Blog Archives - TheNewU

HOUSE CLEANING

3/29/2018

March 29, 2018 HOUSE CLEANING
1 Corinthians 5:7: “Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sanctified.”
James 1:21: “Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”
In the New Testament, we are clearly taught that when a person is born again into the kingdom of God, he or she is made a new creation, with a new heart, a new mind, and a new spirit. Yet, what seems to be a paradox, we also find scriptures such as the ones above where we are instructed to lay aside the things that do not please the Lord. You may think that because we have been made new, we would not find ourselves doing the things that do not please the Lord. One key truth that we must understand is that God has worked in us, and is working in us, but we are to work out what He has worked in us. This dynamic is seen in Philippians 2:12 where we are instructed to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” As you read the New Testament, it becomes clear that we have a part to play in working out and expressing the salvation that we have in the Lord. God did not make us robots. In light of this, let us take to heart what we are admonished to do in the above verses. No doubt, each of us have some areas of our life in which we need to clean out the old leaven-that which remains from who we use to be-those things that do not please the Lord. At times, we try to excuse certain actions and behavior by claiming that-‘that’s just how I am made.’ We so easily learn to live with certain things even though we know they are displeasing to the Lord and to others. Let us be alert to any part of us that is not what it should be, ‘anything that remains of wickedness,’ whether it be a unhealthy thought pattern, wrong responses, impure motives, etc. The good news is that God gives us the power to ‘put aside’ anything that is displeasing to Him and that is in contradiction to our new nature. Notice that it is our job to do the cleaning out, the putting aside—with the power and ability that God supplies. Lets’ clean house today and dispose of anything that does not become us as children of God.
Colossians 1:10: “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”
2 Timothy 2:21: “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
Blessings,
Buddy

THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO STAND

3/26/2018

March 26, 2018 THAT YOU MAY BE ABLE TO STAND
Ephesians 6:10-12: “Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
A good starting point to be an overcomer in life is to realize that there is a war in progress. We like to think that everything is beautiful and that we are entitled to a life free of conflicts and problems. Another mistake we often make is falling into the trap of thinking that certain people are our problem-and sometime, those ‘certain people’ are those closest to us. Certainly, people can act in a wrong way, but the greater reality is that there is a power that is driving their errant behavior, and/or our wrong response. The over-riding truth and reality that we must continually be aware of is that are only two kingdoms-one of darkness, ruled by Satan, and one of light, ruled by God, and there is an ongoing conflict between these two kingdoms. The sobering reality is that human beings are the battle field where this warfare between the two kingdoms takes place. It’s not that we are personally that important to Satan, but his scheme is to ‘get back at God’ by attacking the ones that God loves so much-those that belong to Him. It is true that the one who is in the kingdom of darkness, who has not experienced the kingdom of light, is likely not that aware of this greater battle taking place because he is spiritually dead. One who has not been born again, who is spiritually dead, is void of the Spirit of God, and because of that, he lives according to his own dictates (so he thinks) and is oblivious to the battle taking place. It is also vitally important to know that Satan can do only what God allows him to do; the truth is that God is using Satan for His own purposes! In the great plan of God, God has chosen to demonstrate to the world and all of the spiritual powers that be, that His redeemed ones overcome the schemes of devil. It is the love of God that moved Him to send Jesus as our Savior, and it is by His love and His power that He has made us new creations who can live lives that please Him. Even though we are new creations, it is still possible for us to succumb to the schemes of the devil, and so we must still be engaged in the warfare. We do not fight in our own strength, but we fight by being strong in the Lord and by walking according to the Spirit. The devils’ only chance of defeating us is to cause us to turn from the Lord. Let us be on guard against the schemes of our enemy, and let us put on the full armor of God and be strong in His might. The armor of God includes faith, righteousness, worship, prayer, and walking according to Holy Spirit who directs our steps. May we be the overcomers that we are in Him.
James 4:7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Blessings,
Buddy

