FORGIVE

Wed 10-24-12... Sunday 10-28-12

God calls us all to be personally accountable for our own actions... 

As we mature as Christians God is constantly at work in our lives, molding us into what He knows we can be.  

Philippians 1:6  (NLT)

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.

As we grow older in our faith we begin to see things differently. Our spirit becomes more sensitive, things that once seemed innocent or acceptable to us, now seem repulsive, some things stand out and offend us so much that they shake us to the core. As we grow in knowledge and understanding, as we find our place among God's people as one of His forgiven children, things become clearer to us. We begin judging situations based on God's ideals and not the worlds ideas of what is acceptable and what is not. Some times  God stretches us in directions we would rather not go, we begin to understand that some of the things we really enjoy are not that healthy for us spiritually.

We do not see where God is taking us, some times the transition can seem painful and hard. But God knows what he is doing. Paul used these words to describe how his perception was changed by God.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12

11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

God knows us, He loves us.... We may not always understand the situations we are going through, but God always has our best outcome in his plan...

Psalm 139:13-14 (MSG)

13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
  you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
  before I'd even lived one day.

The growth may be painful and we may not understand what is happening, but the God who knows us as completely as Psalm 139 says, knows us well enough to never give us more then we can handle.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (MSG)

13 No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he'll never let you be pushed past your limit; he'll always be there to help you come through it.

The more we mature, the farther we get from our old selves, the easier it becomes to remember what we use to look like. We begin setting standards for others based on where we are spiritually rather then remembering where we came from. Judging others is a tricky thing. We most always make sure that we do not become arrogant, conceded, critical, judgmental or callous towards others, just because they are not in the same situation we are spiritually.

Jesus Himself tells us to be careful about judging others...

Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

And when Jesus taught us how to pray, he also talked to us about forgiveness...

Matthew 6:9-13 (NLT)

9 Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today the food we need,
12 and forgive us our sins,
as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
13 And don't let us yield to temptation,
  but rescue us from the evil one.

In comparison to Jesus giving His life up on the cross to deliver us from eternal death, and separation from God our creator, He has asked us to do very little in return. Behave ourselves, have a right attitude, help others, Love Him, Love others as we love ourselves, and forgive as He forgives us. Not a whole lot to ask right?

Someone once told me, if we followed just one of God's rules there would be perfect peace, do you know which rule it is?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.

There are so many things to say about that alone, but I really wanna focus on the forgiveness part of every thing I've said. The thing is God gave up a lot for us, the Bible tells us that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. For an eternity Jesus (the word) had never been separated from  God the Father, then He made man, and we messed up pretty bad. He loved us so he decided on a plan to save us. His planned involved Jesus dying on the cross for us and we all believe that the sacrifice was Jesus' death on the cross. Well it wasn't it, it was the three days of separation from God that followed His death on the cross. What happened before He was put up on that cross was terrible but none of us can imagine what it was like for God the Father and God the son who had been together forever to be separated. This was His sacrifice.

When we are unwilling to forgive, it WOUNDS God! And it wounds us to the core, we may not know we are being damaged but we are.

When we are critical of others we point the finger right back at ourselves. It prevents us from growing any farther as Christians...

God calls us not to judge and to forgive. The ability to understand when we are being overly critical or judgmental is a sign of growth and maturity.

Today I challenge you to write a list of people you need to forgive and another of people you have judged. Rip it up or burn it, give it over to God because he commands us to let this stuff go. If we are holding on to bitterness and resentment then we are offending our creator and our savior.

I know it's hard, this is some thing I have to work on every day. I find myself trying to forgive 5 year old conflicts, they constantly pop back up. But the more I pray about it, the more I force myself to give it up the easier it gets to deal with. Forgiveness is not instantaneous, not being judgmental isn't instantaneous either... The changes we are making in our live, are all a process... God will be faithful to complete His work in us, but we have to move over and let Him get the job done... If we want to grow as Christians then we need to master these human flaws that hold onto us so tightly...

PEACE

Last night as I watched the presidential debate I kept asking myself, "Why isn't Mitt, hitting back?" It was so frustrating, I sat in front of the TV yelling out the answers, smacking my forehead like a moron. Then I thought about this scripture. 

Galatians 5:22-26 (NKJV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christs have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

This is part of the Life Lesson listed for this scripture in my Bible. 

"We live in an atmosphere of antagonism, an environment of enmity. Yet amid such adversity Christ calls us to produce peace. 

