In recent days we have learned that abundant life yields forgiveness– Forgiveness for us and forgiveness through us. What else does abundant life yield to us? Others that immediately come to mind are rescue and redemption.

Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly. He came to rescue us. So, abundant life yields rescue. Abundant life yields rescue to us, and in turn empowers us to participate in God’s rescue of others.

The way we are rescued is through deliverance. First of all, we are delivered from sin and death through salvation offered to us when we become followers of Jesus. And after our initial deliverance, God often graciously reveals along the way other areas in which we are in bondage. Those in bondage, even saved believers who have opened the door for Satan to trap them in certain areas, will not experience the abundant life Jesus is offering them unless they receive the rescue He is extending to them.

Many Christians have certain areas from which they need deliverance. Mine was fear, especially concerning my children. I used to be bound up in fear, even many years after I had accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. But he delivered me from it, when I finally acknowledged it was an area in which I needed His deliverance.

 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

                                                                                   John 10:10

Our focus verse tells us that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy us. So very opposite of why our Good Shepherd comes. What we as believers need to know is…Satan is a defeated foe. His time is short; God’s time (and ours when we believe on Him) is eternal. Our struggles are merely a blip on the screen in comparison to eternity. Even still, God has not merely told us to be patient, “this too will pass”; He has told us to trust Him and He will make us more than conquerors.

Romans 8: 31-39

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[j]

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today, my friends, know that you are more than conquerors. With this truth, live freely and abundantly. Praying for you today!

Sara

Abundant life yields forgiveness. It not only offers us forgiveness, but it also allows us to relinquish the right or possession of un-forgiveness.   If we don’t forgive others, we will not experience abundant life, the inheritance of the children of God.

Today’s post is a bit of a review. This concept of forgiveness is such a big deal, I feel we must pause just a moment in our study and ask ourselves a hard question, and walk through an uncomfortable process.

• Who do I need to forgive? Ask the Lord to reveal to you even the tiniest bit of bitterness. Friends, it is not worth it to deny it nor hang on to it any longer.
• Stop right now and ask Jesus to be forgiveness in you. Move over and let Him do His good, miraculous work in your heart. Big deal or small deal, resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It will eat you alive. It is not worth it. Let Jesus deliver you of the sin of unforgiveness. Confess this as sin and repent of it today.
• Stop right now and pray for that person you need to forgive. You can’t hate someone you pray for.
• Stop right now and ask God to give you eyes to see that person in the way that He sees him or her, and ask God to give you a heart to love them the way He loves them.
• You may need to rehash all the reasons you have unforgiveness. That is okay. Rehash it with Jesus. He knows it all anyway. If you need to, write down every offense that you can think of, big or small. After you write it all down, go through your list one by one. Pray, “Lord, I forgive _____ for _____.” When you have gone through the whole list, it is time for something a bit dramatic, yet symbolic. Take it to the trash can. Don’t just throw it away, demolish it. Burn it or rip it to shreds. Let this be a moment in time that you can look back on and remember that you chose to forgive. You can’t take back a charred shredded mess, and this is symbolic that you refuse to take back your unforgiveness and bitterness.

This is hard stuff, my friends. Maybe this didn’t apply to you at this season of your life. Rejoice if that is the case. But the truth is, every one of us will have times in our lives that we have to forgive. Keep short accounts with God and short accounts with those around you. Forgive quickly and ever guard your spirit from unforgiveness. It can subtly and quickly grow into a bitter root which can rob you of abundant life.

A final note. Maybe you are who you need to forgive. The process is the same. Choose to forgive yourself. You cannot change the past. But you can change today. If you have confessed your sin, God has forgiven you and taken your sin away as far as the east is from the west. It should not define you, nor haunt you any longer. God is not holding it against you, nor should you hold it against yourself. Be free today, my friends. Praying for you!

Sara

            Psalm 103

Praise the Lord, my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2

Praise the Lord, my soul,

and forget not all his benefits—

3

who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

4

who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

5

who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6

The Lord works righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

7

He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel:

8

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

9

He will not always accuse,

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10

he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

11

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

12

as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

14

for he knows how we are formed,

he remembers that we are dust.

15

The life of mortals is like grass,

they flourish like a flower of the field;

16

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

17

But from everlasting to everlasting

the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,

and his righteousness with their children’s children—

18

with those who keep his covenant

and remember to obey his precepts.

19

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

20

Praise the Lord, you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his bidding,

who obey his word.

21

Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,

you his servants who do his will.

22

Praise the Lord, all his works

everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

We have been talking this week about what abundant life yields to us. Abundant life yields (produces, delivers, generates) forgiveness. If we are walking in perpetual, unconfessed sin, we will NOT experience abundant life.

Let’s look at what Isaiah 59:1-2 has to say about this.

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,

That it cannot save;

Nor His ear heavy,

That it cannot hear.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

And your sins have hidden His face from you,

So that He will not hear.

In the Old Testament, God’s people often wondered why God had not delivered them from their trials.

Was His hand shortened?

Was his power diminished?

Was God hard of hearing now?

Had He not heard their prayers?

