Strength to take the land

Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe,

 even if you were told. Habakkuk 1: 5

I woke up this morning with the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves by Verdi from his opera Nabucco running through my mind. I didn’t know anything about this opera, I just knew the tune. The opera is based on the Hebrews in exile in Assyria singing with longing for their homeland, similar to Psalm 137. 

It then occurred to me that when God led the Children of Israel out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery, they had no idea what the Promised Land was like. No one had ever seen it, not even Moses. They had no vision. Even when the spies returned after their expedition to scout out the land, 10 of them saw the Promised Land through the eyes of slaves, not as Children of Israel. It was all about identity. 

They didn’t see God as the covenant keeping God of Abraham or themselves as his people. Despite God having released them from slavery through mighty miracles, they didn’t see themselves as holy and dearly loved, a treasured possession. They were just worthless slaves.

That leads me to ask, how do we look at our situations? Through the eyes of slaves to sin or as children of God with an inheritance to take hold of? 

This last year has shown us that like the Children of Israel, none of us have been this way before. None of us have endured a pandemic and none of us really know what the way ahead looks like.  We can look at it as slaves bound by fear and insecurity believing we are never going to be free of the virus, or we can look with eyes of faith as children of God. He is laying before us an opportunity, never given to previous generations to press into something of God that will be so spectacular we wouldn’t believe it, even if we were told. 

Bill Johnson says that if Israel had walked into the Promised Land a few weeks after leaving Egypt, they would not have had the maturity to maintain the inheritance. The Lord will put us in situations so we have to push through to build spiritual strength, trust and faith in God so when the answers to our prayers and longings are released, we have the maturity to give all glory to God. 

These last 13 months have been a time for perseverance, patient endurance and seeking God.  Many of us have had time and space to build up our spiritual muscles, to learn to trust God in the wilderness for provision and presence. This will mean when we stand on the edge of our promised land, we will have faith and courage to cross over and a deep trust in God believing him to see souls saved, strongholds demolished and our nations turn to Jesus. 

The prize is enormous but if we have used the last year to fix our gaze upon Jesus, to know his voice, to hear his strategies, to catch the whisper of heaven and see a glimpse of his glory, we will have the maturity to give all glory to God when his sovereign power sweeps our nations. 

We know God wants to save our nations but all glory must go to him. When thousands are saved, blind eyes opened, deaf ears unstopped, the lame walking all that must be heard is an anthem of praise, thanksgiving and adoration to our God from his amazed, awe-struck, blood-bought children, overwhelmed by his goodness and love. 

Freedom, freedom, freedom

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5: 1

I have always been a bit of a sucker for YouTube clips of animals being rescued, whether it’s bears from cages or horses that have fallen into muddy holes, or baby elephants who can’t get out of a waterhole. I love them all and they make me cry. It’s so wonderful to see animals experiencing freedom, sometimes after years of being in a cage or exhausted from struggling to free themselves from a place they’ve trapped themselves in. 

How much more wonderful is it when we realise Jesus has set us free from cages of sin, guilt and despair or muddy holes of bad habits that have imprisoned us for years. This Easter how wonderful to meditate on the wonder of what Jesus did when he died on the cross setting us free to be who God made us to be.

I love seeing bears that have been released from cages lolloping across the grass, jumping into a pool (bears love to swim) or have a good scratch against a tree. It brings tears to my eyes.  I am blown away that Jesus chose me, a not-at-all nice person, lost and drowning in sin to be his child. 

I also am deeply moved when I see those formerly bound by addiction to alcohol, nicotine or gambling free from these bondages. Sin is a terrible taskmaster, binding us into despair and hopelessness but once free, it is so amazing to walk in that freedom to choose life, to choose love.

That’s the most marvellous thing of all - Jesus did this for love, For the joy set before us, he endured the cross, scorning its shame and sitting down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 12: 2).  Jesus doesn’t call us into a life of slavish devotion where we have to constantly appease a vengeful God. No God’s vengeance on sin was fully atoned for by Jesus. God’s wrath was on him. Now we are drawn into a relationship of love – God’s powerful, unconditional love for us and in return we give our feeble adoration that deeply touches God’s heart.  It was love and love alone that took Jesus to the cross and love that kept him there. 

