ApprehendingGrace.com

God’s arms certainly are.

Here’s a an excerpt from a blog that will challenge you to be God’s Hands extended to the sinner and sinned-against written by Thom Hunter at Signs of a Struggle.

It stands to reason to me that if we, as Christians, can embrace the idea that bad things happen to good people . . . then we would be able to wrap our arms around the idea that good people  – even Christians — do a fair amount of those bad things.  And then we could wrap our good Christian arms around those that did it and those that hid it at the same time we comfort those that got pummeled by it.  ”It” being sin.  Surely our arms are bigger than we let on.  Surely, there is mercy and forgiveness and grace abounding.  Surely we can restore the sinner with the same hope we rescue the sinned-against.  Surely God’s love — which is to be in us — is enough to cover all.

God’s call to love one another is no place for cowards, as Thom writes. It takes great courage and God’s compassion. Take a few minutes and be challenged by this blog today.

A few weeks ago our church sang Robin Mark’s song “Fortress” during worship. Referring to heaven, verse 2 includes these lines:

Where with men and angels
Where with slaves and kings
I will sing my praise to You alone

As I sang, I was arrested by the image these lines brought to my mind. As sinful people, we are prone to focus on class differences. We are often awed by the “kings” of this world and put off by the “slaves.” In the United States, we might think of the “kings” as leaders in industry and culture. Michael Jackson is the “King of Pop,” Elvis Presley the “King of Rock ’n’ Roll” and “Benny Goodman the “King of Swing.” Were I to be introduced to any o f them, I’d undoubtedly feel intimidated. Heck, I’d even be a bit intimidated just to meet Clifton Chenier, the “King of Zydeco.”

Yet the song brings home the point that in the presence of God, those prejudices will fall away. We wouldn’t have praise for the kings; all our praise would be for God. Position and status in this world will be so meaningless.

As I thought about this, it further occurred to me that all earthly prejudices would fall away – including those of created by touchy relationships. If you’ve lived very many years on this earth, there are some people who have hurt you deeply. Perhaps you’ve done your best to forgive them but there is still hesitancy in your heart that causes some level of discomfort when you are around them. As we sang those lines in the song, I began to realize that in heaven, even these prejudices will fall away. I will stand next to those who have hurt me singing praises to God with full and complete joy in my heart and not a trace of discomfort!

How foolish we are to hold on to these things in our heart! God is so much bigger! In heaven, He will hold our full attention and we will sing our praises to Him alone…and the things we thought important in this world will fall away. Yet Scripture teaches us that we are to take hold of our eternal life while on this earth (1 Timothy 6:12). Perhaps one of the ways we do that is by allowing God to hold our full attention so that the petty class differences and relationship difficulties can fall away. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1) and being released from these things is tremendous freedom.

Here’s lyrics to the whole song:

Fortress, by Robin Mark
By Robin Mark & Paul Baloche
copyright 2007 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music

Verse 1
I have found a Fortress in the Living God
I have made the Sov’reign Lord my refuge
And my voice will tell of all His saving grace
Though the depths of which
No man could measure
In the days of plenty in the days of want
I will put my trust in You alone
For there’s no heart greater than the Father’s heart
And there’s no love sweeter than the Son’s

Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah to my King
Hallelujah hallelujah Jesus Christ my ev’rything
(repeat)

Verse 2
That this love pursued us is a mystery
For the heart is base and You are holy
Yet the streams of mercy that flow over me
Will afford me grace to stand in glory
Where with men and angels
Where with slaves and kings
I will sing my praise to You alone
For there’s no heart greater than the Father’s heart
And there’s no love sweeter than the Son’s

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Psalm 139:23

There is an excellent blog called “Signs of a Struggle” written by Thom Hunter. Subtitled “compassionate truth for men and women who struggle with sexual brokenness,” it is extremely well written and gives very candid glimpses into the struggle and recovery while providing sound biblical perspectives on such topics as sin, guilt, shame, forgiveness and God’s tremendous grace. I’ve been reading the blog for a little while and wondered about sharing it with others. I’ve come to the point of believing that I am doing those who need Mr. Hunter’s blog a huge disservice by not sharing it.

I’d like to share a portion of a blog titled It Came from Within! I believe this portion of the author’s blog can challenge and minister to everyone. If you struggle with sexual sin or know someone who does (and you probably do whether you know it or not), I encourage you to read his entire blog. Everything following is excerpted from the blog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Psalm 139:23

He [God] is not busy with someone else. He hears your prayer.

