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Today, God took
me to this passage where God had to tell Peter 3 times that he was
not to consider what God has cleansed as unholy (even though his
religion said it was.) And God commanded Peter to go with the
Gentiles without misgivings. Likewise, God exhorts us to be careful to
discern when God is transforming someone and to allow His Holy Spirit to
minister to them through us as He instructs.
God is calling
some of the most 'unlikely people' these days and we must be careful
to discern the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives and not to
judge their present or their potential by their past. In order
for us to partner with the Holy Spirit as expressions of His heart, we
have to take our judgmental and condemning attitudes to the Cross to be
crucified. When you are around difficult people, do you see them
through the spiritual eyes of Christ who wants to minister restoration
and reconciliation through you?
Heb 12:15
says. "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of
God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it
many be defiled;" NAS In other words, if you were
not diligent to truly fully forgive, you are in danger of a root of
bitterness springing up in you. You are now the bitter difficult
person! Bitterness has been described as unfulfilled vengeance or
revenge or judgment.
No excuses!!!!
(Rom 2:1) Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are
who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for
you who judge practice the same things. NKJV
Are you like
Peter, who had mindsets against some persons blocking God's vision
for them? Are you like Jonah, who would preach at them, command
them to repent, threaten them with Hell fire and then could not rejoice
with they did repent? Or, are you like Ananias, who obeyed God,
went to minister to newly converted Saul and helped transform him into
our beloved Paul, by believing the prophetic Word he was ministering to
him?
Last time, we discussed how our
heart may be like an old screen door with a spring closure on it,
closed until purposely held open. Until you let Jesus in to heal
your own hurts, He can’t take your hurts upon Himself on the Cross.
Until you can trust Jesus to take your hurts to His Cross, you won’t
trust Him to train you in His love by letting you bear a Cross.
Ouch! (If you need prayer, please consider
Restoration Prayer
Ministry.)
The revelation that the Lord
gave me was that most us of think that we
have already accomplished forgiveness because we don't feel angry or
resentful anymore. We may have learned to block our emotions, to stuff
them or to handle offenses with our minds. But the
unforgiveness, lodged deeply in our hearts still needs to be hauled to
the cross and crucified, whether we can feel the emotions anymore or
not.
It seems that there is also a
lot of confusion in the church about forgiving and forgetting.
Some sins seem to be forgivable and yet others prevent a person from
being chosen for ministry, leadership or even marriage. In the Lord's
prayer, we ask God to forgive us as we forgive others. Do we want
God to remember our sins as we remember the sins of others? Do we
want to express His heart of forgiveness to those who have failed and
need His unconditional love the most?
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