Forgiven and Forgiving

Forgiveness doesn’t mean we automatically reestablish the relationship with someone who hurt or abused us.  God may actually want them far away, but to experience true freedom, we must forgive as God has forgiven us.

Are you struggling with or have you struggled with forgiving?  We all have, but do you understand how this is hindering your relationship with God?  You are being robbed of freedom, peace, and joy.  You are truly letting someone rent space in your mind and life for free while they continue enjoying life and remain miserable.  This is an area definitely hard to overcome.  Of course, it's hard to forgive an ex-spouse. It's hard to forgive and pray for someone that screws you financially.  It's hard to forgive and pray for a mother or a father who left you.  It is hard to forgive and pray for people that you know talk about you, but to have freedom, we need to learn how to let go and let God. We need to learn to submit to what God instructs us to do.  We must, little by little, continue building that spiritual muscle.  

We can start by studying the word, especially the book of Matthew, and by investing in personal development resources.  We intentionally take the words we read in the Bible and truly believe that God does reward those who forgive others with his own forgiveness. We learn to let him fight our battles.   When we follow the teaching of Mark 11, you then learn to experience true freedom and make room to hear from our heavenly father directly.  Go to him as a friend, confess, and pray to do better.  Be honest with him; he knows you are human, and it takes time to peel off years of hurt and abuse. 

Only by having a personal relationship with God can a relationship be restored by the gift of grace. 

We live in a world now where it's hard to say no to the distractions of the flesh, especially with social media and Google making it so easy to stalk those who hurt you.  It is easier than ever to feed the flesh, and the enemy knows that, but you must be intentional and disciplined to starve that desire, and this can only be done by feeding on the word to drive out unforgiveness and make room to hear God's voice.

Walking the walk

As Christians, we know that the men and women of God will fall because the only one that was sinless was Jesus.  We put faith in our pastors as they too, get up every morning to fight an enemy that is well aware of their weaknesses, which we know nothing about. 

If you are blessed to get fed weekly from a pulpit, remember to remove that man or woman and focus on the message, not the messenger.  Stop glamorizing these flawed humans, stop being a groupie and a cheerleader about their life.  Focus on the word, not the human.

While these men and women are trusted into ministry and we do all hold them at a high standard, yes, but they are not Jesus, the enemy will continue to prey on them because he knows that is the quickest way to discourage both new and seasoned believers. 

Yes, moral failure needs to be exposed because we serve a God of excellence but please stop making your religious walk about church clicks and glamorize those in leadership, make it about the word instead so that when you hear about these things you can separate the two without affecting your walk and allowing the enemy to use those situations from discouraging you and your family from the spiritual walk ahead of you.

Broken Beautiful

The other day there was an issue that came up and for some reason I remembered this famous mother goose poem. 

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

As men we bear the responsibility to make our wives feel that we are their security. Security and trust in a relationship are the glue that holds everything together. 

What happens when we fail and fall? 

As men, we try not to hurt our spouses by saying little lies that we believe will have no consequences, but that is so far from the truth.  Our words have repercussion and just like the little rhyme says they couldn’t put humpty back together again. I know what you’re thinking, it’s a little extreme, but understand that once that trust is shattered you might put it back together but it will never be the same as before. 

So, I challenge you to be mindful when tempted to speak a little white lie. A simple lie can steal the security of your wife.   Many long marriages have cracks but they continue in perfect imperfection because there is a belief that together they can handle what ever the issue is.  It’s in the cracks that we can look back and admire the marriages that have weathered the storms. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, renew your mind every day and cherish what God has given to you, especially your spouse. 

Humpty couldn’t be put back together by all the king’s men, but we know it’s the King of Kings that we serve, and no matter how broken we are, HE can put it back together for his purpose again. 

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:22-23 NIV