PRAYING FOR FORGIVENESS AND FORGIVING OTHERS

PRAYING FOR FORGIVENESS AND FORGIVING OTHERS

Matthew 6:12,14,15

Forgiveness, pardon for sin, is the most essential, the most blessed, and the most difficult act that God ever did for man. It is the most essential because it keeps us from eternal suffering in hell and gives us joy in our present life with fellowship. It is the most blessed because it secures us a place in heaven, to live forever with God. It is the most difficult because it cost the Son of God His very life on the Cross to provide. Forgiveness of sin is man’s deepest need and God’s greatest gift. And the Lord has promised that if the sinner confesses and forsakes his sins and if by faith in the vicarious death of Christ he trusts in God for forgiveness, he will be forgiven and will be granted the privilege of sonship.

It is important for the sinner to pray: “For Thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great” (Psalm 25:11). Only those who come to God knowing their debts are so great that they cannot pay, relying only on the mercy of God and the merits of Christ will receive forgiveness. With humility and sorrow of heart for sinning against God, such a sinner turns to God for mercy and pardon. Gratitude for being forgiven makes him to also forgive his fellowmen who have sinned against him.

1.       PLEA AND PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS FROM GOD

  Matthew 6:12; Psalm 25:11; Luke 18:13,14; Psalm 51:1-13; Isaiah 1:16-18; 2 Chronicles 7:14;    Exodus 34:8,9; Daniel 9:4-19.

   “And forgive us our debts.” “And forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4). Sins are represented by the term, debts. These debts are sins (Luke 11:4), transgressions (1 John 3:4), trespasses (Ephesians 2:1). Our sins are moral and spiritual debts to God. Sin makes men guilty before God. Sin brings men under judgement. But what is sin? (1) Sin is missing the mark of God’s required standard. (2) Sin is transgression, stepping across the line – that is, stepping across the line drawn by God to demarcate what is right from what is wrong. (3) Sin is lawlessness – the breaking of God’s law. God will judge all lawlessness. (4) Sin is slipping, sliding or falling – losing control and falling into degrading lifestyle. (5) Sin is debt and except God graciously writes off the debts of sin we owe, no man can hope to pay off his debts of sin from birth. This is why we plead and pray: “Forgive us our debts; forgive us our sins.” In praying like this, the sinner or the backslider prays for personal forgiveness.

  Can the saint or the believer ever pray, saying, “Forgive us our sins”? When praying for national forgiveness, Moses, though he was free from the sin of the nation, prayed, “O Lord, ... I pray Thee, ... pardon our iniquity and our sin ” (Exodus 34:9). Daniel identified with his nation and prayed in the same way. Also, within the family circle, a child may ask the father’s forgiveness. Examples of believers’ debts for which we ask Him forgiveness in the New Testament are: Matthew 16:21-23; Mark 10:35-45; Luke 9:49-56; John 13:6-11; Acts 22:17-22. Without committing sins that damn the soul, we can still pray: “Forgive us our debts.”

2.       PROMISE AND PRIVILEGE OF FORGIVENESS FROM GOD

   Matthew 6:12; Isaiah 55:6,7; Proverbs 28:13,14; Acts 5:30,31; 13:38,39; 26:18; Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:9; Hebrews 10:16,17.

God’s word is full of His promises of mercy and forgiveness. Examples of the greatest of sinners receiving forgiveness (David, Ninevites, Paul, etc) encourage every sinner to come to God for mercy, grace and forgiveness. The Lord promises pardon on condition of repentance from all sins. Man’s greatest spiritual need is forgiveness and that is what God has promised and provided. What God has promised is the cancellation of the sinner’s debts, the removal of the ultimate penalty of sin and victory or triumph over the power of all past sins. With the forgiveness experienced by the believer, he is no longer under condemnation, no longer under the power of sin, no longer destined to hell. The eternal Judge has declared him pardoned, justified and righteous. The eternal Judge has become his heavenly Father and the Spirit of God bears witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. This experience of forgiveness and the joy of salvation fills his heart with love and gratitude to God. He is eager to extend the love and mercy received to all who have any contact with him.

3.       POSSIBILITY AND PERIL OF FORFEITING FORGIVENESS FROM GOD

   Matthew 6:12,14,15; 18:21-35; Mark 11:25,26; Luke 6:36,37; Ephesians 4:31,32; James 2:13; Galatians 6:1-3; Colossians 3:13-17; Luke 15:25-30.

  Having received infinite mercy and great forgiveness, we ought to show gratitude to the Creator by forgiving all His creatures. No man should lie down in his bed at night without forgiving all those who had offended him. From the parable of the kingdom which Jesus told, forgiving our fellowmen 100 pence when God has forgiven us 10,000 talents should be normal and natural. This forgiveness does not merit God’s forgiveness but it should be the natural consequence of the joy of being forgiven by God. He who will not show mercy and forgive others rejects mercy and forgiveness himself.

          If a man comes before God, harbouring dark and vengeful thoughts, how can he expect that God will show him that mercy which he is not willing to show others? If we are unwilling to forgive others, we have the assurance that God will never forgive us. A life without forgiveness is a life without love, without grace, without Christ. The divine plan is that those who receive mercy from God must show that mercy to others.

