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- Apr 25, 2006
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Clean slate living (1)
'... They shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away.' Isaiah 51:11
'Make this your common practice. Confess your sins ... the prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with' (James 5:15 TM). When you live with God's clean slate over your life you're a force to be reckoned with. You see, God's clean slate means He looks at you as if you've never been in the wrong. 'You are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault' (Colossians 1:23 NLT).
When God forgives, He's not resenting letting you off the hook, He's not storing up all your sins ready to throw back in your face at the first sign of your next slip up. He completely whitewashes them from his memory: '... though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool' (Isaiah 1:18 NLT). God's forgiveness isn't measured by what you've done. Nothing you've ever thought, said or done comes as too shocking for God to forgive. 'I tell you the truth, all sin ... can be forgiven' (Mark 3:28 NLT).
What do you do to receive forgiveness? Earn brownie points with God? Give money to charity? Beat yourself up sufficiently with guilt? Nope. 'If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us' (1 John 1:9 NLT). Are you getting the picture yet? God forgives you. Question is, do you forgive yourself?
written by Bob Gass
'... They shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away.' Isaiah 51:11
'Make this your common practice. Confess your sins ... the prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with' (James 5:15 TM). When you live with God's clean slate over your life you're a force to be reckoned with. You see, God's clean slate means He looks at you as if you've never been in the wrong. 'You are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault' (Colossians 1:23 NLT).
When God forgives, He's not resenting letting you off the hook, He's not storing up all your sins ready to throw back in your face at the first sign of your next slip up. He completely whitewashes them from his memory: '... though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool' (Isaiah 1:18 NLT). God's forgiveness isn't measured by what you've done. Nothing you've ever thought, said or done comes as too shocking for God to forgive. 'I tell you the truth, all sin ... can be forgiven' (Mark 3:28 NLT).
What do you do to receive forgiveness? Earn brownie points with God? Give money to charity? Beat yourself up sufficiently with guilt? Nope. 'If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us' (1 John 1:9 NLT). Are you getting the picture yet? God forgives you. Question is, do you forgive yourself?
written by Bob Gass
