LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, March 7, 2019

My faith seems to be backwards from Abram’s. Abram believed in the impossible but needed proof of the probable. I tend to be the opposite. When God speaks in terms and circumstances I can understand in my finite thoughts, I believe Him. It’s the hard-to-believe conclusions that give me problems.

Today’s faith lesson comes from this story in Abram’s life:

Genesis 15:7-18  God said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.”

Abram believed in the impossibility of a son, and in the future Son of God that would come 1500 years later, but he could not accept without proof that the land in which he was already living would be his.

Sometimes our faith can be so fickle. What amazes and thrills me is that God meets us at the neediest point of our faith. The LORD God did not reject Abram for his need of proof, nor did he criticize him and tell him to grow up. He answered the request for proof.

There is great comfort in knowing that God does not require our faith to be perfect: He only requires that we be willing to be taught to have greater faith. I am so thankful that God is patient with us and graciously deals with our weaknesses. Imagine what a horrible condition we would be in if God were to treat us in any way other than with grace and mercy. We would live in fear and total despair because we would be constantly reminded of our failures. It breaks my heart to see the way some parents treat their children with constant reminders of failure. I see the broken spirits of the children resulting in lives of either criminal rebellion or emotional separation. So many of the drug, alcohol, and sexual addictions of our youth are directly traceable to their lack of personal value that should have been bestowed through the grace and mercy of parents. It may be because the parents weren’t present, or maybe because while they were there they didn’t model grace.

God’s grace is amazing. Even the sound of that word is sweet. His grace saved sinful wretches like us. You remember the song:

AMAZING GRACE  HOW SWEET THE SOUND
THAT SAVED  A WRETCH  LIKE ME
I ONCE  WAS LOST BUT NOW  I’M FOUND
‘TWAS BLIND BUT NOW  I SEE.

‘TWAS GRACE  THAT TAUGHT  MY HEART  TO FEAR
AND GRACE  MY FEARS  RELIEVED
HOW PRECIOUS  DID  THAT GRACE  APPEAR
THE HOUR  I FIRST  BELIEVED.

I praise God that he does not treat me as I tend to treat others, but rather meets me at my point of need and graciously meets that need. It is vital to the growth of our faith that we trust the grace of God so that we can be honest with Him about where we are struggling. Tell Him your struggles today, and listen for His response. He will confirm His promise and affirm your faith.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

I am encouraged when I see that Abram’s faith was a work in progress. I can relate. Abram’s faith was growing and being challenged to continue to grow, just as mine is every day.

Faith grows every time we take another step of faith. No step of faith is the last one, but each step of faith leads to a greater one. Abram has just demonstrated his desire to trust God for everything (see yesterday’s devotional). God now asks him to take yet another and even bigger step of faith.

Genesis 15:1-6 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: ”Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram said, “O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”  And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

In today’s story, God speaks to Abram and says that He is his very great reward. Abram’s faith is challenged. Abram is very wealthy already. He has a huge household of people serving him. He is in possession of a great land, and his fame is spreading. He has flocks and herds and camels, and he lacks for nothing. But Abram also understands that the heritage of future generations is the greatest reward any person can possess. This is obvious from his question back to God, which is, “What can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram knew that if he had no descendants he had no real reward.

Let me ask you – where is your treasure? Jesus said that wherever your treasure is, that is where your heart is. Is your treasure in what you have? Is it in what you accomplish?  Our first faith principle for today is this – our treasure is to be in the people to whom we model faith? Possessions cannot pass on heritage. Only people can! Put your heart into people, especially your family, and pass on the heritage of faith.

Back to the story: God gives Abram more details of His incredible promise. God says that Abram will have a son, and that through this son his offspring will become as numerous as the stars in the heavens. This is extremely significant. God’s earlier promise to Abram in Genesis 13 was that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust  (or sand) of the earth. In his early stages of faith, Abram needed to see things from a worldly, horizontal perspective.

The second faith principle is this – God understands our weak faith and meets us where we are to give us what we need to grow. Maybe right now in your life your faith is still small and all you can see is the world’s perspective. God will meet you there, but be prepared – He will not leave you there. As Abram’s faith grew, God asked him to change his perspective from looking at the world’s view to seeing a heavenly view. Abram’s significant step of faith was to hear God say, “Look up, don’t look around.”

