Showing posts with label Forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forgiveness. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Forgiveness

Forgiveness...A big word that is sometimes difficult to swallow. It is a word that you have to take yourSELF out of and look at what God would want you to do in the situation. I, I, I, ME, ME, ME! I and me...I have found are two words that get in the way of us giving forgiveness. I find myself saying, "I will forgive them if..." if what? If I feel the person worthy of my forgiveness.... In Matthew 18:21-22, it says, Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No!” Jesus replied, “seventy times seven!”

One of the benefits of forgiveness is that it restores Christian fellowship. In 2 Corinthians 2:7-8 it says, "Now it is time to forgive him and comfort him. Otherwise he may become so discouraged that he won’t be able to recover. Now show him that you still love him."

It is also a spiritual cleansing in James 5:13-16 it says, "Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

Until we forgive or ask for forgiveness, we are the prisoner of the person who has offended us or the person we have offended. We tend to put a price on forgiveness and "Who am I?" to put a price on forgiveness when Jesus paid it all and all to Him I owe!



God is so Good!

Friday, December 26, 2008

The New Year

Looking back to be able to...Look Forward!

I don't know about you but this year has been a doosie. There have been so many ups and downs that I feel a little queasy. You know how you feel after you have been on a rip roaring roller coaster ride.
In this past year I have written all through my Bible prayers to help me get through all kinds of situations. Last year I had gotten a new Bible from my husband that had space to write notes in it on the sides. I think this was suppose to be for notes on sermons from the pastor but for some reason all through my Bible I have prayers written down. Prayer requests that run the gamut. They range from heart wrenching prayer requests all the way to praising Jesus for doing something miraculous.

As I read last night I thought to myself "Wow" what a year! I wonder what next year will bring. I am praying for less bumps and dips and more peeks and highs. If you have not been reading hear long you probably need to know a quick review. This is how this past year has gone...A new year a new preacher a new beginning/A lot of sadness, a lot of gladness another new beginning in July(PBF)...A new job in February at my church yeah!!/A lot of stress due to being on the wrong side and an eye opening view of how I was really viewed...great friendships that started the year off well/ only to be torn down by bad feelings...happy children that loved their church home/sad broken children that can not understand the adults...A beginning in July that was so blessed/an ending in December that has left us broken hearted for all involved...as you can see this year has been very emotional. The emotions at times have just nearly taken control of me and stopped me in my tracks but thank God for his love and comfort to help me through all of the ups and downs. Even through all of this I have such a peace that God is going to take care of it all. You are probably thinking lady you are crazy...Well through all of the madness God has had a way of guiding and providing a peace that is just unexplainable. Praise God!!

This past week we (our church) had an amazing gathering. I showed the pictures on here earlier. It was a Christmas party. Through all of the bumps and bruises we have come out stronger and more loving than you can ever imagine. God has put Providence Baptist Fellowship here in this community for a reason. God has a plan and I am so excited for the upcoming year. I can not believe that through all of this God has taken a sad group of people and gave them so much hope and happiness in our Lord, a staff of three wonderful men and gave them such direction and knowledge of what to do next, an amazing loving lady in the office that is so willing to do whatever to make things go smoothly, friendships that have grown closer and stronger in support of each other and the church, and a group of men that had been voted in many months ago that are so ready to help us move on and accomplish what God has in store for us. When you look at the all that is going on it is terribly hard not to see Gods hand in all of this...AMEN!!!! Our God is always here to provide we just have to be willing to let him lead.

After the past two weeks you would think that I would be ready to just throw in the towel but to tell you the truth I am so ready for the New Year to come and see what God has in store for us. I know that it is going to be amazing...I don't know why I would expect anything less. God is so Good all of the time! AMEN!!!

One of the last prayers that I had written in my Bible I would like to share with you today. This was the week after the resignation of our Pastor and I wasn't sure what to expect.

