Thursday, September 24, 2015

Unforgiveness Is A Problem Of Faith And Obedience




“If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” —Matthew 5:23-24

“Never disregard a conviction that the Holy Spirit brings to you. If it is important enough for the Spirit of God to bring it to your mind, it is the very thing He is detecting in you. You were looking for some big thing to give up, while God is telling you of some tiny thing that must go. But behind that tiny thing lies the stronghold of obstinacy, and you say, “I will not give up my right to myself”— the very thing that God intends you to give up if you are to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.” CHAMBERS

OK, so here we go … I am certain I will be stepping on some toes here.  Mine are already hurting.  The danger we face is that we define our own holiness.  We want to live the Christian life .. to honor God … but there are some things that we have tucked away in our hearts.  Things that we know are not right, the Word tells us they aren’t, but still we hang on to them.  What is it?  Do we think that God will give us a wink and a nod about that person you have not forgiven or that you offended?  Have you rationalized those issues? (I once heard that rationalize means – rational lies!)  You are comfortable with hanging on to them.  And when you are with God they are the white elephant in the room.  Well, God has already spoken about it.  And you already know what He has said.  The problem is obedience and faith.  Unconfessed sin is a barrier to your relationship with the Father.  Think about it.  We approach a holy God with unclean hands and expect Him to ignore that.  By His nature, He cannot.  So what does that mean?  That means that He will not hear you until you confess and repent.  Does that sound radical .. harsh .. maybe unacceptable?  I think that is because we have minimized the idea of God being Holy, unapproachable when we have sin in our hearts, any sin,  and have maximized the idea of God wanting to bless us no matter how we are living or what sin we are harboring in our hearts.  It’s like “OK God, here I am.  This is what I want today.  Don’t look at my heart.  Don’t ask any questions Lord just give me, give me, give me!”  Think about it. And then confess to the Lord.  ELGIN

(1 Samuel 16:7) “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.””

(Psalm 18:20-24) “The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me.  I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.”

Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)

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