MY GOD FORGIVES ME

 

A SUCCESSFUL IRISH BOXER was converted and became a preacher.  He happened to be in a new town setting up his evangelistic tent when a couple of tough thugs noticed what he was doing.  Knowing nothing of his background, they made a few insulting remarks.  The Irishman merely turned and looked at them.  Pressing his luck, one of the bullies took a swing and struck a glancing blow on one side of the ex-boxer’s face.  He shook it off and said nothing as he stuck out his jaw.  The fellow took another glancing blow on the other side. At that point the preacher swiftly took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and announced, “The Lord gave me no further instruction.”  Whop!

                                                                                      --J. Vernon McGee, Matthew

You will never hear something like…

·       We won’t win the national championship unless we have childlike teamwork

·       Or I’ll get out of debt, if I earn like a child

In the areas of life that are seemingly insignificant we would never want to imitate a child yet in the most important and eternal things…it’s the only way we can experience it.

 

15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Mark 10:15

 

Children understand forgiveness and it makes sense to them.  They desperately need it and their world it isn’t ok until they have received it.  A child simply believes that…MY GOD FORGIVES ME

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

When we confess our sins God not only forgives our sins, but forgets them.

HOW DOES GOD FORGIVE?

1)   GOD REMOVES OUR SIN COMPLETELY

 

He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

Psalm 103:12 NLT

God not only forgives us of our sins, He removes them from us and completely forgets them. 

2)   GOD FORGETS OUR SIN IMMEDIATELY

 

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

Isaiah 43:25

The all-knowing creator of the world makes the willful decision to limit His memory as it relates to our sin.

 

When I was in college I had a paper required, before computers, and typed it on an old manual typewriter.   The paper could not have any mistakes, when I made a mistake I couldn’t just backspace or white out the error.  Unless I retyped the page over the mistake was still there, not like with a computer where you can backspace and retype the problem, it is gone and forgotten.

God erases His memory of our sin and remembers no longer has a record of it.

 

We may ask for forgiveness but it continues to follow us like a dark cloud and we define ourselves by the very sin we’ve asked God to forgive us for…what do kids understand that we need to learn?

 

Have you at one point in your life or another asked for God’s forgiveness yet don’t feel forgiven?

 

Satan keeps reminding you about past sins to make you feel unworthy of God’s salvation or to serve Him in ministry.

People have said that they want to take care of sins, habits or other problem areas in their life before committing their life to Christ as Lord and Savior.

Jesus wants you to come as you are and He will make take care of any areas in your life that need to be changed.

GOD IS WITH ME

 

FAITH IS engaging in the deepest joy of heaven, knowing His unfathomable love for me as I walk through the thorny desolate now.     –Pamela  Reeve, Faith Is

 

Jesus tells us in Mark 10:15

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

 

We must enter the presence of God with the perspective of a child,

I don’t understand omnipresence, how God can be everywhere at once.

Not just everywhere with an impersonal relationship, but on a personal level with each of us!

 

A personal presence makes all the difference to a child!

A parent in the house or the room makes a big difference!

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·       MY GOD IS WITH ME.               (Immanuel-God with us)

 

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

 

Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

 

I don’t worry what will happen to me because I know God is WITH me, even when I don’t feel His presence!

Jesus promised to send a helper to everyone who believes in Him as their Savior.

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HOW DO I HAVE A MOMENT WITH GOD?

PRAYERIS A TIME OF REFRESHMENT.  Howard Taylor says of his father, Hudson Taylor, “For forty years the sun never rose on China that God didn’t find him on his knees.”

                             --Howard Taylor, Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission

Just because God is with you doesn’t mean you are with him.

 

·       TALK TO HIM.

 

Are you intimidated by prayer? What do you call God? 

Are you afraid that you will not have anything to talk about with God?

 

Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth. Psalm 54:2

 

Have a conversational prayer just like texting or having a conversation with your best friend.  Pull to chairs together facing each other, sit in think of Jesus sitting in the other chair and have a conversation with Him.  Another method of talking to Jesus is to journal, by writing down your thoughts helps to keep you on track and not losing your train of thought,

 

Do not worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand... Philippians 4:6-7 NLT

 

You will never run out topics to discuss with God, if you tell Him all of your desires, needs, fears, illnesses, hurts and anything else that is happening in your life.

But never forget to thank Him for everything that is happening in your life.

