bible insights
IT IS BETTER TO CONTACT THE ALMIGHTY FIRST
"FORGIVE"
MATT.6:14-15.. EPH.4:32
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WILL SERIOUSLY HINDER YOU, IN YOUR CHRISTIAN WALK, IS NOT FORGIVING THOSE WHO HAVE WRONGED YOU.
NOT FORGIVING OTHERS WILL CAUSE YOUR PRAYERS TO GO UNANSWERED.. IT WILL KEEP YOU FROM GETTING THE PHYSICAL HEALING YOU MAY NEED..AND YOU WILL BE UNCERTAIN ABOUT THINGS..
YOU RECALL JESUS HIMSELF SAID THAT ..'IF YOU FORGIVE MEN THEIR SINS , YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER WILL FORGIVE YOUR SINS..
AND HE SAID ALSO THAT IF YOU DO NOT FORGIVE MEN , YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN WILL NOT FOR GIVE YOU. .MT. 6:14-15..SO YOUR FORGIVING MEN IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR YOUR LIFE TO BE WHAT YOU WANT IT TO BE IN CHRIST.. FORGIVING IS SERIOUS BUSINESS , WITH GOD.. AND YOU SHOULD REALIZE THAT FACT TO GROW IN YOUR WALK WITH GOD...LETS LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES OF FORGIVING AND IT'S RESULT IN THE BIBLE..
THE STONING OF STEPHEN.. ACTS 7.
STEPHEN WAS ONE OF THE SEVEN CHURCH OFFICIALS CHOSEN TO TAKE CARE OF THE WIDOWS AND OTHERS..IN THE JERUSALEM FELLOWSHIP...
HE WAS FULL OF FAITH AND THE HOLY GHOST...HE WAS WHAT WE KNOW AS A DEACON...
HE WENT PREACHING CHRIST, AND MIRACLES AND SALVATIONS HAPPENED ..AND FOR ALL THAT , HE WAS ARRESTED...HE WAS TRIED , AND HE WAS CONDEMNED TO BE STONED TO DEATH..SO THEY STONED STEPHEN , AND HE CALLING ON GOD TO RECEIVE HIS SPIRIT.
LOOK AT ACTS 7:60 TO SEE HIS LAST PRAYER ON EARTH...
"AND HE KNEELED DOWN , AND CRIED WITH A LOUD VOICE , LORD LAY NOT THIS SIN TO THEIR CHARGE , AND WHEN HE HAD SAID THAT HE FELL ASLEEP"... IN ANOTHER TRANSLATION IT SAYS, "LORD DO NOT HOLD THIS SIN AGAINST THEM"...
WITH HIS LAST BREATH STEPHEN ASKED GOD TO FORGIVE THEM, HIS FINAL PRAYER WAS FOR THOSE THAT KILLED HIM.. WAS HIS FORGIVE THEM PRAYER ANSWERED?
SAUL WATCHED THEM KILL STEPHEN, AND HE TOOK OVERSIGHT OF THE GARMENTS OF THE STONERS..AND NOT TOO LONG AFTERWARD, SAUL WAS KNOCKED OFF OF HIS HIGH HORSE, AND HE BECAME PAUL THE APOSTLE, WHO WROTE 2/3RDS OF THE EPISTLES...
AND WHO BROUGHT THE GOSPEL TO THE GENTILES (NATIONS)..AND YOU AND I HAVE BENEFITED FROM HIS APOSTLESHIP. STEPHENS PRAYER HAD A LOT TO DO WITH SAUL'S CONVERSION ..HE FORGAVE AND SAUL GOT SAVED!..CYSA?...
OUR LACK OF NOT FORGIVING , MAY BE KEEPING SOULS FROM COMING TO JESUS...I DON'T KNOW?..BUT I DO KNOW IT WILL KEEP JESUS FROM COMING TO YOU, IN A GREATER WAY.. DID I HEAR SOMEONE SAY OUCH?..
"CHRISTS INTERCESSION"
IN CLOSING , ALL MANKIND HAD A HAND IN NAILING JESUS TO CALVARY'S CROSS, ALL OF US WERE GUILTY, FROM ADAM TO US TODAY ,, AND WE WERE WORTHY OF DEATH.
BUT INSTEAD JESUS WAS SACRIFICED IN OUR PLACE . NOW HE WAS TREATED CRUELLY
SPAT UPON, SLAPPED, HIT WITH REEDS AND SCOURGED ALMOST TO THE POINT OF DEATH. BEING CONDEMNED , HE WENT TO GOLGATHA , THE PLACE OF A SKULL, AND HE WAS CRUCIFIED , AND LIFTED UP FOR ALL TO MOCK AT..NOW JESUS HAD A LOT TO BE RESENTFUL ABOUT , AND MAY I ADD, HE TOOK UPON HIMSELF, ALL THE SINS OF THE WORLD , INCLUDING YOURS AND MINE.. IT WAS THE MOST HURTFUL OCCASION IN ALL HISTORY! BUT AFTER ALL OF THAT HUMILIATION PAIN AND SORROW, HE STILL THOUGHT OF US. WE WERE ON HIS MIND , HIS LAST THOUGHTS WERE OF US TO COME.
AND HIS PRAYER FOR ALL, WASN'T ABOUT REVENGE, GETTING EVEN , OR PAYING BACK ..
"FATHER FORGIVE THEM ; FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO" JESUS DESIRED THE FATHER TO FORGIVE ..FOR WE DID NOT KNOW ALL THESE YEARS OF SINFUL LIVING , WHAT WE WERE DOING ...CYSA?...LK.23:34..
SINCE STEPHEN AND JESUS HIMSELF FORGAVE OTHERS, SHOULD WE NOT ALSO FORGIVE OTHERS WHO HAVE SINNED AGAINST US, FOR THEY DO NOT IN FACT EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO US? TO MAKE ERRORS AND SIN IS A HUMAN TRAIT, BUT TO FORGIVE , THAT IS A GODLY FACT..
" AND BE KIND ONE TO ANOTHER, TENDERHEARTED, FORGIVING ONE ANOTHER, EVEN AS GOD FOR CHRIST SAKE , HAS FORGIVEN YOU"..EPH.4:32...AMEN?..REV.W.E.VERNON..
IF YOU DON'T HAVE A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. THRU FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST . YOU CAN HAVE IT RIGHT NOW ; BY TURNING, REPENTING OF YOUR SIN AND THE WAY YOU'VE LIVED. AND ASKING JESUS TO COME INTO YOUR HEART. AND RECEIVE JESUS AS SAVIOR AND MAKE HIM LORD OF YOUR LIFE.
AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM GAVE HE POWER TO BECOME THE SONS OF GOD..BY SINCERELY ASKING FOR FORGIVENESS AND TRUSTING IN JESUS TO SAVE YOU AND BELIEVING IN YOUR HEART THAT GOD RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD .YOU WILL BE SAVED..
TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION ; TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT .AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU RICHLY IN YOUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST..
