AM I FORGIVEN?

Am I Forgiven?

“But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matt. 6:15 (NLT)

One day I watched two children playing together with a little truck.  One of them grabbed the truck and pushed the other child.  The mom came up and said, “That wasn’t nice, now you say you’re sorry.”  Her son just gave the other child a mean look and finally, in a low voice said, “Sorry”.  He threw the truck down on the floor and stomped away. According to his actions, he wasn’t sorry at all. 

How like many of us at times.  We do or say things that are not kind and loving and then go on about our business.  I have found it very easy to say I’m sorry, but my heart doesn’t always agree with my words.  Believe me when I tell you that God, the Father sees and knows where our hearts are in all matters. 

It doesn’t take much to say you are sorry, but it takes a lot more to follow through with it.  There is a word in the Bible that carries a lot of weight and the word is: ‘Repentance’.  Repentance means “to change; to turn away from”.  To put it plainer, don’t do it again.

Someone once told me that although she was a Christian, she would never forgive a person for something they did to her.  This is a very dangerous place to be in because the Word states clearly that if you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you!  In Luke 6:37, it reads, “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”  I explained this to the person and after prayer she asked God for forgiveness and forgave the other person.

Luke 17:3 gives a warning to those who sin: “So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.”  This goes both ways; if you sin repent, because without repentance, there is no forgiveness.  If you see another believer in sin, rebuke them and explain they need to repent so they will be forgiven.   

I think of the woman who was about to be stoned and Jesus came to her rescue and then he said to her, “Go and sin no more”.  [John 8:11]  Jesus forgave her, but he warned her to never again do what she had been doing.  God has not changed; He wants to forgive all of our sins, but to go back to what we were doing before is a greater sin.  It’s like turning around and slapping Jesus in the face.  “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” [Ephesians 1:7]  Remember what He did for you. 

“Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.”           [Ephesians 4:26]  If there is someone in your life that you have not forgiven, please pray about it and in your heart of hearts forgive them.  God knows and will forgive you for not dealing with it sooner.  God loves you and wants the very best for you, including happiness.  Happiness cannot be had if you are holding un-forgiveness in your heart.

 

 

When the Light Went Out

When the Light Went Out

 “Before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the LORD where the ark of God was.” 1 Samuel 3:3

In the days when the Tabernacle was at Shiloh [the gathering place of the people], Eli was the Priest.  This was the place where the boy, Samuel, lived and where God spoke to him and called him out to be a prophet.  The tabernacle was lit by lamps which burned almost all night until they ran out of oil and this was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.  The ‘Lamp of God’ also meant the ‘Glory of God’.

Old Eli had 2 sons and they were evil men.  Israel was at war with the Philistines at that time and Eli’s sons went out to kill them.  However, they decided to take the Ark of the Covenant along with them for a ‘good luck charm’. God was not with them and Eli’s sons were killed and the ‘Ark’ was taken by the Philistines. When Eli heard the news he fell over and died.  His daughter-in-law, gave birth to a son and gave him the name, “Ichabod”, meaning “Where is the Glory?”  The Glory of God departed from the Tabernacle at Shiloh that day and never returned there again.

Today, the world is at war and the reason is, that many are falling away from God.  We have many great churches in America, but some are also teaching a false doctrine. How do I know this?  Look at Matthew 24:22-24: “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

During these times, people are looking for messages that tickle their ears, because they want to do things that are against the Word of God, so they listen to messages about hyper-grace.  Quoting Sid Roth, “This teaching of hyper-grace is from the pit of Hell!”  Even Christians will get excited and say, “Let’s go where this is being taught. I don’t ever have to worry about asking for forgiveness again.  I can do what I want and its okay.”  Others will run all over the country looking for things like, teeth being filled with gold fillings, or people barking like dogs.  They will tell you these are manifestations of the Holy Spirit. 

Are these things in the Bible?  No!  When people gather together in the name of Jesus, why would the attention be on the actions of people and not on Jesus Christ?  Are these things possible?  Of course God can do whatever he wants and I have seen God’s healing power and miracles that take place. However, when Jesus walked this earth, his focus was not on miracles, even though he did miracles.  It was because he had compassion for the people.  He did not come to earth for manifestations; he came so people could be saved for the Kingdom of God.   Luke 4:43 “But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”

Today we hear about places where there is a ‘great move of God’ and everyone wants to run there.  Those places are a hot-spot for a length of time and then they die out. Now let’s look at the last part of this scripture again: “do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”  

What has this to do with the lamp of God going out?  When the shepherds of the Church stray away from the Word of God and allow false teachings to come into their church, the Lamp of God begins to dim.  As in the time of Samuel, the lamp of God will go out and the Glory of God will leave, never to return.  Even the ‘elect’, God’s chosen ones, are beginning to turn away from the truth of God’s Word.  The world is becoming ripe for the Anti-Christ to rise up.