I believe that is the step of faith many of us need to take today. Stop looking around for the fulfillment of life and the greatest reward: look up with the eyes of faith and trust the Sovereign Lord.

This is the first time in Scripture that anyone has called God Sovereign, and it is significant. Abram believed that God was in absolute control of all things and would accomplish His purpose. Even though he did not fully understand it, he surrendered to it, and God credited his faith as righteousness.

Abram did not work to receive righteousness; he believed the promise of a Son. It was more than a belief in a physical son named Isaac who would be born. By looking up Abram saw the spiritual heritage that he would be given when the Son, Jesus Christ, would be born. (See Romans 4:23-25) Abram’s reward was the spiritual understanding of God’s eternal purpose for man. He could not receive that reward by looking around. He looked up.

My friends, it is time for us to experience the fullness of God’s spiritual reward for our lives by looking up instead of looking around. It is time for us to take the next step of growing faith and surrender to the Sovereign so that the spiritual overwhelms the sensual. This will eliminate the need for knowing and seeing, and will solidify the reality of trusting.

Will you take that step today? If you do, you will soon be saying, “Things are looking up!”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Genesis 14:17-20  After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.”  Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

In our ongoing saga of the life of Abram, from which we are learning great lessons in faith, Abram has become very established in the land of promise and has grown in wealth and power. Lot has moved from his tents on the outskirts of Sodom to living in the city. Lot is captured in a war with neighboring territories. When Abram receives word that his nephew has been taken prisoner, he organizes a small army of 318 men from his household and pursues Lot’s captors. When he catches them, he routs them in a nighttime battle and recovers all the stolen property and captured people.

This was a great act of faith on Abram’s part.  He took 318 men into battle against five kings and their armies from their respective cities.  But there is an even greater act of faith to follow.

On their way home, the King of Salem, now modern day Jerusalem, came out to meet Abram. King Melchizedek, holding a dual office of king and priest of God Most High, blesses Abram and gives the glory for the victory to God. Then, in phase one of Abram’s incredible act of faith, he gives Melchizedek one tenth of everything they had recovered in the war. Before there was any law that required tithing, from the love in his heart for God, Abram gave a tenth of everything to the Lord.

This is a great lesson for us today. We do not give to the Lord’s work because the law obligates us to: we give to the Lord because love motivates us – God’s love for us and our love for Him. If you wonder how much you should give, here is the starting point – 10% of everything you receive from any source, because the ultimate source is God.

But that is not the end of Abram’s faith in this story. The king of Sodom approaches Abram and tries to bargain for the rest of the spoils, specifically for the people. This king was smart, and knew that people were far more valuable than possessions, and people would generate more possessions. He offers to let Abram keep the material prizes in exchange for the people. But Abram models incredible faith for us and says this,

“I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me – to Aner, Eshcol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”

WOW! Abram’s faith was so strong that he gave everything away except his actual expenses and the fair share for his men. Abram kept nothing for himself. Why? Because he never wanted any credit for his life to go to anyone but God. He trusted the promise of God so completely that he could give everything away and have complete confidence that God would continue to provide for him.

What a great lesson for us today – God alone is our provider. God alone receives the glory for what we have and what we accomplish. We can cease from our personal agendas, plans, pursuits, and power struggles, and relinquish everything to the promises of God. Let it never be said of our lives that anything of the world made us what we are. Let us raise our hand to the Lord God Most High, Creator of the heaven and earth, and swear an oath to Him that we will accept no glory for ourselves from the world. We will not allow the world to take any glory for who we are, what we have, or what we accomplish. All the glory is God’s alone.

Let us walk in that level of faith.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, March 4, 2019

We are currently studying the subject of faith. The primary Biblical illustrator of faith for us is Abraham. Take a moment to read this story from his life.

Genesis 13:5-11 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company.

