Quote from Forum Archives on July 17, 2002, 2:46 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

I received today's message from a friend. I checked out the Web
site www.livingtherightlife.com/ and located today's
message. Like the messages I write, it is a collection of
thoughts from a variety of places.

So today, I edited the message, added in the latest message from
Oswald Chambers, and I offer you these messages, with the prayer
that they will encourage you and strengthen you for the every day
struggles you face.

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

Jesus

He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life

Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the
Living Water.

Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest
.
Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King.

Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons.

Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears.

Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the
world.

Jesus was brought as a lamb to slaughter, yet He is the Good
Shepherd.

Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.

Gregory of Nazianzus, A.D. 381

The Choice Of Forgiveness

Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other,
just as God in Christ has also forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

Most of the ground that Satan gains in the lives of Christians is
due to unforgiveness. We are warned to forgive others so that
Satan cannot take advantage of us (2 Cor 2:10-11). God requires
us to forgive others from our hearts or He will turn us over to
the tormentors (Matt 18:34-35). Why is forgiveness so critical to
our freedom? Because of the cross. God didn't give us what we
deserve; He gave us what we needed according to His mercy. We are
to be merciful just as our heavenly Father is merciful (Luke
6:36). We are to forgive as we have been forgiven. (Ephesians
4:31-32).

Forgiveness is not forgetting. People who try to forget find that
they cannot. God says He will "remember no more" our sins
(Hebrews 10:17), but God, being omniscient, cannot
forget. "Remember no more" means that God will never us the past
against us (Psalm 103:12). Forgetting may be a result of
forgiveness, but it is never the means of forgiveness. When we
bring up the past and use it against others, we haven't forgiven
them.

Forgiveness is a choice, a crisis of the will. We choose to face
and acknowledge the hurt and the hate in order to forgive from
the heart. Since God requires us to forgive, it is something we
can do. (He would never require us to do something we cannot do.)
But forgiveness is difficult for us because it pulls against our
concept of justice. We want revenge for offenses suffered. But we
are told never to take our own revenge (Romans 12:19). "Why
should I let then off the hook?" we protest. You let them off the
hook, but they are never off God's hook. He will deal with them
fairly - something we cannot do.

If you don't let offenders off your hook, you are hooked to them
and the past, and that just means continued pain for you. Stop
the pain; let it go. You don't forgive someone merely for their
sake; you do it for your sake so you can be free. Your need to
forgive isn't the issue between you and the offender; it's
between you and God.

Lord, I stand amazed at the example of Your forgiveness. I desire
to grow in my willingness to forgive those who have hurt me.

Neil Anderson Daily Devotional; 4/29/2002

The Miracle of Belief --- Oswald Chamber's My Utmost For His
Highest, July 17

www.gospelcom.net/rbc/utmost/

My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of
human wisdom . . . ?1 Corinthians 2:4

Paul was a scholar and an orator of the highest degree; he was
not speaking here out of a deep sense of humility, but was saying
that when he preached the gospel, he would veil the power of God
if he impressed people with the excellency of his speech. Belief
in Jesus is a miracle produced only by the effectiveness of
redemption, not by impressive speech, nor by wooing and
persuading, but only by the sheer unaided power of God. The
creative power of redemption comes through the preaching of the
gospel, but never because of the personality of the preacher.

Real and effective fasting by a preacher is not fasting from
food, but fasting from eloquence, from impressive diction, and
from everything else that might hinder the gospel of God being
presented. The preacher is there as the representative of
God?". . . as though God were pleading through us . . ." ( 2
Corinthians 5:20 ). He is there to present the gospel of God. If
it is only because of my preaching that people desire to be
better, they will never get close to Jesus Christ. Anything that
flatters me in my preaching of the gospel will result in making
me a traitor to Jesus, and I prevent the creative power of His
redemption from doing its work.

"And I, if I am lifted up..., will draw all peoples to Myself"
(John 12:32).

=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Autos - Get free new car price quotes
autos.yahoo.com