BECAUSE OF HIS PERSISTENCE

3/22/2018

March 23, 2018 BECAUSE OF HIS PERSISTENCE
Luke 11:8 “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give as much as he needs. And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.”
In Luke 11, one of the disciples of Jesus asked Jesus to teach them to pray, and what Jesus taught about prayer is crucial for us just as it was for His disciples of that day. What we know as the ‘Lords’ prayer’ was the very first instruction on how to pray—“Father, hallowed be Thy name…..” In verses 5-13, Jesus gives additional insight and instruction regarding prayer, and interestingly enough, in this passage, we find just one key element to effective prayer. (As always, Jesus in just a few words, conveys truth in a way that cannot be misunderstood.) When we think of prayer, “Ask and it will be given to you” is likely the first thought that comes to mind. However, as we read verses 5-13, the obvious is that the man needing food for his unexpected guest felt a sense of urgency and need-and that is the element that is often missing in our prayers. We tend to ask God for something and then almost immediately forget about it, and perhaps ask again in a few days or in a few weeks. We learn from this section of scripture that persistence is a key element of effective prayer. Persistence comes as a result of having a sense of urgency and realizing our need, and the kind of prayer we see here is a prayer that is born out of a sense urgency and need. God is a God who enjoys responding to prayer that comes from a heart of need and dependency on Him. When we pray, or make a request to God, our prayer should have an element of being desperate for God and realizing that without His responding to our prayer, we are helpless. We must understand that just as a parent at times does not give what a child ask because what he is asking for would not be good for him, or it is not the right time to give what he ask, at times God will not give us what we ask for because it would not be for our good, and/or the timing is not right. A part of prayer is actually discerning what God desires for us, and then praying according to His will. (Jesus said and did what He saw the Father doing-we can learn about prayer from that statement.) We also learn from scripture that God responds to the ‘effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man’ as seen in James 5:16. Because we are righteous in Him, God is pleased when are righteous in all our ways. So, let us not take prayer lightly, but when we pray, let us do so out of a sense of need, urgency, and total dependency on Him, and let us keep on asking until we receive what we ask for. In essence, prayer is trusting God and is a means of expressing our dependency on Him. When we pray as we should, we are acknowledging that God is our only hope. Finally, the good news is that God always gives us what we need and what is best for us-let us trust Him whether we get the request we ask for or not. Sometimes, in God’s grace, He says ‘no’. Let us be aware of our need and let us be persistence in prayer.
John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you”
Blessings,
Buddy

TWO KINGDOMS

3/20/2018

March 20, 2018 TWO KINGDOMS
John 18:36 “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.’”
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
Jesus came announcing that another kingdom, the kingdom of God, had come to earth. There are only two kingdoms; the kingdom of this world, (kingdom of darkness, or the kingdom of Satan), and the kingdom of God. Even though we do not see Satan in a physical way, he is nonetheless ruling the kingdom of this world-and he does so in a subtle and deceitful way. Proof of his being subtle and deceitful is that the vast majority of non-believers would deny the existence of Satan, and certainly his ruling there life. Revelations 12:9 tells us that Satan deceives the whole world and 2 Corinthians tells us that he is scheming. Satan’s primary strategy is that of convincing man that fulfillment is found in satisfying self, or having self on the throne of our life. Everyone is physically born into the kingdom of this world and unless one is born anew into the kingdom of God, this world system is all they know. Being born again into the kingdom of God, being transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:13), is an amazing miracle to say the least. The kingdom of God is in stark contrast to the kingdom of Satan and it is impossible to blend the two or for the two to co-exist. When one is born into the kingdom of God, a total transformation takes place, and at the core of this transformation is that of being given a new spirit, a new heart, and a new mind. 1 Peter 2:9. There are many contrast in the two kingdoms; one major contrast is that in the kingdom of this world system, love is a selfish love where personal benefit is the goal. In the kingdom of God, the love of God rules and His love is a giving love that blesses others. Another contrast, as alluded to above, is that in this world system, the primary goal is self-fulfillment, whereas in God’s kingdom, fulfillment is realized not from satisfying self, but from living in a way that pleases our heavenly Father. There is a warning that believers should take note of. It is possible for a believer to turn from the light and once again walk in the darkness-but if and when he does, the Holy Spirit will convict him in his heart of the error of his way, while the lost person can be content in darkness because that is all he knows. (The book of Galatians was written to believers who had turned from the truth of the gospel.) For the believer, it is crucial that we carry out the instruction given in 1 John 1:7: “but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Let us remember the words of 1 Peter 2:11-12 where he tells us that believers are ‘aliens, strangers, and sojourners’ in this world. As we ‘sojourn’ through this world, let us represent the kingdom that we are now a part of-the kingdom of God; even though we are surrounded by the darkness of this world, we walk in the light of God’s glorious kingdom-may our life be evidence of that.
Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Blessings,
Buddy

