Knowing Forgiveness

To remain unforgiving toward anyone reveals that we have not understood that we ourselves are deeply in need of being forgiven. Comprehending my own brokenness makes me acutely aware of my own desperate need for a Savior. This in turn enables me to forgive others.

Jesus' Rescue

Jesus has rescued all of His true followers. If you can't see yourself as one who has been rescued, than you can't really be a follower of Christ.

Overflowing Love

Overflowing love is the natural response to forgiveness. It is the appropriate consequence of true faith. Until we realize the size of that forgiveness, we will be incapable of the overflowing love that God demands of His people.

Only those who comprehend the depth of their sin can appreciate the complete forgiveness that God offers them.

Following Truth

Most of us can find compelling reasons to do or believe whatever suits our purposes. In our own minds and to our own thinking, what we do or believe is never foolish. But if we don't examine our own thinking against the light of God's Word, we are fools - following our own folly.

Truth's Source

Just because something is believable doesn't mean it is true. Just because something is popularly believed by many doesn't mean that it is true. And the fact that you believe something doesn't mean that it is true. Truth can only be defined by Jesus Christ. He is the truth. Without Him, nothing is true.

Who To Follow

Make sure that you are following the right leaders, mentors and teachers in life. You will never go further than the people you follow.

His Way vs. Ours

The reason that we keep wanting things our way is because we haven't allowed God to have His way with us often enough to have experiential learning that His ways are better for us than our own ways might be.

Respectable Living

Respectability can hinder right living if it keeps us from recognizing our true need for God and our desperate need for a Savior. Those who are "basically good people" often are headed straight for hell because they believe that their respectable ways of living are the criteria for eternal life with Christ.

Prophet's Role

A true prophet is someone who is unusually close to God. They do not necessarily predict the future. That's not the purpose of prophecy. Rather the main role of a prophet is to speak on God's behalf - proclaiming His truth.

Pride & Humility

Pride is refusing to accept God's gifts or taking credit for what God alone has done. Humility is accepting the gifts and using them to praise and serve God. Pride angers God. Humility glorifies God.

Prized Gifts

The value of a gift is not determined by its amount or monetary value. Rather the value of the gift is determined by the spirit in which it is given. True gifts from the heart carry the most value.

How To Pray

The kind of prayer that moves mountains is prayer for the fruitfulness of God's Kingdom. God can do the impossible. (In fact, He delights in that!) God will answer my prayers, but not as a result of my positive mental attitude. Other conditions must be met for prayer to be answered.

1. I must be a believer and Christ-follower.
2. I must be reconciled in all of my relationships.
3. I must not have unconfessed sin in my life.
4. I must not pray with selfish motives.
5. My request must be for the good of God's Kingdom.
6. I must pray with expectation.

So to pray effectively, I need faith in God, and not faith in the object of my request. If I focus only on my request, then I will be left with nothing if the request is denied.

Speak the Truth

True, godly love is able to speak the truth. It doesn't hedge on that. But at the same time, it's genuine-ness affirms the listener of the truth. Said differently, when the truth is spoken in love, it can be heard by the listener. Without the love, it's just mean and unlikely to be heard.

God's Favor

Sometimes it seems that we come to God wondering what we can do to earn His favor (in whatever form we think of it). But if we really listen to Him, we are more likely going to go away from that dialogue seeing what we are unable to do. Our brokenness seems to allow things to get in the way. Those are barriers that we don't seem to want to remove.

Equipped for Battle

It is the ultimate heroic act to submit all of our plans, desires and motives to God. To be truly heroic, we must go into "battle" each day in our job, home, church, schools and society to make God's Kingdom a reality. (That must be our intent.) Our "weapons" are the standards, morals, truths, and convictions we receive from God's Word and our own prayerful relationship with Him. He "equips" His "warriors" for the "battle."

Vision Casting

For most of us, our vision is always limited to our own time and range of experience. We use references of time and our own experiential learning to shape our vision (of anything). Without these frames of reference, vision is not possible.

Ironically, God doesn't live in the dimension of time. And He provides all of our experiential learning.