Here are three faith lessons I learn from this story:

1. Lot was selfish. He had made the great journey from Ur to Canaan on Abram’s bootstraps. He had gained his wealth and prominence by following Abram. Yet when a problem developed, Lot showed no humility and gratitude, but rather took advantage of the situation to further his own objectives. In such a situation I would hope that we would respond with humility and faith in God’s ability to provide for us, rather than with self-serving choices.
2. Abram was a man of faith in God’s Word. He has just been through a learning experience in Egypt, and when he returns to Canaan he builds an altar and calls on the Name of the Lord. He is reminded again of God’s incredible promise and that he is to walk by faith every day. He passes the first test that arises with flying colors. He totally trusts God with the outcome of the land dispute and gives Lot the first choice for his flocks and herds. Afterwards, God affirms His promise, and rewards Abram’s faith by giving him not only the land He was left with, but all of the land Lot had just chosen as well.
3. Abram was a content man in his faith. Lot chose city life, with all its pleasures and conveniences. Abram was left with his tents. Immediately he built another altar to the Lord, content in knowing that God would fulfill His promise. The walk of faith would be challenging as he moved through the length and breadth of the land to experience the fullness of God’s provision. He did not allow himself to be sidetracked by fleshly desires and worldly allures, as did Lot. When we are on God’s path of faith, moving through the entire coverage area of His provision, we can be content knowing that God is fulfilling His purpose.

You have probably heard these lessons many times before, but they are great reminders for us in our current situations. In every circumstance of our lives there is the potential for faith-walking or sight-walking. Sight-walking is selfish, and ends in destruction. Faith-walking is fulfilling, and ends in honor and glory. Make your choices accordingly.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, March 1, 2019

Genesis 13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

 As we study the life of Abram and learn lessons of faith, we discover in the 12^th chapter of Genesis that Abram had made a terrible mistake. (If you are unfamiliar with what happened, take a moment to read it in your Bible.) Abram did something by physical sight rather than spiritual faith. He saw a famine in the land, predicted how it would affect him, and he made a fleshly decision to move to Egypt. Along the way and after arriving, one bad decision led to another and he got himself and his wife into serious trouble. His walk of faith quickly became a walk of sight and bad judgment.

Whenever we walk by our sight we have only our vision to trust, and that inevitably leads to bad decisions and trouble. Our vision is finite, and our judgment is flawed. It is only when we walk by God’s sight according to His wisdom that we experience the provisions of faith that God promises.

In our story, notice the words, “So Abram went up”. No greater words of encouragement could ever be expressed to us after a failure. You see, God provides a way to go up again. There is always a way back to the Promised Land of God’s blessing.

The road back begins with humble honesty. Abram had to finally admit to Pharaoh what he had done, and when he did, he was sent on his way back to the land of blessing. His honesty allowed him to keep all that he had acquired while he was there. Be careful here – don’t let Satan misuse this story to lead us into thinking that we can gain personal prosperity under false pretenses and then at the end admit the truth and we get to keep all the gain. That would be arrogantly presumptuous of God’s holy character and justice. But in this case, God showed us that even in our moments of bad judgment and faithless decision-making, God is at work to restore us to the land of blessing and accomplish His purpose in and through us. It all goes back to what we talked about yesterday – the original vision. God has not withdrawn it. We may have walked away from it, but God is working to complete the purpose in us to which we were called, and that means He helps us to go up again after we have gone down the wrong path.

What past failures and fears have led you down the wrong path and kept you from the land of blessing? Maybe you are still on that path and need to be humbly honest about it. Repent and go up again on God’s path of faith.

Maybe it’s a path you took some time ago but its effects have lingered on into today and hold you in a sort of faith-bondage. Maybe today is the day you step out in faith and go up again to accomplish God’s original vision for your life.

Mark this day on your calendar and write these words in your journal – “Today I went up from _____________ to _______________. (Fill in the blanks with where you have been and where God has called you, respectively.) Make this the day that is commemorated in your spiritual journey as the day you returned to a walk of faith.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Genesis 12:10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

When we talk about real faith, we understand that our experience of faith will mature. I had a wonderful discussion about this subject one morning with two respected brothers in the Lord. We agreed that the average church today has an immature view of faith. For many of us, faith is simply that God opens and closes doors. When we are new followers of Jesus Christ, opening and closing doors is a great way for us to learn dependence on God. But it is not the mature way to view faith. Let’s look at Abram’s story and discover this truth.

When God called Abram out of Mesopotamia to go to an unknown land, there were no open doors. It was not for any visible benefit that Abram made the decision to obey. He wasn’t given a series of choices and then told to test them all and see which door opens. God gave him only His direction and a promise of blessing.

When he arrived in the land to which God directed him, his faith changed: he began looking at doors again, and the results were destructive. God did not give him any direction to move to Egypt because of a famine. Abram saw what he interpreted to be a door closing and he looked for an open one. He took his eyes of faith off the original vision, and he made moves that hurt the accomplishment of that vision. True faith looks only at the vision God has given and pursues it no matter what the obstacles.

