Forgiveness is not optional. Christ gave all that we might be free from the condemnation of our mistakes. It is our job to walk in His footsteps and do the same. “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” Colossians 3:13
LEARN TO SEE YOU HOW GOD SEES YOU – “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
Psalm 139:14
Incomplete really speaks to the idea that I, we, us, don’t really have it all together like we think we do at times. We often feel so short from where we need to be; from where God wants us that we can sense a dragging of lack in our spirits. If we were really honest with ourselves we would see within us the deficit our humanity brings without any real way of adding up to that holy mark of perfection our soul so desperately longs for. If left to ourselves and our own ingenuity we would find that we are an incomplete mess.
But, thanks be to God that our completeness is not dependent upon us. Rather, it is in Christ alone where we find everything that makes us one hundred percent whole in Him. In our relationship with Jesus as our Savior, there is no lack. The Bible assures us, “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” (Colossians 2:10). On the cross, Jesus secured everything we need to have a full relationship with God Almighty, leaving nothing out. Jesus Christ really does become more than enough for believers to rest in His salvation. Through Calvary’s sacrifice, Jesus turned our incomplete mess into something completely beautiful.
We may feel like we’re not there yet, but we are being renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:17). Like a caterpillar in transition to becoming a butterfly, I can’t wait to see the beautiful end results of what we all will be in Christ Jesus.
More encouraging verses:
2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”
John 1:16 “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
Colossians 1:19 “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.”
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“Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”1 Peter 4:8
Love makes the difference! There’s no way around it. God is love (1 John 4:8). Jesus died because of love (John 3:16). And now we are admonished to have that same “fervent charity/love” toward one another. Christians are to have a love for each other that cannot be easily extinguished by life’s difficulties. Paul wrote, “Ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another,” (Gal. 5:13; emphasis mine). The love and compassion we have in us should be poured out freely to one another.
“For charity/love shall cover the multitude of sins.” God’s love, through His Son Jesus, covered a “multitude” of my sins and yours. We are to be imitators of our heavenly Father. Proverbs 10:12 tells us, “Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.” Both of these verses pronounce love as a covering. It’s not that we don’t see, feel or hurt at the wrongs of others, it’s all about what we choose to do with it. Much like God (although we can never touch the capacity of His love), our love is to be so on-fire for one another that it causes us to look beyond the faults of others and see to the core of their very need. That’s how love makes a difference!
“He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me;
For they were too strong for me,” 2 Samuel 22:18
“Is there anything too hard for me?” is a question God asked Jeremiah, (Jer. 32:27). “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” was the question God put to Abraham after Sarah laughed at the possibility of having a child in her old age. Luke 1:37 tells us, “For with God nothing shall be impossible,” and yet, when faced with things in this life we don’t understand and heartaches untold, we often feel our situations are out of His reach. As if the problems that overwhelm us are too strong for Him, also.
Due to the anointing on his life, David faced enemies who hated him for no reason. He spent many days with his life hanging in the balance. But, in the end, he declared, “He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me,” (2 Sam. 22:18). I’m wondering, is there anything you have been facing lately that just seems off the charts? Do the difficulties you face feel like it’s just too much to handle? Are you going through a situation that seems “too strong” for you?
Take heart today! There is no weight too heavy that God can’t lift it! There is no enemy too strong that God can’t overcome them! There is no miracle too miraculous that God can’t cause it to come to pass! There is nothing too hard for God in any situation, problem or adversity we may face! The enemies and hardship you face today may seem to overwhelm you but they will never overwhelm God. They are never too strong for God to handle. So, with that being said, whatever you face, give it to God and wait for Him to bring you through. God is strong enough to take on anything! We can trust Him with whatever is “too strong” for us. God can deliver you today!
Races can take you through many terrains. Running uphill, it’s hard. The more you go, the steeper the incline, the harder it gets. Breath after breath your chest heaves for relief. Push after push your muscles cry out for mercy. And, just when you thought you had no more in you; just when you thought you couldn’t go any farther, from behind there comes these hands out of nowhere that steadies your stride and helps propel you forward some more. On the side of you comes smiling faces with encouraging words grabbing hold of your arms and help pull you up that incline that you might finish your race. They want to help you make it.
The Apostle Paul often described our Christian life as a race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). We run it. We press for it. But, sometimes the way gets hard and if it had not been for the grace of God, we would not have made it.
As the community of racers pushed and pulled the struggling runner uphill, so God will minister to us to help us go through our race. Often this is done through the community of believers that will come alongside the one that needs support.
