Tag: forgiveness

[Persevering] Day 5: Sins No More

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Reading: Psalm 40:11-12

You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me;                                                                     Your loving-kindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
For evils beyond number have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my heart has failed me.

 Reflection: 

Failures, mistakes, wrong choices, bad decisions – all of us are not excused from all of these. But we don’t have to continue living a life full of these. Not that life will be perfect and we will never make mistakes, but it will be a life with less.

God has promised forgiveness once we have received Jesus in our life. “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more”. (Hebrews 10:17) And aside from the gift of salvation and eternal life, God has given us a Helper, a Counselor – the Holy Spirit. Once you start having a serious walk with the Lord, your life will never remain the same. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) The role of the Holy Spirit is to help us each day to choose and obey God as our response of our love for Him, that we may become a new person.  “For Christ’s love compels us…” (2 Corinthians 5:14). The love of God is just irresistible not to love Him back.

God’s love and compassion is unconditional and endless. He is patient with you as you desire to become better.  You just have to depend on the Holy Spirit and listen as He convicts your heart when you are about to make wrong decisions. And as we desire a deeper relationship with Jesus, we also have to do our part to get to know Him more.

Here are the things that we need to start including in our day to day walk with the Lord.

1. Pray – This is our way of communicating to God. Our prayers need not be memorized or repetitive. You just have to pour out what’s in your heart to God. A format you can follow is the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Or, you can also do this simple format as you are just starting to learn how to pray (ACTS). Eventually, you can speak from your heart whatever the Holy Spirit is leading you.

  • Adoration – acknowledging who God is and giving Him praise (loving, kind,                               forgiving, etc.)
  • Contrition – confessing to God your sins and asking Him for forgiveness and to                       help you repent
  • Thanksgiving – giving thanks to God for everything that He has done for you
  • Petition – asking God for your daily need, protection and for other people

Every end of the prayer, we always say, “This we ask (or pray) in Jesus’ Name.” As Jesus said in the Bible, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:12-14) 

 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. (1 Timothy 2:5)

2. Read the Bible – If we talk to God through prayer, God talks to us through His Word – the Bible. As you start your day in prayer, it would also be nice to start your day hearing what God has to say to you for that day. You can read the Book of Psalms for your morning quiet time and you can start with the Book of John as you learn more about Jesus. Just like in any battle, the Word of God is our weapon for any temptation that would come along our way for that day. It would also be nice if you have a journal notebook where you can write what God has been speaking to you for that day.

3. Be part of a community. God created us not to be alone. We are made for relationships. It is important that we also become a part of a community that shares the same belief. One way of being a part of is to be a part of a small group or a Bible study group. This way, you can also learn from others, pray for each other and be an encouragement for one another. You will realize that you are not alone in the journey that you are going through.  “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” (Hebrews 10:24)   

Are you excited with this journey with the Lord? You can pray like this as you start on with this journey.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father,

You are so loving and full of compassion. Thank you for the gift of forgiveness that you will remember my sins no more because of Jesus. Thank you for giving me another chance to become better as a person. Help me to become more dependent on the Holy Spirit as He leads me to do the right things. I am excited as I desire to know and love Jesus more. I ask that you would strengthen me each day, that I will always have time for prayer and reading of the Bible. I ask also Lord that you would bring me to a group of people who shares the same love for You. From this day on, I entrust my spiritual journey with you. This I pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Song:

Now That You’re Near by Hillsong

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[Persevering] Day 3: God Made a Way

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Reading: Psalm 40:6-8

Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart.”

Reflection:

During the time of David, they offer animals as sacrifices to the Lord but these are not what God desires. In the time of King Saul, Samuel told Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23)

The verses 7-8 speak about Jesus being the perfect sacrifice that is only pleasing to God. Because God was not pleased with burnt and sin offerings of men, Jesus had to come to do the will of the Father. In Hebrews 10:10, it says, “And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

God does not want us to show off to Him how good or best we are at something. What God desires for us is to see Jesus sitting at the throne of our life. Why? Because Jesus is the only pleasing sacrifice that God accepts as a payment of our sinful life. Our good works or good intentions will never be enough because our lives are stained with sin. The blood of Jesus is the only cure that when God looks into our lives, He will see the blood of His Only Son covering our sin. And that will be enough for God.

Have you come to that point in your life that you feel so tired of trying to be better or to have a good life? I have good news for you. Jesus said, “Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”(Matthew 11:28) All you need to do is to receive Jesus in your life and trust Him to be your Lord and Savior. Through Him, you will receive forgiveness for all your past, present and even future sins. And not only that, through Jesus you will receive the most precious give of salvation that leads to eternal life. Once you open your life to Jesus, your life will never be the same again. There will still be difficulties along the way, but this time, the yoke will be much easier because Jesus is walking with you to strengthen you and sustain you.

If you are sincere in your heart to accept Jesus, you can say this prayer.

Prayer:

Dear God,

Thank you for your amazing love that you have showed to us through Jesus Christ. Thank you for making a way for us through Jesus so that our lives will become acceptable to you. Today, with a sincere heart, I accept you Jesus to be my Savior. I believe that you have died and resurrected that I will receive the gift of salvation and eternal life. I ask of you today to also become the Lord of my life. Forgive me for all of my sins and help me to turn away from my wrongdoings. May You take over my life Lord Jesus that I may live in obedience to You. This I pray in Jesus’ Name,  Amen.

If you have accepted Jesus, I would love to hear from you and would love to pray for you. Please leave a message here.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

“Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.” – Hebrews 10:18

Song:

May this song remind you of the sacrifice of Jesus for all of us.

Confessions of a Sinner

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Over the weekend, I just found myself feeling really alone. The past weeks were really tiring with work but it didn’t remove the joy in my heart. I was enjoying my work. But starting this weekend, I felt I was really slowly going down. I could not understand the condition of my heart. It seems empty and full at the same time.

I tried  praying so hard and pushed my self to read the Bible just to find comfort and to feel good. But, it didn’t work. I got so distracted with other things and my mind got tired of thinking what is wrong with me.

You see, I have moments like this in my life when all of a sudden I tend to get so emotional. Then, I start losing focus on God and start focusing on the desires of my heart. Instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to pull my self up from the pit, I pull myself down even more. I admit that this weekend, I let my self just go down. I know God is letting me face something but I was just so tired in dealing with it. I just want to do things my way.

But, big BUT… God is simply amazing. His patience and compassion is just endless on me. He will do everything so that I will return to Him regardless of the condition of my heart. I was reading the book entitled, “Growing Deep in God” (by Edmund Chan) and it focused on prayer. There were 2 paragraphs there which really affirmed my heart’s condition. God has been rebuking on me already about it but I just ignored. But, God loves me so much He would even use a book to rebuke me again.

Here’s what God reminded me. The ones with comments in the side.

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I realized why I was so lazy reading God’s Word. Because I want to read to feel good and be comforted. And because I felt that it hasn’t been like that, I was doing my quiet time out of obligation when I should read because I love Jesus so much that I’m just thrilled to know more about Him.  I now understand why my prayer life is becoming a duty rather than a delight. It’s because it has been about me when it should be about God.

My heart hasn’t been right. My mind even. My perspective shifted because of too much distractions. Slowly, I focused on myself instead of focusing on God.

God knows what’s in my heart right now. The fact that God is always committed to me despite my weaknesses gives me a reason to go back to Him. I’m just grateful for a God who is always true and faithful.

I pray that I will be more delighted in prayer and His Word because it’s always about Him.