We've all heard the saying, "Don't make the same mistakes."
Why is this important and what happens when we do? How do we keep from it?
If our God is a forgiving God then it should be fine if we keep on making the same mistakes, right? He will forgive us, right? Yes, it is true that He always forgives but at some point our mistakes will be made public. He always forgives but he cares more for our holiness than our happiness. When we do things that don't please or glorify Him eventually these will come forward.
There is always an emptiness and void when we are doing things that don't please Him.
The definition of repent is to change one's mind. This is not just a one time thing. This is an ongoing process. There's also nothing about guilt involved. This is a happy thing. To change our minds to align with God's is joyeous repenting. Satan would like for us to feel so guilty and to hide from God. He enjoys the fact that we feel so guilty that God would never accept us in the nastiness of what we have done.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Jesus shows us again and again, there is nothing He can't forgive. The Samaritan woman at the well who has been married five times and now living with a man, the prostitute that anoints his feet with perfume, the tax collectors, the sick, the mentally unstable, the demon-possessed. All these he loves.
There is nothing too nasty for Him. Nothing.
Time and again when we fall, he picks us up. Eventually, though, to turn us back to Him completely He may make our fallings known. This is not to humiliate us, though. This is so we will not hide away in our darkness, this is so others who care for us so deeply will come and walk beside us, this is so we can call out to Him in our shame and recognize the only Source that can truly pull us out of the pit.
Our God is not a god of guilt, He is a God of Grace, Peace, and Understanding.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Thursday, October 24, 2013
God gives us memories for a purpose. The purpose being, to remember how good He's been to us and all the miracles He works in our lives.
When we can turn our tragedy into our triumph, that's the proof of His victory.
All that said, to re-live a moment is normal, to understand His hand in it is Supernatural Revelation!
When we can turn our tragedy into our triumph, that's the proof of His victory.
All that said, to re-live a moment is normal, to understand His hand in it is Supernatural Revelation!
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Out with the old
How many times have I heard that God is doing a new thing?!
What does this really look like, though?
The first time I can look back on my life and see this (but didn't realize it at the time) is when I was going through puberty.
I was in fifth grade when I got my period. I had been warned it was coming but it's like having a baby, until you experience it, all words are meaningless.
It was in October and I was 10 years old. I am the oldest child and my mother calmed me down and gave me all the things necessary to alleviate any mess. Not from anything she said or didn't say, this is what I perceived it to be, a mess. My life was much more messy from that point on. Things were changing in me, I didn't know Christ and as much as my mother tried, I wouldn't open up to her.
Now looking back and asking God to meet me at those moments, this is what I hear: "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:18-19
He was doing a new thing in me, a beautiful thing that is messy. This messy gift is what allows life to enter into this world. I am Eve, a life giver. Not just in the flesh and producing babies, which I have done four times. In my words, He has given me the power to produce life but the freedom to destroy and bring death.
He has made a way out of the wilderness and desert that was so messy and brought me back to where I started in this world, to breathe my first breathe. To understand I am alive because He is alive, I breathe because He breathes, I love because He loves. I am more than a mess because He created life and desires me to bring life.
Everyone has stories of how God has created something new in them. Sometimes through words that are said or just our own perception, the gift that He intended is twisted into a curse. Ask Him to come and meet you right where you are, maybe in your own mess.
What does this really look like, though?
The first time I can look back on my life and see this (but didn't realize it at the time) is when I was going through puberty.
I was in fifth grade when I got my period. I had been warned it was coming but it's like having a baby, until you experience it, all words are meaningless.
It was in October and I was 10 years old. I am the oldest child and my mother calmed me down and gave me all the things necessary to alleviate any mess. Not from anything she said or didn't say, this is what I perceived it to be, a mess. My life was much more messy from that point on. Things were changing in me, I didn't know Christ and as much as my mother tried, I wouldn't open up to her.
Now looking back and asking God to meet me at those moments, this is what I hear: "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:18-19
He was doing a new thing in me, a beautiful thing that is messy. This messy gift is what allows life to enter into this world. I am Eve, a life giver. Not just in the flesh and producing babies, which I have done four times. In my words, He has given me the power to produce life but the freedom to destroy and bring death.
He has made a way out of the wilderness and desert that was so messy and brought me back to where I started in this world, to breathe my first breathe. To understand I am alive because He is alive, I breathe because He breathes, I love because He loves. I am more than a mess because He created life and desires me to bring life.
Everyone has stories of how God has created something new in them. Sometimes through words that are said or just our own perception, the gift that He intended is twisted into a curse. Ask Him to come and meet you right where you are, maybe in your own mess.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Supernatural Cohesion
Supernatural Cohesion is a word God gave me recently. I've focused on it very little but I think this is an area he wants to open my mind and heart.
What does this mean? Hmmm....
The bond that we can't always see but can feel between He and we.
It's the reason we stay in a marriage that appears broken but hold on because something greater than ourselves is holding it together.
Why we hold our children even while they are breaking our hearts.
The glue that holds us together in one body, working in complete submission for Him.
Supernatural cohesion is the joining of two flesh to one, locking us in union even we can't truly break.
It's looking to the one Daddy that created all of us and knowing he so badly wants to interweave into our very souls.
Not always understanding or seeing what's going on around us but knowing that we can trust Him and His work.
Giving all we have to Him and continuously trusting and stepping toward Him.
Even when we don't believe in Him, He believes in us.
It's the apparent work on the inside that we don't understand until He's done.
Supernatural cohesion is Him binding himself to us and in turn us binding to Him, now and eternally. He wants all of us and us all!
What does this mean? Hmmm....
The bond that we can't always see but can feel between He and we.
It's the reason we stay in a marriage that appears broken but hold on because something greater than ourselves is holding it together.
Why we hold our children even while they are breaking our hearts.
The glue that holds us together in one body, working in complete submission for Him.
Supernatural cohesion is the joining of two flesh to one, locking us in union even we can't truly break.
It's looking to the one Daddy that created all of us and knowing he so badly wants to interweave into our very souls.
Not always understanding or seeing what's going on around us but knowing that we can trust Him and His work.
Giving all we have to Him and continuously trusting and stepping toward Him.
Even when we don't believe in Him, He believes in us.
It's the apparent work on the inside that we don't understand until He's done.
Supernatural cohesion is Him binding himself to us and in turn us binding to Him, now and eternally. He wants all of us and us all!
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