This peace is love quietly, strongly, persistently meeting every onslaught against it with good will. It is that inner attitude of tranquility and tolerance in the face of angry attacks. It is the willingness to accept the assaults of others even at the price of personal humiliation. It implies that even though my enemies and detractors may be at war with me, I can be at peace with them." (From Salt for Society by Phillip Keller)

It really seemed to me the perfect scripture and the perfect quote for the day.
It's hard not to want to fight, to kick and scream when we know someone is lying, or insulting us. However because we are choosing to live as Christians the best we can, we must consider how we are called to act.

In recent years women have been portrayed in our movies and books as physically strong warriors, battling evil and injustice... They are built women, who oze sex appeal and need no man to come to their rescue, if anything they will be the one's rescuing the men.We are not the weaker sex, neither are we the warriors, not because we can not be, but because we choose not to be.

Do you remember the saying "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." I believe this is very true, women have always been the peace makers, not the instigators of violence. Oh we use our tongues to cause to much pain as it is, but now we have become a society where battling mama's take each other down on the FlyingJ over breakfast, they scream, yell, pull hair, throw punches and toss each other on the tables of other patrons. Men are just as bad, they either take macho to a whole new level or they walk around with their frilly girlie panties on insulting and belittling others any way they can.

So when we're surrounded by a society that thinks this behavior is not only okay, but totally encouraged and expectable, what do we do to stand apart from them?

We choose to give others the respect we would want given to us, not because they have earned it but because it is the right thing to do. We do that by following the advice the Bible so clearly sets out for us.

Be loving to others, be joyful, create peace wherever you can, be kind to each other, even when the other person is not kind, do good things, be a good person, be a faithful servant, be a faithful friend, be faithful to God, be gentle to those around you, show self-control in every thing you do.

These are the traits that set us apart, the Holy Spirit working in us, shines through our lives, others see Him through our actions. It's hard to be the peace maker, especially if the other person is challenging you to a fist fight. Others may think you look week, or that you are afraid, but the stronger person embraces peaceful solutions to volatile problems.  Remember God is watching us and He loves us and forgives our mistakes, Big ones and little ones. There are others watching us too, people who are watching to see if we really are who we say we are, if we are the children of God, or if we're only play acting hypocrites, trying to sell them a bridge in NY.

Be the person God is calling you to be.... God will notice and so will others around you... 

HOPE

Monday October 22

Hebrews 11:1 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It is so hard to live a Christian life, most of the time we know the right thing to do, but it's so hard to do it alone. We have hope though, some times we forget that there is a very real someone standing right here beside us holding us up. 

How do we know these things? Because we believe them to be true! As followers of Christ, we carry with us a personal awareness that when all the chaos of this life is over we are heading to heaven to live the rest of our eternity with our creator. 

How wonderful to live in the understanding that God is with us, always! That we don't have to worry about what comes next, after we take our last breath and leave this world.

What we have is a treasure, it isn't just a simple hope but a firm assurance that God is here with us, and when we leave this earth we go to the place He has prepared just for us. 

I can't begin to think of anything here on earth that even comes close to the knowledge that you and I have as believers. Can you imagine being the person who in a crisis, even in dealing with every day life does not know what is coming next? 

When I watch shows on TV about the afterlife, I always wonder how some one who believes in reincarnation can live without being horribly depressed... Can you imagine what it is like to be the person in another religion who never has the opportunity to be forgiven? Instead they are constantly in a war with themselves, trying to be "good enough" to make it. We have some thing so much better, we have the hope that God gives us through salvation that we can only receive as a gift from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah. How blessed we are. 

Use your Bible Study time today to read this scripture and focus on Just what it is we have in Christ.  Thank God for what He has done for us, what He is doing now in our lives, and what He will do for us in the afterlife. We have Hope that there is some thing better just around the corner. This scripture is so well explained in the Message translation of the Bible. Savor what God has done for you... You are special to Him and nothing can take the promise He has given you away, nothing can separate you from His love...  

Romans 8:31 (MSG)

31-39 So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christs love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

To me this is one of those Ah scriptures, the one's that make you sit back and breath deep. God loves me, he loves you, there is nothing in this world that Can separate us from Him. Not even the poor choices we make in life, or the poor choices of others that may put us in miserable situations. IF GOD IS WITH US, WHO CAN STAND AGAINST US!? Think about it. 

"This world is not our home."

October 2012

October 15th through October 21st

First Peter 2:11-12 (The Message)

11-12 Friends, this world is not your home, so don't make yourselves cozy in it. Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they'll be won over to God's side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.


