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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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