IF WE ARE TO BEAR FRUIT

3/17/2018

March 17, 2018 IF WE ARE TO BEAR FRUIT
John 15:4-5,8: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; He who abides in Me, and I in Him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
I was recently pruning grape vines, cutting off the excess branches in order to have a good harvest of grapes. Not to anyone’s surprise, the branches I cut off soon died. Just as Jesus said, a branch that is not connected, or not abiding in the vine, cannot produce fruit. The plain, simple, yet profound truth is that just as the branches of my grape vines cannot bear fruit it they are not connected to the vine, neither can we bear fruit if we are not connected to, or abiding in Jesus-the vine. It is the role of the vine to supply nutrients to the branches so that fruit can be produced on the branches. Actually, the branches do not produce the fruit, they bear the fruit. Jesus is the vine and we are the braches-receiving life from the vine and in turn, bearing fruit. So, the obvious point that Jesus is driving home is that if are to bear fruit, we must abide in Him. The branches simply have to abide-to receive the nutrients that flow from the vine. To abide in Jesus is a matter of knowing that life flows from Him, not from ourselves. As the verse points out, apart from Him, we can do nothing. The blessing is that God wants us to bear much fruit-to have a bumper crop! Abiding has the idea of not striving, but resting in and receiving what God supplies. The branches do not argue with or resist what comes through the vine-the branches receive. When we abide in Him, we receive the life that comes from Him, and His life produces good fruit. To abide in Him means that we realize that we are dependent on Him for the life that only He can provide. It’s not enough to say that we abide in Him; abiding involves learning from Him, studying, reflecting on, and applying the truths that we discover in His word. Abiding is to respond to the promptings and leading of the Holy Spirit within us. The fruit that the vine produces in us is always good fruit because it comes from God-and what He does is good and perfect. A list of some of the fruit that God desires to produce in us is found in Galatians 5:22-23, and includes love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. God also desires to give us other fruit-such as wisdom and understanding. Just as He is the potter and we are the clay, He is the vine, and we are the branches. Let us take to heart the words of Jesus; let us have the wisdom to abide in Him, not in word only, but as a way of life. And, as we abide in Him, let us enjoy the fruit that He produces in us-God never has a ‘bad year’ in fruit producing.
Philippians 1:11 “having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”
Blessings,
Buddy

PERFECTED IN UNITY

3/14/2018

March 14, 2018 PERFECTED IN UNITY
John 17:21-23 “that they all may be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. And the glory that Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.”
After reading John 17, one may think that Jesus is belaboring the point of unity between God and Jesus, Jesus and us, and unity of believers. If we do think that way, then that is an indication that we do not fully understand what Jesus is saying about unity, or being one. John 17 is known as the ‘high priestly prayer’ that Jesus prayed just prior to His crucifixion, and this prayer was for His followers of that day and for all who would become followers-and that includes us. Perhaps, because we live in a fallen world, we accept strife and division as the norm, and do not understand and do not often experience the level of unity that Jesus talked about. This prayer gives us a good insight of how things work in God’s kingdom. As believers, we know that Jesus and the Father are one, and we know that the Father sent Jesus to be our Savior. Jesus knew what it was to be loved by the Father and He knew the blessings that flowed from the Father being in Him and He being in the Father. This unity that Jesus and the Father experienced is the same unity that Jesus prayed that we would experience. When Jesus completed His mission on earth, believers became the temple of the Spirit of God and they were placed in Christ and in God! This is a miracle that can only be partially grasped-Christ in us and us in Christ! With Jesus and the Father, there was and is no division, no disagreements, no competition, and no strife. The love of God is a perfect love, and it was this love that Jesus and the Father enjoyed, and it was this love that God, and His Son, had for mankind that led to Jesus coming to earth and giving His life so that man might be restored to God. This restoration was much broader than assuring believers of heaven; it meant that believers would become one with the Father and thus enjoy a relationship with Him on the basis of the love that flows from God. The unity that Jesus is referring to, is found and experienced only in the love of God. The good news for us is that God has poured His love into our hearts (Romans 5:5) and because we now have the love of God in us, we can experience unity and oneness with God and with other believers. Now, God’s thoughts can be our thoughts; His desires can be our desires; His purposes can be our purposes; and His kindness and compassion can be ours. It is indeed a great miracle, but because God has restored us, we can in this present life enjoy unity and oneness with our Father and with other believers. It is past time that we step out of discord and dis-unity, and step into the wonderful and perfect unity that is ours as sons and daughters of God and live out of the love that God has poured into our hearts. Remember that Jesus told us to pray “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Let us bring heaven to our place on earth!
Colossians 3:13-14 “bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.”
Blessings, Buddy

