Forgiving Hurts

Have you ever had a hard time to forgive someone who hurt you badly?

I guess, this is the area that many individual have to deal with at some point. I consider it to be the major root of many physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual problems as I can see today - including myself.

I (we) always have the attitude - "I don't think I could ever forgive that person who hurt me", How can I forgive him, I feel that I have been dealt with in such an unjust, unfair, harmful way that I (we) can't let go of that pain.

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you" (Eph. 4:31-32)

Somehow, as a Christian, we have to face the fact that we are all going to be hurt no matter how, no matter when - we have been hurt, are hurting now, or we are going to be hurt by somebody in some point. We may be facing this challenge in our spiritual lives right now, how are we going to dealt this pain to forgive someone?

The only way we can insulate ourselves against being hurt is removing ourselves completely from the possibility of love.

"to risk love is to risk hurt". It is hard to face it, isn't it? hurt is unavoidable, but we can deal with hurt, no pain is too deep or to widespread to be beyond the power of God's forgiveness working in and through us.

God have commanded us always for our good, and this one is no exception - Jesus plainly taught in Matthew - Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Even though we facing the position to forgive - I believe, by the power of the Holy Spirit we can still be gentle and will give us the right conviction and the gentleness to forgive coz God can forgive us every time we ask for forgiveness.

Colossians 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

How often and earnestly long-suffering and forbearance are enjoined! Nor have we ground for expecting that God will forgive us unless we also forgive.

To forgive is a choice that we make and it is an act of our will, and it is a will of God that He wants us to do. "love to one another".

Living In Jesus Name

Whenever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

In the Bible, names often reflect a person's character - so to do something in Jesus name means to do it in way consistent with his character - to do it the way Jesus Himself would.

Every moment is an opportunity to live Jesus' name, in all the everyday stuff of life can be filled with His presence - if you are.

Start by thinking about what it would mean to do each of these activities in Jesus' name. It is a wonderful feeling to begin our day with giving thanks our Lord Jesus in every blessings He bestowed upon us.

Waking up in the morning to begin opening the Bible and reflect the Word of God.
Greeting those you see first thing in the morning and by giving them a loving smile.
Eating, driving and even working outside the home which will bring glory to God.

Focus on Jesus' presence with you as you go through all these seemingly inconsequential moments of the day. Keep directing your thoughts back to Him, and let Him to guide your thoughts - and share your heart with Him and to others.

Psalms 113:1 Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.

Psalms 113:2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

Lord,

I know you have loved me first before I loved you. You are always there for me who guided me in every step of the way. You have touched my heart and you gave me this life to enjoy every single moment with You. Thank you for the precious moment, and for the chance that you have given me to see the light again and be your child.

I have met you once but let me love you more than anything in this world, and serve you as my Saviour oh Lord!

I love you Lord Jesus!

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a forestate of glory divine!
Heir of Salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His spirit, washed in His blood.

Jesus: Example or Sacrifice?

Some people believe that Jesus came to be our example of how to live a good life. To be sure, Jesus is our example of righteousness. We are to grow up into His nature and become like Him. But that isn't the reason Jesus came - Jesus came to die for us, to redeem us. His purpose was to be the sacrificial, substitutionary, all sufficient atonement. If Jesus didn't come for this reason, why did Jesus die? what purpose would His death have if not forgiveness?

Jesus could have spared His own life. His power to calm raging sea, to heal and deliver, is evidence of His ability to summon the forces of heaven on His behalf. His quick thinking and speaking in outwitting the scribes and Pharisees are evidence that He could have argued His case favorably before Pilate.

If Jesus had insisted on His natural human will in the matter, He could have walked away from Gethsemane, walked away from Jerusalem, and walked away from the cross long before His arrest in the garden - but instead He submitted His will to that of His heavenly Father, saying, "Not as I will, but as you will" (Matt. 26:39)

Again, in the New Testament we are confronted with the message. Christ died for us. Jesus Christ came so that you and I might transfer our guilt to Him, and accept, by faith, that He is the quiltless One who has received our sin and taken it to Himself.

