"But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do
good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those
who hurt you.” ~ Luke 6:27-28 (New Living Translation)
When it
comes to hard things to do in life, forgiving someone who hurt you is
probably near the top of the list. It’s often hard to forgive people,
even when we walk with God we suffer
with the thoughts and the heart issue of un-forgiveness. What can stop
it? How can we change it? Can we get over it? Is it even possible with
THIS deep of hurt? The answer is YES! The truth is, some of the
strongest Christians have fallen into this and don’t know how to get
out. We all struggle with it, but why? When we are wronged, it’s easy
to be offended and in that offense sometimes we lash out at a person or
perhaps we tried to react in a godly way, but that offense still took
root in our hearts. It’s easy to do and it’s hard to let go.
Un-forgiveness is like concrete, it’s poured but it’s not solid when
it’s poured. When someone hurts us, it’s like that concrete being
poured, at that very moment we can wash it off with the Word and it
won’t leave a mark, but often we don’t even notice it. Sometimes we can
be so hurt we just block out what happened and we don’t realize the
un-forgiveness until God reveals it. Jesus gave us an example of how to
forgive, it involves our action. Of course prayer and growing in the
Word of God is great, but Jesus said “love,” “do good,” “bless” and
“pray for” those who hurt you. That is our tool; this is our guidance
from God to forgive offenders. We pray for God to help us forgive, be
healed and love again, then (this is tough) try to do something for
them, something good and it might not be in the best motive at first,
but inwardly it will do something, God WILL work through that. We have
to also beware of ridicule and harsh words coming back towards us, we
have to “bless” when cursed. Proverbs 15:1 says “a soft answer turns
away wrath.” Speak kindly to them. We also have to pray for them. As we
pray for those who hurt us, God can lift our un-forgiveness and
bitterness and place His love in our hearts. God replaces ungodliness
with godliness. That’s just how He works. Who could you forgive today?
Try these steps and see if it helps, God’s Word is on your side, you CAN
forgive.
Father in Jesus Name, I come to You in need of Your
divine help. Lord, help me to forgive, not just now, but in the future.
Lord, teach me how to love those who hurt me, pray for them that use me,
bless them that curse me and help and do good to those who are against
me. Lord, speak to me inwardly and clean me up so I can respond in a
godly way next time. God get my inner motives right please. Help me to
have an idea, a godly idea to do something for someone who doesn’t like
or appreciate me and when that’s done, convict them, draw them closer to
You, because through that I am already showing evidence that I am
drawing closer. I thank You in advance for Your grace for this great
tool of spiritual growth called forgiveness. Teach me, lead me, guide me
please I love You Lord in Jesus Name! AMEN!
“Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish.” ~ Jonah 2:1 (New Living Translation)
Jonah was rebellious and disobedient and falling into the trap of the
enemy he ran from God. However, God didn’t run from him. God’s love
followed Jonah even in disobedience and God sent a storm to try to him
to turn back to God. It didn’t work, he
kept running, God then had a fish prepared for him, hoping this would
finally get to him, it did. The Bible tells us in the middle of the
trial of his life, something that threatened his life, Jonah “called out
to God” or in other words “Jonah prayed to God.” Jonah’s last resort
was soon to become his first. Sometimes God allows tight spots in our
life not only to get us to pray, because that’s great, but to get us to
see the value of prayer.
Let’s be honest, sometimes we don’t
pray like we should. Let’s be honest again, sometimes we don’t pray at
all. Let’s be even more honest, sometimes we lose faith and hope in
prayer because things didn’t turn out the way we wanted. The truth is,
sometimes when things threaten us, we do pray, but God doesn’t just want
prayer to be a last resort, God wants it to be our first choice and not
just in problems. The Lord wants to commune with us on a daily basis
and God does that through prayer. Prayer is the most effective tool to
changing you and then the world around you. Have you prayed today? If
not, what’s taking so long to do it? We can be sure that when trouble
comes we run to prayer, but God wants so much more for you. Prayer can
seem like a burden at times, but if you will reach out to God and ask
Him to help you see the value of it and enjoy it, through that prayer
God will change your heart. Don’t miss out on the best thing you can
have in life, Gods presence in it and working through it! God Bless!
Father in Jesus Name, I come to You thankful for prayer and it’s work
in my life. Lord, I thank You for the grace that kept me when I didn’t
pray. I thank You for Your love that followed me even in rebellion to
Your plan and will. Holy Spirit I pray that prayer is a thing that I
want to do and enjoy and that the ungodly thoughts of prayer that the
enemy uses to keep me from it would go away. Lord, I pray that the
harassment in my thoughts would go. Lord, teach me how to pray and show
me the value and power of it. God show up in my life in a new way
because of a rejuvenated prayer life. Holy Spirit, create within me a
clean heart by Your inward work through prayer. Thank You so much for
grace and mercy, kindness and love in Jesus Name! AMEN!
