The Forgiveness of God

    I don't know if most of us think about nearly enough how much God has forgiven us or what he has saved us from.  I know that in many ways I have taken the forgiveness of God for granted.  We must understand though the horror of the crucifixion and what happened there to truly understand the power and glory of the resurrection.  God didn't save us because we fell a little bit short.  He saved us because we were helplessly, hopelessly lost without him.  Our situation without the saving work of God through the cross is helpless.  We can never be good enough by our own merits.

    Here are some verses about God's forgiveness to help you meditate on what He has done for each one us that call upon Him:

Psalm 103:8-12 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

 Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 Ephesians 1:7-10 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

 Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you

 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 
1 John 1:9 New International

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace."
Ephesians 1:7 New International Version Version

The Armor of God

   The Bible tells us that if we want to do something for God and live for him then we must realize we are in a war.  The believer has three main enemies: the devil, the fleshly nature and the world.  In Ephesians 6:10-18 it talks mainly about the first of these, the devil and his kingdom.

  Ephesians 6:11-12  "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

   Paul will say this several times here and also similar in 2 Timothy 2:1 where he tells Timothy to be strong in the Lord.  He goes on several times to say to put on the whole armor of God, so that the believer can stand strong.  It reminded me of something that stands even against strong hurricane force winds and stands up against that resistance.  The word scheme is methodeia in the greek which means cunning arts, deceit, trickery.

  Ephesians 6;13-14  "Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place."

   Again, Paul repeats himself that the days of evil are coming and he wants them to stand strong.  So, they are not to forget any element of the armor of God, but to put all of it on.  Then he begins to name the pieces of the armor the belt of truth or certainty, fact, reality and the breastplate of righteousness or integrity (dikaiosyne) a purity, virtue.  Living the way the Lord wants you to live is a protective thing that protects the vital organs of the heart and lungs. 

   Ephesians 6:15-16  "and with you feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish the flaming arrows the evil one." 

   The New King James uses the words "having shod" instead of feet fitted, but it means the same thing.  It means "put on your shoes on", "prepare for action", "be ready".  The gospel of peace is the proclamation of the good news of God's grace that brings peace.  The shield of faith is used the extinguish the arrows that are flaming and headed for the believer.   In 1 Peter 5:8-9 it says that we are to stand firm knowing that the devil is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.  With our shield of faith we can quench and suppress his attack. 

  Ephesians 6:17-18 "take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." 

   The mind is protected by the helmet of salvation.  The Word of God is called a living and active Word sharper than a double edged sword in Hebrews 4:12.  It can penetrate all the way to the soul and spirit, the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  The sword is our offensive weapon just as Jesus used to combat the devil in the wilderness.  We are to hide it in our hearts.  Then, also we are to pray.  The believer is not meant to live life on a island without support as if we are to do all this in our own strength.  Our strength is that we are the branch that is on the vine and we are dependent on Him for our strength and our hope. Phil 4:6.

Some related verses: John 12:31, 14:30; 16:11; Luke 4:6; 2 Cor 4:4; 1 John 5:19, Isaiah 14:12-14, 1 John 5:4

 

Verses to meditate on

  As I have been reading this week a book about meditating on scripture and letting it really become a part of your belief system and thinking these verses have stood out to me as ones I want to meditate on.  Dr.Smalley emphasizes in his book "Change Your Beliefs, Change Your Life" that our thoughts lead to our beliefs and that leads to behavior changes.  This is why it is so important what a person allows themselves to dwell on.  We have that choice everyday of our lives. 

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3, NIV

  "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."  Galatians 5:24-25, NIV

   "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who he has given us." Romans 5:3-5, NIV

   "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Eph 4:22-23, NIV

   "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."  Matthew 6:33, NIV

   "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV

    "So I say to you: ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened."  Luke 11:9-10, NIV

 

Revive or Renewal

   I know I haven't posted much on here lately and I want to get back to writing more often.  Lately, the subject of renewal or revival has interested me.  Mainly because I feel the need in my own life for renewal of my faith and reviving of a stronger spiritual life in me.  I want to experience again as i did when I was a much younger christian the victories over sin and the insight and growth that I saw.   For quite a while now, it seems my spiritual life has been on auto pilot, if we can even call it that.  It might be better described as going backwards and not forwards.  I don't think it is really possible to stay still much like trying stand still on a moving escalator or conveyor belt.

    So, I was looking at some passages on renewal and revival to see what the Bible has to say about it.  From the very beginning, the verses I read made it clear that the whole possibility of being renewed is based on the mercy and greatness of God and not because we deserve it.  The first passage I turned to was in Romans 12:2

   "Do not be conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will."

    And I noticed as I looked at this that the ability to test and approve what God's will is is based on first renewing your mind.   Renewal is a condition that allows us to see things from God's perspective rather than our own.  It is the Spirit which gives insight as it says in 1 Corinthians 2:12.

   I looked at a number of other passages on renewal and revival such as Psalm 119:50; Psalm 103:5, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Psalm 80:18, Psalm 85:6, Isaiah 57:15 and Psalm 19:7 and Colossians 3:10.  All of these are good passages that attempt to add to our understanding of what it means to be renewed.  Again, the emphasis is on what God is doing by his mercy and not due to our goodness or deeds.

   The verses that stood out to me tonight are in Titus 3:5-7 which says

  "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy  Spirit, which he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."

    Here we see again, that the work of regeneration and renewal is the work of the Holy Spirit.  He is the one who is grieved when we sin and walk away from God or allow sin to go unconfessed and undealt with (Ephesians 4:30).  He is also the one who works to convict us of sin, righteousness and judgment.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit our sanctification and regeneration.  Regeneration is the act at the time of salvation.  But sanctification is also a process as well as an event.  It has a past, present and future tense.  He is in the act today of renewing and regenerating our minds and hearts just as he was the day you were saved.  Our role in all of this is to trust Him and to surrender our will to His.  We acknowledge that we are depending on his mercy and grace and that His will is best.