How can we not fall to our knees in overwhelming thankfulness for all God has done? Let’s turn our minds away from virus and lockdown and rejoice in the wonder of our salvation and the freedom we now live in. 

Living free

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8: 36

I find it very difficult to visit zoos, animal or safari parks, in fact anywhere where animals are kept in captivity. Once you’ve seen animals in the wild, seeing them in captivity is hard because you know they were not born for this. 

I understand of course that protecting endangered species in zoos is a way of possibly safeguarding their future and zoos do have a huge educational purpose to fulfil for the vast majority who are not fortunate enough to see them in their natural habitat.

Having said that, I remember the story of a polar bear cub talking to its parents: 

 ‘Mum, Dad aren’t we polar bears?’

‘Of course,’ they reply.

‘Aren’t we meant to live in the Arctic?’ 

‘Yes,’ they reply.

‘So why are we living in London Zoo?’ 

Many animals in zoos are of course born in captivity which is meant to give credibility to the fact they are content, and certainly once animals start to breed in captivity, many animal experts feel that is a sign that they are settled. However I can’t help wondering, and of course we will never know, if something within them always craves for the savannah, the jungle, the sea, the desert, the Arctic, the Antarctic, the place they would naturally call home. Every animal seems to be ideally suited for their habitat even when that habitat seems incredibly hostile to our human eyes. Just watching a David Attenborough nature programme reveals that to us. 

Each one of us was born in captivity and until we let Jesus set us free from our habitat of sin, guilt and shame we will always be living captive. Once saved, Jesus doesn’t put us into his zoo but releases us to be all that he created us to be. We are meant to be free - free body, mind and spirit. God has such an amazing plan for each of us. 

Our final home will of course be heaven, ultimately the new heaven and earth because this is where we were created to live, on the redeemed earth totally restored to it original plan and purpose and something within each one of us craves that home. In the meantime though each of us has a habitat that God has called us to live in.  What is sad is when Christians settle for less than God has called them to.

Sometimes Christians remain living in the old self of sin not realising that Jesus has redeemed us from that old life.  Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new. 2 Corinthians 5: 17 Passion Translation. What a great promise that is, and one that the devil will do all he can to keep us from realising. 

There are times when Christians allow circumstances to overwhelm the Word of God. Too often believers would rather submit to their circumstances than realise that what the Word says is true. The Bible is called the word of truth. Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’ John 8: 31 – 32.  Taking hold of the Word, declaring it into our lives releases truth and freedom. 

Finally Christians can be content to settle for less than what God has created them to be. They would rather live in the captivity of comfort than find their real place of destiny. Like those in the parable of the sower, they hear the word but are choked by worries, riches and pleasures of life and they do not come into the full fruition God desires. 

The Christian life is not an easy life but it is so worthwhile and God has a beautiful plan and purpose for each of us individually as well as corporately. My heart is that we do not live either geographically, or spiritually and emotionally anywhere but right slap bang in the middle of what God has called us to be. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God Ephesians 3: 16 – 19. 

Live free or die

The slogan of the state of New Hampshire in USA is Live Free or Die. It is found everywhere from car number plates, bumper stickers and signs. It is the ultimate expression of desire to live independently no matter the cost.

On our recent trip to the States, we were driving up the freeway. As we drove from Massachusetts into New Hampshire we saw a motorcyclist, driving at 70 mph take off his crash helmet and fumblingly place it in a pannier on the back of his bike because crash helmets are not required in New Hampshire.  It was an act of great folly. The law is not there to cramp one’s style but to protect motorcyclists who may have an accident and come hurtling off a bike and collide at speed with a large solid object.  But people would rather live free and die than be safe.

Sometimes Christians live like this. They see God’s ways as a restriction on their personal liberty rather than a loving God’s protection of his people. They would rather be independent of God and his ways than safe. God doesn’t give laws and ways of living to thwart people but because he wants to look after us.  Sometimes we need to change our default setting from God being angry, difficult and hard to please to God being loving and kind and wanting what is best for us. 