Search me. –Sometimes when I stand calmly before a mirror and focus on my own eyes, I think: “Do I know you?” This evokes moments of honesty, easily diverted with a toothbrush or by plugging in the shaver. God has no such distractions. Ask Him to really search you and He will not look away or busy Himself with the day’s preparations. He created the day and He placed you in it. He sees in and out and every way around.

Know me. – We want people to know what we want them to know, not really know us. God knows us. He knows not only that inner itch, but He knows what happened to us in the world to raise it to a level of irritation that demands we do whatever is in our power to seek relief. He knows that what might have been a bearable curiosity in me, for instance, was fully inflamed to major “I want” status by the double-whammy of father abandonment and childhood sexual abuse. But he also knows the pain some of you may feel because you find yourselves embroiled in a temptation and the only person you can point a finger at is yourself. It may be dissatisfying when there is no one else to blame, but the truth remains the same. Sin is sin. God wants to hear you say “know me.” He already does, of course, but He wants to know you want Him to know.

Test me. – God doesn’t test us the way the world tests us. He’s not the dangle-type, holding something just out of reach to see if we will wear ourselves out lunging along the edge of self-destruction. Remember…He does not tempt. So…can you trust Him to test you? If you asked Him to search you and to know you, then why not let Him test you to see if you know yourself as He does? God tests us to prepare us for victory, not defeat. So…search and know, just like you asked Him to do. Search His word; know His ways. Ask Him to test you. And don’t forget the answers to the bonus question:  “trust and obey.”

Know my anxious thoughts. – No wait…don’t. Not those thoughts. Isn’t that the way many of us approach life? Yet, here is the acknowledgement that we will have those anxious thoughts. You can’t hide them, not from God.

I get anxious sometimes. I listen to the reasoned arguments of people on both sides of the strugglers’ “personal problems.” Most of the time I just don’t like what I hear and I want to straighten it all out, make it clear, stop the pain, bring perfect understanding and healing rain for all. And then I realize that if I had it all figured out…then I would have it all figured out. Truth is, even if I did, why would people listen to me any more than they listen to God?

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?
1 Cor 6:7

In my blog last week, I jumped off this verse, concluding that the Apostle Paul was able to overlook offenses because he kept his eyes on the prize – Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He was so focused on Christ – what He had done, what He was doing and what He would do in the future – that he didn’t have the time or expend the energy to deal with slights, real or imagined. That’s a great message and one I need to remember.

But it wasn’t the message I had in mind when the Holy Spirit highlighted the verse to me. As I was typing out the phrases that might answer the question “Why not rather be wronged?” I could feel indignation (righteous indignation I would like to think) welling upwithin me. But God was showing me that the indignation, even if it was righteous, would lead to actions that didn’t reveal His heart to the offender. He brought this verse to mind:

¹²Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, ¹³because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
James 2:12-13

Mercy triumphs over judgment. That’s grace! God is being merciful toward me instead of giving me the punishment I deserve. But grace carries two meanings – it is both that which is extended to me by God, and it is the reflection of that grace working in my life. (See a short blog about it here.) What that means is that in my life, I should be striving to allow mercy to triumph over judgment…not nursing my indignation whether it is righteous or not.

Considering the tremendous grace God has shown to us, it is not our place to measure out punishment. Paul put it this way when writing to the Romans:

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
¹⁹Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12:17-21

Paul begins the passage with a warning not to repay evil for evil and ends with the injunction to overcome evil with good. He leaves little wiggle room for bringing lawsuits or claiming “our rights.” Between the two verses, Paul gives what might be even harder instructions – we’re to actually bless our enemies – not just with words, but in deed.

And then there is verse 18. God often brings this to my mind: “As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” That wording implies that I ought to be proactive in bringing about peace. I’m not to just make peace in my heart, but to take whatever action is possible to make peace when there is friction between me and someone else. Yes, boundaries may be appropriate, but “if it is possible” I’m to make peace.

These are challenging instructions. God has given us His Spirit to guide and enable us. Sometimes the hardest part is being willing. I find that often, what is required is the simple prayer “Lord, make me willing.”

Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
Matthew 24:12

This article by Francis Frangipane, titled Beware of the Stronghold of Cold Love, touches on the last two Let’s Be PC! Blogs I’ve written –

• Forgiveness is Not an Option
• Go to church tomorrow…and next Sunday and the following Sunday and the Sunday after that!

“A major area of spiritual warfare that has come against the church is the sphere of church relationships” Frangipane states. He cautions us to guard against unforgiveness saying “An earmark of this corporate, overcoming church will be its commitment to love.”

