|
|
|
|
| DAY 7: Pardon JANUARY 7, 2010 |
|
"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved,
clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness and patience. Bear with each other
and forgive whatever grievances you may have
against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."
( Colossians 3:12-13 ) |
|
| MORNING DEVOTION - "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee..." (Psalm 63:1)
Scripture Reading: Mark 11:24-26
Jesus sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane as He labored in prayer over the path He would have to tread in the coming hours to obey the will of the Father. This is why He had come: to repair the breech; to stand in the gap between holy God and sinful man. It was sin that caused the horrible rift that separated God's wondrous creation from experiencing that once perfect union with the Father. How He missed walking with His glorious masterpieces in the garden. The enemy had slithered in like a snake and stole their innocense, opening their eyes to things they should never have seen. But here the Lord was, back in the garden, once and for all, to crush the serpents head under His feet. Sweat beaded with blood upon His forehead, now hardened as flint, He was determined to go to the cross and bridge the great divide, rescuing those He loved from eternal separation from the Father.
God knew our greatest need was a restored relationship with the Father; a possibility only if our righteous Judge would pardon our case (Psalm 82:8; 2 Timothy 4:8)). We are all sinners. We stand before Holy God guilty and unable to pay the penalty for our great debt of sin. He had every right to turn a deaf ear to our excuses and slam the gavel on our mountainous sin. Yet He chose, instead, to pay the fine Himself; a debt so great it could only be covered by blood - the blood of innocence which was stolen - redeemed only by One who had no sin. Our Judge called forth His Son Jesus to suffer the penalty we deserved; obediently laying down His life in our place He poured out His blood as the final sacrifice - cancelling our sin debt and redeeming us from the grave. He took away all our guilt and shame; washing us white as snow. We stand before Him now forgiven - yet a choice still remains: To accept with grateful hearts this extraordinary gift we will never have to repay, and be brought to our knees in humble repentance to receive the restoration we need; or to reject His merciful judgment and walk away separated forever from the One who gave everything to restore us to Himself.
The choice to believe and accept "is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). He wielded His power and brought down His mighty gavel ruling on our behalf: FORGIVEN! How then do we withhold such mercy from others, especially those we claim, or have claimed, to love?
Heavenly Father,
Woe to me for I am a sinner,
unable to stand in Your presence
except that You have lifted me out of the miry clay
and given me a solid Rock to stand upon.
Forgive me, that I, knowing how much better it is to give than to receive,
have accepted your priceless gift and yet have withheld it from others.
Forgive my debts as I have forgiven my debtors
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
[The Lord's command is to "love one another" (John 13:34). "Love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8); "It keeps no record of wrongs" (1 Corinthians 13:5b); but it is not true love if it harbors unforgiveness in the heart - because love forgives again and again (reference Matthew 18:22). Our sin-debt is astronomical, we could never repay it, yet God has forgiven us for what has grieved Him greatly. Why then do we expect others to pay for the pain they have caused us? We cannot expect to receive such forgiveness from God, if we do not have a forgiving spirit towards others. God searches our hearts and He knows what we are holding over others is only hurting ourselves more deeply because it is keeping us separated from God (reference Psalm 7:9). Pray today for those you have harbored unforgiveness towards, and finally, once and for all, be truly set free. Lift up those you know who have been hurt deeply by others, especially by people who once loved them, and stand in the gap on their behalf in prayer that they would be able to release to God a spirit of forgiveness to those who have brought them great pain].
_______________________________________________________________________ |
|
AFTERNOON DEVOTION - "Evening, and morning, and noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17, KJV).
Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:21-35
Our righteous Judge has forgiven our debt; He has removed our shackles and set us free to go and do likewise. "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6a). We cannot bring a sacrifice to God apart from obedience. When the Lord said, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15:22b), He was expressing what is acceptable to Him: only an offering of mercy and love, extended to others, whether they are an enemy or a friend, will do (reference Matthew 5:44). "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32).
