Tag Archives: Religion & Spirituality

Walk in Forgiveness – Not Guilt!

by Saved 2 the Utmost aka Mom
Original Image by: Brett Jordan

Original Image by: Brett Jordan

It is a sad fact that many Christians are struggling with guilt from past sins in their lives which has already been forgiven. The truth is that they have not yet learned to absolve themselves. The question is how do we view sin? How we see sin will either free us through the wonderful forgiving power of God or bound us by the power of guilt sent by the Accuser, Satan.

I am sure if King David was alive he could give a seminar on the bitter root of guilt, the blessings of repentance and the power of God’s forgiveness as well as the power of self-forgiveness.

We know David sinned:  he took another man’s wife; impregnated her and had her husband murdered to cover up his sins. It seems when David decided to sin he went all out! But the wonderful thing about God is that in Him hope remains.

When God sent Nathan to David to uncover his sins (2 Samuel 12) David cried out to God for forgiveness and a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within him – God did just that. He forgave his servant freely. David could have reacted in many ways, he could have carried a weight of guilt and shame; after all he killed a good man! BUT, he elected to trust in the God he knew to be bigger than anything, even his sin. He received God’s free forgiveness and forgave himself. Glory to God! David got his joy back, a clean heart, a right spirit and most of all his relationship with God was restored! David came out with a testimony! Hallelujah! Look what God can do if we only let Him.

Precious hearts when we become our own judge and jury, we condemn ourselves to a prison built of guilt, shame and unhappiness. This is not God’s will for His children. He wants us to have joy in our souls; peace in our minds and praise for Him in our hearts, testifying to the world of His love and compassion. Wasn’t it Jesus who asked the Father to forgive His murderers?

Luke 23:34 (NIV)

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Even as they taunted Him as he bled to death for them on the cross, Jesus interceded for their forgiveness! His murderers didn’t ask for forgiveness, He asked for them. What more will He forgive us our sins when we ask?

Let’s look at it this way, because God has commanded us in His word that we must forgive others their transgressions against us doesn’t it make sense that we must forgive ourselves? Forgiveness is Forgiveness. Dear hearts it’s time to pluck up the bitter roots of guilt, self-condemnation and shame, throw them out of our lives and leave them where God has cast them – that place we’ve come to know as the sea of forgetfulness.

Micah 7:19 (NIV)

You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:19 that we should be rooted and grounded in love – not guilt. We must keep in remembrance that once God has filled us with his Holy Spirit he has washed, purged and cleansed us from every (not some) sin that we ever committed. It doesn’t matter how foul, vulgar, degrading, shameful or unspeakable we think they were God has no more remembrance of them. They do not exist to Him – they never happened. That’s how complete God’s mercy is! God wants us to see our past sins and misdeeds the same way – nonexistent. Let them go! Exchange that guilty conscience for the mercy you’ve been given. Walk into it right now! Believe what God says in His word, “I remember your sins no more.” All that remains for you to do is to say, “Thank you Jesus!”

Stop second-guessing God. We will never comprehend the immensity of God’s love for His children. It’s too deep, deeper than the sea. It goes far beyond human imagination or expression. All I can say is that there’s no one on earth who can love us like God. We can’t even love ourselves as much as He does. If we did forgiveness would be easy to accept and we’d live a guilt-free life.

I have two beautiful daughters whom I love more than anything in this life. Still, God’s love for them surpasses my own. Glory to God! That’s some kind of Love! Who can really explain it? When we can’t trust the love of the people who are in our lives for whatever reason, or someone has caused us to mistrust them, we can always trust in God’s love for us. It’s the greatest love of all. Haven’t you heard and seen it for yourselves? He loves us with an in-spite-of love, an everlasting love: it’s unfailing and always proves itself faithful even when we are faithless.

Dear hearts I know firsthand what bitter roots can do to you when they’re allowed to grow-up like vines in the heart. I was shrouded by the spirit of guilt for years and was unnecessarily tormented by my thoughts concerning myself. God had pardoned my sins but I kept myself in bondage. Bitter roots are poisonous if they’re not plucked up and thrown away. They will slowly kill you spiritually, sapping you of the abundant life God has promised. Learning to leave our past behind us and never picking it up again is the key to self-forgiveness.