THE PARALYSIS OF FEAR.......................

 The Paralysis Of Fear.

Fear and worry make us attract the very things we dread.

Fear in all its different phases of expression, such as worry, anxiety, anger, jealousy, timidity, is the greatest enemy of the human race. It has robbed men of more happiness and efficiency, has made more men cowards, more people failures or forced them into mediocrity, than anything else.

Fear is a great robber of power. It paralyzes the thinking faculties, ruins spontaneity, enthusiasm, and self-confidence. It has a blighting effect upon all one's thoughts, moods, and efforts. it destroys ambition and efficiency.

No matter what your need is, put it into the hands of faith. Do not ask how or why or when. Just do your level best, and have faith, which is the great miracle worker of the ages.

Chronic worriers are always deficient in faith.

The secret of achievement is concentration. Worry or fear of any kind is fatal to mental concentration and kills creative ability. When the whole mental organism is vibrating with conflicting emotions, efficiency is impossible. The things which makes us prematurely old, which wrinkle our faces, take the elasticity out of our step, the bloom from the cheek, and which rob us of joy are not those which actually happen.

Fear benumbs initiative. It kills confidence and causes indecision, makes us waver, afraid to begin things, suspect and doubt. Fear is a great leak in power. There are plenty of people who waste more than half of their precious energy in useless worry and anxiety.

Our sense of fear or terror is always in proportion to our sense of weakness or inability. When conscious of being stronger than that which terrorizes weaker persons, we have no sense of fear.
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WONDERS OF HIS GRACE

20/05/2012

                                         THE WONDERS OF GOD’S GRACE

                                                      Genesis 6:7,8; Romans 5:18,20;

     

      Grace is the undeserved, unmerited favour of God. Angels marvel and men stand in awe of the wonders of God’s grace. It is the free, universal redemptive mercy of the Lord which offers pardon, mercy, eternal life, and spiritual regeneration to people who are least qualified for it. It offers justification and righteousness to people who deserve, by their deeds and conduct, nothing but judgment and damnation in hell. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” yet we receive pardon and salvation through the grace and mercy of God. Any wonder heaven and earth stand in awe!

1.     THE GOSPEL OF GOD’S GRACE

Acts 20:24; Romans 3:19-25; 5:15-17,20; 1 Timothy 1:13-16; Acts15:11.

    

     The gospel or the good news revolves on the universality of forgiveness and salvation available to undeserving men and women. All the world stands guilty before God. None is qualified for a relationship with God on the basis of merit. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” Our best is no match for God’s expectations. “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference”. Forgiveness and salvation is available for everyone - and it is free. You don’t need to try your best or be your best to earn it. Salvation is on the basis of what Christ has done and not on the basis of what you can do. Although we are great sinners, God is a great Saviour and a great Forgiver. Paul’s life is a clear illustration of the fact that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” It shows what forgiveness and salvation await you if you will come believing and appropriating by faith the vicarious sacrifice of Christ on Calvary for you.

2.  GODLINESS THROUGH GOD’S GRACE

     Ephesians 2:8-10; 2 Corinthians 6:1,4-7; Titus 2:11-14; 1Peter 1:13-16; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Colossians 4:6; Hebrews12:28

     Grace does not leave you the way it found you. It turns a sinner into a saint, turns the darkness into light and replaces the heavy burden of guilt and condemnation with the joy of salvation. It transforms a helpless and hopeless sinner into a righteous child of God. Grace cannot touch a life without leaving behind some good evidence. More than bringing pardon and peace of mind at salvation, it ushers into our lives, humility, purity, longsuffering, patience, perseverance, kindness and love. It helps us to deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts [and to] live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.” Grace does not give anybody the licence to talk anyhow, behave anyhow, dress anyhow or do things anyhow. Rather it controls our conversation, behaviour, conduct and character. It prepares us for the coming of the Lord. The message of the Lord to the people who have got the grace is: “be ye holy; for I am holy”. Grace makes us “zealous of good works” and helps us to “serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear”.

3.  GROWTH IN GOD’S GRACE

     2 Peter 3:18; James 4:6; 2 Corinthians 4:15-18; 2 Timothy 2:1,3; Acts 4:33;  2 Corinthians 9:8;12:9.

     We do not remain stagnant in God’s grace, we grow in grace. Speech, dressing, attitude, temper originally touched by grace hardly remain the same but continuously change from good to better. Continuous growth of our spiritual life leads to continuous glorification of God in our lives. Growth in grace leads the saved to thirst for the deeper experience of sanctification and the sanctified to hunger for the baptism in the Holy Ghost. “More grace” is given us as we submit to God and humble ourselves before Him. “Abundant grace” gives us abundant life. It leads to daily renewal and revival. Great grace leads to great boldness, great power and great effectiveness. Initial grace should be followed by abundant grace, overflowing grace. “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you: that ye always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work”.