As Christians we are called to live our lives according to a different standard then the rest of the world.
God did not promise us a rose garden, he never said it would be easy to live our lives as Christians.
The fact is we live in a world that isn't ours, we are ALIENS here. We're here for only a moment and then we are taken to our real home in heaven with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Matthew 10:22

22 "And you will be hated by all for My names sake. But he who endures till the end will be saved."

God tells us that we will be hated by others because we love Him. He tells us to endure and our reward will be in heaven.

Some times it's hard to live our lives the way we should. Especially as Americans we have so much, and there is a constant buffet of evil around us all the time. Some evil is obvious, it stands out and calls us, other things seem innocent enough. The world constantly tells us, we deserve this or that, doesn't God want us to be happy?! Didn't he make us this way?! Why shouldn't we have the things that give us pleasure?! We've had long hard days, don't we deserve to relax and be entertained?!

That's all well and good but as followers of Jesus we are called to live our lives based on a higher standard. We will never be perfect, we're only made perfect through Jesus but that doesn't give us a reason not to seek to be better... We should never get to the point where we are satisfied with who we are. You see there is always room for improvement... We will never reach the point of perfection, our goal as Christians is not to be perfect but rather to strive to be better then we are. Not better then others, better then ourselves.

There are times in my life where I totally fail, I beat myself up over it, I have to remind myself that God didn't call me to be perfect... I'm not saving myself, He is saving me. Because he has saved me, a change is initiated and there is a desire to constantly keep myself in check, because I am a Christian I need to grow, to understand God better, to strive to be better then I am.

It isn't easy, even though there is a desire to grow it is constantly at war with the part of myself that wants to make excuses, like God would want me to be happy, wouldn't he?!

God does want me to be happy, but he knows some thing that isn't always at the forefront of our minds. That being with him is forever, it isn't an earthly pleasure that last for a moment but an eternity of bliss!

If we say we believe in Jesus that's fine but in James we are told that faith without works is dead...

James 2:14-26

The Message (MSG)

14-17 Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

18 I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, “Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll  handle the works department.”

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

19-20 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

21-24 Wasn't our ancestor Abraham “made right with God by works” when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are “works of faith”? The full meaning of “believe” in the Scripture sentence, “Abraham believed God and was set right with God,” includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named “God's friend.” Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

25-26 The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

 Just like a plant, we need good soil, water, sunlight, nitrogen and any number of other things so that we can continue to grow and eventually bare fruit... Without these things we would die... It is the same with our spiritual life, a spiritually healthy person is someone who desires to grow.

Obviously prayer, Bible reading, and fellowship with other believers are all part of the food we need to grow as Christians... However there are often things that get left out. Such as right living, striving to be better then we are, reaching out to others not as a project or a duty but in love...

Isaiah 52 Talks about the fast that is pleasing to God. Some times it's easier for us to deprive ourselves of some thing then it is to help some one else. there are so many ways that we can help others and follow what this passage says in Isaiah.

As Christians we are going to be outcasts in this world, we're not always going to be able to be politically correct, every one isn't always going to like us and in most cases people are not going to like us, because we stand for some thing they don't understand... We're not always going to be protected, hardships are going to happen, people are going to loose battles with diseases, they are going to have high mountains to climb and low valleys, there will be deserts and there will be beautiful Awe moments... Not just in our spiritual lives but in our physical lives here on earth..

The ruler of this world is Satan, he and his demons roam free on this earth to cause whatever trouble they wish and it is our job to learn to live past that trouble, to let our faith rule our actions and our behaviors, both physically and spiritually.

Over the past few months I've been praying a lot and over and over I hear God calling me to live a more righteous life, to be better then I am. So I'm asking my friends to join me in learning about what it means to live a righteous life. We'll never be truly righteous, the only person to take that tittle is Jesus Himself, but because He loves us and lives within us we can strive to be more like the person who gave us every thing.

Here are the first seven days of devotions and Bible Study. Lets talk about them over the next month and really get into praying for each other and applying these verses to our lives. Chat on the face book page with each other about the hardships your having and battles your winning. Lets become better Christian's together.

Day 1 
Offer your daily life as a Sacrifice to God

This is a great passage of scripture to memorize.
Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.


Ask yourself these questions, feel free to share your thoughts on the conversation thread on Facebook On-line Bible Study Group.

What do you think it means to present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God?

What do you think it means to be conformed to the world?

What do you think it means to be transformed by the renewing of your mind?

Are there things in your life preventing you from being completely God's?

What changes can you make in your daily life that will allow your mind to be transformed, and help you to have a closer more fulfilling relationship with Jesus?

