Worship empowers serving; serving expresses worship. Godliness requires a disciplined balance between the two. Those who can maintain service without regular personal and corporate worship are serving in the flesh. It doesn’t matter how long they’ve been serving that way or how well others think they serve, they are not striving according to God’s power, as Paul did, but their own… At the same time, one measure of the authenticity of worship (again, both personal and corporate) is whether it results in a desire to serve… Therefore, we must maintain that to be Godly, we should discipline ourselves for both worship and service. To engage in one without the other is, in reality, to experience neither.
Donald S. Whitney

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THE WONDER OF FORGIVING

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#1 · May 22, 2003, 8:33 am

Posted by: bigguyhereagain <bigguyhereagain@...>

<> THE WONDER OF FORGIVING <>
 David Schell.
 
* Forgiveness means bending without breaking, being strong enough to
withstand the heavy weight of injury
but resilient enough to recover. Be forgiving.
 
* Forgive yourself; for what you regret doing and for what you wish you had
done, for not being fully yourself and for being only yourself.
 
* Self-forgiveness cleanses the soul, washing away shame and guilt. Out of
self-forgiveness comes the power to extend forgiveness to others.
 
* You have the right to feel sad, betrayed, angry, resentful when you've
been injured. Understand, accept and express your feelings. Pushing them
below the surface only means they will erupt in another place, at another
time.
 
* Justice may right the wrongs, but forgiveness heals the hurt. Seek
forgiveness beyond justice.
 
* Sometimes people hurt you because, like you, they are learning and
growing. Forgive their incompleteness, their humanness.
 
* To refuse to forgive is to continue to hurt yourself. Victimized once,
your lack of forgiveness keeps you stuck as a victim, holding on to a
victim's identity. Instead, claim the identity of one who forgives.
 
* No loving relationship is free of hurts. Bind up the wounds of love with
forgiveness.
 
* When you are having a difficult time forgiving, recall a moment when you
wanted to be forgiven. Offer
the other person what you wanted to receive.
 
* Forgiveness takes practice. Start with small hurts and work your way up
to the big ones.
 
* Forgiveness may seem futile when you see no immediate results. But
healing and growth are like fine aged cheese -- not instant mashed
potatoes. Give forgiveness time.
 
* You cannot change someone for the better by holding a grudge. Grudges
only change you--for the worse.
 
* When someone won't forgive you, refusing to forgive in return is no
answer. That's like wrapping yourself
in the other's chains. Keep yourself free; forgive.
 
* To help you forgive, picture the other person surrounded by the light of
God. See yourself stepping into that same light, and feel God's presence
with you both.
 
* Forgiveness is not something you do for someone else; it is something you
do for yourself. Give yourself the gift of forgiveness.
 
Sometimes, when we have been wronged, bruised, angered or betrayed, it is
difficult to forgive. It is easier said than done. But too much anger and
resentment makes it hard for us to move on. All that pain we refuse to let
go will bury us in a place we shouldn't get stuck in. After the hurt and
anger should come healing, and healing can only take place if we allow
ourselves to forgive.
 
We should pray that God gives us the grace to forgive. Ask HIM to give us a
heart big enough to be humble.
Once we choose to forgive, then and only then can we heal, then and only
then can we free ourselves of the
burden of our wounds.
 
Free yourself! Forgive. Allow God's love to thaw your heart!
 
+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+:*:+
 
<> Trials <>
Lynell Waterman
 
You perhaps recall the story of the blacksmith who gave his heart to
God. Though conscientious in his living, still he was not prospering
materially. In fact, it seems that from the time of his conversion
more trouble, affliction and loss were sustained than ever before.
Everything seemed to be going wrong.
 
One day a friend who was not a Christian stopped at the little gorge
to talk to him. Sympathizing with him in some of his trials, the
friend said "It seems strange to me that so much affliction should
pass over you just at the time when you have become an earnest
Christian. Of course, I don't want to weaken your faith in God or
anything like that. But here you are, God's help and guidance, and
yet things seem to be getting steadily worse.  I can't help wondering
why it is."
 
The blacksmith did not answer immediately, and it was evident that he
had thought the same question before. But finally, he said "You see
here the raw iron which I have to make into horse's shoes. You know
what I do with it? I take a piece and heat it in the fire until it is
red, almost white with the heat. Then I hammer it unmercifully to
shape it as I know it should be shaped. Then I plunge it into a pail
of cold water to temper it. Then I heat it again and hammer it some
more. And this I do until it is finished."
 
"But sometimes I find a piece of iron that won't stand up under this
treatment. The heat and the hammering and the cold water are too much
for it. I don't know why it fails in the process, but I know it will
never make a good horse's shoe." He pointed to a heap of scrap iron
that was near the door of his shop. "When I get a piece that cannot
take the shape and  temper, I throw it out on the scrap heap. It will
never be good for anything."
 
He went on, "I know that God has been holding me in the fires of
affliction and I have felt His hammer upon me. But I don't mind, if
only He can bring me to what I should be. And so, in all these hard
things my prayer is simply this: Try me in any way you wish, Lord,
only don't throw me on the scrap heap."
 
Have a Blessed Day
Dave and Barbara
 
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