A TRUE POWER

Ephesians 4:32   “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

Forgiveness is something that is hard for us to fathom. Our human minds can not completely understand the greatness of forgiveness. We have been forgiven of so much. There is no possibility of repaying Christ for the debt He forgave us on the cross. But with the knowledge of the fact that God does not expect us to pay Him back, we can experience a kind of joy that cannot be found anywhere else, and it should cause us to want to share that joy with others.

Many times we see forgiving others as a bother, a pain, or a chore. For the moment it seems that it would be easier to stay unhappy in bondage to our unforgiving hearts,  rather than to forgive and live in the freedom that we have been given. Recently I heard forgiveness spoken of as a power. We have the power to forgive! We should not see forgiveness as something that gets in the way, but as something that is a privilege. Forgiveness is something that has set people free, it is something that has changed history, and it is something that has changed my life.

Sometimes it is easier to forgive certain sins more than others. But when we realize that Christ did not put a limit on how much He will forgiven us for, we know that we have no excuse not to forgive. Honestly, it is more than our human strength to be able to forgive, but when we are weak is when Christ can be shown strong in and through us! When we use the power given to us to forgive, we are declaring God’s awesomeness to the world!

A CONSUMING FIRE

Hebrews 12:25-29

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused

him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from

him that speaketh from heaven:

Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once

more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are

shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken

may remain.

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,

whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

For our God is a consuming fire.

When I hear that last verse, I stand in awe and wonder at the God I serve. He is the creator of all things and is powerful beyond our wildest imaginations. He is worthy to be honored and reverenced so much more than is humanly possible. My God is great! And I do not have the words to describe Him in the way He deserves. Now, if I take a moment to think, I realize that this same God, who is described in these verses, is my Savior! He is the one who forever pursues my heart, and longs for me to grow closer to Him!

It is too easy for me to get caught up in busy-ness of life, and forget about the one I live for. He is the one who gives me purpose. He is the one whom I can find my identity in. When I start to doubt His power and His love, is when the enemy will try to strike me down and cause me to believe lies and become confused. I must stay close to my Savior. I must show gratefulness for the privilege He has given me to speak to Him directly, and bring before Him, everything. He is in control of all, and I must learn to live soundly in the security of His arms.