Now read this translation of the same text. Are your thoughts on the verse any different, do the answers to the questions change at all for you?

Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)

12 1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Now examine the areas of your life that need change, pray that God will help you change. Remember the Sacrifice that Jesus gave for you, are you willing to sacrifice on a personal level for Him?

Day 2 
Do what the Bible Says

James 1:19-22 (NIV)

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Todays questions are simple, how do you see yourself in comparison to these verses?

What changes can you make in your life to help you live more like this passage and the first chapter of James?

Read James Chapter one if you do not have a Bible I recommend using www.biblegateway.com  Even if you do have a Bible I like to use this site because it offers so many different translations of the Bible my favorite is the (NKJV) I love to read things in (MSG) and the Living Bible as well.

Is there any thing in this chapter that jumps out at you? Please share in the discussion posted on face book.

Day 3-7 
Control what comes out of your mouth 


"The proof of religious conversion is to demonstrate that we have both added a relationship with Christ and that we have subtracted sin. And we multiply proof to a weary world by what we do-our deed, our obedience. What we do must confirm what we say. Our deeds are the proof of our repentance."  (Walking with Christ in the details of Life by Patrick Morley)


Luke 6:45 (NIV)


45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Proverbs 12:18 (NIV)

18 The words of the reckless pierce like swords,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Psalm 64:3

They sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim cruel words like deadly arrows.

James 3:5-12

 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Colossians 4:6 (NIV)

6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

 I thought we should spend the next few days on this topic because it effects everyone around us. Every thing we say effects someone, we need to be careful to be in control of what we say. Please re-read the above verses each day and find some other ones too... Then answer the questions for that day, share your thoughts with us on face book On-line Bible Study Group.

Questions day 3

How do our words effect others?

How do our words effect those we love?

How can we learn to better control what comes out of our mouths?

These days face book is a way we speak, how can we better use face book to represent the way God would have us live?

What is a bad experience you have had after letting words get out before you thought about what you were going to say?

Can you think of a time you allowed anger to control your mouth? What happened and how could it have turned out differently if you had thought more about what you were going to say and held your words?

Questions day 4

Do you use bad language? Why do you feel it is okay to do this? What would have to happen for you to decide to clean up your language?

Is your language pleasing to God? (I will tell you don't feel bad, I struggle with this, there is one particular person in my life who brings out the worst in me.)

Do you tell half truths to keep yourself from getting in trouble?

How do you feel that God would want you to handle these situations?

Questions day 5

Do you get tangled up in gossip?


Are you able to keep secrets of friends, or can you just not keep things to yourself?

If you can not keep things to yourself, what should you do?

Do you confide things you know about others, with people who are not part of the situation?

Has this ever gotten you in trouble? What was the outcome?

Are you tempted to share pieces of information or stories about others that you are not involved in but think are true or could be true?

Can you see a situation where this could be hurtful to the people involved?

Reading the scriptures above, how do you think God would have you react to these situations?

Questions day 6

Speaking and communication is more then the words that come from our mouths it is also the ways that we communicate the information, such as body language, tone of voice and attitude.

How do you represent God with your attitude?

Some times the things we say are not bad but the attitude that they are said with and the body language we use when saying them can be hurtful, can you see this?

In situations like this do you hold yourself accountable for your behavior or do you tell yourself your fine, the other person is just overly sensitive?

What happens when the way some one is communicating some thing hurts you? Have you been in a situation where some one has hurt you not with their words but with their attitude, body language or tone of voice? How did it make you feel? How did you react? What could you have done differently? Were you able to forgive them for the way they made you feel?

Reading the scriptures above how do you believe God would want you to carry yourself in public situations?

Questions 7

Can you think of some other scripture references that have to do with controlling your language, the words that come from your mouth, gossip, angry speech? Please share them with us on the face book On-line Bible Study Group page. 


Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV)

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

As Christians we are ambassadors for Jesus to the entire world, people know when you are a Christian because most of us are very open about it. We wear our Christianity like a badge, as it should be. But how many times do we shine like the light on a hill? Do our actions and behaviors represent Jesus' love and sacrifice for us. Or are we just living in this world with everyone else, wearing a tittle that really means very little. What I would like to see is all of us living to be better, not better then others but better then we are right now. We need to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard set by God and the apostles in the Bible.

How does our language represent God?

What can we do to make ourselves a better representation of Jesus and His love for us?

In what ways this week have you decided to make changes to your life to be a better ambassador of Jesus?