Blaming Versus Forgiving

To blame or to forgive? Indeed, that is the question.

Read these words written by Henri Nouwen:

Our most painful suffering often comes from those who love us and those we love.  The relationships between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, teachers and students, pastors and parishioners - these are where our deepest wounds occur.  Even late in life, yes, even after those who wounded us have long since died, we might still need help to sort out what happened in these relationships.

The great temptation is to keep blaming those who were closest to us for our present, condition saying:  "You made me who I am now, and I hate who I am."  The great challenge is to acknowledge our hurts and claim our true selves as being more than the result of what other people do to us.  Only when we can claim our God-made selves as the true source of our being will we be free to forgive those who have wounded us.

Lord, help us to forgive and to be...

Grateful

A Grudge Paralyzes

A grudge is a weed with roots in yesterday that keeps us from living in the present.
-- Brian Charette

Unforgiveness brings paralysis.

Lord, forgive us... as we forgive... Amen.
Grateful

The Noblest Revenge. The Sweetest Words.

The noblest revenge is to forgive.
-- Thomas Fuller

The sweetest words He ever said were "I forgive".
-- Joel Hemphill

“The Spirit of the Lord is with Me. He has anointed Me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to announce forgiveness to the prisoners of sin and the restoring of sight to the blind, to forgive those who have been shattered by sin, to announce the year of the Lord’s favor.”
-- Jesus of Nazareth Spoken in Nazareth, Luke 4:18-19 (GWT)

Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.”
-- Words of Jesus While On The Cross, Luke 23:34a (GWT)

Click here: The Sweetest Words He Ever Said - Joel Hemphill and J.D. Sumner - YouTube

Forgiven and...
Grateful

Please Forgive Me

I love the Lord because He hears my voice
and my prayer for mercy.
-- Psalm 116:1 (NLT)

...and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation.
-- Luke 11:4 (NLT)

Click: Michael English Gaither Vocal Band - Please Forgive Me

Lord, have mercy!
Grateful

The Sweetest Words He Ever Said Were...

"The sweetest words He ever said were...
'I forgive!'"
-- Joel Hemphill, Gospel Songwriter

Click:The Sweetest Words He Ever Said/Joel Hemphill/J.D. Sumner

On the Cross, Jesus said,
“Father, forgive them,for they don’t know what they are doing.”
Luke 22:34 (NLT)

By Faith! In Faith! (Hebrews 11)
Grateful

Under God or Gone Under?

"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." -- President Ronald Reagan

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. -- 2 Chron. 7:14 (NLT)

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Seven Verbs for Revival

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. -- 2 Chronicles 7:14 (NLT)

Could it be that God's simple, yet profound formula for revival is all written down in the form of seven verbs in 2 Chronicles 7:14?

In this verse there are four verbs for us and three for God:

If we will...
(1) humble (2) pray (3) seek (4) turn?

God says He will...
(5) hear (6) forgive (7) heal!

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

Refused to Rest?

I recently read a line in a book written by a Messianic Jewish author. It wasn't my book, so I cannot retrace the author's name but I have not forgotten the line:

In the beginning God created Paradise, but the man and the woman refused to rest.

Refused to rest? How sad is that!

Lord, you say in Luke's Gospel that "the Kingdom of God is now within us." Sounds an awful lot like Paradise to me. Lord, help me to live in the atmosphere of Your Holiness. I want one of the undeniable proofs of Paradise within me to be that I don't refuse to rest in You. After all, if Your Kingdom is really within me, and I believe it really is, then surely You are my King meaning You are both resident and president within me. You have recreated Your Paradise within me. Let it never be said of me, ever again, that I refused to rest in Your Paradise. Lord forgive. Lord forbid. Your Name is Faithful. My name is Grateful. I'm exhaling NOW! Amen.

Luke 17:20-21 (NIV) -- (20) Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, (21) nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you."

IF MY PEOPLE... WILL? I WILL! God's Promise in 2 Chron. 7:14.
Grateful

The Bread That Leads To Forgiveness

The great prayer Jesus taught His disciples includes these words:

...and give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...