We all long for the type of faith that trusts the Spirit of God to relate God’s specific direction to us. God longs to have that kind of mature relationship with each of us. But we keep looking for doors to open or close: circumstantial evidence to validate supernatural vision.

Why do we do that? We may believe it brings security and peace by “proving” the will of God by our own rational thought process. Actually, the Word of God says, Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

Eugene Peterson, in his modern-day paraphrase of Scripture called The Message, says it this way – Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

God’s will – His direction and vision – is proven by steps of faith regardless of circumstances rather than looking for all the circumstances to line up before we take a step.

When we step out onto the path of God’s direction to pursue the vision He has given us, it will not be without obstacles. There will be doors opened and doors closed. But let’s be very careful – not every open door is God’s door and not every closed door is God’s redirection. The testing of our faith comes when we face the choice to keep our eyes of on the original direction and vision or return to the immaturity of door-testing faith.

But, you may ask, how can we trust the original vision and direction we thought we heard? Was it really God speaking? Each one of us knows how much personal intimacy with God in prayer and fellowship preceded the hearing of His voice. God does not spontaneously speak to indifferent ears. When Noah heard God’s word to build an ark, he was first identified as a righteous and blameless man – intimate with God. When we are spending time with God, we grow familiar with the way His Spirit relates to our spirit. We hear the voice of God.

When we hear His voice – mature faith obeys even if it means walking through seemingly closed doors.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Genesis 12:1-5 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” …So Abram left, as the LORD had told him.

The Bible uses Abram, later to be called Abraham, as a primary example of faith. The New Testament writers refer to Abraham 77 times to help us to understand what faith is. There are obviously some important lessons we can learn from this man’s life as we grow in our faith.

At the beginning of the story of Abram in Genesis 12, we hear the voice of God speaking to Abram and asking him to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household and go to an unknown land. Carefully reflect on all that God was asking Abram to do:

1. Leave his homeland – I grew up leaving my homeland all the time. As a pastor’s son we moved every 4 –5 years on average. Leaving the beautiful state of Michigan in my 9^th grade year was supremely difficult. I know how hard it is to leave a geographic area that is loved as home.
2. Leave his people – Those of you who have lived in one place all your life may not understand this. There really are different cultures out there, and you don’t have to go outside our country to find them. We discovered a whole new culture in northern Minnesota when we moved there once. Because we are relational beings, people bring us comfort. New people tend to scare us. Abram was asked to leave his relational comfort zone.
3. Leave his father’s household – For me, this would be the toughest of the three. Family means everything to me, and having them nearby is very significant.
4. Go to an unknown land – No maps, no web site to preview the housing options, no contacts with anyone whose already been there, no knowledge of even where he is headed. Just a general direction.

As we reflect on those four issues that Abram had to deal with, I’m sure we can relate to at least one of them in our lives right now. God is giving us all daily direction, and I think we are all guilty of giving God daily guidelines for that direction. We state our cases and concerns before we listen to His course. We predetermine the parameters of a positive response to His position and purpose. We say things like:

• “I’ll do it if I can do it from here.”
• “I’ll go only as far as this cultural border.”
• “I’ll go if my family can go with me.”
• “ I’ll go if you tell me where I am going.”

We must ask ourselves if we are putting conditions on God’s commands. We must come to understand that this is not faith. Faith in God does not ask for answers nor does it protect personal preferences. If faith does those two things, then it is not faith in God but rather it is faith in answers and personal preferences. Think about this carefully considering your current life decisions. Are they being made in true faith in God alone?

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Genesis 6:13-14; 22 God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out… Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

One of my favorite models of faith in the Bible is Noah. Just think of what it must have been like for him. He and his family were living in a tropical world where they had never seen or needed rain. All the moisture they ever needed was all around them in the atmosphere, and the daily dew was sufficient for all necessary watering because the ground water was so plentiful. That’s why it says in Genesis 7:11 that when the flood began, God released all the springs of the great deep and the floodgates of the atmosphere.

What were the neighbors thinking when Noah started to build an ark? God directed this faithful man of integrity and righteousness to build a boat. Not just any boat, but a boat so large that at least two of every animal in the known world could reside in it for a period of one year. This wasn’t just a little dugout canoe for fishing.