Once we’re born again of the Spirit we become the inheritors of God’s characteristics; His Spiritual DNA is infused in us. We are molded and shaped by the Master’s hands and we slowly take on His image. In fact it takes a life time. No matter the time it takes to see His work complete God molds us thoroughly. God will perfect that which He has started and He started a good work in us!

Little becomes much in the hands of God. The impossibilities of man are the certainties of God.

Matthew 19:26 (NIV)

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

It was impossible for me to change the negative thought-pattern I‘d held all of my life. It took God to do that but I had to have a willing mind. Unless we’re willing to let the Lord change us and be patient with ourselves we will remain the same. Remember taking on His image takes a lifetime!

We have a God of great compassion, mercy and love. It’s been over 2000 years and He is still proving himself faithful. What more can He do to prove His love for us? What more can we ask of Him?

Lamentations 3:21-23 (NIV)

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

I pray that those of you who feel like I once did will make a conscious decision to walk into your forgiveness:  embrace it and receive it as the treasure that it is!

Dear hearts we must learn to show the same kindness, patience and forgiveness to ourselves as we do to others. After all we are the children of the most High God and we are worth every drop of blood Jesus shed for us. I don’t care what our emotions tell us. Stop listening to them and start listening to what the Holy Spirit has to say unto His children.

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12 (NIV)

“Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” Isaiah 38:17 KJV

A Surrendered Heart

by Saved 2 the Utmost aka Mom
Original Image by: Saxon Moseley

Original Image by: Saxon Moseley

You know dear hearts, it has taken most of my saved life for me to really understand what it means to have a heart of total surrender. To have a surrendered heart is to be able to give up our desires for his will.

The prayer to surrender was a very hard prayer for me to pray because I really didn’t want to know his will or purpose for my life. It wasn’t hard because I didn’t love our Lord rather it was fear that I wasn’t capable of doing His will that made it hard for me. I didn’t want to disappoint Him. Therefore, I stayed in my self-imposed comfort zone for years, content not to seek God for his purpose in my life.

Our Heavenly Father, blessed be his name, has a way of knowing how to get our attention! He endured my reluctance with much love and longsuffering patience. His everlasting love and kindness brought me through every struggle, test and trial that could have destroyed me and with time he humbled me so that I would be able to pray for a spirit of acceptance – the ability to accept his will by surrendering my own.

Once I began to learn to not struggle against his will I received an answer to a prayer that I had prayed over ten years ago. His answer to me was, “No.” I accepted his answer by saying, “Thank you Lord.” This no-answer kept me from making one of the biggest mistakes of my life. He also showed me the reason he didn’t answer with “Yes.” To this day I praise our God for being wiser than I. Dear hearts every blessing that we receive doesn’t always have a ‘yes’ In front of it. Not when our prayers are answered by the wisdom of God!

We can only see what’s in front of us but God sees beyond our limited view. We live in the present but God has already stepped into our future to prepare the steps that he intends for us to follow. We must learn to trust our heavenly father’s thoughts toward us as he guides us into his will.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

There’s nothing wrong with having dreams and aspirations or having a desire to be successful in one’s life as long as it doesn’t interfere with God’s will for our life. I could have been a fashion designer but there was something missing that I couldn’t find in that kind of success. It wasn’t until I met a young lady who is deaf that I realized that I so desperately wanted to be able to communicate with her.

The desire inspired me to study the beautiful language of sign. I purchased some books and dictionaries, prayed for knowledge and wisdom and this time God’s answer was “Yes.” He allowed me to pick up the knowledge quickly. I am so thrilled when I learn a new sign because only this awesome God can give this kind of knowledge to man. To be able to communicate with others by talking with your hands is a miracle! Recently I found out that my daughter’s school offers sign language classes, all I can say is “Here I am Lord, send me!”

Dear hearts, our Heavenly father knows all about our struggles, doubts and fears. Jesus Christ, God’s only son, had to surrender his will to the father’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane. He spoke these words to the father, “Father if it is your will take this cup away from me: nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done.” Are we greater than our Lord?