God's Leading

God knows the future and as He leads me each day, He already knows what victories and defeats lie ahead of me. So I must trust God's wisdom in leading me. He alone is qualified to lead me.

Choosing Obedience

Obedience is one aspect of our life that the individual believer can control. We can't always control our understanding, what other people do or how they treat us. But we can control our choice to obey. The Bible contains many relevant instructions that we can choose to ignore or choose to follow.

Answering God

When God orders us to stop sinning or move away from a sin situation, we must not pause to debate, negotiate, compromise, consider options or rationalize. Our response to God must be swift and complete. We must be ruthless in avoiding relationships and activities that can lead us into sin.

Doing Right

Anyone who has not submitted to God will end up doing whatever seems right to him or her at the time. To know what is really right though - and to have the courage and strength to do it, we must first draw closer to God and His Word.

Standards for Living

God has given us standards for living. He has not left our conduct up to us or to our opinions. Time has not changed human behavior either. In fact, human behavior proves over the ages to be more enduring than the learning that mankind collectively has accomplished. Most people still reject God's ways of living. Go figure.

Decision Outcomes

Sadly, many decisions with good motives can still produce negative results. We must allow for this possibility when we make any decisions. The best insurance against such a dilemma is to look carefully and prayerfully for the right criteria with which to make the decision.

God in Others

Because of fear for ourselves, we may not recognize God's presence in other people or what they are doing - and we may miss God's victory. I must be constantly looking for God in others and what they are engaged in. Then I must be quick to join them when I discern that their work is of God.

Fear & Unbelief

Asking for more evidence is a sign of disbelief. Fear often makes us wait for more confirmation when we should be taking action. Visible signs and evidence are unnecessary if they just confirm what we already know.

Many people who profess to be Christ followers whine that they just want to know God's will for their lives. More often than not, they already know. They just want more signs and affirmation because they're afraid to be wrong.

Praise & Worship

Songs of praise help us focus our attention on God. They give us an outlet for spiritual celebration ... which is much needed in human beings. Our soul needs that feeding. Praise and worship songs help us remember God's character - including His promises and His faithfulness. We must then turn to worship at both the victorious and the trying times of our lives.

Sin is Serious

Our sins harm ourselves and others. But all sin is ultimately against God because it disregards His commands and His authority over us. So just recognizing the seriousness of sin has to be the first step toward removing it from our lives.

Lord, help me to be conscious of the seriousness of my sins against you.

Faith Compromised

Relationships affect our faith in many ways. One of these ways is when we become accepting of the standards and or habits of those around us. They may have other false gods - like money, TV, sex, sports, etc. We don't start out determined to be idolaters. We just add them in to our lives while we worship God - usually because "there is nothing wrong" with them. But in time, we may find ourselves absorbed in what the Bible calls pagan worship - these things have become very important in our lives. Friendship with non-believers is important. But we must accept people without compromising or adopting their patterns of behavior.

Suffering

When we suffer for our own mistakes, we get what we deserve. But when we suffer because of others or because of injustice, God is angry about that. God then, in His mercy, says that His people have suffered enough. He will "settle all accounts" one day. The unjust suffering of God's people will never go unnoticed or unpunished by God.

Jesus Is Enough

Sometimes, albeit rare times, the only comfort we may find is the knowledge that God is in control, that He has a plan, and that one day we will share eternal glory with Him. There comes a time when that comfort must be enough for us. Said differently, there are times in life when we must decide whether or not Jesus is enough for our pain, our loss, our suffering, our challenges, etc. Jesus is enough. It's as simple as that.

Youthful Living

Young people are wise to enjoy life while they can. However, they must be careful - and not do anything physically, morally or spiritually that will prevent them from enjoying life when they are old. Even young people have to know that many of the choices we make in life are irreversible. Many of the choices young people make also have permanent impact on our lives - even if we don't know that when we make those choices.

What We Deserve

When we pray for forgiveness, we are asking for something that we do not deserve. But we are agreeing with God that He is right and we are wrong. And if our repentance is real, we are telling God that we intend to turn from the wrong that we've been doing. Despite our failures and weaknesses, Christ Jesus is the reason that we get exactly what we do not deserve --- God's forgiveness.