Could you use this prayer? O Lord, I need a deep cleansing. Search all the forgotten places where I’ve buried what I didn’t want remembered. It is lying there in the dark like mold. Spots and stains. Sores and fractures in my soul. Those fleeting memories that bubble to the surface of my memory when all is quiet. Go back through the years and expose to Your holy light the sins I have not dealt with, have not admitted to,…
What would you give to know forgiveness, to know there is nothing against you, or to know that you are clean before God? Memories of the wrongs we have done in the past haunt us. Do you hear the whispers, “You are guilty. You committed a terrible thing.” Maybe they aren’t whispers, maybe they are shouts and screams in your mind that torment you whenever the memories come to mind. I think even believers, born-again Christians, struggle with knowing they…
A new past. A clean past. An empty past. If you are in Christ, your past is covered by the blood of Jesus and you are wrapped in His righteousness. You see, He is able to completely save you, to go as deep as needed to wash away your sins. Hebrews 7:25. Nothing left unsaved. Nothing left stained or dirty. No sin left unforgiven and washed away. Your past is gone. Dead to the past When you were born again…
Have you received anything from God? Did you know that we are all spiritual paupers until we receive from God? Like what, you say? I searched to see what God offers. Have you received any of these gifts? Life is the big one because it includes so much. So I will start with that. Have you received life? The life that makes you complete? That makes you who you were created to be? Jesus came to give us life abundant….
A few weeks ago, I wrote about our need for forgiveness and what that forgiveness is based on. Now let’s explore how we can forgive when it is really difficult. Our part in the forgiveness process is explained by John Woodward in his article “Dimensions of Forgiveness.” In that article, he lists three steps. I like it because it is simple and clear. Step 1 Forgiveness – relinquishment The first step is giving it to God. Whatever the offense, whatever…
Forgiveness based on what? Forgiveness from God is based on the blood of Jesus. No sin is too bad. Jesus’ blood is enough. That is what God looks on, not the sin, but the blood of Jesus. He doesn’t base our forgiveness on our character, the badness of our sin, nor on how we’ve tried to atone for it by doing good. It is not based on how good we are in every other area of our lives. Nor does…
Because my parents either sent me or took me to church I learned that I needed an advocate. It was explained I was not acceptable to God and was in need of a savior. At the end of my life, I would stand before the judgment seat of God and would not be accepted just because I tried to be a good girl. I could never be good enough. I needed more than I could find in myself. Everyone Needs…
Receiving salvation is what this new life is all about. Did you know it is all about receiving, not doing? What have you received from God? It is all about recognizing our needy state, our inability to earn God’s approval and placing our faith in what Jesus has done for us. It is not our attempts to reconcile ourselves to God, but it is Christ Jesus reconciling us to God through His death on the cross. “But as many, as…
Redemption was God’s plan from the beginning, and it was to be complete. When God redeems us, he redeems all that is our lives – past, present, and future. All of our past? Redeemed Yes, all of who we have been, what has happened to us and what we have done. Complete redemption. He bought all our sins and cast them as far as the east is from the west, and we have no business digging up the past. He has…
God offers to forgive and to wash clean. Spotless. No stains to remind us of our sins. Many times in the Old Testament God pleaded with His wayward people to return to Him as in Jeremiah 3:22, “Return you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” “Come now…though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18 He wants to forgive you and…