Peter asked the Lord, "How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?" Jesus responded with the parable of the unmerciful servant to help his disciples better understand that forgiveness, like love, has no limits. God, who holds nothing good back from His children, desires that they too would hold no good thing back from others. "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matthew 6:14). Forgiveness is a tremendous gift, for it not only releases the one who has sinned, but it frees the one who has been hurt. "Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" (v.33).
Because we have been forgiven we must come before our gracious heavenly Father each day and ask forgiveness for those sins that hinder our relationship with Him; unforgiveness towards others is a great hindrance to our prayers because we our disobeying His great command "to love one another" (John 13:34). When we hold back forgiveness from others, we hold back God's answer to our prayers for us. "We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does His will" (John 9:31). God closes His ears to the prayers to the wicked and disobedient (reference Proverbs 1:28; Isaiah 59:1,2; Jeremiah 5:25). "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18); but He opens ears to listen and respond to the righteous (reference Proverbs 15:29)
Heavenly Father,
Forgive me for each sin
that robs me of hearing from You.
Cleanse me from the inside out
and help me to extend to others
the mercy You have given me.
In Jesus' Name. Amen
[When we forgive others, as we have been forgiven in Christ, we give them what we have received from the Lord. To hold back this gracious and merciful gift from anyone, is to reject what we have been given. We must take time each day to allow the Lord to examine our hearts and reveal to us those areas of sin and unforgiveness that we need to confess to Him so that the channel of communication is made wide and clear. We cannot successfully pray for others when the line is being blocked by our sin. Ask God to show you if there is anything hindering the lines of communication with Him].
_______________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
EVENING MEDITATION - "...and on His law he meditates day and night" (Ps. 1:2)
Scripture Reading: James 5:16
We were created to be in relationship with holy God. Sin destroyed our once perfect union with our heavenly Father by disconnecting us from the Head, bringing with it weakness to the entire Body. Repentance and forgiveness are the great healers that will bring restoration and wholeness to the Body. "Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed" (v.16a). The Lord desires that we not only find healing personally, but also, corporately as the Body of Christ. The lack of unity and unforgiveness in the Church has left His Body weak and unattractive to the watching world (reference Isaiah 58:4). "When I called they did not listen; so when they called I would not listen" (Zechariah 7:13). Obedience to His command to love and a willingness show His mercy and justice in the world will touch the heart of God and move His hand. "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16b). Our heavenly Father went to great lengths to restore His Body, but we keep it infected and ineffective with our unconfessed sin and unforgiveness. Our Savior did not want us to experience the pain of separation from the Father, but our continual disobedience keeps us separated from receiving answers to our prayers (reference Micah 3:4). May we sincerely confess our sins and pour out His compassion, mercy, and grace on others so we may experience the restoration we need.
Heavenly Father,
Help us, O God our Savior,
for the glory of Your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
for Your name's sake.
Why should the nations say,
'Where is their God?'
We are the sheep of your pasture,
we will praise You forever;
from generation to generation
we will recount Your praise.
(Psalm 79:9-10, 13)
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
[As we come before the Lord in prayer, let us remember to confess our sins, remembering that God is purifying us and making us holy each day as we seek Him in His Word and as we wait upon Him in prayer. Let us pray for the entire Body, the Church, to experience restoration and healing so we can become unified and whole, enabled to bring healing to the world through God's great sacrifice and gift of forgiveness. We must never forget that we, ourselves, are debtors and the Lord's great labor of love afforded us His forgiveness. May we share this with the world by not withholding from them the great mercy, love, and forgiveness we have received from our heavenly Father through His Son Jesus Christ. If you are just beginning your Debtor journey you can view the first week of this journey on the Trumpet and Torch email ARCHIVE at www.trumpetandtorch.org]. ________________________________________________________________________ |
| "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
and I live among a people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have seen the King,
the LORD Almighty." - Isaiah (6:5)
| |
|
|
|