God’s laws help us rise to the highest calling and destiny that he has for our lives. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandments were,  ‘(he) replied: ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ Matthew 22: 37– 40.

Jesus didn’t say this because God is some kind of megalomaniac that needs our love. He said it because as humans that is what we are created to do. The Westminster Catechism says ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever’. What an incredible calling.

Loving God and worshipping him is what will bring us the greatest joy, freedom and total satisfaction and fulfilment to our lives. God wants to draw us into the same, intimate, loving relationship that the Trinity enjoys. God doesn’t need our love and worship but he longs for us to know his love and we only know it by opening our hearts to him. That is the path of real freedom.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. I John 3: 16

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. I John 4: 7

Loving others flows out of our love for God. As we love our neighbours as ourselves it brings great freedom to everyone. If we all loved one another as we love ourselves, some of the greatest ills in the world would cease. Poverty and hunger would be a thing of the past.  No one is poor or hungry by choice. We look after ourselves and do all we can to have enough money and food.  If we loved our neighbours as ourselves, everyone would have enough. 

God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments as the basic laws of living for a just society for everyone. Many countries have used these Ten Commandments as the basis of their own justice system and these nations are the fairest and freest societies. 

Where the laws are not kept pain, heartache, grief and societal break up follow. In other cultures where different laws are upheld, it usually means the domination of one sector of society and the oppression of another, often women and children.

Live Free or Die.  I think not.  That way your freedom always comes at the expense of someone else. God wants us to live free, after all he sent Jesus to die to free us from the slavery of sin. However God’s way is the only way to really live free.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8: 36

Psalm 18

David was not only a great king and ‘a man after God’s own heart’ but also an incredible poet.

Psalm 18 is one of those psalms where David just lets rip his poetic creativity and powerful imagery flows from his pen. David had been delivered from so many enemies; not only Saul in his bloodthirsty lust to kill him but also the armies of the surrounding nations. David had complete confidence that God could and would deliver him from them all.

This all started with a young man who stood fearlessly, armed only with stones and a sling, facing a giant who had intimidated every seasoned Israelite soldier. David was not an arrogant youth but a confident young man, confident not in his own abilities but in his God who had delivered him as a shepherd boy from the lion and bear.

David took this confidence in the Lord out into the desert where he hid from Saul’s bloodlust. He may have sheltered in desert strongholds, behind rocks and in caves but he knew his real rock and stronghold was the Lord. He and he alone could save him ‘from the cords of death that entangled him’.

David knew that if he cried out to God in his distress, God would answer and he would come down in a full display of awesome might calling upon all creation to deliver his precious son. The writing is exquisite. The mental pictures that are conjured up of creation trembling as the Creator comes forth with fire, smoke, clouds, darkness, rain, lightning and thunder  are incredible.

The Creator God parts the clouds and rides the cherubim, the royal attendants, as he comes to rescue his beloved one who is struggling against enemies too powerful for him who are threatening his very existence.

God reaches down from on high and lifts his precious one out of the deep waters that he is drowning in and from which he cannot escape and places him in a spacious place. He is no longer confined by the cords of death and their entanglement but he is liberated to live in openness and freedom.

The first section of Psalm 18 starts with a declaration of David’s devotion to the Lord and ends with an assurance of God’s delight in him. It is because of this delight that he rescues him from his enemies. This is not an irritated God coming to rescue a wayward child who has got into trouble again but a devoted father coming to rescue his beloved son who is being harassed by powerful enemies. The Lord comes in might, majesty, power and authority to overthrow every enemy using all of his creation to do so.

The imagery in this psalm is powerful and is a great assurance to us that if we cry out to God in our affliction, he can and will deliver us from every negative circumstance that would try and entangle us and he does this out of incredible personal devotion to each one of his beloved children.