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·       LISTEN TO HIM.

 

…Listen to (God’s) voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life…  Deuteronomy 30:20

 

God speaks thru his word (The Holy Bible), people, circumstance and His spirit.

Sometimes you just need to keep quiet and listen, maybe journal, write down your thoughts.  Journaling, also, gives you a record of your past prayers and how God has answered them.

 

He also speaks through the still small voice in the head of believers, just be sure you are listening to the correct voice.  Have you ever tried to make a decision and it was like something was telling you to go in one direction that is the Holy Spirit telling what is best for you.

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” Isaiah 30:21

 

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·       RECEIVE FROM HIM.

 

Children receive strength in weakness, guidance when lost, courage in fear, rest when weary, because they receive from their parents.  God will do the same thing for us, if we will trust and receive from Him.

 

Praise be to the… God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles… 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

 

As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you… Isa 66:13

 

God is our heavenly Father and will give us even more than earthly parents.

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·       ENJOY HIS PRESENCE.

                  

You enjoy things more when with someone you love!

 

You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11

You should have an ongoing awareness of His presence in your life.

 

I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence.

Proverbs 8:30

You need to rejoice in everything that happens, because God is always with you, even if you do not feel His presence. 

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Take a moment with God whether a minute, hour, day, week, month, or a year, do life with God!

 

 

MY GOD IS FOR ME

The greatest act of faith takes place when a man finally decides that he is not God

Jesus tells us:

I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

 Mark 10:15

 

Jesus isn’t telling us to be childish but to have childlike faith!

We need to see the attributes of God from the perspective of a child.

There are four of God’s attributes we will consider: 

1)      MY GOD IS FOR ME.                    (Goodness)

2)      MY GOD IS WITH ME.                  (Presence)

3)      MY GOD FORGIVES ME.            (Grace)

4)      MY GOD CAN DO ANYTHING. (Power)

 

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                                                As a child many believe God is for me! He loves me.

Every child that has been in Church has heard Jesus loves the little children.  As the song says “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.”

 

But then something happens: their parents divorce, dog is hit, grandma dies.

The longer we live the longer the list grows.

All men need a faith that will not shrink when washed in the waters of affliction and adversity

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MY GOD IS FOR ME

 

Jeremiah the prophet tells us that God has a plan for our lives.  He wants to prosper us, it may not be financially but spiritually.  It is not His intention to harm us, He has a hope and a plan for our future.

 

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

                                        

If God is for us, no one can stand against the power a believer is when they confess Jesus as Lord and Savior of their life.

Also, He will supply all of our needs, both physical and spiritual.  However, He will not supply our greed, He knows what we truly need and what is best for us.

 

…If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Rom 8:31-32

 

 

WHEN I REALIZE GOD IS FOR ME

 

·         I DON’T HIDE FROM GOD BUT RUN TO GOD.

 

Are you running to God or away from God?

 

We should learn from Adam after he had sinned he tried to run from God.  However, God knows everything we do and where we are at all times.  There is now where we can go to get away from God’s presence.

 

(Adam) answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." Gen 3:10

 

GOD’S MERCY

 

J. DWIGHT PENTECOST used to say, “Mercy God’s ministry to the miserable.”  It is both intensely personal and immensely practical.   For when I am treated unfairly, God’s mercy relieves my bitterness.  When I grieve over loss, it relieves my pain and anger and denial.  When I struggle with disability, it relieves my pain and anger and denial.  When I struggle with disability, it relieves my self-pity.  When I endure physical pain, it relieves my hopelessness.  When I deal with being sinful, it relieves my guilt.

 

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10

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·         I DON’T LIVE FOR GOD’S APPROVAL BUT FROM HIS APPROVAL.

 

We can never do enough good to gain God’s approval, but He approves of us anyway.

 

8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom 5:8

 

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·         I DON’T FEAR WHAT HAPPENS TO ME BECAUSE I KNOW GOD IS WORKING IN ME.

 

God is continually working in our lives to make us into the person we should be.  Every hardship, success and failure in our lives He uses to prepare us for what He wants us to do.

 

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

 

For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:13

 

I have been to many writing conferences and one thing they emphasize is that you will be rejected.

When we are rejected by ones on earth, if God is for you, then who can be against you.

 

God was for me in my yesterdays and I’ll trust him with my tomorrows.