Tag: forgivemess

  • Trust – Search – and Expect blessings

    Crumbly, old stairway (Iowa)
    Crumbly, old stairway (Iowa)

    The challenge continually before you is to trust Me and search for My way through each day. Do not blindly follow your habitual route, or you will miss what I have prepared for you — Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young.

    Let’s face it — we are creatures of habit. If it worked for us last time and the time before, why mess with the program? Why? Because maybe … just maybe … things could be better.

    Sarah Young shares a few valid reasons to ignore status quo:

    1.      Trust God. Why wouldn’t I trust him? He created me, sustains me and wants only the best for me.

    2.  Search for God’s way continually. Not just once and say it’s done, but again and again throughout the day. Here’s the definition for search: to make a thorough examination of, look over carefully in order to find something. To come to know, to learn.

    3.  Expect blessings and surprises! God loves to love us and give us the desires of our heart if we ask with the proper motives.

    Dear God, forgive me for rushing into today without praying to you and asking what you have in mind for me. I intentionally seek your wisdom and your way. You know what’s best for me. Thank you for what you’re going to do.

    “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” — Isaiah 55:8–9.

    Do you feel you’ve got your life under control? Do you blindly go through your day without considering what God would have you do and say?

  • Forgiveness is a gift

    Blooming cactus at Frederick Meijer Gardens
    Blooming cactus at Frederick Meijer Gardens

    “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” — Ephesians 4:32.

    When someone wrongs me, the last thing I want to do is to forgive him and move on. If you’re like me, I want to think on it, mull it over, and play it again over and over in my head. When I rehearse the dirty details blow by blow, I notice I become angrier too. This isn’t how God desires me to act or think.

    The Message reads, “Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.”

    Ouch! The last thing on my mind are the words gentle and sensitive. Forgive quickly? Not my style. Forgive thoroughly? Seriously — this is a suggestion, right? Wrong.

    The reason for this tough assignment … God forgave me. Not just once, but over and over and over again. He continues to forgive me and take me back under his wings of love and protection.

    How can I do any less for those who harm or hurt me intentionally or unintentionally?

    Thank you, God, for forgiving me too many times to count. With your help and strength, I can forgive any wrong inflicted upon me.

    Is there someone you harbor a grudge against? When you hear their voice or see them, does it bring up bitter feelings? Can you step back and remember the times God forgave you? Take time to thank God today for forgiving you. Ask him to give you the strength and the desire to forgive that person who wronged you.

  • No weeds…yet

    As I look at the tiny shoots from upcoming lettuce and spinach seeds, I rejoice. The light green tips appear tiny and innocent, soft and succulent. No weeds around them—only pure, virgin soil. Yet, it won’t be long and insistent weeds will pop up disguising themselves as good. 

    How often does this happen in my own life? What seems harmless at first, a word here, a gesture there, and before I know it I’m in deeper than I’d ever thought possible. I never meant to hurt anyone with a harsh or suggestive word, yet it happened. Once an action is committed, I’m not able to take it back.

    Prayer: Help me to be more sensitive to other people’s feelings. I need to listen more and speak less. God, remind me to take time to pause and think through the ramifications of my actions.

    Ask:  Are there some words spoken you wish you hadn’t said or even thought? Maybe you participated in an action you weren’t proud of. Can you ask forgiveness and start fresh again today?

    *** 

  • Search my heart

    “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive [wicked] way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). 

    This type of probing is similar to exploratory surgery. Over two years ago, a neurosurgeon analyzed an MRI revealing a tumor resting alongside my brain. I could have ignored the surgeon’s recommendation for removal of the tumor, but he was the expert and I was not.

    There’s no point in pretending with God. He knows my every selfish, evil, and wayward thought before I even do. I might be able to fool my family or friends, but no thought or deed gets past the all-knowing Creator of the universe. I understand that God “created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). How much more involved in my existence could anyone be?

    Prayer:  Through you and you alone, God, I can receive healing and direction. Point out the error of my ways so I can confess and experience forgiveness. With this degree of involvement, I know I can trust you with my every concern.

    Ask:   Is there some area in your life being scrutinized and watched by God? Are there thoughts that need to be dealt with by the merciful, loving Physician?

    *** 

  • Faithful is He

    “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22–23).

    Today is a brand-new day. A day of new beginnings, a new start, and a chance to do good and glorify God. Yesterday and its disappointments are gone. I start fresh today. God promised he removed my sins “as far as the east is from the west,” (Psalm 103:12). So if God forgives and forgets, why can’t I?  

    “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.” (Lamentations 3:19). Yes, my soul is downcast, but not due to any negligence from God, but because I allowed negative emotions to dwell within my mind. If I allow bitterness, I will remain in the state of hopelessness. I do have hope. Hope wins. God is willing to pick me up out of the dredges, dust me off, and set my feet on the proper path again.

    Prayer: Dear God, I’m ready to return to you, my safe refuge and fortress. Thank you for watching out for me and my best interests. No one else on earth is capable of doing this for me.

    Ask: Is there a root of bitterness or anger that festers within your soul? Maybe it’s a grumbling attitude that’s eating away at the core of your joy. Are you willing to trust God to eradicate those negative emotions?

    *** 

  • Have you ever been alone with God?

    “When He was alone the twelve . . . asked of Him . . .” Mark 4:10

    His Solitude with Us. “When God gets us alone by affliction, heartbreak, or temptation, by disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted affection, by a broken friendship, or by a new friendship – when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are dumbfounded, and cannot ask one question, then He begins to expound (or teach us).

    There are whole tracts (vast areas) of stubbornness and ignorance to be revealed by the Holy Spirit in each one of us, and it can only be done when Jesus gets us alone.  Am I alone with Him now? Or am I more concerned with my own ideas, friendships, and cares for my body? Jesus cannot teach me anything until I quiet all my intellectual questions and get alone with Him.” – taken from My Utmost for His Highest, Jan. 13.

    Very pointed question: I ask myself, “Have I ever been alone with God?” Yes, I have, but not as often as I’d like. Interesting that suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship sends us back into the arms of God. Why is it that I need a major trauma to cause me to look in God’s direction? Why can’t I just go to Him first and foremost and skip all the in-between stops?

    Prayer: Forgive me, God, for not running to you first when I have a problem or a question. There’s much stubbornness and ignorance inside of me. Only you, and time alone with you, can answer my many questions and shape me into a suitable servant of yours. Help me to be more open to spending valuable time alone with you.

    ***