Ever since the "re-encounter" with my First Love, I have been richly enlightened by His grace. I appreciate how much I have been forgiven and I appreciate how much Jesus had done for me on the Cross. I understand His forgiveness is out of His heart full of love for me and as a result, I love, because He first love me.
The type of forgiveness and love that I process are the banners elected in my life through my culture, this worldly system, and were further strengthened by the legalistic preaching from the Church environment. At times, I just do not know how to dismantle these banners. I understand His forgiveness is not like man's forgiveness; because my Lord says, "Your sins are forgiven, go and sin no more!" As for man, he will have to see the result of my repentance then he extends his forgiveness to me and this type of forgiveness is conditional, so is the love. I have been trapped in this kind of system which is derived from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil!
After the Worship Ministry Retreat, the Lord started to show me how I am going to live my life with the grace He has enlightened me with. He gave me the wisdom to understand the living way of how to forgive and how to love.
Forgiveness is never to be initiated from our head. Forgiveness is from our heart. Our Lord did not forgive us with His head. His forgiveness is from His heart. (Maybe that is why I have chosen See The World Through His Heart as blog title) Indeed, another doctrine will come out of man if we receive His grace by using our head. Head knowledge produce religion and bind. Whereas, a life full of living water will spring off when we receive His grace by using our heart.
So, use the right organ to forgive a person and use the right organ to love a person. If we use our head to forgive, we will find ourselves hard to forget after we have forgiven. But if we use your heart to forgive, we find ourselves forgetting what we have forgiven. If we use our head to love a person, we will find the person hard to love. But if we use our heart to love a person, the love we pour out is actually from Him... we love, because He first love us!
Proverbs 4:23 ~ Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
The law touches our head whereas grace touches our heart, and His wisdom is for our heart not our head. Friends, use the right organ...!
So, use the right organ to forgive a person and use the right organ to love a person. If we use our head to forgive, we will find ourselves hard to forget after we have forgiven. But if we use your heart to forgive, we find ourselves forgetting what we have forgiven. If we use our head to love a person, we will find the person hard to love. But if we use our heart to love a person, the love we pour out is actually from Him... we love, because He first love us!
Proverbs 4:23 ~ Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
The law touches our head whereas grace touches our heart, and His wisdom is for our heart not our head. Friends, use the right organ...!
I think His heart beats in my chest because my head tells me that to love, forgive, and grace others is CRAZY and that I CAN'T, BUT His heart teaches me how to; HE does these things through me because I really cannot of myself. But it is not I who live but Christ who lives in me And He WILL MANIFEST HIS LIFE!!
ReplyDeleteHello, my brother who shares His heart!! :) Grace & Peace In Christ.
Thank you for your anointed comment. We are by no mean flow in coincidence again. We are flowing in His River. I want to show you something to shock you a little bit. Usually I will receive the daily devotion from New Creation Church once every day, but today I receive two. To my surprise, the earlier speak in accordance to my post while the latter one speak in accordance to your comment.
ReplyDeleteThis is the earlier one entitled Forgive And Let God Do The Rest
Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
People like to say, “I can forgive, but I cannot forget.” Have you heard that before? Now, in the first place, nowhere in the Bible does God tell you to forgive and then to forget. It is not in the Bible! The devil is adding something here to make the whole thing burdensome.
God only tells us to forgive because God in Christ has forgiven us a debt we cannot pay. When we do this, we do ourselves a favor because harboring bitterness and unforgiveness can sometimes destroy our health!
So just forgive and let God take care of the rest. When you really forgive, sometimes, He makes you forget. But sometimes, you still remember the incident because it was a major thing in your life. Yet, when you look back at it, the pain is no more there. The sting is gone and you are not bitter.
Joseph had forgiven his brothers before they came and bowed before him. He remembered what they did to him, but he did not remember it with bitterness. (Genesis 50:15–21) So you may remember the incident, but the bitterness is gone because you have put the cross in the picture — “God in Christ forgave me. Daddy, I forgive you. Mama, I forgive you. My cousin, I forgive you.”
When you forgive, forgive by faith, not by your feelings. We walk by faith, not feelings. (2 Corinthians 5:7) Some people are waiting for feelings — “I am waiting, Father, for the right emotion to come on me to forgive that person.” That “right emotion” may never come!
No, forgive by faith, and do it once and for all. Spend time in prayer. Take out your diary and write it down: “Father, I bring this person before you. You know what he did to me. Father, as You forgave me through Jesus’ cross, even though I did not deserve it, by faith, I now forgive this person and I let my anger against him go in Jesus’ name. Amen!”
Once you forgive by faith, you will see the sting of bitterness removed from your heart. You will experience the peace and joy of God filling your mind, and see a greater measure of wholeness in your body!
And this is the latter one entitled The Life Of Jesus Is In You
John 10:10 I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Though Jesus is completely God, He was born completely human. He went through temptation after temptation and conquered every one of them. (Hebrews 4:15) And all that overcoming power is found in His life. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you!
During Jesus’ ministry on earth, He conquered sickness, the winds and waves, the powers of darkness and death. It is His life that brings victory over the devil and all his works. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you!
Finally, Jesus went to the cross. And that life in Him put an end to everything that was natural of the Adamic race — sickness, poverty, failures, pains, curses and death. All that was natural ceased to be in that life of His. But all that was supernatural remained in Him. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you!
Then, Jesus rose from the dead. And in that life of His was added the power of resurrection. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you!
After His resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven to His Father. Today, He is seated at the right hand of God, resting in His finished work, occupying a place of the highest authority. And He put that life in you — the life of Christ is in you!
And because Jesus went back to the Father, the Holy Spirit came to indwell you (John 16:7), so that you will live life with His anointing in you and walk in His overcoming power.
All that Jesus is, God meant for you to be. All that He has, God meant for you to have. All the exciting things that you read in the Bible about Jesus, all the treasures of Him hidden in the Old Testament and the unsearchable riches in Him that you find in the New Testament, all of that life of His, is not out there somewhere. God has deposited all of it in you, so that you can live the abundant life that Jesus came to give you!
Well, it is all about Jesus... Be mightily bless by Him, everyone of you at home. Amen!
Alan!!!
ReplyDeleteThat was so generous and kind of you to post the Joseph Prince devotions!!!
They are great!
I hope you like to laugh: I,too, get his devotions and had just read them BEFORE coming to your blog! Hee Hee. :) You're timimg WAS PERFECT! You were confirming the Word for me!!
I hope you type faster than me! That was a lot of typing! :)
Grace & peace & much love to you & your lovely family.