LIFE

3/11/2018

March 11, 2018 LIFE
John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
Matthew 4:4 “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Psalm 119:130: “The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
The desire to experience fulfillment in life is a desire that is common to every person that has ever lived. The pursuit of man is to find that which satisfies his inner being. The desire to experience life to the fullest comes out of man being made in the image of God- because God is life and He is the only source of the life that satisfies. (Even though man is made in the image of God, all do not know Him a Savior.) The truth is that the one who does not know God can never find the life that truly satisfies, because it does not exist outside of God. It is possible for one who does not know God to find some degree of fulfillment in life and some satisfaction in life, but whatever life he finds, it fails to satisfy his deepest longings and it fails in comparison to the life that comes from God. There are countless ways in which one may seek to find life, whether it is financial success, excelling in a sport, gaining a reputation in the community, being the best dressed, or turning to drugs and other addictions, etc. It is God who put within us the desire for life, and it is God who offers life to us. Any life outside of God is counterfeit. Even believers can fall short of experiencing the abundant life that God has made available, due to lack of, or a misunderstanding of, the Scriptures and by not knowing their true identity in Christ. In fact, it is most likely true that in our day, most believers would say that there must be more to life than they are currently experiencing. The good news is that God has done all that needed to be done in order for us to experience the abundant life that is found in Him. It is possible, and perhaps likely, that our ‘higher education’ and our ‘intellect’ has become an obstacle to the simple, but profound truths of the Scriptures. (Nothing wrong with education.) Finding the life that God has for us starts by humbling ourselves before the Lord and acknowledging that His words, and His words alone are life. In God’s mercy and grace, He provided His word in written form-amazing! That’s not all-He gives each believer His Holy Spirit to guide us in understanding and applying His word. There is an endless number of ‘Christian’ books out there, written by believers with good intentions, but I sometimes find myself wondering why there are so many books when God has seen fit to give us His book! (I am not opposed to books-they can be helpful.) The word of God must be our manuel-our instruction and our source of life. God has made it clear that life comes from His words. Let our pursuit be that of searching the Scriptures and finding and clinging to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. You most likely have a bible in your possession-get it out, read it, and study it-for in it, you will find the life you are looking for!
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Blessings,
Buddy

THE MYSTERY MADE KNOWN

3/9/2018

March 9, 2018 THE MYSTERY MADE KNOWN
Colossians 1:26-27 “that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have form God, and that you are not your own?”
Long before the coming of Jesus, the prophets of the Old Testament knew that God had a plan of salvation that would be revealed at some point in future, but they did not know the how and when of this plan. You can find many prophecies in the Old Testament that point to the Savior that God would send; even the angles longed to understand this plan of God. 1 Peter 1:12. But now, this great mystery that has been hidden from past generations, God has made known to those who believe in Him. The mystery that has been revealed is- Christ lives in each believer! Yes! Christ lives in us; He is our redeemer and our Savior, and His presence in us is our hope of glory-of all that God has in store for those who know Him and love Him. At one point, sin separated man from God, and since man was a sinner by nature, it seemed that man being restored to God was an impossibility. How could a holy God and sinful man be united? But thanks be to God, God had a plan, but the plan would require the death of His Son. As great as it was for Jesus to die in our place, being the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, God’s plan went beyond forgiving us for our sins. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we were made sons and daughters of God; our old sin nature was crucified; our bondage to sin was broken; we were made new creations and given a new heart, a new nature, and a new spirit, AND, we became temples of the Holy Spirit. Now, Christ is in us! This fact of Christ being in us is a reality that we can spend a lifetime discovering the implications of Him living in us. At some point, we have to face, or try to get our mind around, the almost unbelievable fact that the God who created the universe, the all-powerful and the all-knowing God lives in us. Even when we in a very elemental way begin to grasp this fact of Christ being in us, our view of life, our purpose in life, and the meaning of life, undergo a drastic change-for the good. God gave us His Holy Spirit to live in us for the purpose of revealing the things of God to us, to guide us, to convict us of any sin we may commit, and to empower us. The amazing realization that occurs when we begin to realize that God is in us, and we are walking in His ways, there is nothing to fear! In fact, His presence in us becomes a fountain of life that never runs dry. His presence takes us out of the limitations of mere human nature and brings a super-natural aspect to our lives. God’s purposes and His plan of salvation is far more than being forgiven-as great as that is. He has made us a part of His family, He has joined us to Himself, and He has plans for us to reside with Him for all eternity in heaven! May our eyes be opened to see in greater ways what it means for Christ, the hope of glory, to BE IN US!
John 7:37b-38: “’If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Blessings,
Buddy

