Forgiveness

God has been teaching me a lot about forgiveness recently. My blog is called Living Free In Christ, and I have found that one of the keys to living free in Him is to forgive as He does. Christ's forgiveness is not subject to conditions such as an apology, or even a promise that the guilty party will try to do better next time. While hanging on the cross; Jesus asked the Father to do one thing, He asked God to forgive the very ones who put Him there. These people had not shown any signs of remorse for their actions, in fact they mocked Him as He hung there.
You will also recall Jesus telling Peter that if someone sins against you 70 times 7(translation - an unlimited number of times), you must forgive them. This shows me that repentance on the offenders part is not necessary. You must forgive regardless of his/her attitude, even when their offenses are repetitive. It also shows me that you can not truly forgive someone and hold them at arms length to protect yourself from future offenses. The very act of forgiving someone leaves you venerable to subsequent attacks. I would like to say that in the case of physical of sexual abuse, you must use caution to protect your life and health.
Did you know that the forgiveness we receive from God is directly related to the forgiveness we show others? Matthew 6:14-15 says, "for if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." Jesus told a story in Matthew 18:23-35 of a king who was settling his accounts with his slaves. One slave owed the king a massive amount of money that he could not pay, the king ordered for the slave to be sold to pay his debt. The slave begged for the king to have patience, in verse 27 the king forgave him of his debt. Later that day the same slave ran into another slave that owed him a small amount of money. The second slave begged for patience, but the first slave had him thrown into prison. The king heard the news and was furious. It says in verse 34 that the king handed the slave over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. But wait, the king forgave him the money he owed, did he reinstate his debt? No; once God forgives, He remembers it no more. The debt the slave now owed was that of unforgiveness.
Do not satisfy your own selfish pride by withholding forgiveness until the guilty party meets your criteria for being worthy of a pardon, in doing so you will only imprison yourself. Forgiveness is a wonderful gift from God. Freely give as you have been freely given.

Strongholds

We all have experienced it at one time or another. That feeling of, "Why did I do that again?", or "Why do I continually struggle in this area of my life?" Even the apostle Paul said in Romans 7:15, "For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate." This is called a stronghold. Now the question becomes, "How did the strongholds get there and what can be done about them? Satan built these fortresses in our minds, but we must remember that he can only do what we give him permission to do. He only has the power to make suggestions. We give him authority when we agree with his suggestion. Then, brick by brick, he begins to build the stronghold in our lives.
How do we destroy these fortresses? How do we tear these strongholds down? Remember, they were built in our mind so it is in the mind that we must wage our war. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 says, "For though we walk according to the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, (here is the key) and we are taking our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete."
We are not just spectators watching God fight our battles for us. We are mighty warriors on the attack and He has made us more than conquerors. If you choose to take this step into the next dimension of your Christian walk, get ready for a shock. You will be absolutely stunned at the things you have allowed to run free through your mind. Be diligent to arrest every thought that raises itself against the knowledge of God, and you will begin to experience His power working through you to give you victory.

vision

Proverbs 29:18 says that where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained. I have heard other versions say that my people die for a lack of vision.I found myself in such a place recently. Slowly dying, wondering what had happened to God's vision for my life. I grew tired of asking Him for His direction, asking but not recieving any response. I grew so comfortable with not hearing anything that I stopped asking. All the time thinking that I was close to God.It is funny, the Hebrew word for unrestrained means to draw away from or to neglect. That is what I found to be my problem. All the time thinking that God had withdrew from me to hide His purpose from my face, it was I who withdrew from Him. I had become so complacent that I began to allow things into my life that were not pleasing to God. I went to an encounter weekend to get a fresh vision, a new word from God and it was not until bedtime the first night that God began speaking to me. I laid in bed trying to sleep, I prayed for peace. It was then that the Holy Spirit began reminding me of people I had wronged. "Lord I am sorry for what I said about... Lord I am sorry for saying that to... Lord I am sorry for treating ... that way." After the Spirit was done I fell asleep. It was not until the next morning that the revelation came. God told me that I had thrown away individual lives for the sake of the bigger vision. And in the process I had allowed so much sin into my life that I no longer heard His voice. Not hearing His voice made me withdraw from seeking Him at all.Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.You see, God rewarded me with a new vision. It is the same one I had before with a few twists. Don't worry about what you will do tomorrow, seek Him and be obediant today.