Not forgiving=bitterness=pain

There are studies that show that not forgiving people can literally cause pain in your life. You are holding on to resentment that God calls and COMMANDS us to let go of. He wants us to live in that forgiveness. Truly forgiving someone means moving on in loving them and praying for them and truly wanting the best. It means not bringing up that old pain whenever you feel like it. Forgiving takes time and it is only by the grace of God that we can even have the power to forgive. It is so not easy in any way! If it is something that you can't even bring yourself to talk about or mention that persons name without feeling pain and hurt all over again you truly haven't forgiven or let God rework your heart and life. He wants to use that pain for His glory and for greater purposes. He let that pain happen to you and that may seem harsh but He has a greater plan in that pain!

Truly forgiving someone means you have such a peace that you just trust God and don't get angry or negative anytime someone talks about that person. It means that you don't have to become angry every time you head their name. Wanting them to come to know The Lord if they haven't or to repent and restore their relationship with God. Because if we can't forgive them it is just as much a horrible and life long sin as what they did. That resentment will stay in your heart and lead you to bitterness and not having joy or being able to lead others to Christ. 

I wanted to share more of a personal story that I have become aware of as I have read Choosing Forgiveness. My oldest sister is in a relationship that doesn't honor God, she has lived with us for over a year after graduating college. I have my feelings about everything and its usually not positive. I feel like she is lazy and ungrateful. But reading the book I came to realize that I might actually be mad at her and holding it over that she lives with us and her relationship and not forgiving her. I am not leaving room in the relationship for growth or encouragement because I have so much bitterness. She can very easily put me in a bad mood and I am usually more quick to say something negative than positive. The bitterness I have is not allowing me to be a light in my family or show true love. It doesn't show Christs love when I don't love her appropriately. I am interfering in their relationships with God and saving them. She doesn't know God to start with so the bar is set very low and she probably doesn't think there is very much wrong and she doesn't feel loved by me either. I have been hurting myself in the process and having resentment against her. It isn't fair and it's not okay. I am starting over and going to allow God to work on me and show Christs light in my families lives. 

Challenge: think about whose lives you are hurting by holding on to something and not letting it go. Fix it. Don't let it keep wearing you down and taking you away from God each day. Not forgiving allows more sin to creep in. Take it to The Lord in prayer. 

Fixing our eyes on Jesus:)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1, 2 NIV). 

What we set our eyes on is what our hearts are set on. What our hearts are set on is where we will be in the future. It is a lobby race or marathon that we have to endure through and the only way we can truly do that successfully and Holy is by doing it for God and looking to God. We obviously can't see eye to eye with God and give Him a hug every day, so fixing our eyes on Him is actually a lot of work and concentration. It takes time looking at His word, praying, spending quiet time letting Him speak to us. It takes patience! But if we focus on money our life will be money and we will never truly be happy or be where we want to be. Nothing will ever be enough. 

To run this race it is important to run the race with others who are running it and trying to get to the same goal as us. We must surround ourselves with others with simmalar goals as us. Be around people who are want to fight this fight as much as us! If we have things that take us away from Jesus and truly giving Him glory then we must get rid of those things that cause us to sin. It is better to enter the kingdom of God without our hand if it causes us with sin. For most of us we aren't going to cut off our hands but if we truly can't stop sinning by our hands than we may need to take ourselves out of a lot serious and severe situations. 

We still have a long time left in this race and there will be storms that try and prevent us from doing it as fully as we should but God can clear those storms. We will never run out of water with God and His true and holy word will fill our thirst and hunger. God will cool us in times of anger and help us move or avoid obstacles! He is in it all! 

The best way to run this race is looking to God the whole time. Every time we say I don't know how I am going to get through this He says with Me. He says I am here for you I won't let you down! Even in the hardest times and the most hurtful times He can and WILL heal us and allow us to move on in a new light!

God is faithful

Life in Christ is day by day process where we have to learn something new every single day and just be patient. Nothing happens over night. But God sees our lives in like a video where He sees the beginning and the end and we can only feel the right now. We ask why God would you do this to me I really don't think I can deal with this. But God sees our perseverance and He gives us the exact tools to overcome the hardship and give the glory to Him. The bible tells us we WILL 100% face hardships and be prosecuted. So did Jesus and He died the most Holy death and is now with God forever. God did not lie to Jesus or just let Him suffer. He provides the way. He IS the way! 

If we aren't taking our problems and loneliness to God then we still won't be in it alone. God will helping us and trying to turn our hearts to Him and He will put people in our lives to get through it. No matter if you are the pastor of a huge church or a bible study leader or just a child of God, you still NEED people in your life everyday that will pour into you! You need other sources of love in your life. We are not expected to have all the answers! Not a single person is that is only for God almighty our Lord. We need a constant inflow in our lives of God. Every single day we should be poured into and pouring into others! God is here to save us! Glory to Him! We aren't in this alone, Holy is The Lord almighty! He won't let us suffer. Even in the darkest moments God is there to be praised. He is soooo worthy of our praise and I will praise Him all the day long! All praise to You God almighty!

