ wings”.

We can get very comfortable in our nest. Perhaps that can be our
way of doing things, our way of thinking, our opinions, our way of
living life. Then when God comes and stirs up our nest, we get
upset. We don’t always identify this as a growing experience.

Sometimes if we’re really honest, we really don’t want to grow.
We get so very complacent and satisfied with where we are,
that any interruptions are viewed as negative. But God wants
us to fly, to become all that he intends for us to become.
He never stirs up our nest without good reason.

Did you know the eagle can see a rabbit two miles away?
It can soar up to two miles above the ground and can fly
at speeds up to 100 miles an hour. They have a separate
eyelid which slides across the eye sideways in order
to keep the eye clean and free from dust as they fly.

  Their bones are hollow and therefore light of frame.
Their frame has cross ribs, like steal bars in sky scrapers.
The eagle has 7000 feathers. The back feathers are as
long as the head feathers. Their beak is black until
they turn 3 years of age, and then it turns golden.

When eagles are about 30 years old, they go through a
renewal process. They find a secret place high in the
mountains and begin to claw at their face and tear out
the feathers that have been damaged over the years.
As a result, it bleeds badly. But this is necessary for the
eagle in order to renew its strength. If it did not do this,
it would not be able to live to its normal 60 years of age.

Psalms 103:5 says, “who satisfies your desires with good
things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” A
time of renewal is necessary for every child of God. A time
when we get rid of what is weighing us down, holding us back,
aging us spiritually. A time to give up the sinful habits, to give
in to the Holy Spirit in whichever way He is convicting us.

We need to do this, even to the point of renewal with
pain. Some things we hold on to so tightly, that to let
go actually causes us pain. But in order to have the long,
powerful, useful, spiritual life that God plans for us, we
need to do that. It will renew our spiritual youthfulness.

When the eagles are free to soar in God’s creation, they are
the cleanest of birds. They were created to be free and to soar
to great heights. They were not meant to remain close to the
earth in the lowlands. They were created to soar. When they
are held in captivity, they become one of the dirtiest of birds.

God has created us to remain pure and holy and conformed to
His Image. Don’t allow the freedom we are to experience in
Him to be compromised by spending too much time in worldly
thinking, activities and mindsets. We need to remain clean.

Eagles do not fly like other birds, they don’t flap their
wings, they soar! Flapping their wings would use incredible
amounts of their own strength and endurance, and they would
require so much more food as fuel if they did not soar

Instead, they sit on a high ledge and wait for the right
wind currents to come. When the time is right, they take
off and soar upwards, effortlessly, because they have
waited for the right time. There is a special “up going” wind
that they ride as it circles higher and higher toward the sky.

What a lesson for God’s children to learn! Just think of
how often we loose strength by jumping out too soon and
flapping our wings, instead of waiting for God’s Timing.

Waiting is not a popular concept in these days of instant
everything. But when we wait on the Lord, wait for His
Timing, wait for His Answers, wait for His Direction,
THEN we can soar to new heights and fly to new places!

“Those who wait on the Lord will renew their
strength, they will soar on wings like eagles; they will
run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”

Author Unknown

Isaiah 40:31