Ephesians 4:31-32 – “ You must put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and slanderous talk—indeed all malice. ³² Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word, I was again challenged by a liberating truth most Christians have modified.   The truth is that forgiveness must be from the heart.  We are to forgive “just as” God forgives!  Do we truly do that?

I’ve heard believers say, “I forgive them but will never trust or associate with them again.”   I have a probing question, “Is that how God treats us?”  

• Does He forgive us, then push us aside?
• Does He forgive us and then never trust us again?
• Does He forgive us and then withhold fellowship from us?

If we forgive from the heart in total forgiveness, “just as” Jesus forgives, is the slate ripped clean?   It is with God, and if it isn’t with us toward others, is that total forgiveness?  You may not have deep personal interaction with someone, but if it is because of a past action, that is not “just as” God forgives and restores us.

Grace cannot be earned!  Trust is earned, but not forgiveness.  Forgiveness is given by grace in love!   Don’t push this out of bounds, but evaluate your motivation for rejection of another person.   If your personalities, interests, and visions are incompatible, that’s one thing.  If it is because of the previous offense, that’s another.  Just as is the key.  In light of our forgiveness and restoration by God, we forgive others!

Always remember that grace cannot be earned.  It is given out of love!   If we trust God, we can trust Him in forgiveness!

God is challenging me to examine why I draw near some and avoid others!   I would like to say I avoid no one, but I have, and it stemmed from a judgment over an offense.   If we forgive “just as” God forgives, we do not see them as what they have done but as a creation of God, a fellow member of the human family, and somebody God loves and for whom Jesus died.

It’s easy to identify the depth of forgiveness by the thoughts and emotions when they show up, or we hear their names.   Can we treat them as God treats us?  He forgives and chooses never to hold our sins against us.   Do we forgive that way?

In a short post, I cannot address all the ramifications of forgiveness and interpersonal relationships, but the words “From the heart and Juust As” are inescapable.  Father, forgive me for my failure to forgive and love “just as” You!

In other places, Jesus linked forgiveness with answered prayer!   Victory is in “just as!”    May God’s Heart and ability to Forgive fill your hearts today and lead you to the ultimate victory in Jesus!  May His presence, peace, power, and provisions pursue you and be your constant companions.

Have a victorious day in Jesus, and be more than a conqueror through Him!

Matthew 11:12 – “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it.”

Good morning, everyone!   I woke up this morning with hate in my heart!   I confess I hate the devil and his works!   Reading, praying, and meditating on God’s Word challenged me on multiple fronts and levels.  The accounts of Isaac and Jacob challenged and encouraged me.   The overriding theme was obedience and persistence.    Out of that condition and position, they received God’s overflowing blessing!

In Matthew, Jesus spoke about John the Baptist and the kingdom of God.   Matthew 11:12 is a challenging passage.  He said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it.”   There are many possible interpretations of this.

• Could it be that the misguided religiosity of the Pharisees was the violence or abuse of God’s true kingdom? 
• Could it be that the true kingdom of God is entered only by the persistent, forceful, unrelenting pursuit of it?
• Could it be that total commitment to Him and an unwillingness to be denied opens spiritual doors like nothing else?

It could be any or all of those and more.  In verse 17, Jesus said, “But wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”  One translation suggests that a proper rendering is “wisdom is shown to be right or verified by what it produces.”

Lest we think that we produce the kingdom by our own efforts, we need to hear Jesus in verses 28-30 (reading from v. 25 for context).   He said, “Come to Me…”   That is surrender and recognition of His Lordship, and it is complete trust.  “Come to Me, all who are worn out and burdened, and in Me, you will discover rest and peace!”

He continued, “Take My yoke (instructions and prescribed pathway) upon yourself, and I will give rest (vacation).  Learn of Me (become one with Me) and discover My true character, nature, and power.  In Me, you rest and discover you no longer have to struggle to be.  You become!”

The dual reality that I sensed the Lord speaking to me became clear.  Jesus was saying, “When you persistently press into Me, and once there, rest in that union with Me, just relax and rest!”    There is no relaxation in pressing in through our own efforts.   We find rest when we cease trying to perform.    It is then that we become!   Out of that new relationship, you live His life and manifest Him!

What a place to attain!   In Him, like Isaac, who obeyed and was in the place of promise during a famine, he harvested a hundredfold return.  God’s provisions are without equal.   Let us press in and let Jesus be Jesus in and through us.

I pray your day will be wonderful and your way prosperous in Jesus!

Genesis 12:1-3 – “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

 As I read, prayed, and contemplated the Word of God, my thoughts turned to God’s call and blessing, as well as the man Abraham.  Abraham is known as the father of faith, through whom all the people on earth are introduced to God’s blessings!

Have you ever stopped to consider Abraham (Abram)?   God uses flawed vessels for His purposes.   In Genesis 12, God said, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you.”   Verse 4 says, “So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do.”