As Christians, we can no longer ignore what is happening in the Body of Christ.  We must make a stand and proclaim to others: “Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it.”  Don’t be afraid you’ll offend someone; like our President is.  He tells us to not offend Muslims and that only 99.9% of them believe in Jihad.  Yet he also thinks that it’s okay to offend Christians; is there something wrong with this picture?  Let your congressmen and other government officials know it is not all right to offend Christians and then lift up the wonderful, peaceful Muslims. 

Christians, listen, there is One God; “Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.” [Deuteronomy 4:39]  Allah is not God Almighty!  Muhammad is not Jesus Christ our Savior, or anyone’s Savior.  So, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve”.  [Joshua 24:15]  You may not think so kindly about it when the jihadist start cutting off heads and burning people alive in our own country. 

As a child, I learned this song in Bible School and it didn’t mean much then, but today, I see the truth in it.  Let this be your song, it’s called:  “Stand up For Jesus”

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, you soldiers of the cross.

Lift high the Royal banner; it must not suffer loss.

From victory unto victory, His army shall He lead,

Till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, The strife will not be long;

This day the noise of battle, the next, the victor’s song;

To him that overcometh, a crown of life shall be;

He with the King of glory shall reign eternally.

 

 

 

When I’ve Lost My Way

When I’ve Lost My Way

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Psalm 119:105

 When I was a child I wandered down a path in the Jack Pines of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  I don’t know if you have ever been alone in the woods of the UP, but it’s pretty scary.  Let me tell you how it happened. 

My father was a fur buyer (back when people wore fur coats) and once a year he would go up north to buy fur from the ‘backwoods trappers’.  My mother and I went along (with my schoolwork) and stayed for about a month.  My father also liked to trap along the Indian River and sometimes he took me along.  I learned to help him skin muskrats and mink.  I had a little pearl handle knife and I scraped the fat off the inside of the fur when he stretched them on boards. (I still have my knife and one of the stretching boards.) 

We rented a cabin at a place called Jack Pine Lodge and that’s where we were when I decided to have an adventure by myself.  My father was a deer hunter and so I heard a lot about his hunting episodes. One day I took my Red Ryder BB gun and went out into the Jack Pine woods looking for deer. (Yes, I can shoot a real gun.  Ask my husband who took me with him to show me how to target shoot.  Imagine his surprise when I shot a dime off a tree.) 

Back to my adventure, I wandered around out there and didn’t know how far it was from the cabin. I realized I was lost when off in the distance I heard people calling my name.  Then I got scared because I was supposed to be right by the cabin and was disobedient, so I didn’t answer their calls.  I hid behind a tree, but I think my red hat and gloves gave me away and before long I was found.  I didn’t get punished, but I sure got a ‘talking to’ and also a lot of hugs and kisses.  I did learn my lesson and never wandered off again.  

However, growing up, I often wandered away from God’s calling.  It took many years of wandering through the desert, just as the Israelites did, before I decided to follow God’s pathway.  As God’s children, we often wander off the path away from Him, but He continues to call to us even when we are disobedient.  

When we wander away from God, we can really get into a lot of trouble.  Some of us have found ourselves on pathways of destruction, and have been saved from them by the Grace of God.  If you were saved from destruction the way you were headed, it wasn’t by chance.  Listen to the Words of Psalm 40:2, “He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.”  That’s what he did for me. 

After that, God did an amazing thing, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  Psalm 16:11.  Then he followed up by not only showing me the path of life, but he did this: “He restored my soul; He led me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.”  Psalm 23:3  

To summarize all of this, God saved me, brought me out of destruction, established my steps, showed me the path of life and then led me in His paths of righteousness. Then he gave me an amazing truth; to study His Word and when we do it’s like a light comes on and shows us the way to continue on our journey of life.   

He is calling you and if you are far from Him, he wants to direct you to the right pathway.  Answer His call and you will find He is waiting with arms open wide.