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.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]A major earthquake struck Taiwan over the weekend, which triggered a tsunami warning as far away as Japan.
This reminded me of when we first moved to Israel, in 2003.
The word "verily", in this verse, is the Hebrew word “emunah” (em-oo-nah). It also means "faith" or "faithfully". When we trust in the Lord, and our trust is demonstrated by doing good, He declares that He will faithfully feed us. How will we be fed?
In the early 1800's a preacher gave a message to call men to join him on the mission field in Africa. In the audience were only a few women along with a boy. The pastor knew that few women were expected to volunteer to face harsh African jungle conditions. However, he gave the message; and no one responded. What he didn't realize was that he had touched the heart of a little boy whose name was David Livingstone. This boy would grow up to spend the rest of his life ministering to Africa's unreached tribes.
A.W. Tozer had an interesting commentary on this verse. He said: "Faith is seeing the invisible, but not the nonexistent."
When does God answer our prayers? And when do we receive what we ask of Him? And when are we confident He has heard our requests? Many of us wonder why our prayers seem to go unanswered.
A farmer was showing his visiting citydwelling friend around his farm. "Watch this!" he said. He gave a whistle and his little dog came running from the house, herded the cattle into the corral, then latched the gate with her paw. "Wow, that's some dog -- what's her name?" The forgetful farmer thought for a minute and then asked, "What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?" "A rose?" "That's it!" The farmer turned to his wife. "Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?"
According to church history, the apostle Thomas, died in Calamina, a city in the East Indies. While there, Thomas had put a stop to the idolatry that was running rampant in the land. The idolatrous priest was not happy about this at all and accused him before their king. The king sentenced Thomas to death -- first to be tormented by red hot plates and then cast into a glowing furnace and burned. When the priest saw that the fire was not hurting him, he pierced Thomas' side with spears and javelins, and finally Thomas died.