EXAMINE YOURSELVES

3/6/2018

March 6, 2018 EXAMINE YOURSELVES
2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ in you-unless indeed you fail the test?
We are creatures of routine. Routine is not a bad thing, and in fact can be a positive aspect of our lives. The danger of routine is that we tend to get in a certain track of life and live on auto-pilot. We can easily get accustomed to our deficiencies, short comings, and bad habits and learn to live with them, losing sensitivity to areas in which we need to change. We can also fall victim to the negative aspect of routine in our spiritual life and actually fall short of the message and intent of the gospel. The gospel portrays the life of a follower of Jesus as a dynamic life-a life of continually being refined and transformed, a life of growth and change, and a life of action. When the creator of the universe lives in us and has full sway over our lives, life ceases to be boring; life becomes an adventure. In this section of scripture, Paul is admonishing believers to test and examine themselves to see if they “are in the faith.” Paul has made it clear that the gospel in a very clear way calls believers to a lifestyle that resembles God, and it is incumbent upon us to order our life is such a way that it is in harmony with the teachings of scripture-because after all, the scriptures come from God. If we find that we are on a plateau spiritually and that we are just going through a spiritual routine that is void of life, there is a teaching in scripture that will serve as a wake-up call for any believer who is simply living out of the unhealthy type of routine. Even though this teaching, this truth of the gospel, is actually found throughout the New Testament, it is often ignored or overlooked. One of the ‘wake-up call’ passages is 1 John 2:3: “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” Another passage is 1 John 2:4: “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” It would be extremely difficult for anyone not to get what is clearly stated or to miss the point of these verses. If we love God, we will have a desire to obey His commands-it’s really that simple. Paul was addressing those who professed to be followers of Jesus but were not living in a way that was pleasing to the Lord-thus Paul called them to examine themselves to see if they really were believers in Jesus and were in the faith. It is possible that by misunderstanding grace, we excuse and overlook those areas of our life that are not pleasing to the Lord-that would be a misunderstanding of grace. Christ being in us is not to be taken lightly, and unless we are in the dangerous place of resisting and rejecting His leading, His presence makes all the difference; because He lives in us, we have all that is necessary to live in a way that honors and pleases Him. If we know deep down that our life is not pleasing to Him, then let us take to heart the words of Paul and examine ourselves, and do what is needed to align our lives, our hearts, with the ways of the Lord. Because God loves us, He will not allow us to go our own way-if need be, He will discipline us and will draw us to Himself, so that we might experience life to the fullest. May we today test and examine ourselves and determine whether or not we are living in the faith.
1 John 3:21: “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.”
Blessings,
Buddy

OUR DEBT CANCELED OUT

3/3/2018

March 3, 2018 OUR DEBT CANCELED OUT
Colossians 4:13-14: “And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven all your transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
A central truth, the cornerstone of the gospel, is that God forgives sin when we accept Him as Lord and Savior; the purpose of Jesus coming to earth was that man might be forgiven and restored to God. Yet, many struggle with this issue of forgiveness-the receiving of forgiveness for our own sins and being able to extend forgiveness to those who have wronged us. For today, the subject is about us receiving forgiveness from God for our sins against Him. The primary reason we have trouble receiving forgiveness is that our pride resist admitting our sin. We find it difficult to say “I was wrong, I sinned.” And, often, if we do admit our wrong, our sin, we shift the blame to others or to something else. If we are going to enjoy our relationship with God, we must know in the deepest part of our heart that God has forgiven us and that all of our guilt and the ‘decrees’ against us before we were born again, were nailed to the cross. When a thought of a sin of the pass comes to mind, use it as a springboard to remind you of the great forgiveness of God, and thank Him for His forgiveness. When God forgives us, He no longer sees our sin! The sin issue has been dealt with, once for all. By not knowing our forgiveness, the memories of past sin ‘nags’ us like a heavy weight that is always there to remind us of our failures. It is a red-letter day when we come to a place where we receive the full forgiveness that is ours in Christ, and we acknowledge that Christ came and died that we might receive forgiveness for our sins. Isaiah 1:18 is a wonderful verse that reveals the heart that God has for His people and it beautifully describes the forgiveness He offers: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, thought they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Until we come to know and experience His full forgiveness, we will not enjoy the freedom and the abundant life we have in Christ. At salvation, God forgives us off all past sins. When as believers we commit a sin, 1 John 1:9 tells us what we are to do: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Note that not only will God forgive us when we confess our sins, He will also purify us from all unrighteousness. True repentance goes hand-in-hand with confession, and true repentance involves a turning away from our sin, changing directions. If we continue in the same sin, then perhaps we have not truly repented for that sin. For today, let us thank God that He has forgiven us for every sin we have ever committed and let us enjoy the unhindered relationship with Him that He has made possible by forgiving us and cleansing of our sins against Him.
Ephesians 1:7: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
Blessings,
Buddy