Freedom not punishment

Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Acts 13: 38 – 39

There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears in not made perfect in love. I John 4: 18

When Jesus died on the cross, he took all of our sin past, present and future and the guilt and the shame upon himself as the perfect sacrifice.  He took all the punishment that was due to us for our sin.  Our sin incurred the death penalty. As it says in Romans 6:23 ‘for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.’ Jesus took the death penalty for our sin and in a divine exchange, gave us the free gift of eternal life.  It was a complete, finished work.

However, as Christians, when we do wrong our mind set can still be that God is angry with us and wants to punish us. We need to get hold of this divine truth that God does not want to punish us for anything.  Jesus took ALL the punishment due to us for every sin when he died on the cross.  God does not want to punish us when we do wrong but to set us free from sin and its consequences.

If we look at God’s Word in the light of God’s desire to free us from sin, it takes us from a vengeful God ready to pounce on every wrongdoing to a God that longs for his people to be liberated from the burden of their mistakes. 

This amazing thought can free us from fear; fear of failure, fear of sinning, fear of punishment, fear of judgment, fear of disappointing God.  We cannot disappoint God because he knows what we will do before we do it. Disappointment comes when things do not work out as expected.  If God knows what is going to happen, he cannot be disappointed. 

When we sin or when God shows us our shortcomings, our proud thoughts and bad attitudes, we must resist every temptation to think that God is angry or disappointed in us. We must take hold of the truth that God is liberating us from these shortcomings.

God hates sin because it separates us from his unconditional love.  God has dealt with sin in sinful man through Jesus’ death on the cross (Romans 8: 3 – 4).  Let us live in the joy of being forgiven children of God who need have no fear of their loving heavenly Father and let us walk in that wonderful freedom. 

God's seal of ownership

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.  II Corinthians 1: 21 – 22

There is no doubt that there are images in the Bible that are used to explain spiritual matters that are unfamiliar to us today. For instance when I read that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, and there are several places where this occurs, the image conjured up in my mind is of my dad with a stick of red sealing wax, lighting the end so it melted and then the red wax dripped messily onto the string of a parcel. He then pressed his signet ring onto the wax to seal it. No one bothers with that nowadays. It was done for security purposes so one could see if a parcel had been interfered with.

In Bible times and through into modern times, a seal was a most important item of ownership. Items with the king’s seal impressed on them meant they came from the king and belonged to him. If anyone wanted to know the authenticity of something, they looked at the seal. Sometimes it was formed using a clay tablet or cylinder and sometimes it was a ring. In various places in the Bible, if someone was given the king’s or father’s signet ring, it meant they operated on behalf of the owner. It was a sign of authority.

Today I sat and thought about what that meant for us as Christians that God has placed his seal upon us, the seal being the Holy Spirit.  It means we belong to God and we can live under his anointing and authority. So often though in the west, people do not want to belong to anyone; no one owns them. They want to be independent, free thinking people. That however is a very dangerous place to be because they have little authority of their own and they are left unprotected.

Dependency on God does not mean we are mindless people, unable to think for ourselves. It means we are people who have the mind of Christ and are free to think higher thoughts and with greater creativity than ever before. ‘So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed’ John 8: 36. Jesus has set us free from sin and its consequences and so we are free to be who God has made us to be. His plans and purposes for our lives are infinitely superior to our plans.

God is good and has no desire to see us bound. Rather under his ownership, which Jesus bought with his precious blood, we are not slaves but sons and daughters with all the privileges of being in the royal family. A seal may not be something we are familiar with today but the concept of being under God’s protection and ownership does not bind us into slavery but liberates us into our true destiny.

Sealed with the Holy Spirit: Ephesians 1: 13 – 14, 4: 30; II Corinthians 1: 22, 5:5

Judah’s seal: Genesis 38: 18

Joseph given Pharaoh’s ring: Genesis 41: 42

Zerubbabel promised to be like God’s signet ring: Haggai 2: 23

The prodigal son given the father’s ring: Luke 15: 22

 

 

 

Freely you have received, freely give

Freely you have received, freely give Matthew 10: 8

I have just been reading something from Joyce Meyer who was saying that she had great difficulty in the past from being merciful because she had never truly received God’s mercy for herself. She had no mercy from God to give others.