GHS 128, 123 & 129

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Impossible is Just a Word

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Everyone, at some point of his or her life, has dreamed of being somebody special, somebody big. Who hasn’t fantasized about being the one who hits the game-winning homer? Who hasn’t dreamed of being the homecoming queen? And how many times have we dreamed of being rich, or successful, or happy with our relationships?

Often, we dream big dreams and have great aspirations. Unfortunately, our dreams remain just that – dreams. And our aspirations easily collect dust in our attic.

This is a sad turn of events in our life. Instead of experiencing exciting adventures in self actualization, we get caught up in the humdrum of living from day-to-day just barely existing.

But you know what? Life could be so much better, if only we learned to aim higher.

The most common problem to setting goals is the word impossible. Most people get hung up thinking I can’t do this. It’s too hard. It’s too impossible. No one can do this.

However, if everyone thought that, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.

Remember that scientists were baffled when they took a look at the humble bumblebee. Theoretically, they said, it was impossible for the bumblebee to fly. Unfortunately for the bumble, bee no one has told it so. So fly it does.

On the other hand, some people suffer from dreaming totally outrageous dreams and not acting on them. The result? Broken dreams, and tattered aspirations.

If you limit yourself with self-doubt, and self-limiting assumptions, you will never be able to break past what you deem impossible. If you reach too far out into the sky without working towards your goal, you will find yourself clinging on to the impossible dream.

Try this exercise. Take a piece of paper and write down some goals in your life. Under one header, list down things ‘you know you can do’. Under another header, write the things ‘you might be able to do.’ And under one more, list the things that that are ‘impossible for you to do.’

Now look at all the headers strive every day to accomplish the goals that are under things ‘you know you can do’. Check them when you are able to accomplish them. As you slowly are able to check all of your goals under that heading, try accomplishing the goals under the other header-the one that reads ‘you might be able to do.’

As of the items you wrote under things I could do are accomplished, you can move the goals that are under things that are ‘impossible for you to do’ to the list of things ‘you might be able to do.’

As you iterate through this process, you will find out that the goals you thought were impossible become easier to accomplish. And the impossible begin to seem possible after all.

You see, the technique here is not to limit your imagination. It is to aim high, and start working towards that goal little by little. However, it also is unwise to set a goal that is truly unrealistic.

Those who just dream towards a goal without working hard end up disappointed and disillusioned.

On the other hand, if you told someone a hundred years ago that it was possible for man to be on the moon, they would laugh at you. If you had told them that you could send mail from here to the other side of the world in a few seconds, they would say you were out of your mind. But, through sheer desire and perseverance, these impossible dreams are now realities.

Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Nothing could be truer. For one to accomplish his or her dreams, there has to be had work and discipline. But take note that that 1% has to be a think-big dream, and not some easily accomplished one.

Ask any gym rat and he or she will tell you that there can be no gains unless you are put out of your comfort zone. Remember the saying, “No pain, no gain”? That is as true as it can be.

So dream on, friend! Don’t get caught up with your perceived limitations. Think big and work hard to attain those dreams. As you step up the ladder of progress, you will just about find out that the impossible has just become a little bit more possible.
By. Samson Ogungbayi.

THE POWER OF THOUGHT

We are going to deviate a little from the norm this week; we’re not telling about new services from Google or sharing Social Networking or S.E.O. tips-and-tricks. Instead, here’s a little inspiration and an overview of the bigger picture. How big a picture, you ask? As big as you can possibly imagine…

I wanted to share the video above, ‘Thoughts Become Things!’ by the truly inspirational Mike Dooley because I find it to be highly enlightening and a great resource. Mike discusses many of the things that I feel must be considered when planning any business venture and indeed creating a website to meet those goals; in fact, a great deal of what Mike has discussed lends itself really well to how to plan your very own online business.

The universal truth here is that you can achieve anything you set your mind to. This goes without saying and will never be questioned (certainly not by me, anyway). The road to this achievement may not be a quick or easy journey to undertake and sometimes you may be confronted by a dead end. Being successful can seem difficult but it always begins and is set back on track with dreams, the right mind-set and those first few seeds of inspiration.

Let’s talk basics for a moment and lets do some visualizing … What do you want? Can you picture it?

No really … be honest … what do you want?

A certain lifestyle, a specific amount of money in your bank account … a Ferrari 458 Italia? These should never seem like unrealistic goals because people before you have achieved them.

So, what are your goals? What is the end result going to be? You have to ask this question, because if you do not, how are you to know what to do to achieve it and how are you ever to know that you have achieved it? If you do not know where you are going when you start out, how can you ever hope to get there.

How are you going to achieve your goals? What are you going to give to get there?

I cannot answer these questions for you. It is your journey; the path is yours to imagine.

You may meet seeming immovable objects as you journey. The trick is to always remember your dreams and goals and always stay positive. Plan your work and work that plan. Know what the next step is, your relative position to that next foothold. If it is not working, sit back, re-think and re-group, scheme and plan until the map in your mind is re-drawn and your journey can continue.

I hope the video above and this text keeps you inspired and motivated. You must never stop dreaming, thinking and visualizing. The power of thought is truly immeasurable. Your mind is amazing and your most powerful ally.

By. Ogungbayi Samson.