My sister told me years ago that God will never allow us to do more for him than he will do for us – we can’t out-give God! The years have proven her words to be true. If you don’t remember anything else I’ve shared with you, remember this, once you surrender your will to the will of God, everything else will fall into place. Surrender your heart and watch God work on your behalf.

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A Word of Thanks –

Rebecca and I count ourselves blessed in having such a wonderful extended Christian family in the faithful followers of Saint in Training and our many visitors. If there wasn’t a “You” there wouldn’t be an “Us”. Your prayers and support mean so much to us. Your encouraging testimonies are priceless. We love to be a blessing to our Christian family by offering words of encouragement and love but we too need a word of encouragement and you never fail to do just that.

With heartfelt love and thanks,

Ma Chris and Rebecca

Unworthy but Still Chosen

by Saved 2 the Utmost aka Mom
Original image by Our Earth.net

Original image by Our Earth.net

I am a living witness that God can and will save the worst of sinners.

I once saw myself as being beyond redemption, having no understanding that our Heavenly Father sees us all the same and that through His son Jesus Christ, he made a way of escape for us. Although our sins may differ we stand in danger of facing the same penalty for unrepentant sin: eternal damnation. Thank God for Jesus! It’s because of Him that every sinner is promised a future and thus once we become Christians it behooves us to remember that every saint has a past.

Dear hearts let us not forget that it was the mercies of God that brought us out of sin. We should be careful not to become self-righteous, thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to in Christ. Our awesome God, blessed be His name, is the only one worthy of praise.

The saying, “I don’t look like what I’ve been through,” is true. If I were to write a book, it couldn’t express the immensity of the love, grace and mercy God has showered upon me! Growing up in the streets of New York City shaped my thoughts and molded my life into a vehicle for sin. Loneliness was my best friend, distrust taught me to fear the night while hunger gave me the strength to beg and the will to live. I learned how to survive that kind of life. God wasn’t in my thoughts; he wasn’t a part of my life at all – or so I thought. I didn’t realize that it was he who was keeping me alive! His ever watchful eyes saw every step I took and protected my every move. He didn’t allow the devil to fulfill his desire to have my soul, nor did he let the demons of hell drive me to a point of no return. God kept my mind!

Oh! The unexplainable love of God. His love can’t be measured. It is deeper than the sea and as solid as a rock! We are so unworthy of his love, of his grace and of his mercy – yet, God still chose us to be his sons and daughters in Christ! He chose us to spend eternity with him in his heavenly kingdom. So those of you who have a feeling of unworthiness that overshadows you, I encourage you today to lift up your hands unto the Lord and bless his holy name – you are blessed. Yes, you are blessed! Why? Because he chose you to love and favored you by calling you to be his son, his daughter!

I’ll never find myself worthy of God’s love but I am grateful. I praise him for seeing me as being worth loving – that’s more than enough for me.

I am like that publican who prayed the prayer that touched God’s heart:

Luke 18:13-14 KJV

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Dear hearts, it was for the unworthy that Jesus died!

Mark 2:17 KJV

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

It’s the unworthy that Jesus loves! It is the unworthy he embraces! Why? Because it is they who love him the most. They know that they are just that, unworthy. They are grateful and humble before him. God can use them to give hope to the hopeless. He shows his love toward them who desperately need the one and only true living God in their lives!

What does God see in us?

You know yourself as a drug dealer – God sees you as a preacher.

You know yourself as a prostitute – God sees you as a missionary.

You know yourself as an alcoholic – God sees you as an evangelist.

You know yourself as a liar and a thief – God sees you as a prayer warrior.

You see yourself as a nobody – God sees you as the apple of his eye.

You know yourself as a sinner – God sees you as a saint!

Where man has counted you out, God has already counted you as a winner! Where some may see us as being worthless, God sees us as being worth it! Man and Satan took us to the courtroom at Calvary dear hearts; they charged us and found us to be guilty. Oh! But God dropped the charges and He found us guiltless through the death of his son Jesus Christ!

He did this for me! He did this for you!

Forget what Satan says about you precious one, he’s a liar. Forget what you say about you, you’re only flesh. Look to God and receive what he said:

Isaiah 55:7-8 NIV

Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

Isaiah 1:18-20 NIV

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

God has called you by name, he has chosen you for his own – receive his word, believe and watch your life change!

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