I'll be there

God is always right there by our side. When someone is angry with us or needs our help or is sad or just in need of love, God is always right there for us! He never ever leaves our side and I never ever want to leave His side. I want to praise His holiness and just become more like Him and His ways. I want to be so quick to forgive people and truly go on loving them and not holding any resentment in my heart. I am reading choosing forgiveness by Nancy Leigh Demoss, a friend recommended it to me, and what I have read so far is truly extraordinary. Not just for big hurtings but just as a guide to walk through life. And the way she speaks. I truly want to be more careful with the words I choose and I just pray in the mornings that God would give me the exact words to say to others and not just to sound humbled or holy but to have the words actually come from a humbled and holy heart! God is with me in every step of this life and I need Him to be. I truly truly need His grace and blessings to get through each day! Each and every day I feel closer to Him and learn something new about Him. There isn't a day where I say to myself wow life would be so much better without God. Because it is only good because of God and what is good is God and from Him!

Without love

What is God without love, for He is love. Therefore when we are trying to be like God and are made in the likeness of God we should be made in love and acting in love because that is what God is. Just like only loving people only goes so far, you can't actually do anything for others without love. You just physically and emotionally can not truly show who God is without having love in your heart and showing love to others. It is impossible to bless others through Christ without doing the action in love. It is impossible to pray for others and truly pray and want the best for them without loving God and loving them. Your heart must be clear of hate and hurt and instead filled with God. If you have unresolved issues that God hasn't taken control of, there is room for Satan to fill and that is not okay. It doesn't matter what kind of day you have had or if you are sick or got 2 hours of sleep. What matters is that you show Christ and reflect Him in your life and the way to do that is through love. There is no ifs ands or buts. God conquers all and God is love. Gods love should be exploding fireworks inside us and we should feel it being real. The truth is we can't see God right now but that is no excuse to not "feel" God or have experiences with Him. And then off of those experiences builds a life lasting relationship. And how does that relationship usually start? Usually by someone loving us because they first loved God. It all starts with God then His love and us accepting it and giving it to others! There aren't certain times to be loving but there are times when we indivually need God to pour into us so we can continue to love and care about others! Go in peace to love and serve The Lord! 

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (1 John 4:7-16 NIV)

Discipleship

If you have great news like a good grade, getting married, getting a new job, or even a new phone you want everyone to know especially the people you care about. I know people say this all the time but being saved by God is the best thing that will happen during our lives and it is great news! We should want everyone to know. It's not a secret or something that not everyone needs to know, it IS something that everyone should and needs to know. If you truly believe in God then you will tell people what you know and why you have that joy in you. If you truly care about others and love them and believe there is a heaven and a hell, then you should desire to stir something inside of them for God so they too will go to heaven. God isn't a secret, we do not have to nor will we hide our faith. God commands to go to the ends of the earth and tell everyone the good news of Jesus Christ our savior! 

There are so many excuses and things that can go through our head and they are all put there by satan, God does not put those lies in our head. He tells us we can do it and we do care about others and He is the way the truth and the life. If we believe it that is enough power in us to tell others. There are so many ways to tell others about God, part of it is just by the way we live and loving others. But it has to go a step farther than that. Loving others is so important but it can't end there there has to be another move that we make to tell them about Jesus and all that He has done. There should be a river flowing out of you into others. Now we are not 100% responsible for the the choices and decisions they make and how they feel about what we tell them, but we are responsible for planting the seed in them and telling them what Jesus Christ has done and that He will come again. We are all called to some sort of ministry and it might be right in the town you live or it could be thousands of miles away. Either way Gods word does not stop with you. We give breath into others lives, if you want to make a change or save a life you don't have to be a doctor you have to be what God has called you to be...a disciple. 

Choosing Joy!

There are times in our lives of death, lies, sin, guilt, or just plans not going our way. But sure ending our lives to Christ and repenting means leaving those bitter ways behind and being joyful in Christ! Even in those hard times God wants us to be near to Him and not just be alone. He doesn't believe we need a space, He knows and I believe that we need God at all times. The darkest and the highest times are to be filled by God! They are to spent praising Him and His faithfulness and not looking for all the ways that things have gone wrong. We sin and others sin and there are consequences for those sins that only God can take away and renew us from. But even in those times of repentance and rebirth and relearning the ways of God it is so important to not feel upset or like God is against us but truly turn to God and ask Him what are you trying to teach me? How do you want me to grow in this time? There isn't a moment in our lives where God doesn't want us to grow and become more like Jesus! We are always doing our best to tell others about Jesus and the true pain and hardship He went through of dying and how God let it happen to save the world and that should fill us with JOY! There is so much hope in Christ that should light up our day! Somebody asked me today if I was a bible reader and I said yes I actually am. And they were just shocked that a teenager would actually want to read the bible. But I said the truth is there is the light and love of a true and awesome God in there that cares more about me than I know or could imagine! Knowing what is coming for me in the future in Christ and what I have right now in Christ brings me so much more joy than I ever thought I could have! These last 4 months of my life God has continued to prove His faithfulness to me and put AMAZING people and opportunities into my life in order to let me spread His name more and just be thankful for Him! There isn't a day that goes by that I don't praise His holy name!