His article is worth reading and taking to heart. Has a broken relationship (and lingering unforgiveness) caused your love for the Church to wane, and hence your church attendance to wither? Check out Frangipane’s article for encouragement to move beyond unforgiveness and lackluster church attendance.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25 (NIV)

4 Reasons to Go to Church

1. Scripture commands it. Our key verse makes it clear – “let us not neglect our meeting together.” Early Christians met together regularly for worship and teaching. The writer of Hebrews warns the early Christians not to neglect those meetings, and stresses that it becomes even more important as we see the end times drawing nearer.
2. You need it! It is exceedingly difficult to maintain a passionate pursuit of God without participating regularly in corporate worship, receive biblical teaching on a regular basis, and be encouraged and sharpened by other Believers.
3. Your family needs it! It doesn’t mattered whether you are married or single, your family needs you to go to church. Sometimes the person in your family who you least expect to impact is watching. Your consistent pursuit of God will impact family members over the long haul. A spotty church attendance sends the message that God does not play a significant role in your life, that He can be pushed aside when other things come up.
4. Your friends need it! As with your family, your friends need the witness of you attending church regularly. We don’t live in isolation. Our friends are influenced by what we do. Even those friends who try their hardest to persuade you to participate in other activities on Sunday morning or late Saturday night are sometimes secretly disappointed when you abandon God to join them.

4 Reasons You Might be Tempted to Skip Church – This Week or Every Week

1. It’s the only morning you get to sleep in. I understand. The temptation is pretty strong some days. I would even endorse the rare missing of church to rest or relax with your family – rare means about once a year, not once a month! Rearrange your schedule if you need to. If you’re absolutely unable to, trust God to give you the rest you need at another time.
2. It’s the only time you have to yourself. You’ve just made serving and worshiping yourself an idol above serving and worshiping the Lord God Almighty, Creator of the Universe and Savior of your soul. Did you really want to do that?
3. You’ve been hurt or offended by someone in authority. You have a “sacred cow” that was swiped at by someone in authority and you’re unhappy about it. Get over it. Jesus was abandoned and betrayed but He forgave. Don’t cling to your offense. Forgive.
4. Unresolved conflict with other attendees. Again…get over it. Forgive and pursue reconciliation.

When I look at the reasons for not attending church, they seem so small compared to the reasons for attending church. Setting aside God’s desire for us to regularly worship with other Believers (which is a pretty big thing to set aside), the personal benefit and potential for impacting those around us is so strong that they far outweigh the inconvenience and discomfort I might experience.

I have gone through long spells of spiritual dryness – long periods of time when I had no desire to attend church every Sunday and during which I felt like I gained nothing by being there. In hindsight, I am so thankful for the commitment God put in me to continue attending each week. I know without that regular food and fellowship, my walk with the Lord would have deteriorated significantly.

So let me encourage you to be a practicing Christian in this area – don’t forsake your weekly attendance at a local church. There are rich relationships waiting for you there and God deserves your devotion.

When we think wrongly about forgiveness, our efforts to forgive are hampered.

Here’s a great article providing six misconceptions about forgiveness.

Forgiving someone who has offended us is one of the hardest things most Christians face as the pursue living as Christ would have them live. It is in my life and as I look around the Body of Christ there often seems to be an epidemic of unforgiveness. People carry grudges that turn into bitterness and move from church to church to no longer fellowship with someone who has offended them. That’s not Christ’s best for any of us or for the Body of Christ as a whole.

Understandably, forgiving an offense is a difficult thing, especially a large offense. When we choose to live with unforgiveness, however, we leave a huge door open for the enemy. Here are ten specific actions you can take to help you journey toward forgiveness.

1. Work at being unoffendable. In other words, don’t take offense in the first place. This is largely a change of perspective – to honor others more and extend more grace. Someone disagreeing with you is never a reason to take offense. Someone slighting you isn’t a reason to take offense. (You’ll find that most of the time the slight was imagined or unintended.)
2. When you are offended, make the decision to forgive. If you don’t make a decision to forgive, it will never happen. A grudge will grow without you feeding it. (Satan will do that for you.) Forgiveness rarely does.
3. Refuse to relive the offense in your mind.
4. Pray blessings for the person who has offended you. It’s difficult to hate someone you are praying for.
5. Ask God to change your heart. Don’t try to forgive in your own strength.
6. Remember and acknowledge good things the person has done. (If you can’t think of any, ask God to reveal them.)
7. Ask God to reveal your part in the offense. Often we are not free from sin in the situation that lead to the offense.
8. Remember, God is working on that person, just as He is working on you. He will use all situations for good for those who continue to pursue Him.
9. Give yourself some breathing room. The greater the offense, the more challenging it may be to forgive. Don’t condemn yourself because you don’t feel as close to your offender as you once did. Just as wounded parts of our body need time to heal, our hearts also need time to heal. Stick with your decision to forgive and continue praying for the offender.
10. Keep at it. Don’t give up because you don’t feel forgiveness as soon as you think you should. Continue pursuing God and working at forgiving your offender.

