“See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many."
Hebrews 12:15 (NIV) If you’re still holding on to resentment, then someone is controlling you. Have you ever said, “You make me so mad”? That’s an admission that the other person is controlling you. The only way to get this person out of your mind and heart is to heal the hurt with God’s grace. Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (NIV). Have you ever known a family where a bitter parent poisoned the whole family? Bitterness is contagious, and it can actually become generational. Someone needs to break the chain—and if bitterness has taken root in your family, that someone can be you. Are your parents bitter because their parents were bitter because their parents were bitter? It’s time to break the chain. And there’s only one way to break it: with grace. Friends, if you don’t get God’s grace in your life, life will make you bitter. Why? Because there is sin in the world. We live on a broken planet. This is not heaven. Evil people get away with evil things all the time. Life is not fair. Is forgiveness fair? Absolutely not. But forgiveness is not about fairness. It’s not about getting even. It’s about grace. You don’t forgive a person because it’s the fair thing to do. You forgive a person because it’s the right thing to do, and you don’t want your own heart full of poison. You don’t want to hold on to the hurt and the hate. Forgiveness is free, but it is not cheap. It cost Jesus his life. It cost God his Son. As Jesus was dying on the cross, with his arms outstretched, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NIV). It’s like he was saying, “I love you, I love you, I love you.” In effect, he said, “They don’t deserve it. They don’t even know what they’re doing. But, Father, forgive them anyway.” Follow Jesus’ example and offer forgiveness today. Heal your bitterness with his grace.
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“Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."
Hebrews 4:16 (NLT) You don’t have to be hesitant or shy about coming to God for forgiveness. The Bible says, “Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Hebrews 4:16 NLT). At the throne of grace, you don’t find scolding, punishment, or rejection. When you come to God with your sin, you receive his mercy and grace. What’s the difference between mercy and grace? Mercy is forgiveness for all the wrongs you’ve done in the past. Grace is the power to change in the future. You need both. God says that when you come to him with honesty and humility, you will receive his forgiveness. But here's how not to approach God for forgiveness. Don’t beg God. He wants to forgive you more than you want to be forgiven. Don’t bargain or bribe. Don’t promise: “God, I’ll never do it again! I’ll live this kind of life. I’ll tithe 20 percent.” Don’t beg. Don’t bargain. Just believe. What do you need to believe? Believe God’s promise in Hebrews 4:16 that, when you come to God, you’ll find mercy and grace. How should you approach God for forgiveness? Just confess. Confession is not saying, “God, I’ll never do it again.” It’s saying, “You’re right, God. I was wrong.” The Bible says in Romans 5:1, “Since we have been justified [that is, acquitted of sin, declared blameless before God] by faith, [let us grasp the fact that] we have peace with God . . . through our Lord Jesus Christ” (AMP). What does it mean to be justified? It means “just as if I’d never sinned.” Wouldn’t you like to have a heart that’s washed clean? No matter how deep the stain of your sin, God can remove the stain and renew your heart just as if you’d never sinned. “Let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the LORD. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, ‘We have sinned and rebelled.'"
Lamentations 3:40-42 (NLT) The path to a fresh start and a clear conscience begins with repentance. What does it mean to repent? It means three things: First, take responsibility for your sin. Second, turn away from those things. And, third, turn toward God and his grace. The Bible says, “Let us test and examine our ways. Let us turn back to the Lord. Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven and say, ‘We have sinned and rebelled’” (Lamentations 3:40-42 NLT). Repentance doesn’t mean rationalizing your sin. Don’t think, “It was no big deal.” It was a big deal, or you wouldn’t have remembered it. And don’t say, “It happened so long ago” or “It was just a stage I went through” or “Everybody does it.” You can’t rationalize sin, minimize it, excuse it, or blame others. That is not true repentance. Pay attention to this: The greatest holdup to the healing of your hang-up is you. You’re not waiting on God or anyone else. God is ready and wanting to heal the hang-up in your life. The Bible says in 1 John 1:8, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (NIV). Would you like to get rid of the self-defeating habits in your life? You will stop defeating yourself when you stop deceiving yourself. It starts with gut-level honesty and acknowledging that something is wrong, no matter how much you want to rationalize it and excuse it. You need to admit your sin, confess it, and get it out of your life. Take that first step of repentance today and get on the path to a fresh start. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life."
Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT) The first step to a clear conscience is to do a personal spiritual assessment. Here’s how you do it. When you’re not in a hurry, sit down with God in a quiet place and tell God, “I want to do business with you. I want to make a list of anything that is getting between you and me. Help me see the things I know are wrong, and the things I don’t know are wrong.” Ask God to reveal your sins. You can pray like the psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Psalm 139:23-24 NLT). When you pray this, you’re asking God to find the things in you that have entangled you and are holding you back. It’s important to take your time. Don’t rush it! Don’t say, “God, I’ve got five minutes for you to reveal every sin I’ve ever done.” Take your time—and be sure to write it all down. Why is it important to write it down? Writing makes it specific. Thoughts untangle themselves through the lips and the fingertips—through what you say and what you write. If you haven’t written it down, you haven’t thoroughly thought about it. Here's a very important question: How serious are you about wanting God’s blessing on your life? Enough that you’re willing to be gut-level honest with him? Are you willing to be honest with yourself? Are you willing to be honest with other people? Or are you just going to live in denial? Denial and God’s blessing do not go hand-in-hand. If you long to have a clear conscience, then you’re just one step away from liberation—from a feeling of joy like you’ve never experienced. Along the way, you’ll find freedom from the habits, hurts, and hang-ups that are messing up your life. Please don’t procrastinate. Reserve time this week to complete your personal spiritual assessment. It’s the first step to enjoying a clear conscience, and it will change your life! “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done . . . Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."
Philippians 4:6-8 (NLT) God wants you to trust him one day at a time. He wants you to ask for your “daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 ESV), not for your weekly bread, monthly bread, or yearly bread. The Bible says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done . . . Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise” (Philippians 4:6-8 NLT). This passage teaches four things to do daily to trust God: Worry about nothing. “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today” (Matthew 6:34 NLT). Why is worry such a big deal? Because it’s not just a bad habit—it’s a sin. But God keeps his promises, and you can trust that he will take care of you. Pray about everything. Prayer changes things. Romans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (NIV) God solved your biggest problem—the sin that kept you from heaven—when he sent Jesus to die for you. If God loved you enough to send Jesus to die for you, don’t you think he loves you enough to take care of all your other problems? Thank God in all things. No matter what happens, give thanks. The Bible doesn’t say, “For all things, give thanks.” It says, “In all things, give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 GNT). You don’t have to be thankful for bad things in your life. You should never be thankful for evil. You don’t have to be thankful for cancer or a car accident. But God says that in everything you can give thanks. Why? Because you know that God’s going to take care of you. You know he’s going to meet your needs. You know he’s going to help you. Think about the right things. In Philippians 4, God has given you a list of things to think about—things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. Where do you find things that are pure and lovely to think about? You won’t find them watching TV or scrolling through social media. You will find pure, lovely, and honorable thoughts in the Word of God. Read it, study it, memorize it, and fill your mind with it. Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (NLT). Make today the day you start trusting God one day at a time. “If you . . . know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Matthew 7:11 (NIV) God made everything. Everything you see and everything you can’t see. Everything on Earth and in the universe beyond. God is the source of every good thing. And you can depend on him. As you depend on God to be your source for everything, remember four truths. Every good thing is a gift from God. You didn’t earn anything. It’s all a gift of God’s grace. If God didn’t want to give it, you wouldn’t have it. The Bible says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17 NIV). That’s why the third phrase of the Lord’s Prayer starts with the word “give”--“Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 ESV). Why? Because you can’t earn the things God gives you—they’re gifts from him. There’s nothing you need that God can’t provide. You don’t know what you’ll need tomorrow or the rest of this year. But whatever it is, God has the power to supply it. The Bible says in Philippians 4:19: “My God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (NET). “Glorious riches” means God is lavish with what he provides. He has unlimited resources. God wants to give you everything you need. Matthew 7:11 says, “If you . . . know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (NIV) It makes God happy to meet your every need. God is waiting on you. If you have needs in your life that aren’t being met, it may be that God is waiting on you to ask! The problem isn’t that God doesn’t want to meet your need; the problem could be that you haven’t asked him to. James 4:2 says, “You do not have because you do not ask God” (NIV). What or who have you been counting on to meet your needs? If it’s anything other than God, turn that around today. Trust God to be your source for everything. “Surrender yourself to the LORD, and wait patiently for him."
