For God's sake, forgive!

Fall, I love fall for so many reasons. It's beautiful, it's cooler, it's sweater weather, and of course there's some pumkin stuff. Really fall is about letting go. Letting go of the old leaves to make room for the new growth. Forgiveness is like that. 

Forgiveness frees us from so much when we let go. I'm talking about those wrongs, injustices, cruelties, that were done to us and we hang onto them thinking that justice will come and we will feel better. Not! As long as we don't forgive we are tied to that memory, that pain, that time in the past. 

By forgiving we release all that stuff and making room for new growth. There is freedom in that.  Forgiving may not even affect the other person but it changes me, it frees me. Listen to what God says, "He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins." Isaiah 43:25 NKJV

Did you get that? FOR MY OWN SAKE. God forgives us for His sake. He doesn't hold onto our sins but removes them as far as the East is from the West. For God's sake, forgive! For your own sake, forgive. Stop holding onto the cancer of unforgivness that polutes our everyday.  If you need words to help letting go try this. 

"Jesus forgive me for holding on to the past, it's sin. Teach me forget the things that are behind and reach for what is ahead. Because you have forgiven me, I chose to forgive____. I release them from my judgement and the emotional dept I feel they own me. I forgive them and release them. And God, I ask you to bless them. Yes, bless them. Please remove the pain and the past from my life and bring new life where the old has left. All because of Jesus. Amen."

Now enjoy the fall for new life is on the way.

The Flow of Words

This morning I talked with my friend from Georgia. The language that flowed from the phone was an immediate give away of who the caller was. The tongue gives away who you are. Even if you are not from England or Texas if you spend enough time there your accent will change to sound like the land in which you live.
     In the same way the language that flows from our mouths sounds like the land in which we live spiritually. If we dwell in the place of criticism out hearts get critical and the sound of the words we speak is critical. If we dwell in the land of sarcasm or complaining then out of our mouths flows the language of sarcasm and complaining. We always speak our mother tongue with ease. The heart of the matter is what makes the difference. What flows out can only flow out if that is what is inside.
     If you spill a glass of water, water comes out. If you spill a cup of coffee, coffee comes out.  What would happen if our heart were so full of thankfulness that thankfulness spilled out everywhere we went? What if we learned to make thankfulness our mother tongue.  Can a mother tongue be changed?
    In Genesis 1 God gives mankind dominion to rule over everything on the earth. “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion…. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion ....” Man is given dominion (rule, power to control) over every creature, bird, animal, and over the earth, yet according to James 3:7-8 “Every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish is tamed and has been tamed by humankind, but no one can tame the tongue. (CSB)
James 1:26 "If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives himself."
     So are we doomed? Must we live with a tongue we can't change? Look at the flowers of the field that God clothes in color, they can't change their color unless something supernatural takes place. If someone takes that flower and places it in colored water the color of the flower changes also.  The only way the petals of a flower can change color is if the food coloring travels up the stem and goes to the petals.
    In the same way the only way our mother tongue can change is if the Holy Spirit flows up from our heart to our tongue. Don't hold your tongue, you can't change that, but do hold your heart. Let your heart be filled with the Holy Spirit and the fruit of holiness will flow up into your mouth. Then love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control will come from the Holy Spirit filling your heart, moving up the stem and changing the color of your words.

My passion for 2018

My passion for 2018? It hasn't really changed since I read and memorized this when I was 14. I have grown,  my desire has grown and become more intense, but the goal is the same. 

THAT I MAY KNOW CHRIST AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURECTION, BECOMING LIKE HIM IN HIS SUFFERING AND DEATH SO THAT SOMEHOW I MAY EXPERIENCE HIS RESURECTION FROM THE DEAD! Philippians 3:10.

Everything else is worthless compared with knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For that goal I shake off every other goal. For that prize I run the race lightly, letting go of everything that weighs me down. I make it my single focus to pursue and really know Him. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! Our friends in First  Baptist Church  Sutherland Springs shared, and are sharing, in that experience as are many in the community.

What does really getting to know and pursuing Christ look like? Does it look like reevaluating my priorities? Reorganizing my time and energy to reach that goal of knowing Him intimately?  Or does it mean I will have to know Him in my suffering through grief and loss? Jesus loved us SO MUCH that He chose the suffering and death so we could be with Him. Jesus says it in John 14, "I'm going to prepare a room/ mansion for you.  So that when it's ready,  and you are ready,  I'll come get you so that we can be together!" God really loves us that much. That being with us makes Him happy.  In other words.  Jesus will do anything and everything to be with us. 

My prayer for you today is from Ephisians 1. That you may know the hope of His calling for you, the richness of His glory in the saints who have His inheritance in them, and the incredible greatness of His power toward those who believe in Him, that the same power that rose Jesus from the dead lives in us, today!!! WOW!  WOW! WOW! So as I contemplate the sorrow and trouble and death around me, I place over that the picture of Jesus dying and rising from the dead so that we could be like Him, so that we could know Him in our earthly experience,  so that He could come get us when our room is ready and we could be together! Now that's a great thought for my heart to start this day.  ♡