Forgiveness

-
mybible.com

 After Jesus teaches us to request our daily physical needs from the Father, He directs us to ask for forgiveness.  Forgiveness is the foundation of our open communication and relationship with a Holy God. It defies His nature to come before Him with sin in our hearts.  
biblepic.com
Now this is NOT referring to salvation.  However, this is referring to our relationship, or our fellowship with our Father.  Note here in "The Lord's Prayer" that we must forgive first, before we can expect to receive the forgiveness of the Father.  Our hearts are not open to receive forgiveness when we are harboring bitterness toward another.  Once we release that, we are in a position to request the restoration of our relationship with the Father.  Only then can we experience the full reality of the grace He freely pours out to us.  

This forgiveness is not limited to certain sins.  There are no qualifications listed here.  We must forgive ALL sin against us to be able to fully receive the forgiveness of the Father.  Using earthly reasoning, many of us have every right to remain bitter over evil committed against us.  Jesus does not give us this option, however.  Forgiveness is the only option for believers who desire a close relationship with our God.  

Furthermore, this is not dependent on the offender requesting forgiveness from us.  We are simply guided to forgive in order to receive forgiveness. Remember that power and judgement are in His hands as well.  We can rest assured that He will control consequences and judgement in His time and in His all-knowing and righteous way.  He is faithful -- and just!  Knowing this, we only need to be concerned with choosing to align our heart with His to maintain fellowship with Him. 

As humans, we sin and are sinned against daily -- or even multiple times daily.   This cycle of granting and then asking for forgiveness must become a regular part of our prayer life.  Just as we experience His provision of our daily food, our faith is bolstered as we experience His forgiveness daily.  He is faithful!  

Sisters, rest in His grace today.  Forgive, and live in the freedom of a restored relationship with the Heavenly Father! 

💓 Heather Sparks💓

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It Is Well With My Soul

-
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. We are all reeling from the images we are seeing of our neighboring communities after Hurricane Helene blew through our region and dropped unprecedented amounts of rain. TVA has stated this was a 1 in 5,000 year event. There has been much loss of life and personal property. With the loss of my nephew fresh on my mind, I have found myself thinking of the words and humming the old hymn "It is Well" frequently. The story behind this hymn (along with the lyrics) tells that the state of our soul is the only thing that truly matters.  The author, Horatio G. Spafford was a businessman from Chicago. He had a successful legal practice and was a devout Christian. Spafford’s lost almost everything overnight in the great Chicago Fire of 1871. To add to this tragedy, his young son had just passed away a short time before the fire...
Read more

Adorning the Gospel

-
Image
  We all love to make things look nice, don't we?  Ourselves, our children, our cars, our homes --- most people like for our lives to be attractive to others and for our own enjoyment.  While I usually brush it off as false, Sam knows that I love hearing him or the kids tell me I am beautiful.  The beauty of nature is breathtaking.  God made us all to love pretty things.      Brother Doug has been leading us through the book of Titus recently.  Titus 2 speaks to every category of Christian -- older men, older women, young men, young women, and those in bondage.  A couple things stood out to me as Doug was teaching that have been running through my mind for the last couple of weeks.   3  Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior,  not slanderers  or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,  4  and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,  5  to be self...
Read more

Joy To The World!

-
Image
     One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is the music!  Christmas music brings a special element of joy to the season.  There are so many great Christmas songs in almost every style, from whimsical and folksy all the way to classical.  I am always excited for the time when the radio station switches to all Christmas music so that our car rides are serenaded with the sounds of the season.  The familiar melodies are comforting and cheerful, for the most part.  Many of these songs have been ingrained in my mind since infancy and I can't remember a time that I did not know them.  Just like all familiar music, however, I catch myself mouthing and humming along to lyrics that I know like the back of my hand without giving any consideration to what those words mean!  My older kiddos don't always appreciate this overly analytical approach to music that may cause me to nix a song or two from their playlists at times.  However, f...
Read more