In this world the struggle is real. May we, as a community of believers, recognize the support that each one needs. May we join up with our fellow Christian race runners and offer the help and encouragement they need to make it. May we see beyond our own race and allow God to use our hands and smiling faces to help bolster someone’s faith as they are striving to make it up the inclines of this life.
We all have the same goal in mind: to finish the race. We need each other to do it. As a community of believers, our job goes beyond spreading the gospel and being a light in this dark world, and all the other spiritual stuff it entails. Our job is also to seek the welfare of one another. We need to be there for one another. We need to be present and involved in the process of what they are going through “that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it,” (1 Corinthians 12:25-26).
More encouraging verses and quotes:
“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow . . .” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10a
“God has chosen us to help one another.” Smith Wigglesworth
“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Have you ever had one of those moments when you realize God is teaching you something significant? Where every current scene that plays out in your life you spiritually awaken to the idea of God’s guiding presence in a new way; His hand steering you this way and that?
I have had some of those revelation moments lately. God is cracking old perceptions I once held of myself and He is pulling me into new areas of trust. In this area where I am being drawn, I readily admit I don’t know what I am doing. My human frailty comes to the forefront but God is showing me Him. He is showing me more of His heart, more of His care, and more of His heavenly abilities to work it all out.
Oh, His ability to do it all has always been there, but there were certain areas of my life where there were still scales on my eyes, shielding me from seeing the bigger picture; from seeing God fully at work in it all.
I was awakened on the inside and became more aware that there is so much more to me than me. God has me on His radar and He is orchestrating my life in a unique and special way. No, I don’t have all the answers, nor do I know what tomorrow looks like or how this will all end up, but by faith, I want Him to take the lead while I just step out and follow.
It requires not only a moment of revelation but a life of trust. It’s purposely declaring every day and with every step, “I don’t know it all, but I choose to follow the One who does.” It’s a time when we let that one moment of believing God is the fullness of His promises defines the makeup of our future. It’s when we permit the wonder of all that He is to overshadow any doubt or discrepancies that we might feel within ourselves, realizing what He has made us for and ordained us to do never depended on us in the first place.
Is there an area of your life where God wants to give you that ah-ha moment of revelation? Or, are there still scales blocking your full vision of Him?
Father God, remove the scales from our eyes that we might see the full vision of You. We are praying against every hindrance that tries to blind Your people and obstruct their view from the wonderful works You want to do through them. Amen!
I pray for your moment of connection with God. I pray that you would trust in God more, and focus on Him more than whatever you think you can’t do. It only takes a moment of sincere trust and total abandon to Him to change your course in history forever.
“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” Jeremiah 17:7
“But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him,” Habakkuk 2:20
Through the many tragedies that unfold in this life and the unrest of wars and what appears to be the advancement of evil, we are left with this assurance, God is still in control. Not only is He still in control, but He remains in His proper seat of authority, ruling in His holy temple.
Sometimes it can be hard to wrap one’s mind around this concept when we see terrible things happening in the land. When our eyes witness children hurting and mothers left without any hope, it becomes hard to view the world through another possibility. When we see fathers in despair, feeling helpless to lead and feed their families. When we see evil trying to claw its way to the top, we are reminded in the Word that through it all, God is still there, never to be moved or usurped, never to be replaced or shaken from His seat of power and supremacy.
Oh, we watch the world as men set the idols of their hearts up. We watch as we see them deepen their dependency on the things that will never satisfy the hungering soul. But through it all, we look to His Majesty. The King is on the throne. O earth, be still before Him and honor His presence.
This is a comfort to the soul who cannot find comfort anywhere else. Is this not a blessed place to be? For if one found comfort among the false and depraved, would they not also think as other men? Take comfort, O soul, in your God who is always present. The head of all principality and power still bears the crown obtained for the salvation and deliverance of mankind. He that holds that holy scepter, and Himself is the Scepter that rises out of Israel (Num. 24:17), remains in control, and is worthy of your trust and honor.
O earth, “Be silence before Him.” O false ways, your arrogance will one day bow before Him, and you will not be able to utter a word against His rule. “The LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment” (Ps. 9:7).
Therefore, be at peace, he that trusts in the rule of his sovereign King. Allow your soul this holy rest for, “The LORD is King forever and ever…” (Ps. 10:16a). And for all the rest, hush and quiet your ways before Him before it is too late, for “the heathen are perished out of his land,” (Ps. 10:16b). But, “the LORD is in His holy temple” forever to reign.
“The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all,” Psalm 103:19
Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic). See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.
NEVER! We are called to walk by FAITH! “Fear is a self imposed prison that will keep you from becoming what God intends for you to be. You must move against it with the weapons of faith and love.” – Rick Warren
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