Noah’s obedience was a statement of faith in God’s Word and a step of faith in God’s direction. The first step of obedience lasted 120 years; the time it took to complete the ark. But any step of faith in God’s direction, regardless of the length or difficulty of the road traveled, results in God’s glory.

That’s the kind of faith we need today: faith in God’s Word that results in steps of faith in God’s direction. Let’s apply this to our personal lives. Where has God been speaking but we have not been stepping? Maybe it’s in a career decision where it will take great faith to trust God’s Word and step in God’s direction rather than in the direction of the world’s provision. Maybe it’s in a relationship, where it will take great faith to step in God’s direction rather than in the direction of personal fulfillment or gratification. Maybe it’s in financial issues, where it will take great faith to step out in God’s direction by giving substantially to His Kingdom work rather than to the building of an earthly kingdom for self.

Whatever the issue in your life, right now is the right time to look up in obedience to God’s Word and step out by faith in God’s direction. Like Noah, God will give you specific directions. Follow them. There may be opposition. People will certainly misunderstand. Make the decision to not worry about pleasing people. Your rewards and blessings come from God, not people.

Lord, give us the faith of Noah to trust your Word and tread your path.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, February 25, 2019

Philippians 3:13-14 …one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Regret is a deadly bondage of Satan. He uses it to keep us tightly bound in the chains of the past. He convinces us that the key God has given us to unlock the chains and be free will not work on our specific sins, shortcomings, and sufferings. After all, how can a key called forgiveness undo and repair all the damage that has been done?

Regret causes us to believe we deserve the chains. We allow ourselves to be controlled by our past and believe that our futures have been permanently marred. We contemplate and believe statements like, “Imagine what might have been,” and “If only I hadn’t…” and we become convinced that the future we could have had is far better than the one God will give us. We fail to rejoice in the present because it is always being compared to an imaginary future which is being controlled by an unforgiven past. We constantly crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday and fear of tomorrow.

When the Apostle Paul contemplated his past in Philippians 3:5-6, he had much to remember and much to regret. He remembered the great start he had as a Jew – circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee.  Then he remembered with regret the sins of misapplication of the truth – as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. He thought through all the ramifications of his sins and their lasting effect on his life and admits that he is not perfect. He says, “Imagine what might have been if I had made a different choice. If only I hadn’t participated in the murder of Stephen.”

Paul could have been controlled by the same regrets that bind you and me. But listen to what he says – But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

WOW! Forgiveness from God means that our past sins, shortcomings, and sufferings have no power to control us and that we are still able to pursue a prize that has been specifically chosen by God for us. Satan wants us to believe that the prize is sub-standard to the one we could have had. Forgiveness means that the prize has not changed. Satan wants us to believe that because we cannot undo the past we have a diminished future. Forgiveness means that our future is the glorious work of God for whom nothing is impossible. We can drown ourselves in regret, lose ourselves in nostalgia, or cling to those old injuries and losses. But if we do, it is our “choice,” not our destiny. Forgiveness guarantees God’s future and it is not based on our failures.

Marjorie Holmes, in an article called “Heart to Heart” in Today’s Christian Woman, writes, “One day, while I was grieving over some past failures, I received a letter from a friend who told me how she and her granddaughter had been watching a plane skywrite. The little girl was puzzled when the words began disappearing, but suddenly piped up, ‘Maybe Jesus has an eraser!’ In her innocent wisdom I realized that just as skywriting disappears, Jesus wipes away all things I so bitterly regret. No matter how much we mature as Christians, and try desperately to compensate, memories of our own failures can rise up and haunt us. But, with God’s forgiveness, they will fade away—Jesus does have an eraser.

Katherine Mansfield, an author who lived in the early part of the 20^th century, wrote, “Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.”

That is what Satan wants you to do – wallow. Regret steals the joy of forgiveness and freezes you with fear of the future. God’s truth will set you free from regret and fear. When the guilt of sin and failure has been confessed to the Father with a repentant heart, He forgives the sin and removes the guilt. When we truly grieve over our sin and it brings us to repentance, God removes all regrets. Paul says, “you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief…[and] godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. (2 Corinthians 7:9 – 10)

Regret is not from God. It is not part of our salvation. It is not a testing of your faith or a trial you must endure. It is only and always the work of Satan to keep you from experiencing the fullness of God’s forgiveness and redeeming work in your life. Forgiveness eliminates regret.

