A Forgiving God

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you." - Matthew 6:14


Basically what this verse is trying to say is "If you forgive people when they wrong you, God will forgive you for wronging Him." Why is forgiveness so hard to cope with? Some people find forgiving and very hard thing to do. It may have been someone spoke to harshly to you or they spreaded a rumor about you, or whatever the reason may be. Forgiving is hard at times, but it's only because we let pride get in the way.


Or think of it this way, you are playing baseball with your friends and you hit the ball and it goes smashing into your neighbors livingroom window. Your stomach sinks and your heart starts pounding, and you know you are going to be in a world of consequences for your actions. The neighbor is furious and your parents are just as upset, and as punishment you give up a month's worth alloowence to fix the window. After being grounded for a few weeks imagine you go up to apologize to your neighbor again but they don't except your apology. You feel bad enough about breaking the window and now your neighbor wants nothing to do with you. That's bad enough that humans do that to each other right? Not being forgiven for things you have done wrong hurts pretty bad. God doesn't like it when we hold grudges and only think of how we feel. He feels that everyone desevres a second chance. He forgives you for your sins no matter what. While it may take time to forgive someone, it's better than not forgiving them at all. Being upset with someone is one thing, but being unforgiving is unacceptable in God's eyes.


"Any grudge you hold is just a gurdge on your heart." - unknown sorce


-Desi

Words of Grace: The China Horse

Words of Grace: The China Horse: "I have a little china horse sitting on a shelf in my bedroom, simply waiting to be held and fondled by a pair of young, admiring hands. Th..."

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Witnesses not Judges; A short.

There once were two people. Walt and James. These two were best friends. They did many things together, built forts, talked about cars. They both aspired to be the best car racer ever. But Walt and James had differences.

 James spent his time critcising and judging the other racers and compared them to himself.He was spiteful and egotistical. Only Walt was his friend.

Walt on the other hand spent his time watching and praying for the other racer's safety and happiness. He watched other racers not to judge, but because he cared about everyone. And everyone cared about Walt.
Walt and James never raced each other before, but that day, they were slated against each other. Walt turned to his friend and wished him good luck. James smirked and told Walt he didn't need luck because Walt was the worst racer he saw.
The race started.

They were neck and neck, James and Walt. They rounded turn after turn, but neither pulled ahead. James was mad, he was so sure that he could beat Walt. But he didn't know how Walt raced because he was  always thinking about how Walt paled in comparison. Walt knew exactly how James raced because he went to all of James's races to cheer him on. So he knew that James slowed down on corners without knowing.

The last turn in the race Walt sped past James and won. James was astounded at Walt, for no one ever beat James before. He turned to his friend and asked him how he did it.

"I am a witness to your growth in racing, so I know your style very well. You must not have known mine because you are a judge at the racetrack; constantly comparing and judging everyone else." Walt explained.

James didn't understand, and thought of how Walt rambled on and on. It was quite un-becoming in James's mind.

"WE ARE MEANT TO BE WITNESSES; NOT JUDGES."
- A church sign I saw while riding the bus home today.

"...If we spent half as much time praying for the Lord to give guidance and wisdom to these people whom GOD has called--- first, we would not have enough time to point our fingers and secondly and most importantly we could be standing in the gap and making up a hedge around them to keep them from falling or doing something wrong.God called us to be witnesses---NOT JUDGES.  More can be done praying that talking---so here's your chance to do something productive---lift every servant of the Lord up in prayer instead of putting them down."
Bobby Webb Kingsport TN

God's Undying Love

Have you ever done something so bad that would get you in so much trouble that you were afraid your parents would hate you? Or you felt like you could never go home? I'm sure everyone has had one of those moments. You were afraid to disappoint someone you love and look up to. But you know in your heart your parents will always love you. You can always come home no matter how bad you mess up. No one else seems to have that kind of forgiveness, right? Wrong, because God is the same way.


You can always come home no matter what you do. God will always forgive you no matter how unforgivable the sin may seem. God will love you and it is never to late to find Him. He loves you with everything he has.


John 3:16 "For God so loved the Earth, that he gave his only begotten son Jesus to die on a cross. And all who believe in him shall not parish, but have everlasting life."


God still loves you if you sin. For humans it's impossible NOT to sin. But when Jesus died on the cross, all of our sin is wiped away. We do not carry the burden of our sin, because Jesus already did.


Now is that true love or what?


-Desi
"Inspired by Veggie Tales"

Walks of Faith

A man, driven by the grace of God, stands in the water above the stage of our church; he's ready to publicly share his faith in Christ and be baptized in front of our congregation. I do not know him. Pastor asks him the same questions I was asked at age 8, standing in that water wearing a purple jumpsuit with a frog shirt. We have the same answers.
_

A woman, bound to her wheelchair for reasons I am not privy to, wheels her way down to the altar. Her husband follows; his arm is in a sling. The Congregation is still getting over the first baptism and a short worshipping before this event. I wonder what is happening. The pastor tells us that the lady wishes to be baptized as well. Murmurs spread. How is she to be baptized when she cannot be submerged? The pastor has a way though. Together with our assistant music pastor, they pour water over her forehead and into a bowl. We all clap.

_

An eight-year-old is escorted to the alter later. Her name escapes me. She is small and scrawny; a picture of a kitten leaps to mind. Pastor tells us that she wants to be saved and come to God. We all clap and congratulate her. She reminds me of someone. Oh yeah, me. Except I stood in our dimly lit gym, sweating through my sweater-vest. We are still the same.
_

We. Not I. Not 'Me', but WE. We may all be different. The Man, The Lady, The Girl and I; we all share the same qualities, we all have similar beliefs. Maybe that woman was like me as a child. Maybe that girl had sisters who'd accepted Christ and longed to do the same. Maybe that man was afraid of what his family would think; my friends were my worries. We share things in Christ without knowing it. All four of us are a We. We have a savior who loves us. We are saved by his blood, as are we forgiven of our sins. It doesn't matter whether I am a baptist and the girl who sits next to me in geometry is a Methodist. Not really. Labels schmables! We are both Christians. I can talk to her about God and respect her beliefs. That Lutheran down the street is my best friend. Is that so bad?

Pastor stops in the middle of the sermon. I look up from my bible as he tells people to help her. A lady  across the walk is having a seizure. The lady next to her jumps to her aid as the man behind her holds her down. I don't know what the man, lady, or girl was thinking, but I knew one thing we all did at that moment. We were praying.

Daily Answers: Hebrews 13:8

How has Jesus been constant in your life?

Jesus has been constant in so many areas. He's been constant in my struggles, helping me to get back up from falling. He's been in my joys, because I know that nothing would be possible without Him. The limits are non-existant.

In what ways can you find Him in your daily life?

I can find Him on the radio when I'm just sitting along. I  can find Him whenever I need to, because I know he's there for me.

Daily Questions May 16

Ah, I can't believe I forgot to add this on my post yesterday. Hardlya day in and already I've messed up. I think I might keep it like this though. One day ask the questions, the next answer. I know it's easier on me. I'll think about it. Okay, on to the DQ!
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Jesus Christ Never Changes

Hebrews 13:8
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

Questions to think about:

How has Jesus been constant in your life?

In what ways can you find Him in your daily life?

Take up your cross, DQ Syd's Answers

How are you taking up your cross and following Him?

How? This site, plus going to youth and constantly bringing Him up in debate and praise with my friends.

In what ways can you be a better disciple?
I can be a better disciple for him by being more active in my youth group and talk about Him to my unsaved friends.
How can you follow Him even more completely?

Like before, by emersing myself even more completely into His word and praise the Lord constantly.