We can never give to others what we have not already received or have access to.  I cannot give you a glass of water if I have neither a glass nor access to fresh water. In the same way I cannot give you grace if I have not received God’s grace for myself. I was a very graceless person because I was hard and legalistic to myself and therefore to others. If I made a mistake I beat myself up about it so if others also made mistakes, even if I did not say anything, mentally I was criticising them for their mistakes. God had to show me how ‘bad’ I was and how much grace he had shown me, so that I too could show that same grace to others. It was a bit of a revelation to realise how graceless I was.

This difficulty can infiltrate all sorts of areas of our lives. If we feel guilty, we want to make everyone else feel guilty; if we feel shame, we want to blame others; if we feel rejected, we reject others and so on.  What we have, we give to others. The great news though is that as we get revelation of this, we do not have to sit in a pond of despair but realise that God is holding out his hand to lift us out. Jesus suffered to take all our sin, guilt, shame, rejection, sickness and every work of the enemy from our lives.  It takes time but God is patient and as we let him work in our lives, he will bring us to wonderful places of freedom.

So as we have been shown grace, we will be very gracious; as we have been shown mercy, we will be merciful; as God has set us free from sin and shame, we will walk confident in God’s goodness and love and show that to others. Where God has healed us, we will have great faith for healing for others. The very areas of greatest weakness and shame in my life have been turned around by God to bring freedom to others in those very same areas. As a teenager, I made quite a mess of my life – I was insecure, rejected and behaved very badly. As God has healed me, he has given me such a heart for teenagers not to have to walk through the things I put myself through. It is such an honour to help them find God’s love and walk through those tricky teenage years holding his hand and not walk through hopeless and helpless, trying all sorts of useless things to fill the void in their hearts.

So freely give what God has given you and if you are still struggling with some areas in your life, give them over to God, stop struggling and trust him to bring wonderful freedom that will bring great glory to him and help others. My old life honoured nobody; my new life I live for him to honour him as best I can.

It's the thought that counts

It is more blessed to give than to receive.  Acts 20: 35

There is no doubt that when giving a gift, it is the thought that counts.  Some of the best gifts I have received have had small monetary value but huge value in terms of the thought behind the gift. One Mother’s Day I received four gifts from my children, none of which had great monetary value but each of which said a huge amount about the giver. Each child had taken a great deal of thought to give me something that would bless me and therefore each gift was very precious to me.  Amongst the gifts was a CD compilation of my favourite worship songs put together by my younger son. The thought behind it was amazing that he knew the songs I liked and as I listened to it for the first time, I never knew what the next track would be and so the gift became a blessing over and over again.

It is very hard to give something to someone who seems to have everything. The Royal Family apparently only gives small gifts to each other at Christmas. The Queen was reportedly delighted when someone gave her an apron. She loved it and whoever had given it had thought about it and knew it would give her pleasure.

God has everything and it all belongs to him. In themselves the Trinity are complete. They need no one or nothing more but yet they draw us into this complete relationship of love. Their love is so overwhelming they want all of their wonderful creation to enjoy it. So what can we bring to the One who has and is everything?

The answer of course is the only thing we have to give – our lives, our hearts and our love. So many people want to live independently of God not realising they are denying themselves the greatest gift that has been given to humanity – a relationship with God. What else could anyone want? Everything else pales into insignificance.  Yes man’s greatest treasure so often is his freedom and his independence, not realising that actually he is not living free but in bondage to sin, pain and suffering.  Only a life given freely to the one who gives life can lead to true freedom for mankind.

Jesus gave us all he could give; his life. The greatest gift we can give is our life given back to the one who loves us so much he died for us so we could enjoy fellowship and true freedom with him.

Overcoming the past

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8: 1 – 2

I don’t know about you but there are times when my past failures, mistakes and stupid errors of judgement come flooding back to condemn me. There are so many things that I would not do now especially with the benefit of hindsight that I foolishly did in the past. There are so many things I would do differently. 

