All tagged forgive
Have you ever wondered what happens when we break bread together? Is sharing a meal and the breaking of bread a spiritual occurrence or just the fulfillment of a biological need? This is our thought for this morning, and we should think on this every time we sit down to eat. Is communion the only time the Jesus joins you at the dinner table?
Today our devotional study has to do with compassion. I was reading E.M. Bounds' thoughts and had to read these words several times "It is no sin to feel the pain and realize the darkness on the path into which God leads us. It is only human to cry out against the pain and desolation of the hour." Compassion is a gift to those who pray; it helps us feel the pains and remorse of those who we pray for, and it makes us aware of the basic nature of human kind as we pray for the return of Christ. It is encouraging to know that Jesus is not without compassion. He felt all of the emotion that we feel and yet He was without sin.
In my devotional reading his morning Pastor E.M. Bounds wrote on the subject of forgiveness. The title of his devotional message was "The Abundant Pardon" and it spoke of how important it is to forgive. This made me contemplate the subject as well, and to fathom the depth of this seemingly simple act that can repeatedly trip us up as we travel the way of faith. Let’s look at it further and see how forgiveness can either bless us, or its lack can destroy our relationship with God…
The devotional message I read this morning spoke of faith and prayer. It reminded me of how often I have read or quoted Mark 12:23 and asked that God answer my own prayers. Our faith is prone to fading away without prayer, and our prayer life deteriorates without a healthy dose of faith. There is no substitute for either.
We have been purchased with the very blood of Jesus, and have come to know Him. We have been baptized in water, and then again in the Holy Spirit as it was poured over, and into, us... borne on the sweet breath of Christ Himself. Yet still we can find the allure of sin to be too great. How can this possibly be?
Are we afraid to speak directly to God? Do we feel safer going to a deacon, an elder, or our pastor when we have sin issues in our lives? If you look inward and find that this is true of yourself, don't fear, there is nothing new in this... it has been happening since the time of our first sin. Men have been afraid to approach God in sin from the moment that Adam and Eve first hid themselves in the Garden of Eden, continued on to the time of Moses, and occurs today as well.