This morning I noticed how closely related "asking God for bread" and "asking Him for forgiveness" and "offering our forgiveness to others" is linked in this prayer. Yes, the daily bread prayer leads to prayers of forgiveness.

Is there anyone that we might need to share daily bread with, yes a meal with, over these holidays -- a meal that would lead to forgiveness? Is there anyone we might need to ask for forgiveness or offer forgiveness to? If so, let's recognize that the unseen but undeniable Lord will be present at our holiday meals, breaking the bread of love, friendship, and forgiveness and offering it to us, all the while realistically expecting us to then pass the loaf of His love to others at the table, offering them the same measure of love, friendship, and forgiveness that Jesus has given to us.

ALL... JOY TO YOUR WORLD!
Grateful

...To Forgive Us, Not To Forget Us!

When we hear John 3:16-17, we should know undeniably that God gave His Son to forgive us, not to forget us! God sent His Son to be the World's Savior from Heaven, not Heaven's Bully to Earth!

Hear these Christmas words of Jesus written in John's Good News Report, verses 16 & 17 (NLT): (16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (17) God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

Because God didn't forget us, there is a Christmas. Let us remember Him during these Holy Days of Advent and beyond. In the words of that moving contemporary love song, it seems I can hear the Lord saying: I will remember you. Will you remember Me?"

ALL... JOY TO YOUR WORLD!
Grateful

Christmas is Synonymous With Forgiveness

Father God sent His Son as a meal invitation, yes to offer us His love, friendship, and forgiveness. That's the meaning of sharing a meal in our Lord's Middle Eastern background. That's why Jesus got in trouble with the religious folk. He offered His love, friendship, and forgiveness to the sinners, evidenced by these words, "Jesus ate with sinners."It was the way He disarmed them and invited them to Eternal Life. (*See Bible reference below)

So, Father God sent His Son to be born in Bethlehem, a town known as "the House of Bread". Yes, the Baby Jesus was sent to be "the Bread of Life", and his cradle was a manger, "a feeding box". It's all about the most basic and blessed definition of Christmas -- forgiveness. So whatever Christmas is, it is an invitation to share a meal of love, friendship, and forgiveness with God. There are many wonderful words to explain Christmas, but to me Christmas is synonymous, yes, one-in-the-same, with forgiveness.

Christmas is undeniable evidence that God totally gives and God totally forgives. Will we share God's love, friendship, and forgiveness meal with others? Will we share the Baby Jesus, the Crucified Christ with those who are the seemingly hopeless among us and beyond us? Will we totally give our lives to God and totally forgive others? Will we celebrate Christmas for what it really is -- a meal invitation from God for our Eternal Life and meant to be shared with others?!

* Matthew 9:9-13 (NLT) -- (9) As Jesus was going down the road, He saw Matthew sitting at His tax-collection booth. "Come, be My disciple," Jesus said to Him. So Matthew got up and followed Him. (10) That night Matthew invited Jesus and His disciples to be His dinner guests, along with His fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (11) The Pharisees were indignant. "Why does your Teacher eat with such scum?" they asked His disciples. (12) When He heard this, Jesus replied, "Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do." (13) Then He added, "Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to be merciful; I don’t want your sacrifices.’ For I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough."

ALL... JOY TO YOUR WORLD!
Grateful

Lord, Teach Your Disciples to Pray...

Here's the prayer the Lord taught His disciples to pray. So, it must be called "The Disciple's Prayer?" Let's pray it together to our Father God as fully devoted disciples:

Our Father, Who Art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

ALL JOY!
Grateful

Return to God and Keep Waiting For Him!

Lord forgive us for running off ahead of You and Lord forbid that we would continue to do so.

(15) The Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says, “Only in returning to me and waiting for me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.
(16) You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
(17) One of them will chase a thousand of you. Five of them will make all of you flee. You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a distant mountaintop.”

Isaiah 30:15-17 (NLT)

ALL JOY!
Grateful