It’s been a very busy school week, but also a good one for me because I had the chance to have a very interesting conversation with my friend.
We shared our thoughts on a story we heard from our professor. He had a friend who was easily angered by people who didn’t do the right thing. However, he later found himself in a situation where he had to speak to these same people at a gathering—but he couldn’t. The reason? He couldn’t forgive himself.
Though he was a follower of Christ, his attitude toward these people didn’t reflect Christ’s character. When the opportunity came for him to invite them to a fellowship program, he was unable to do so because of how he had treated them in the past.
Hearing this story, most people might just say, “Be kind to people; you don’t know when you’ll need them.” But it was more than that.
You see, he couldn’t function properly in his calling. He couldn’t do what he was supposed to do because he hadn’t forgiven himself.
Now, let’s dive into the Bible.
Take a look at Paul’s life. Do you know that Paul’s ability to function in his calling was largely based on his ability to forgive himself?
I began to understand Paul—the man who had blood on his hands—and the courage it took for him to forgive himself. If he had chosen not to, he would have had God’s forgiveness but still failed to fulfill his destiny. He would have lived and died in pain and regret.
I may not know you, what you’ve done, or how bad it is. But I do know this: you need to let it go today. You are still everything beautiful that God says you are, and He still wants to use you.
You’ve spent too much time hating yourself. It’s time to forgive yourself and move past it. There is a beautiful life ahead of you and important work to do for God’s kingdom.
So, extend grace to yourself. And if you feel like you don’t deserve it, that’s okay. By definition, grace is undeserved kindness.
I hope this has blessed you.
Our blog post for the week is on its way and will be published on Saturday. Stop by and read it!
Loving God is a biblical principle and is best expressed as obeying God’s commandments.
1 John 5:3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
Before we go into todays piece let’s quickly review what it means when the scriptures says God’s commandments are not grievous or in other terms “Burdensome”.
When we understand this our journey in Christ becomes a delight and not a drag.
They are not burdensome because we are empowered to obey them .
1 John 3:16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
We encounter true love in the Father’s willingness to give his son and also in Jesus giving his life for us.
Additionally God’s spirit dwells with us reminding us of God’s love and giving us the power to overcome sin.
Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness,through the knowledge of him who called us to glory
And to accept God’s commandment as not BURDENSOME, we must realize how dangerous and poisonous sin is.
SIN destroys us and destroys our relationship and also turns us away from God .
SIN ENSLAVES US !!!!!!!
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
SIN is the BURDEN and God’s COMMANDMENTS offers freedom from the BURDEN!!!!!.
When we submit to God’s command, we find restrictions being released and the freedom to move about burden free .Do not forget that sin is the burden !!!!.
God’s commandments are not burdensome because God wants what is good for us and his spirit empowers us and God’s love motivates us.
So now WHAT IS GOD’s
LOVE ?!
Let’s go back to our bible text : 1John5 vs 3, and it simply breaks down what it means to love God and that is obeying Gods commandments.
BUT WHY IS OBEYING HIS COMMANDMENTS HIS LOVE TOWARDS US?!
Obeying God’s commandments means living in righteousness and this is because the word of God is against sin. when you obey God’s commandments you live a life of righteousness. And this can also mean respect towards God, ourselves and others.
SIN is not love ,It separates us from God and relationships we have with people as Sin will always hurt someone (Romans 13vs 8-10).
HOW CAN WE SEE GOD’s LOVE?!
God’s love is made visible when God the father sent his son Jesus (1 John 4 vs 8-12)
It can’t be that hard. He says he loves us,We know it,We believe it. I know God loves me and Jesus died for my sins and I know the Spirit lives within me.
But there’s something odd about the apostle’s prayer. He asks that Christ would dwell in our hearts, that we would know Christ’s love, and that we would be filled with all God’s fullness. Why would he pray so intently for what we already have in Christ?
The Ephesians know these things but their knowledge isn’t sufficient. There’s another level of knowledge and experience they lack.
When Paul prays that we would “grasp” all God has for us, this word can mean to wrestle with or overpower someone.
What’s Paul wanting us to wrestle with? With ourselves, with our souls, with our flesh and our inner being?
No, he prays that we may grasp Christ’s love, wrestling it into our hearts.
We can know Christ love through the spirit
Ephesians 3:16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; :17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
The source of our experience of God’s love is the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit reveals God and his Word to us ,empowers us to live like Christ,and transforms us into Christ’s image . It’s the Holy Spirit who enables us to taste and see that the Lord is good .
HOW DO WE GET GOD’s LOVE IN OUR HEARTS??!
There are few way to make this happen;
1-) Slow down and make time: Hurry quenches the Holy Spirit, so we must cut it out and make time for sustained seeking-and-listening prayer to experience God’s love.
2-) Meditate on God’s word: let’s learn to study the Bible ,pray and wrestle this truths into our hearts.
There is this phrase :
“Hurry quenches the Holy Spirit, so we must cut it out and make time for sustained seeking-and-listening prayer”
I pray that we might have the power of the Holy Spirit for experiencing God so that we would grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
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