So forget the past! God has! Look ahead. God has great things in store for you, but if you keep comparing them to what you think might have been, you’ll miss the joy and the blessing of what really is.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, February 22, 2019

Luke 6:27, 35-36 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. … But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

As we conclude our study on forgiveness, we need to carefully look at the words of Jesus in Luke 6 – words that challenge our natural instincts with supernatural responses. Our natural instincts are for retaliation and restitution of our own reputation. But Jesus challenges those instincts with the response of forgiveness, which is the restoration of relationship.

Relationship is of utmost importance to God the Father. It was because of our sin that we were not in relationship with God, yet God initiated the response that corrects the relationship. His actions were not simply a required response: they were the manifestation of His true heart. His provision of forgiveness was based on His love for the offender and His desire to restore the relationship that had been destroyed by the offense. None of us has ever been hurt so deeply as God was hurt by our sin. Yet His love for us as sinners was manifested in the gift of His Son Jesus so that we might be forgiven. There was nothing artificial about what God did. He did not act out of obligation to anything but His true nature. Forgiveness isn’t pretending nothing has happened, or pretending that what happened didn’t hurt. Forgiveness springs from a pure and sincere heart of love. Forgiveness is refusing to let anything permanently destroy the relationship.

That’s how we are to forgive others as well. To forgive someone involves three things. First, it means to give up the right to strike back. We reject the urge to repay gossip with gossip and a bad turn with a worse turn. Striking back is of no value in restoring relationships. Second, it means replacing the feeling of resentment and anger with good will. We must choose to let our hearts be overwhelmed with the love of God so that we truly seek the offender’s welfare and not their harm. Third, it means the forgiving person takes concrete steps to restore good relations. We become the initiators of actions that model love rather than resentment.

The following story is from an article titled “Your Daffodils are Pretty,” (Christianity Today, March 2, 1979, p. 18), in which Josephine Ligon tells of a family in the town where she grew up who preached and practiced forgiveness. Their name was Parsons. On one occasion, Mr. Parsons watched young Josephine get swatted by the broom of a mean old lady in town who didn’t like the neighborhood children getting too close to her property. He stopped Josephine and told her, “Go back and tell Mrs. Brink that you forgive her for hitting you.” Josephine replied, “Say, ‘I forgive you’ to Mrs. Brink?” Mr. Parsons smiled. “Forgiveness comes in many forms,” he said. “You don’t actually have to say, ‘I forgive you.’ A simple smile will do. You might just tell her that her daffodils are pretty.” It seemed dumb to young Josephine, but she trusted Mr. Parsons’ advice. She went back and mumbled something to Mrs. Brink about her daffodils being pretty. Mrs. Brink looked shocked, but it was the last time Josephine ever felt her broom. On another occasion Josephine and several of her third-grade friends put a handful of pencil shavings into the Parsons girl’s sandwich, just to be mean and to make her mad. But she didn’t get mad. Instead, the next day, without any sign of repentance from her persecutors, the Parsons girl brought everyone in the class a large, beautiful, delicious, hand-decorated cookie which said, “Jesus loves you.” Years later Josephine Ligon still remembers that demonstration of forgiveness more than any sermon.

Forgiveness is more than words; it’s action! We may claim to have forgiven those who have hurt us, but if there are no real attempts to restore the relationship then forgiveness has not been fully granted. For forgiveness to be real the reconciliation of the relationship must be pursued with actions of love. Granted, some people won’t accept our attempts at reconciliation, just as so many are rejecting God’s offer of forgiveness. But their response is not an excuse to stop acting in a loving way towards them. God has not stopped loving or pursuing the unrepentant person and neither should we. We are not excused from seeking to restore broken relationships because the other person rejects our attempts. If we think we are, then forgiveness is nothing more than pretention, and is not motivated by the love of God in our hearts but rather by a love for self.

Imagine what would happen in your church and in your community if God’s people began forgiving others the way God forgave them. Imagine what would happen to the reputation of Christians if the restoration of relationships was our highest priority. We are called to be the ambassadors of reconciliation, showing people how they can be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20) Maybe it’s time we modeled that reconciliation in our personal relationships so that the world can see the reality of God’s forgiveness.

Pastor John