Forgiving

Matthew 18:21-22

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

 

We often misunderstand or can be insulted by any number of people we mix with.  The one thing we don’t keep in mind is being ‘thick skinned’.  Why should we become ‘thick skinned’?  This makes us less of a target and more of a friendly and approachable person.  People who tend to be offended often are normally sensitive and are constantly hurt by what was or was not said.  They also tend to struggle with forgiveness as whole. 

Learning to be a forgiving person is difficult and we need to do this through faith.  Firstly, if we are to practise forgiveness we will be obeying the word of God.  By doing this we also free our emotions and set our focus wholly on the Lord.  Once we practise forgiveness we become more approachable and less offended.  Forgiveness sets us free from bitterness and the hurt and anger we feel when offended by loved ones or any other people.

Colossians 3:13

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

 

Self-control is key, and if I’m not mistaken we should make a conscious decision with regards to forgiving people their mistakes and offenses.  All of this rides on the back of faith, faith in God to help us maintain this part of our lives.  

Confronted with people that aren’t Christians and don’t believe and have our values does pose a problem, but there is a solution to this as well.  We should go to the Lord in humble prayer and commit these people into His hands.  While they do makes us feel hurt or angry we should still keep our faith in God and forgive them.  In the meantime don’t stop praying for them, watch and see how faithful our Lord is.

Forgiving people set you free from becoming embittered and suffering from an un-forging spirit.  My step-son told me the other day it’s like “drinking poison hoping the person that offended you will die”.  They don’t even realise that you feel hurt or harbour resentment towards them.

Take heart and I believe the Lord will honour you in staying faithful to His word, stick to the plan and see Him take you through your difficult situations.

Leonardo da Vinci ...

God's time!

Timon and Pumba

Alaska .... tee hee

Mamma ....

Abba Father teach our husbands to love their wives ....

LORD, help me remember ....

Eyesight ....

Love birds!!!!

I hope that I can meet these requirements .....

I try to care deeply, laugh loudly and accept my imperfects.  I know I am a spit-fire as I do love fiercely.  My desires are openly and stand up boldly, still struggling with trivial things, need to learn how to let go and let GOD!!!!

1 step forward ...

Its taking the first step towards God that makes a difference.  I love the Lord God with all my heart and all that I am.  Why don't you also take that one step?

Learning to live my life .....

Finding me in Jesus Christ

People who genuinely now; me, will know that I am passionate about the Lord Jesus Christ.  I can sit and talk to you for hours and then you may say something opening a door for me to tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ.  My husband once said to me, “All you really talk about is God, the Bible and people in the Bible.”  Yes, that’s so true, I am speaking to you as a Christian and it is my dream of course to be able to write more about Jesus Christ and teach people about this one true God.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Thank the Lord for this verse, I am so glad to see that God loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  This means I am able to stand before the God of our universe knowing that Jesus Christ is my advocate and that He love me.  I have failed Him so many time but He has never turned His back on me.

 

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

It is my wish and desire to draw near to the Lord God each and every day, to make God and most importantly Jesus Christ my focus point.  I pray the Holy Spirit to touch your lives and lead you to the Lord, and I hope to find you in Jesus Christ.

Aging ...

Me and my grandchild Anabelle on my 50th

I don’t know if it is true for any of you beautiful young woman, but aging has become such an issue for me.  The first sign of aging is pre-menopause, night sweats and hot flushes.  Then all the other issue that come along with menopause.  Then of course grey hairs are popping up all over my dark head.

Proverbs 20:29
“The glory of young men is their strength, grey hair the splendour of the old.” (NIV)

So guess what?  I am going to embrace my grey hair and enjoy the splendour of my old age.

Then of course I don’t know about most of you young and beautiful woman but I dream a lot and most of the dreams are significant to me.  I receive messages and it takes me a couple of days to get to the bottom of it but I finally I get the answer.  I believe God is dealing with me in this way; isn’t it awesome.

Joel 2:28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” (NIV)

I hope that as I age I will be treated with respect and that in turn I will treat other people the same way.

Leviticus 19:32 “You shall stand up before the grey head and honour the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.” ( ESV)

Just one more and tomorrow we can carry on with the aging process.  I have the highest respect for my father, I know he had his faults and what not but in my eyes he is the greatest man that ever lived.  Then of course there is my mum, to me she means the world and I really worry about her, she is fragile and easily offended.  I keep her in prayers constantly as I know she done the best she could and I think it paid off.  All her children are respectful and decent and she can be proud of all her grandchildren too, not to mention her grate grandchildren.

Proverbs 6:20 -23 “My son, keep your father’s commands, and don’t forget your mother’s teaching. Keep their words in mind forever as though you had them tied around your neck. They will guide you when you walk. They will guard you when you sleep. They will speak to you when you are awake. These commands are like a lamp; this teaching is like a light. And the correction that comes from them will help you have life.” (NCV)

2nd Chances

This is something that makes me think about my past, my present and my future.  I just cannot undo the past, what is done; is done!  The present is something I current have in hand, I work with what I have and I pray the Lord to lead me each and every step of the way.  Thinking back on the past I realise that I have made some seriously bad decisions and I just have no idea how I can ever rectify them.  I also realise that it doesn’t help me to sit and worry about what happened and see how I should have acted.  The fact remains, it’s in the past.

Currently I am working on my attitude and to be honest I am really negative as a person, I don’t see the positive of a situation unless it is pointed out or very obvious to me.  That is difficult as I tend to be really very hard on myself.  I am my worst enemy, when I feel that I have made a mistake or spoken ill of someone, I really break myself down to almost nothing.  Hard to believe that I can do that but it seems one of the traits I have practised for so long it is difficult to stop.

I started to go and look for answers for this problem, as it is a real problem for me.  I then realised that I actually don’t know and really have the ability to love people.  Now as someone that is quite knowledgeable on the Bible and has made it my business to study and learn as much as possible on this subject I failed to learn how to love people.  Don’t laugh its rather serious!  How is it possible to teach and preach to other people the Word of God and you don’t even care or love them?  I pose the question to you.  Is this possible?  It is, I have been doing this for so long I never realised that I just have no compassion, kindness or affection towards people, I cry automatically when I feel sorry for them but I really cannot say that I love them.  Drastic measures needs to be taken.  I started working on my attitude for one, thinking about the pain, hardship and discomfort and trying to learn how to forgive people and accept them for whom they are.  This of course is a process and to be honest I am working hard on it.  I then started praying about my problem and God is faithful and creates situations that make me feel so uncomfortable.  People that love to give one a kiss and a hug gives me the “hebie jibes”.  I literarily cringe, if they are not my family it is really hard for me to give them the same treatment.

So the process is ongoing and I am working at being kinder, listening to people and not assuming they are on the attack.  I am also working on how I view people so as not to down grade them before I have even spoken to them.  Not forgetting forgiving people.  Hmm you think that’s simple they say “I’m sorry” and tomorrow they do the same thing over again, compulsive apologies don’t work for me and the I start to merit them.  Not trustworthy and unreliable and then of course I lose interest and cannot be bothered with such a person.  The hard fact of the matter is why should I be stuck with people that disappointment me constantly and think it’s okay.  No, move on. 

Then God and the Holy Spirit come along and remind me of what Jesus taught the His disciples, “For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins. (Matthew 6:14-15).  Eina!!!!

So currently; I believe God for 2^nd Chances, I have so many hang-ups and problems but I still keep going back to the source (my Bible).