Dear God...What an amazing morning for you. You have blessed my heart so much this morning. Please watch over us and keep us safe. Keep us on track and for us to see your ways through all of this. I can feel you in control God. I can feel you blessing and healing at the same time through Bro. Joe's words this morning. God guide Tom, Joe and John and help them be strong in the next hours, days, weeks and years to come. Help them to see you so that they may guide us to you so your work in this community will continue. God I love you and can't wait to get started. Amen.

I know everything that happened is not a surprise to God. Everything works for the greater goodness of God and everything can be used for His Glory. Providence will move on and be stronger through our struggles! Amen!!!

God is so Good!

Friday, December 19, 2008

A mistake???

I dont think so!

I have struggled about sharing this with everyone for several days. I don't know maybe I was to hurt to share. Not because of me personally but for my whole church family. I don't say family lightly. This group of people have been through thick and thin with me. They have seen, heard and felt the same pain, joy, and closeness that I have. We are close and as you know that when someone in your family hurts so do you.

If you have read any of my posts you know that my church Providence Baptist Fellowship was started after a painful split from a church that I had been a member of for ten years. I have felt everyday since the split that God took us out of there and down the road to a little town to continue his work.

This past week a Brother in Christ that we dearly love had to resign due to a moral failure. All of our lives once again have been thrown back into turmoil...The questions and gossip are flying. (Reason for the last post.) At first I sat down and questioned...God is this where we are suppose to be? Why would you let this happen? Why all the pain? Why? Why? Why?

Not long after I started asking questions, God started answering me. I don't know why I ever doubted HIM! This whole process was a humbling experience.

In the past six months I have never felt closer to God. What do I mean by closer? Well...I have never read my Bible, studied, prayed, worshipped, learned, sang, or glorified God like I have in these past six months. I don't think I ever realized that there could be a relationship like this with God. I have been a christian since I was 16 and except for a year or so I have always been in church, but I had never felt this closeness.

As I sat and studied yesterday God reminded me of many men in the Bible that led in amazing ways but also had fallen. The key word here to me was "men". Men (we) are just human. We are all capable of sin. With all this being said I know that GOD uses EVERYTHING for HIS GLORY. I have proof of that in my life and my families lives. Amen!!!!



God is so Good!

* I would like to say that this post today is totally about my thoughts on my decision to be here (PBF). I did not intend to hurt anybody's feelings. I would also like to ask for prayer for everyone that is involved.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Giving Forgiveness

7 x 70

Forgiveness- The act of forgiving (1. to stop feeling anger and resentment towards a person or at an action that has caused upset or harm. 2. To pardon a mistake.)

My struggles with forgiveness have been obvious over the past several months. Just when I thought I had this problem licked...its big ugly head reared up again. This morning I went on line to dig a little deeper on forgiveness. Something for me to grasp hold of and make myself feel better. Once again just some therapy for me...and maybe some of you.

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” -L.B. Smedes

"Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me." -Anonymous

“When a deep injury is done to us, we never recover until we forgive.”-Alan Paton

"God has a big eraser." - Billy Zeoli

The last one about God having a big eraser made me smile...I just pictured God up there with a big eraser wiping slates clean. I would love to be one of those folks that can immediately forgive. I think one of the greatest gifts is to be able to forgive. Jesus died on the cross for us to be forgiven. What a gift given to us...so why is so hard for us to forgive? We're Human!!!

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. -Ephesians 4:32

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. -Colossians 3:13-16

Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven -Matthew 18:21-22

Forgiveness should be exercised toward others when they have offended. I know that the thought that usually goes through my head is "Why should I forgive her if she was the one that hurt me..." once again the me, me, me thing popping up. This is exactly the type of situation in which we are called to forgive.

The two verses in Matthew spoke to me loudly. I studied on these verses. I did not realize that Peter thought he was being very generous with the seven. In Judaism they felt that three times was sufficient. So when Jesus said seven times seventy He did not intend for us to keep up with forgiveness until we had gotten to 490. He intended for us to forgive indefinitely.

If you are ever in doubt about forgiving someone ask yourself the question, "Would I have peace in my heart if I were to go ahead and do it?"

How did Christ forgive us? He forgave us without a cause, freely, then forgot about it. And so should we.

Wow! What an awesome God we serve.

God is so Good!