Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
D .L. Moody said, "Those who say they will forgive but can't forget, bury the hatchet, but they leave the handle out for immediate use."
My wife and I don't argue much, but we've had our moments, just like anyone else. And when the bickering begins, the remembering begins.
Have you ever noticed that when we get upset about something, we begin hashing up all these things that have happened in the past? Things we thought were long forgiven and forgotten suddenly flood our minds and stir up feelings of anger and bitterness. Before we know it, our enemy has us ensnared in a web of frustration and unforgiveness!
The same is true when we experience failure in our day-to-day lives. The devil knows how to bring up all the memories of past failures which make it exceedingly difficult for us to forgive ourselves and get free!
Satan would love nothing more than to keep us bound up in unforgiveness -- to bring up those bad memories and torment us with them. He knows how successfully these things keep us from moving forward for the Lord! But we need to recognize his tactics and loose ourselves!
When we repent and confess the Lord truly forgives us. Our sins are cast as far as the East is from the West. He removes them from His record loving us with a love undeserved. We need to do the same for ourselves, our loved ones, and even our worst enemies.
The Lord wants us to get free so that we can help others get free. We can't help anyone else when we're all bound up ourselves! Let's cast our painful memories onto the cross and ask Him to help us truly forgive and forget.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.
[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Since we returned to our home in the Negev Desert in Israel, we've noticed that the usual "desert scene" we are so accustomed to, has completely blossomed with grass and flowers -- what an amazing difference! It suddenly occured to me, as we were delighting in the beauty of it all, that the seed was already there! No one planted it. All the hills, now rolling endlessly with green -- they are not owned by anyone. Miles and miles of grass and wild flowers suddenly shoot forth where there was nothing but brown before! It was just waiting for someone to water it! And God brought the rains.
One of my favorite and most admired men of faith is a man named George Mueller. George Mueller (1805-1898) did many great works for the Lord in his lifetime, among them building several orphanages.
As the war continues in Israel, I’m finding believers throughout the land filled with peace in spite of the conflict. How is that possible, one may wonder? Could it be these believers are going deep?
Charles Swindoll said “Business (busy-ness) rapes relationships. It substitutes shallow frenzy for deep friendship. It feeds the ego but starves the inner man.”
Another great preacher whose writings I love to read is John R. Rice. He wrote, "I once imagined I was in Heaven, walking along with the Angel Gabriel. I said, "Gabe, what is that big building over there?"
In the modern world, the work ethic is, achieve and produce by working longer and harder! The focus is on getting results through human effort -- we've become product oriented and the bottom line is......the bottom line! But God's way runs contrary to this approach -- His way is much more oriented toward process and relationship rather than performance and production.
The writer of Ecclesiastes was aware of cycles in nature, how they repeat themselves. Some have noticed another interesting historical cycle which awakens our awareness at this time of year. The dates April 15th-21th contain an interesting pattern. This is a time frame which has seen the birth of much havoc in the world. Historically this is when the birth of Rome and the Roman empire took place, the birth of Napoleon and more recently the birth of Hitler and Nazi Germany occurred.