If you are looking for an answer and asking for forgiveness on the basis of your pleas, promises, and performance, you will remain in sin and guilt. But once you have received the life of Christ, it is no longer natural for you to sin. Your nature now is to walk in close relationship with God. Thats part of what it means to be a "new creation" in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Spiritual Disciplines

Spiritual disciplines are not a barometer of spirituality.

Many people become burdened coz they think God measures their spiritual performance on the basis of certain disciplines.

The truth is both challenging and liberating:

With this paradox from the book of "The freedom of the Christian".

"A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none"
"A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all"

Nowhere is this more true than with spiritual disciplines. As we have seen, the true indicator of spiritual well-being is growth in the ability to love God and people. If we can do this without the practice of any particular spiritual disciplines, then we should by all means skip them. We are free of having to impress God or anyone else with our spiritual commitment.

"Spiritual disciplines are to life what calisthenics are to a game --- like in basketball game, once the game starts - basketball players get no bonus points based on how many free throws they shot in practice. The only reason to practice them is to be able to make them in a game.

It is possible to spend every waking moment "practicing spiritual disciplines" but doing them in such a way as to make us less rather than more loving. In that case, of course, we would be better if we did none at all.

Spiritual disciplines are not necessarily unpleasant.

What make something a discipline depends on what we are training for. If we are training for a triathalon, we will pursue one set of practices but if we are training for a pie-eating contest, our preparation will look like something else - mostly, consuming vast amounts of pie. If we keep at it long enough, we will be amazed at how much pie we can eventually put away compared with what we can now.

What counts as "training" can only be determined when we know what it is we are training for.

Many of us got the impression somewhere that for an activity to count as a spiritual discipline, it must be something we could rather not do. However, if we are in training for a life characterized by joy, peace, and affection, we should assume that some of the practices are going to be downright enjoyable. Many of us need to discover "disciplines" such as celebration that will regularly produce in us rivers of wonder and gratitude.

Spiritual disciplines are not a way to earn favor with God.

Spiritual disciplines are not about trying to be good enough to merit God's forgiveness and goodwill. They are not ways to get extra credit, or to demonstrate to God how deeply we are committed to him. They exist for our sake, not God's. They have value only insofar as they help us morph.

In particular, spiritual disciplines don't oppose or exist in tension with grace. People who live under the bondage of legalism and then hear the message of grace are sometimes leery that talk of disciplines might lead to another form of religious oppression.

But spiritual disciplines are simply means of appropriating or growing toward the life that God graciously offers. This is why they are sometimes called a "means of grace".

Quote:

We must therefore attempt to recover a true understanding of the mutual relation between grace and discipleship...Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship.

Happy are they who have become Christians in this sense of the word, for them the word of grace has proved a fount of mercy.

Buddy "kolokoy"

I am going to miss you buddy!!!

Spiritual Life Defined by Its Centre

With Jesus it was not so. We know that Jesus have brought a message that spoke to our deepest longings of the human heart to become not simply conformed to a religious subculture but transformed into "new creatures." Many of us focusing on the boundaries, but Jesus focused on the centre, the centre of our heart - the heart of spiritual life.

When asked to identify what the law is about, Jesus response simply "Love God, love people." He named a fundametally different way of identifying who are the children of God. Do they love God, and do they love the people who mean so much to Him?

Jesus early followers understood this cleary. The apostle Paul wrote to the church at the Corith about the significance of having many spiritual "markers" but lacking the centre.

"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy like a clanging cymbal. And if I have the prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 Corinthians 8:3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.

Flashback

Hello Matthias,

I went to visit your blog during my lunch break and have read your message titled “genesis”. From that post there was this flashback in my head from the past - reminded (me) my old nature an “unsaved soul”.

There were these years in my life that I struggled a lot, felt that I was in prison of pain and sufferings - thought that I can’t get out of it, and be a prisoner forever.

Now, I would say life is beautiful living with Christ and letting Him to manage my own life and do His will.