Forgiving someone is easier when you don’t have misconceptions about what forgiveness means. That’s the subject of tomorrow’s blog.

²³Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. ²⁵But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. ²⁶The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ ²⁷Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
Matthew 18:23-27 (NKJV)

The Master is in a Gracious Mood Today!
Do you want all your debts canceled? The master seems to be in a gracious mood today – if you beg him, he’ll forgive all your debts! I can do that – I’m not too proud to beg if it means that my family members and I won’t be sold into slavery to pay the debt I owe. How about you? Would you let your family members be sold into slavery to pay your debts? Of course you wouldn’t!

But God did! He allowed His only son to be put to death as payment for our debts so that we and our family would not be sold into slavery. What debts you ask? The debts accumulated by our rebellion against God (yes, the very same God who paid those debts) and our other sins.

So when the master called in the debt of the servant, the servant begged for more time. The master was gracious toward him and not only said “ok, you have until next week” he said “let’s call it even – your debt is totally forgiven.”

The Servant – Not So Much
Hallelujah! Time to celebrate, right? One would think so, but this forgiven servant wasn’t so gracious.

²⁸“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ ²⁹So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ ³⁰And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.
Matthew 18:28-30 (NKJV)

After being forgiven a debt of $1,000, the servant refused to forgive the $100 debt owed to him. After being shown compassion, he showed no compassion to others. Well, as the saying goes, “your deeds will find you out.” Here’s what happened next:

³¹So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. ³²Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. ³³Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ ³⁴And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
Matthew 18:31-34 (NKJV)

When the master learned that the servant had treated others in such an unforgiving manner, he arrested and jailed him. I find it interesting here that the master still showed compassion on the servant’s family. He remained compassionate toward the family members, not selling them into slavery to repay the uncompassionate servant’s debts.

The kicker comes in Jesus’ concluding sentence. He teaches the lesson from the parable in this final sentence:

³⁵“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
Matthew 18:35 (NKJV)

The Kingdom of Heaven
In the Kingdom of God, forgiveness is not an option.  The first words of the parable are “the kingdom of heaven is like.” The Kingdom of Heaven has a King who is compassionate and wants to forgive all our debts. He expects us to respond with no less compassion. When we do not, He allows the jailer to torture us until that debt of compassion is paid.

Do I need to point out who the jailer is what kind of torture we’re talking about? The jailer is satan, of course. The torture may take many forms, but I find most commonly it is the torture of a mind that becomes controlled by our lack of forgiveness. It darkens our days and produces sleepless nights.

We can choose not to forgive, but at that point, we are not being practicing Christians. We are not putting into practice what God has defined as a basic element of our faith – to act toward others as God has acted toward us.

How About You? Are You in a Gracious Mood Today?
Friends, may I encourage you to pray with me as Jesus taught us to pray?

^9b Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.

¹⁰ Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.

¹² And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.

¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9b-13 (NKJV)

To be sure we don’t miss the message, Jesus follows the prayer with this statement:

¹⁴For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)

Lord, help us to forgive.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12

As I said in the first blog in this series, I want to take hold of the eternal life to which I was called. I have accepted Christ and seek to give Him full authority in my life. Yet I know that I often limp through this life not taking hold of all that He has for me here and now.

One of those things is living my life free from condemnation. When thinking about this, your mind probably goes to the same verse you’ve heard so many times:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
Romans 8:1

We all say “Hallelujah” when we hear this verse, and we should – there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus – none – nada – zip – zilch – zero. There is none.

But I doubt that we live like that. I know that there are many times when I don’t.

It’s interesting to note that the writer of the book of Romans is the Apostle Paul. If ever there was someone who would be tempted to feel condemnation it would be Paul. We first see him in the book of Acts. As Stephen was being stoned to death for proclaiming Christ, Acts 8:1 says Saul, who would later become Paul, “was there, giving approval to his death.” Acts 8 continues:

²Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. ³But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
Acts 8:2-3

Paul had a history and his name was Saul. As Saul, he persecuted the church. It’s not a history I would want to have. I think I’d be tempted to feel lingering (or strong) condemnation as I sought to live out my new life in Christ. Yet Paul wrote “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Hallelujah! If Paul can be forgiven so fully that there is no longer any condemnation associated with his former life, surely I can be forgiven, too.