“We continued to be tossed so violently by the storm that the next day
the men began to throw the cargo overboard.” ~ Acts 27:18 (God’s Word
Version)
Storms don’t appease my taste buds! No seriously, they
aren’t the “funnest things” in life, but they are sometimes the most
necessary things in life. God has some way of working inwardly in
external circumstances, especially when
they are and seem out of control. Paul the Apostle was on the road to
destiny (Rome) and a storm broke out, but during this trip they began to
have to throw things overboard in order to reach their destination.
God sometimes allows the tightest situations we will ever face so we can
throw things overboard. Sometimes things in our life are so deeply
ingrained within us that only a storm can “lighten the load” in our
heart, mind, soul and emotions. God has a way to work in a storm!
God often places us in situations where we can reach out to Him. Some
non-believers will face storms, not always realizing God is sending it
because He desires salvation. No matter how ferocious the storm, if
salvation came because of it, it was a good thing and in time you will
realize it, appreciate it and love it. It’s a good thing to say knowing
truly “I have been changed by Gods storms.” God doesn’t desire death,
pain or illness, but sometimes He allows those things for a greater
purpose, perhaps to get you TO Christ or to bring others TO Christ. We
don’t always know the purpose of the storms of life, but we can be
assured God HAS a purpose to the storms of life. Remember, when you are
facing a storm, maybe God is trying to bring you to that inward real
and total place of surrender where something you were (in the past)
fighting against, seems to be more acceptable/palatable. God sometimes
has to allow the worst first and then bring in the best later. If you
see a spot in your life where you need to toss something overboard,
perhaps the wrong music, get rid of it, it’ll only hurt you! God Bless!
Father in Jesus Name, I pray that the Holy Spirit sinks this into my
heart and that it brings forth 100 fold lasting fruit in it. Lord, teach
me about You in my life situation right now. Lord, help me yield that
thing that I don’t even want to give to You, knowing by faith it’s a
good thing to do. Lord, I pray for the salvation of souls through this,
through my life, through my ministry, through my love, through my
forgiveness, through my kindness and through my worship. Lord, I pray
that You use me to captivate Christians and bring them to the next level
of their faith. I thank You now for all of this, including the
salvation and restoration of family and friends in Jesus Name! AMEN!
“Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of
Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negev
and Ziklag; they had crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. They
had carried off the women and children and everyone else but without
killing anyone.” ~ 1 Samuel 30:1-2 (NLT)
What do we do when life is crushed, when it seems
un-repairable, unfixable, and unable to deal with or even cope with?
What we do reflects what we know, so what do YOU do? Think about that
for a second. In life we will all face tremendous challenges, some of us
have or might face financial difficulties, challenges in our health,
cancer, career loss, loss of loved ones, marriage, divorce, struggles
internally or even spiritual failure. Life will bring tragedy, not
always because God wants it, because God didn’t, but because we live in a
fallen and sinful world. Adam and Eve’s sin tainted the world; it
crushed the world, sending it into something that was not the wanted,
intended and desired will of God.
David was coming back from
doing what he needed to do and saw his life crushed, his wives were
gone. Bad got worse, his whole “teams” children and wives were gone
too. It seemed unbearable, yet he reached towards prayer. He asked the
High Priest for the “ephod” which was a garment worn by the High Priest
who represented the people to God and God to the people, it set the High
Priest apart from the “regular” priests. This was significant, because
as a godly Leader, David was given responsibility to take care of those
who followed, he was Gods Leader. In this moment, David reached
towards intercessory prayer; he prayed for his crew and through seeking
God David experienced refreshment. Soon after, God led David to his full
recovery and victory, but what would have happened if David’s reaction
was often like ours, to run FROM God instead of TO God, to go back to
what we used to do, to drink again, to find that number again, etc. etc.
The story would have been different and lives wouldn’t have just been
crushed, they would have been lost. This story tells us that prayer,
praying for people and reacting in a godly way gives God capability to
lead us to spiritual victory and restoration of what was lost, be it by
us or Satan’s workings. God Bless!
Father in Jesus Name, thank
You so much for Your Word and for the value of it. Lord, use me for Your
glory. Create a desire within me to learn more about You. God show up
in my life as the teacher, show me what to do, lead me and guide me to
restoration. Lord, speak to my heart and guide me through this day. Help
me recover what I lost. Help me recover what was stolen from me by the
enemy. Lord, I place myself into Your hands, I ask that You guide me
through this life, making me more fruitful and more like Your Son Jesus
daily, I thank You for it. I appreciate You and ask that I can win souls
for Your Kingdom in Jesus Name! AMEN!