However when failure and condemnation seek to come flooding in the first and most important thing to remember is that God is not calling us a failure nor is he condemning us. The devil is. You see if he can get us to focus on our failures and mistakes, we will not be focusing on the possibilities before us now. It is like driving a wedge between God and his plans and purposes and ourselves. 

Condemnation swamps us with failure and a sense of guilt and inadequacy. God showers us with blessings and possibilities. If we trust God with our lives, he will bring good out of every situation – even our monumental mistakes. His word assures us of that. Romans 8: 28 says, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose. It may be a very familiar verse but it is also the EXIT sign to feelings of shame and failure from mistakes.

My teenage years were not a time in which I take any pride. I was rebellious and foolish because I felt no one like or loved me.  I did a lot of very silly things. Yet God used those experiences to give me such a heart for teenagers so they would not walk in the same rebellion and rejection that I had felt.  

We must resist the devil and all his lies, not invite him in and listen to his nonsense. Jesus’ death on the cross took all our sin, guilt and shame. Our past is not a problem to God and we must not let the devil use it to condemn us. We are free so let’s walk in freedom and let God renew our minds so when the devil reminds us of the past and its failures, we think instead of how much God has done and the good he is bringing from our mistakes.

There is no fear in love

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. I John 4: 18

A funny thing happened on the way back from the golf club in the pouring rain. For some reason I was thinking about how fearful I feel about getting things wrong. God asked me why I felt fearful and I immediately responded with ‘I don’t want you to tell me off.’  God laughed and I then realised rather shame facedly that God does not tell us off but rather he wants to set us free.

He wants to use very one of our failures to help us walk in ever increasing freedom. Every time we make a mistake, say a wrong word, show a wrong attitude, do something wrong or don’t do something we should, God highlights it not to smack us but to show us how to hold our tongue, quickly forgive, say the right thing, show the right attitude and do the right thing.

God knows we will get things wrong; it is no surprise nor is it a disappointment to him. It may disappoint us but it doesn’t disappoint God. God looks at it as another step along the path of life. Unfortunately most of us have awful memories of being severely told off when we made mistakes. God is not like that. He wants us to learn until we no longer make that mistake.

The Bible assures us that God brings his discipline to those he loves but not as an exasperated father but as a loving father who wants to help us walk free from sin (Proverbs 3: 12). It is an act of kindness to bring discipline to children.  The write of Hebrews says, ‘No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.’ (Hebrews 12: 11)

Sin makes us hide but God wants us free to walk in the light as he is in the light not just with him but with others. So if like me you fear getting things wrong, or fear God’s discipline, take heart and remember God loves you and is guiding you into better things as any loving Father would.

The balloon of offence

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Romans 12: 14
Bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you Luke 6: 28

It is an unfortunate fact that offence is just as rife in the church as anywhere else. I do not know if this is because we expect higher standards from Christians especially Christian leaders so we get very disappointed and offended when people do not come up to the standards we expect.

God spoke to me today that offence is like blowing up a balloon. The more we feel offended and think and talk about it the more air we put in the balloon and the more life we give to it. The balloon of offence is easily inflated but it is also easily deflated.

They key is our old friend forgiveness. I wrote about this on 5^th February under the title Forgive and be forgiven but just to briefly recap, forgiveness is not a feeling but a choice. We choose to forgive no matter how we feel. Forgiveness releases both ourselves and the one who has offended us. In particular it releases us from bitterness and resentment and is one of the major keys to walking the path of freedom that Jesus won for us on the cross.

Unfortunately offence binds us back up again and the more we inflate the balloon of offence by hanging onto the hurt and talking about it to others, the larger it all gets. Forgiveness though is like putting a pin into the balloon but to get the complete freedom and victory we not only have to forgive but also to bless those who have hurt us. This is really important as blessing is like pouring good things over the person who has offended or hurt us. Like forgiveness, we may not feel like it, but it is a choice to make and as we make that choice I can assure you it helps tremendously. It is hard to hang onto anger and hurt when we bless people who have hurt us.

If someone has offended you, forgive them and bless them. Deflate the balloon of offence and urge others to do the same. The devil loves to keep offence going round and round the church. Let’s stop his schemes and love, forgive and bless one another.