What’s even more interesting is the context in which Paul wrote the verse. Let’s look at the verse in context:

²¹So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

¹Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ²because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, ⁴in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Romans 7:21 – 8:4

In making his declaration that there is no condemnation, Paul wasn’t even referring to his persecution of the church before he came to know Christ. He was referring to his life after Christ – that even after coming to know and serve Christ he found himself continually tempted to sin. He is so remorseful about this that he writes “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” But you have to  love his proclamation in response to his own question –“Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

It seems to me that Paul’s focus of being set free from condemnation related to his sin nature and his current proclivity to sin speaks loudly in what it leaves out – it’s as if he’s so free from condemnation from sins related to his former life that they’re not even on his radar any more! That is, if he is free from condemnation of his sinful nature even after coming to Christ, if he is free from condemnation of the sins he does to this very day, how much more so is he free from condemnation for sins committed before coming to Christ?

Paul embraced his new-found freedom in Christ and found himself released from the Law, which required regular blood sacrifice for the atonement of sins. Released from the Law of sin and death, he lived according to the law of the Spirit of life. Living under such a law means living free from condemnation.

Potential Sources of Our Condemnation

It seems to me that condemnation can come from one of four sources:

• Ourselves
• Others around us
• Satan
• God

We’ve already shown that God does not condemn us, so we can rule Him out, but just in case you are still in doubt, let’s look at one more passage. You probably know the first verse, but do you know the two that follow it?

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:16-18

If you believe in Christ, you are not condemned by God. Period. He accepts and forgives you. Unconditionally.

Satan doesn’t want you to believe that, of course, and he will hound you with accusations for past, present, real and imagined sins. Follow the advice of Peter:

⁸Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith.
1 Peter 5:8-9a

Stand before Satan’s onslaughts saying, “I am a forgiven child of God. Christ died so that I might be saved, not so that I would be condemned.” Repeat as necessary!

Perhaps it is the condemnation of others that hurts the most. It does for me, anyway. Especially when it comes from people I respect and/or have had a close relationship with. Earlier today God brought me face to face with an old insecurity of mine. As I wrestled to determine the source of the insecurity, God reminded me of an incidence from my long ago past. Being reminded of the incident, I asked God, “Lord, do you have anything to say to me about that situation?” What I sensed was that the accusation – the condemnation – that was brought against me was brought out of the other person’s insecurity. I also sensed that the entire situation brought pain to both of us, causing us both to walk with a limp for a period of time. These were not limps that God desired us to have.

In Christ Jesus, there is now no condemnation! Accusations that have been waged against us, accusations that we have taken into our hearts and spirits, accusations that we have allowed to grow into cancerous tumors with fingers that choke out our life – Be gone in Jesus Name!

Ask God for healing of past wounds where healing is needed. What He said to me about that long-ago situation brought healing to my heart and spirit. A sadness in understanding the long-lasting affect it has had on both of us, but healing nonetheless.

Don’t let others throw condemnation onto you. Take the condemnations immediately to God and ask Him to remove even the smallest speck of the accusation that might take hold in you.

Finally, we are often our own worst enemy, aren’t we? I have worked diligently over the past several years to change the way I speak and think. There was a time when I would quickly condemn myself for even the most minor failing. When I catch myself in such a thought or word, I immediately speak the opposite. “I am an intelligent, thoughtful, capable woman of God. Even if I wasn’t, God would be passionately in love with me. Who am I to think so wrongly about someone (me) of whom the Lord thinks so highly? Am I calling Him a liar? Am I dissing the forgiveness that He has given me so freely and at such a great cost? I surely hope not! Lord, forgive me, and I will know that once forgiven, I am not condemned.

Scripture is clear: We are not condemned by the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Creator of the Universe. “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) That’s a rhetorical question – the short answer is that many people may be against us, but none will prevail unless we give up the ground we’ve been given. Friends, take hold of the eternal life to which you’ve been called – a life that is free from condemnation by God. With that freedom, release condemnation that might be thrown your way by Satan, other people, and yourself. Let your shield against these fiery darts be your knowledge that you stand forgiven by the One who has all power and authority to forgive and that you do not stand condemned. Walk in freedom!