I want to share this pattern to you, which I always have in my journal.

For all the negative things we have to say to ourselves, God has a positive answer for it. In everything we do, and we say, everything is possible to God – let have God to handle everything and we just need is to trust Him.

Remember, God is always with us - He's on our side. He sent His Word to us, His Holy Spirit to comfort us. He knows our weaknesses but if we are going to surrender every thing and start trusting God - all things will transform to a beautiful and a glorious life.

A conversation...

ms elove: "It's impossible"

God says: All things are possible (Luke 18:27)

ms elove: "I'm too tired"

God says: I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30)

ms elove: "Nobody really loves me"

God says: I love you (John 3:16 & John 13:34)

ms elove: "I can't go on"

God says: My grace is sufficient (II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

ms elove: "I can't figure things out"

God says: I will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5-6)

ms elove: "I can't do it"

God says: You can do all things (Philippians 4:13)

ms elove: "I'm not able"

God says: I am able (II Corinthians 9:8)

ms elove: "It's not worth it"

God says: It will be worth it (Roman 8:28)

ms elove: "I can't forgive myself"

God says: I FORGIVE YOU (I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

ms elove: "I can't manage"

God says: I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19)

ms elove: "I'm afraid"

God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7)

ms elove: "I'm always worried and frustrated"

God says: Cast all your cares on ME (I Peter 5:7)

ms elove: "I don't have enough faith"

God says: I've given everyone a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)

ms elove: "I'm not smart enough"

God says: I give you wisdom (I Corinthians 1:30)

ms elove: "I feel all alone"

God says: I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)

- God has all these answers with all our questions, just ask and He'll answer you through His word the "Bible".

By Faith

Eph. 2: 8-10.""For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not have works of righteousness, lest any man should boast. “For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

"Salvation is what we receive and not what we achieve."

Opening the Window of Hope

God has one desire for us - to see us happy, living with joy. God doesn't want us to live with all these pain and sufferings. If we trapped in a downward swirl of our personal pain and sufferings, to see anything else but our own hurt is difficult. We can't be trappedwith all these difficulties in life all the time.

What we need is to open a new window of "Hope", coz "HOPE" begins the progress of opening windows, and HOPE gives us the knowledge that our lives can be enriched, regardless of the severity of our difficulties in life. Many of us, we give up far too easily when things don't go right - we feel discouraged, especially when we've struggled with a problem orweakness for a long time - but we should not lose HOPE.

If we struggle some kind of a problems - like "financial", a "broken vows", "sickness" or struggling to a relationship with someone. All these are challenges for us to face, but no matter what we're going through or how difficult it may seem, we can stay standing up strong, and take that courage and it will definitely take determination - but we can only do that if we decide to do so. We must act on our own will, not simply for our emotions.

We have all these trials that comes against us at once, but the key to living with all these difficulties in victory is to learn how to get up, and start opening the "WINDOW OF HOPE", and start trusting God.

1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

ms elove

Courage

What do I need?

I need is courage and faith that will guide me along my way. Understanding and Wisdom and Grace to accept what life gives me to do.

Quote: I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something, I will not refuse to do the "something"that I can do.

As a Christian, there are things that we can do to make difference in this world. Share the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ to them and be an encouragement and be a blessing to everyone. Show the goodness, and the meaning of your heart with others, like what Jesus did to us.

Psalm 111:4 He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: theLORD is gracious and full of compassion.

ms elove

Words of the heart

God have designed our heart to feel, to love and to give passion. Heart is the mirror of our whole being that gives life and to present Christ through us.

The beauty of the heart can exist at the edge precisely because it has nothing to lose, and everything to give away and to share.

Words can be a song in individual's heart; can hear the sounding joy from it. The beauty of the words that comes from our heart, it makes everything worthwhile.

The heart is where the nature, feeling and intimacy of a life dwell and without heart the "world" grows suddenly cold. In its desire for beauty, it reaches towards the beyond.

Share the good word of heart - like Jesus Heart.

Proverbs 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

LORD.Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

God Bless!

ms elove