Psalm 37:7 (GW) One reason people struggle with contentment is because we’re always looking for explanations for why things happen in our lives. But God doesn’t tell us why most things happen, and that can frustrate us. Sometimes God doesn’t tell you why because he’s testing you. He wants to see if you will let go of control and learn to be content, whether or not he explains why something happens in your life. God doesn’t owe you an explanation for anything. You’re not going to know why most things happen until you get to heaven. When most of us were kids, the only time our school classroom was quiet was during a test. The teacher would say, “No talking! Take your pencils and fill out your tests.” Even the teacher would be silent. When God is silent in your life—when you don’t hear him, and he feels like he’s a million miles away—that is a test! The teacher is always silent when the students take a test—but the teacher is still present with the students. When God is silent in your life, your faith is being tested—but God is still with you. In that test, will you let go of control, or will you grab on more tightly? Will you learn to be content? The Bible says, “Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7 GW). When you go through pain next week or next month or this year, you don’t really need God’s explanation. You need God’s presence. Let go of control and surrender yourself to him. “The LORD is near to all who call on him."
Psalm 145:18 (NIV) God isn’t far away. In fact, it’s just the opposite. He’s as close as your next heartbeat. He’s right there with you every moment. The Bible says, “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27 NIV). You might feel like God is a million miles away. But your feelings and reality don’t always match. The truth is, God is with you right now. Here are three truths about your heavenly Father: He is never too busy for you. Sometimes you get too busy for God. But he never gets too busy for you. That’s the kind of love he has for you. Psalm 145:18 says, “The Lord is near to all who call on him” (NIV). Every time you call, God is near. He thinks about you a lot more than you think about him. He thought about you before you were born and thinks about you every moment of every day. He loves to meet your needs. He doesn’t do it begrudgingly—he loves it! Matthew 7:11 says, “If you . . . know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (NIV) Simply enjoy the fact that God loves giving good gifts to you. He is sympathetic to your hurts. If you’re going through something tough this week, you may need this verse: “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18 NIV). God is sympathetic. He’s not standing on the sidelines. He’s present in your pain. God is close to you, and he understands what you’re going through. Turn to him; he’s already there waiting for you! “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.'"
Matthew 6:9 (NIV) In the Old Testament, God is called “Father” only seven times. People just didn’t think of God as Father. They thought of him as Creator, Almighty One, God of Israel, and so on. Then Jesus came along and said this is how people should pray: Call him “Father.” Jesus uses the expression more than 150 times when he refers to God. In calling God “Father,” Jesus shattered stereotypes of God. God is not an angry tyrant, the universal killjoy, or an impersonal force. Instead, he is a personal God, and he created you with the ability to have a relationship with him. That’s what he wants more than anything else. There’s only one problem. For many people, the word “father” is a negative term; it brings up all kinds of bad memories. A lot of people say, “‘Our Father in heaven’? If God’s like my father, then no thanks.” The truth is, while many people have wonderful fathers, other fathers are fickle, moody, abusive, controlling, and violent. Saying “our Father in heaven” can carry painful baggage. Many people unconsciously think God is like their earthly father. This may not be a problem if their father was kind, wise, and loving. But if their father was unreasonable, they think God is unreasonable. If he was unreliable, that must mean God is unreliable. If they have a hard time connecting with their father, they assume they’ll have a hard time connecting with God. When you project your hurts and emotions onto God, it’s no wonder you have a hard time connecting with him. Misconceptions will keep you disconnected from God. Instead, let go of misconceptions and myths so you can understand the truth about God the Father. He loves you, and he’s with you and for you! You’ll find that truth will set you free—free to know God and to love him! “Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me."
John 15:4 (GW) On the night before his death, Jesus instructed his followers: “Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me” (John 15:4 GW). Jesus says that being spiritually connected is like being attached to a vine. You’re not going to have any fruitfulness or productivity in your life if you’re out there on your own. You’ve got to stay connected to the body of Christ. In plants, a disconnected branch can’t bear fruit. It’s the same for you. When you’re not spiritually connected, you not only start to whither and die, but you also don’t have any productivity in your life. Every spring I grow a lot of vegetables and fruit. But if I cut off a branch, those branches don’t produce tomatoes or anything else. They’ve got to be connected in order to produce fruit. What kind of fruit should you produce when you are connected to the body of Christ? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV). I don’t know about you, but I’d like to be more loving. I’d like to be more joyful. I’d like to be more at peace, no matter what happens to the economy. I’d like to be more kind to people who are mean to me. I’d like to be a good person. I want to be faithful and keep my promises. I’d like to be gentle with people who are not very gentle. And I’d like to have more self-control. That’s called the fruit of the Spirit, and it’s the evidence that you are spiritually connected. If you are not seeing yourself grow in all these things, guess what? It means you’re not spiritually connected. God says spiritual connection is essential. In fact, you’re not going to have any fruitfulness or productivity in your life if you’re out there on your own. I’ve got to be connected to the body of Christ. You’ve got to be connected to the body of Christ. We’re simply better together. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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