FORGIVING

Seeking Peace?

James 4:1-3 "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desire that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

    When we feel the world is against us, that there is no peace to be found, and that we are about to be swallowed up, we need to check our focus. God brings peace and joy to our lives, He bring order to chaos and calms the storms in our spirit. When our focus is on our pleasure, we shift our energy to seeking our will and not God's. This creates tremendous turmoil in our lives.

Seeking peace? First check your focus...

It Is Not Fair!

Psalm 37:7-11  "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him: do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace."

 

Sometimes we are derailed by our perception of what "God" is doing for others... We quickly assess their material possessions, their circumstances, and their apparent joy and determine that somehow we are getting the raw deal. After all - we pray, we go to church, and we tithe sometimes...BUT they don't do any of that! What gives God?

We are grossly missing the point. We are relying on our biased and limited observations to determine God's work and favor in someone else's life. A person's relationship with God is between them and God - they are the only two that know the truth of the situation. We also do not know God's plans or His ways... we need to allow God to be God and we worry about our relationship with Him. These scriptures are telling us what God will do, why not focus on Him and embrace His favor instead of worrying about what we are missing - after all when we focus on ourselves we can not focus on God. 

 

Web Of Lies....

I am going to try to add to this weekly – these posts will also be included on a new blog I will be publishing soon about the “End Times.” Hopefully these posts will cause us to stop and reflect on our lives and examine our hearts. Our hearts hold the key to forgiveness and repentance.

          We are in a spiritual battle and we need to protect ourselves from false teachings and comfort based beliefs. The best lies are based mainly on fact, Satan is the author of lies.  If he can take things out of context from the Bible, twist it just a bit to lead people off track, or make it appealing to our sinful nature – he has won. Read the story of Adam and Eve.

Biblical Truth:  Genesis 2:16-17 “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die!”

Satan at work:  In Genesis the serpent speaks with Eve, pay close attention to what he said, “Did God really say…” (Gen 3:1) then in verse four and five – “You will not surely die,…for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God…” The classic formula, insert a little doubt and then offer some type of power – this speaks straight to our sinful nature.  I have listed a few modern applications of this formula – the same formula throughout time.

Worldly View:   “Does God really say homosexuality is wrong? Isn’t that the same God that tells us not to judge?  We need to accept everyone and not talk about homosexuality because that might offend them!”

Biblical Truth: Leviticus 18:22 “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” – Also read Romans 1:18-32, Leviticus 20:13, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

Food For Thought:  God does tell us not to judge and to love one another. Jesus did not shun prostitutes, tax collectors, or any sinner but he did require they repent and change their hearts. Just because we do not condone or enable a certain lifestyle does not me we are judging – you can love the person and still not approve of their actions.

Worldly View: “If I go to church on Sunday and I ask God to forgive me then I am OK. I can live my life how I want as long as I tell God I am sorry on Sunday and promise to try harder next week. God says that if we repent, he forgives us right?”

Biblical Truth: James 1:21-25 “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” Also read Matthew 23.

Food For Thought: The Bible is full of examples of God’s mercy and forgiveness but each of these events is a result of a change in a person’s heart. God looks at our hearts and our fruits – simply going to church and going through the motions might allow you to deceive yourself. I am not judging anyone, only you know your own heart – just something to think about.