Tap the brakes!    Just as the Lord told him to do?   He took Lot, his nephew, a member of his father’s household, with him.   Did Lot just tag along uninvited?  Possibly, or did Abram consider him as a son and his responsibility?  Does that even matter?  God said, “Go and leave all else and others behind!”   Then, the famine came, and Abram went to Egypt.  He told Sarai, “Tell them you are my sister so that it will go well with me.”   Remember God’s promise!   Now Abram shifts into self-preservation mode and tells a lie.  That sounds flawed to me.

In Genesis 15, God makes an incredible promise and establishes a blood covenant with Abram.  Abram suggested that since God had withheld biological children from him, a house-born servant would be the heir.   God said NO!   The covenant was cut, and God instructed Abram (Genesis 17), saying, ” live before Me in holiness and blamelessness.“

God promised a son, and old Abe didn’t refuse when Sarai offered Hagar.  That sounds flawed to me.   God came and changed their names to Abraham and Sarah with the promise of Isaac, the heir.

Genesis 15:6 is revelatory in the transformation of Abraham.  “Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD credited it as righteousness to him.” But even after all this, Abraham told Abimelech, the king of Gerar, “She is my sister.”   Self-preservation raises its head again.

Abraham, the father of faith and a powerful intercessor, was a flawed man.  Yet, God used him mightily, and through his obedience, the Seed (Jesus) came and brought us redemption.

My purpose in this is not to focus on Abraham’s flaws but to encourage you that human perfection is not what God needs or wants from us; it is trust and obedience!  Abram believed God, and despite his missteps, he never lost sight of God’s faithfulness!

God’s call and promise are not because of our perfection, performance, or specialness.   If God could use a flawed vessel like Abram (Abraham), we have hope!   You have a call, a commission, and a destiny to fulfill.  Don’t look at your inadequacies.   Look at His adequacy!   Christ in us is the key.   Believing Him is the pathway to the promise!   If we are in Christ, born again, He is our perfection!  He makes us adequate.   We are more than conquerors!

We are all flawed vessels, but as God used Abram (Abraham), He can use us!   He is looking for yielded vessels, not polished vessels.

Genesis 3:8-10 – “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God, several things gripped my heart and invited me to examine them more fully.

In Genesis 3:8-19, we find the encounter with God after Adam and Eve’s rebellion.   Yes, I said rebellion and elevated their disobedience to more than a simple sanitized act of sin. It transformed the race and relationship with God.  It was a cosmic rebellion.   If we viewed sin that way, disobeying would become more difficult.

God asked Adam three questions.  God already knew the answer, but in His infinite grace, He was forcing Adam to face and acknowledge his rebellion.  The questions are foundations for redemption.

• Where are you?

Adam was hiding.  When sin enters our hearts, we tend to hide rather than ashamedly go to God in repentance.  We attempt to cover our shame with works and masks (fig leaves).

• Who told you?

Adam’s excuse was, “I’m naked, so in my shame, I hid.” We should ask ourselves, “Whose voice are we listening to?” Satan, self, or God (through the Holy Spirit and the Word).  It defines and determines our destiny.

• Did you eat from the tree I commanded you not to eat?

God is bringing it home and opening the door for repentance and restoration.

Sadly, Adam did what we tend to do, or we tend to do what Adam did.  He shifted the blame.  He blamed Eve (another person or circumstances), and then he blamed God.  “The woman You gave me!” Imagine blaming God!

Wait, isn’t that what people do all the time?   We offer excuses, saying, “If only…because…or something!”   It is my gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, etc.  I’m just the victim!   I’ve often wondered what God would have done had Adam simply said, “Lord, I’m guilty, I disobeyed, forgive me.”   Grace, as revealed in the New Covenant, reveals God’s heart to forgive and restore!  Denying sin and shifting the blame takes us deeper into darkness.

Eve did precisely the same as Adam.  “Don’t blame me; it was the snake!” You can even hear the inference, “Hey, God, the snake You created tricked me.  So, I’m not to blame You and the slithering snake are!”

God’s desire is restoration!  Our unconfessed sin blocks God’s forgiveness and enslaves us to the desires of the flesh.  Depravity of the heart produces pride and arrogance.   One translation of Genesis 4:1 reveals Eve’s self-justification and confidence in what the sneaky snake told her, “You shall be as God.”   When Cain was born, she said, “I have created a man just as God did!”

When man lost his innocence and became disobedient, he became compelled to find redemption in himself.  That imprisoned him to the desires of the flesh and stole from him God’s fullness.

Jesus came to restore us and give us the Kingdom.  He came to free us from the flesh and the devil.  He came to enable us to live in freedom.  If we are struggling with thoughts or actions, we can be free.   All we need is in Jesus.   

All He is available.   But we access that freedom ONLY in repentance.  We stand before God and say, “I’m guilty!”   In repentance, we become enabled to be and do what God desires.  Sin is not just a mistake or misstep.  It is rebellion!  Repentance is not saying, “I’m sorry,” it is doing a 180-degree turn.  It is allowing God to purge from us all elements of rebellion and restore us.  There is power in a transformed life that brings us God’s blessings and draws others to Jesus.

God has given us Freedom, so let’s be free by being honest with him and ourselves in everything!

May your day be filled with consciousness of the Presence of God!