post

It’s a Matter of Give and Take

blog picture woman hurt feelings

 

 

13)Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Colossians 3:13(NLT)

 

Offence: to cause (a person or group) to feel hurt, angry, or upset by something said or done.

 

I was thinking about “giving offence and taking offence” this last week. This is probably the easiest tool that Satan has for dividing the Body of Christ. It can effectively eliminate harmony and peace between people who have been told they must “Love one another” – if we let it.

We can all give offence. Let’s face it, an unguarded word or look can speak volumes to a sensitive person. Sometimes we can offend without even knowing we are doing it. Sometimes even a Christian can deliberately do or say something to hurt another Christian. Sadly, I have seen many “offended” people leave a church because their feelings were hurt by another Christian. We can more easily forgive a non-believer than a brother or sister in the Lord. [Read more…]

post

It’s All Under the Blood

1blog picture ledger blankWith his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Hebrews 9:12

Once we have made Jesus our Lord and Savior a wonderful thing happens. All the sins we committed past present and future are cleansed by the blood of Jesus. The Lord never thinks about them again. He doesn’t sit in heaven thinking, “Well I forgave so – and – so but I’ll never forget it.” No, He forgives and forgets. As far as He is concerned all He sees is the blood His Son Jesus shed on the cross for us. The only one who remembers those sins is us.

Satan loves to bug us with the memories of those past offences. But the good news is that we can take action through the Word of God and say “Those sins and mistakes I made are under the blood of Jesus Christ and I call them no more to mind”. In other words “I don’t think about them anymore”. What happens when we do think about them? We feel guilty, sad, and remorseful. Rather than praising the Lord and loving Him, we feel dejected. Jesus gave His life and shed His blood to free us from our sins. We don’t want to be like Lot’s wife – looking back. There was nothing back there worth looking at.

If we could see God’s ledger of our sins, it would be blank. No record of our sins at all! Gone! I am so grateful to the Lord for His wonderful plan that included freeing us from guilt and sin and filling our hearts with peace so we could be free to go boldly to His throne.

Jesus is Lord!

post

Put That Rock Back!!

blog picture rock and handTake no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, for the light makes everything visible. This is why it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” -Ephesians 5:11-14 (NLT)  

In  a recent entry I talked about letting your light shine. If you are in Christ and are obeying the Lord you will shine wherever you go. But it’s not always pleasant for people around us when we do shine. Paul says that people’s evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them. That is not a comfortable feeling for people to have. If you have ever been in a dark room and suddenly somebody turns on the light it hurts our eyes. Usually we would say “Turn off the light!!” In other words a bright shiny light can make some people uncomfortable and they want to turn that light off.

I am telling you this so you won’t be surprised that not everybody will have a positive reaction to the love, kindness and consideration you show to them.

We lived in the country for many years. I loved to go exploring with my children as we looked at the beauty of nature.  One day I saw a large interesting rock. Wanting to examine more closely, I lifted it off the ground. When I looked back at the place I had lifted it from I saw a whole colony of bugs running around in a panic. They were not happy that I had let the sun into their home. In fact, if they could have spoken to me they would have said “Put that rock back!!!”

So if you find yourself unappreciated for your love, just keep on loving them. Most will eventually get used to the light. Then share the Word as the Lord leads you.

Keep shining!

Jesus is Lord!

post

How’s It Going With Your Minas?

“Yes,’ the king replied, ‘and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. And as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them in and execute them me.’” Luke 19:26blog picture minas

 

We easily recall the parable of the master who went on a trip and left three servants with money. He gave the money according to the ability of each one. When he returned the servants with ten and five minas had each doubled their money, but the one with one mina had hidden his money away and did nothing with it.

 

What was the difference between the three? Only the third one was afraid and so he did nothing with the minas he was given. The first two had boldly invested; the third had buried his money where it did no one any good.

 The Lord gives gifts to each of us according to our abilities. He fully expects us to use those gifts for the glory of God. Not for selfish ambition, but to please the Lord. [Read more…]

post

The Road to Forgiveness

Mark 11:24, 25. “I tell you you can pray for anything, and if you believe you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so your father in heaven will forgive your sins too.”

When I was still a new Christian the Lord began to deal with me about unforgiveness. Forgiveness is one of the basic rungs of the ladder on our journey to become more like Jesus, and I had still not put my foot on that rung.

road-to-foregivenessWe had a neighbor who was making our lives miserable. The Lord showed me that I had pray for him. I was incredulous. “What!? Me pray for him?” That did not seem fair to me, but the Lord kept after me. Finally, I started praying for him through gritted teeth. “Lord save him”, I prayed. Little by little it got easier. Eventually I started to enjoy praying for him. I started to pray for his family’s finances, his business, his health and his family’s salvation. [Read more…]