Good Morning Forgiving Because We Have Been Forgiven Much, Incarnaters of Agape Love! Okay, what's this all about Pastor Don? It seems God has us on a track that began Sunday as we studied Eph. 4 and thinking about how in the heck we can forgive when we are angry, and how we can chose love when we hate. It all boils down to trusting God and allowing Him to help you love, forgive and choose joy and His best. How Lord? HELP! We are commanded to love like Jesus, even enemies and to pray for persecutors. We are to forgive as we have been forgiven and even pray for that in the Lord's Prayer. We are commanded to incarnate Christ, His agape love, and to allow Him control. Pastor Don, I thought you said Jesus' yoke is easy? I'm weary, angry, hurting, depressed. Letting go of this pain and forgiving seems impossible, not easy and I don't think I want to. What's the deal? I want to but find it almost impossible and such a heavy burden. Help me Lord! Yep! That's the perfect place to start. Die to self, crucify that anger, hurt and unforgiveness and beg for Jesus to lead you to love and forgive like Him and His easy yoke for you to put on as you strap yourself to Him. He does promise rest to the weary and heaven knows we are weary and in need of closure and rest.
Let's start with Eph. 4:17-32 that we didn't get to Sunday: ... 21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy... 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”
Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
No way Pastor Don! I don't want to. I don't think I can? Listen child of God, God has forgiven you much. Choose His ways. That doesn't mean you need to become chummy chummy again. Forgiveness opens the door for you to heal and move on to better things. Put them or the situation in God's hands and ask Him to help you to die to self, love, forgive and follow Jesus to what's next. He is faithful to answer those prayers!
God must really want us to discuss these things as He has been highlighting His Word and bringing it and His love to life. So many hurting people around us, maybe that is some of us in this season. He again has threaded our devotions all through this for a second day. He is speaking LOVE to your heart today. or he is trying. Will you allow Him in, trust and obey, receive? For others of us this needs to me a reminder from God that helps us prepare and be ready to continue in trust like Job. The Lord gives and takes away, Praise the Lord, my soul. Joshua before entering the Promised Land challenged the Israelites to choose who they would trust and worship and follow. He said to be strong and courageous and challenged them to choose to worship and follow God no matter what, like he and his family. Prepare your hearts to be ready to do that when those wilderness times come. God will always be with you and always love and accept you when you choose to trust Him and open your wounded heart to His caring love.
Our Daily bread reminds us that God is in control--always. Even when we face devastating loss like Job, we can, we need to, choose to praise the Lord and giver of life and of all we have. Stand on His promises and obey His commands even when you don't want to. He is faithful and there with you. The Upper Room continues with the reminder that Satan is prowling about try to destroy us. BUT GOD! He is our protector, deliverer, help in times of trouble and does allow things to stretch our faith and grow us--hard things. Are you ready for whatever? Set your heart and mind on God and His ways. Turn off the noise and chaos and focus on the Prince of Peace and His helping love. The Word for You Today continues to talk about the agape love required for marriages to flourish, but can be applied to the church since we are the Bride of Christ. They speak into how to agape love and forgive. For some, the marriage or relationship can never be healed nor restored, nor should it be. That's the place where we really have to just pour ourselves out to God and allow Him to help us forgive and move on. It's a journey much like Job experienced. Don't be like Job's wife and want to curse God and die. We may feel like that for a season in our grief. But if we, like Job, have determined to always trust God, we can get to the place of being able to follow God and grow in trust again. Charles Stanley reminds us of another way to refocus--PRAY! Praising in he storm and praying for those who mistreat you help you to refocus to God and to receive His loving help. Doing that changes you. I love the way the Chosen deals with disappointment, grief and shaking our fists at God and others. It helps us to remember that the disciples were with Jesus and had to learn how to adjust to all kinds of hardships and unanswered questions while growing in trusting Jesus. This life is hard! BUT GOD! Choose to trust Him and ask for help for your unbelief and grace to carry you through to His best ahead. Prepare your hearts. Open your hearts. Receive His agape, forgiving, comforting, strengthening Love. He really does love you beyond measure and has some really good things for you even if that requires some devastating hardships to endure. Determine now to always persevere in faith and gather some teammates to help you. He is there and will always be. So rejoice, pray and grow in trust. Maybe reach out to some others to help you in this journey or maybe reach out to lovingly walk with another (and ask God to help you not be like Job's finger-pointing wrong friends but to bring shalom)
God loves you and is with you always. His love, comfort, joy and peace are always available. Always remember that! I'm praying for you right now. Shalom!
ODB:
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Carol couldn’t understand why it was happening all at once. As if work wasn’t bad enough, her daughter fractured her foot in school, and she herself came down with a severe infection. What did I do to deserve this? Carol wondered. All she could do was ask God for strength.
Job didn’t know why calamity had hit him so hard either—pain and loss far greater than what Carol experienced. There’s no indication he was aware of the cosmic battle for his soul. Satan wanted to test Job’s faith, claiming he’d turn from God if he lost everything (Job 1:6-12). When disaster struck, Job’s friends insisted he was being punished for his sins. That wasn’t why, but he must have wondered, Why me? What he didn’t know was that God had allowed it to happen.
Job’s story offers a powerful lesson about suffering and about faith. We may try to discover the reason behind our pain, but perhaps there’s a bigger story behind the scenes that we won’t understand in our lifetime.
Like Job, we can hold on to what we do know: God is in full control. It’s not an easy thing to say, but in the midst of his pain, Job kept looking to God and trusting in His sovereignty: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (v. 21). May we too keep trusting in God no matter what happens—and even when we don’t understand.
By Leslie Koh
REFLECT & PRAY
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What challenges are you facing? Which promises of God give you strength to keep going?
Dear Father, I don’t understand why some of life’s challenges happen to me. But I choose to trust You.
For further study, read In the Grip of God’s Love.
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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
The word we translate as Satan in Hebrew means “accuser” or “adversary.” The role he plays in the narrative of Job is peculiar: he challenges the superiority of Yahweh by accusing God Himself. If people worship God only because He’s good to them, Satan asks, then is He really worthy (Job 1:9-11)?
Job’s faithfulness in the midst of trial demonstrated that God’s people do worship Him in both good and bad times and thus silenced the accuser. But Job also learned his own lesson: no one—angelic or human—can tell Him what He must do. God is worthy of His people’s faithfulness regardless of what we might experience in life.
Jed Ostoich |
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UR: Autopilot
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. - 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
While I was in the US Navy, I taught a course on the automatic pilot system used for naval aircraft. This system enabled an aircraft to fly at a preset altitude, attitude, and heading without pilot input. However, should another aircraft or obstacle appear in the path of the aircraft, the system would not change course to avoid the obstacle. Even though the aircraft could fly itself, the pilot had to be alert to any impending danger and take action.
Sometimes we put ourselves on autopilot, going through the motions of life without any input from God. When we stop listening for God’s direction, we can easily run into trouble. Judges 16:20 says that the Lord departed from Samson, and he didn’t know it. Although Samson was to be set apart from birth, he ended up as a slave in Philistia. The challenges of life can easily disrupt our journey if we are not paying attention. When we keep our focus on God, we realize that God is constantly talking to us, providing course corrections to keep us in God’s will for our lives.
Today's Prayer
Faithful God, keep our eyes open and focused on you. Make us aware of the obstacles around us, and guide us on the path that you would have us take. Amen.TWFYT:
CS:
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