Tag Archives: Forgiveness

Daily Devotionals

Repentance and Forgiveness

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   Psalm 51, verse 17 says…             The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God,  You will not despise.                                                          

     This psalm tells us how to come to know the God of Heaven. In fact it gives the same message that we find in the New Testament….confession,  with forgiveness and cleansing following  (1 John 1:9). Sin comes between man and God, but when we openly confess what we have done,  God will freely forgive and give us a fresh new start. We need not feel embarrassed at our weakness (that is pride)….God already knows it, but we have to admit it and  follow Him once more.  

David was a king in Bible times who loved God very much. But even he wandered away from God’s ways, and committed the despicable murder  of an innocent man. He tried to cover one sin with another sin, but it didn’t work. So often we do a similar thing, only to find that our  fellowship with God is broken. We can either admit our sin quickly and openly to God, or remain in bitterness and misery , trying to tell ourselves that it didn’t really matter, and it was really the other person’s fault!             

      Do what David did, and then you will be able to say the following…. Have mercy on me O God my King, As to you now, my sin I bring; Wash me thoroughly, make me clean, Against You alone, my sin has been!                    

Life Lessons

In Fighting

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      Once again, it is that time of the year that we have put a bird feeder outside our dining-room window, and it gives us a lot of pleasure watching the little birds feeding there. But you know, even among the birds there is continual scrapping going on. The small silver-eyes stand on a branch nearest the feeder and fluff their little wings angrily at each other. The bold mynah struts around at the base of the tree and even jumps up on the branch to take a few pecks before he gets chased off. The sparrows take no notice of the others and greedily grab as many beakfuls as they can while the others are scrapping among themselves.

    It reminded me of how we as people often scrap among ourselves, sometimes vying for the better places or positions. This is not how we are meant to behave, especially in church situations. The Lord Jesus told us to be prepared to take the humble place and wait for others to give us a higher position rather than angrily (or sneakily)  try to take it from others.

    It is not smart to behave like this anywhere, and only causes hurtful situations that often can never be remedied. People can forgive, but they very seldom completely forget!

Our politicians as we get near the election time, too, seem to do all they can to take each other down so they can get the place they want. It almost seems that the good of the country is completely forgotten as the candidates each extol the virtues of their campaign hoping to gain that seat!

Let’s make sure that we aren’t like this, but be prepared to take the lower place and support those who have been promoted over us!

Random Devotional Thoughts

Forgiveness!

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PEMEN029                          The speaker at our church this morning was talking on Psalm 133 which starts off with “How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity”. Then he went on to point out how important it is to learn to forgive each other, because as the Lord’s Prayer says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”, and if we refuse to forgive others God cannot forgive us of these hard thoughts.

It reminded me of Job in the Old Testament part of the Bible. This man lost all he had within a week…his fortune, his family and his health. His three friends came to see him and to commiserate with him over his misfortune. But without exception, all they could say was that he must have sinned in some way and that all this was God’s punishment on him. It stood to reason, they said, that this must be so!

Job lost patience with them in the end and said, “You are a miserable lot of comforters!”

God’s time for healing finally came, but before Job’s fortunes could turn, God told him he had to pray for his three friends who had said such hard things about him. Can you imagine how difficult  this must have been for him?

But he put his pride in his pocket and did as God asked him to. Once he did this, his three friends were forgiven for their hard words, and Job was blessed with twice as much as he had lost. Truly a classic example of forgiving, before God could bless!

So it truly is a great congregation that can all get on together in total unity without any wrangling over minor things. What do these things really matter in the long run? One disgruntled unforgiving person can hinder God’s work in a way we cannot imagine….let’s make sure that we are not that person. Forgive others so God can forgive you!

 

Morning Musings

Birds Scrapping!

Bird FeederWe have put a bird feeder outside our dining-room window, and it gives us a lot of pleasure watching the little birds feeding there. But you know, even among the birds there is continual scrapping going on. The small silver-eyes stand on a branch nearest the feeder and fluff their little wings angrily at each other. The bold mynah struts around at the base of the tree and even jumps up on the branch to take a few pecks before he gets chased off. The sparrows take no notice of the others and greedily grab as many beakfuls as they can while the others are scrapping among themselves.

It reminded me of how we as people often scrap among ourselves, sometimes vying for the better places or positions. This is not how we are meant to behave, especially in church situations. The Lord Jesus told us to be prepared to take the humble place and wait for others to give us a higher position rather than angrily (or sneakily)  try to take it from others.

It is not smart to behave like this anywhere, and only causes hurtful situations that often can never be remedied. People can forgive, but they very seldom completely forget!

Random Devotional Thoughts

Disappointments.

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I’m sure you have all been disappointed at some time or other. There isn’t a person on earth that hasn’t experienced that let down feeling! These times often come just after a wonderful time, and we wonder why.

We can either become better for it, or bitter because of it.

If we think of the disappointment as a test to build our character, it makes it a whole lot easier to bear. Just as an exam has only two results…a pass or a failure, so these tests leave us with only two results…. becoming better from it, or filled with bitterness!

As for why it often happens after a great time, that time was given to us to make up for the disappointment that was just around the corner. As we remember the wonderful experience, it shows us that life will still have its high points, and that all is not darkness. There is an old saying that goes like this….. “This too, will pass”. Another one is “Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning!”

So get up, stand up and keep up!!!