Of course, we know that is ridiculous. God is the same today, yesterday, and forever. The same power that created the world and everything in it, is still available to us today. The same resurrection power that made Christ arise from the dead and defeat sin and death forever is alive and well and accessible to us. But there are some spiritual laws that are in place. God cannot be mocked. God is still holy, despite the fact that He reaches out to us common, sinful folks.

If we are not ‘fessed up, it will cause a separation between you and God—much like when you and your spouse are at odds with one another. You are still married. You are still in relationship. But the intimacy and closeness are missing until the process of confession and forgiveness has taken place.

Don’t misunderstand me. Jesus died once and for all. You are not “unsaved” by unconfessed sin. But if you are having trouble feeling close to the Lord, one of the first things to do is ask the Lord to help you see if there is any unconfessed sin you need to deal with.

So, today’s message is this: Confession is good for the soul. It is also good for receiving the abundant life God has for us!

Praying for you today!

Sara

Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

Yesterday, we learned that abundant life yields forgiveness in us and through us. But forgiveness does not come easy. Forgiveness is tricky and sticky. It can elude us and intrude in our lives. If we don’t forgive, we are susceptible to a bitter root, which grows its tangling web around our hearts, souls, and even personalities.

I have had my own set of circumstances of forgiveness from time to time. The details are not important, nor are they as sad and dramatic as many people have to endure. I remember a day many years ago when I was driving on the Natchez Trace, enjoying the beauty all around me. I wanted to listen to music but could not find anything except a country preacher talking about forgiveness. I started to turn off the car radio, thinking to myself, “I don’t have anyone to forgive.” But then I stopped. Why? Because I felt a slight nudge in my spirit. Enough of a nudge to pray. “I don’t have anyone to forgive, do I, Lord?” And immediately the face of a friend popped in my head. Yes, this friend had hurt me. She had offended me and come against me. She had been disloyal. “But that was long ago. We are okay now,” I thought. But the more I listened to the country preacher the more I knew the truth. I had not forgiven her. Not really.

You see, the Bible calls us to be PEACEMAKERS. But I was being a PEACEKEEPER. There is a difference. I knew in my car that day that God was calling me away from just keeping the peace, and toward making peace in my own heart and in that situation.

A peacemaker does not shy back from dealing with a situation with honesty and clarity.

A peacemaker makes peace with others, which is a recognition that peace needs to be made. A peacemaker does not deny that there is a problem, a wrong, or a hurt.

A peacekeeper, on the other hand, just keeps whatever peace is there. A peacekeeper does not want to rock the boat, deal with the truth, or recognize the hurt. A peacekeeper never really changes a situation, just maybe makes it slightly more pleasant.

A peacemaker makes peace. And to make peace with something or someone, you have to deal with it. Now, in my situation, the details had long ceased to be important. And we had talked about it at the time. So, the hard work that still needed to be done was in my own heart. And to tell you the truth, once I began to process of making peace instead of just keeping peace, the old hurt resurfaced and began to hurt me all over again.

There is a great lesson in there. Don’t put if off, friends. If there is un-forgiveness in your heart, even a little bit, go ahead and make peace with it. Because the longer you put it off, the more it hurts when it resurfaces. And it will resurface.

So, in this particular journey, this is what I learned:

1. Just because we love Jesus doesn’t mean that forgiveness is easy. It is hard work.
2. We can never be more like Jesus than when we have to forgive, for what is Jesus if He is not forgiveness?
3. You can’t hate someone you pray for. Even if you all you can manage is a “Lord, bless him or her,” start there. In time, the Holy Spirit will work in your life to such a degree you really and purely want peace and blessing for the other person. This will be the work of the Holy Spirit in us, not from us alone.
4. Sometimes we feel that we can’t forgive someone else. The hurts are too raw, the details too overwhelming. In those cases, you must rely on this truth: You are right. You, on your own, cannot forgive. But Jesus, who is living in you, can. So just move on over and let him do it for you and through you. I promise He will, if you surrender it to Him.

Today, be a peacemaker not just a peacekeeper. I am praying for you!

Sara

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

                                                                                                John 10:10

Last week we discussed what abundant life is NOT.

1. Abundant Life is NOT equal to material wealth.
2. Abundant Life is NOT equal to the approval of man.
3. Abundant Life is NOT a picture-perfect life.
4. Abundant Life is NOT found when everything is going just as we want it to—because life on this earth will never be exactly just the way we want it.

Now that we know what it is not, let’s think about what it is. Let’s investigate a little bit more about abundant life by asking ourselves what does abundant life YIELD?

There are two meanings to the word yield: 1) it means to produce, provide, deliver, generate.

So, what does the abundant life Jesus gives us produce, provide, deliver or generate for us?

2) YIELD also means to give way to another, to relinquish the right or possession of something.

So, how does the abundant life Jesus gives us enable us to give away to others? How does the abundant life Jesus gives us enable us to relinquish our rights or possessions?

I think both definitions apply in our study of abundant life. From the first definition, what does it yield—produce, provide, deliver, or generate for us?  We can find one of the answers to this question by focusing on why Jesus came. We all know why Jesus came, right? Many of us have learned this from birth at home and church.

He came to forgive us.  That is the bottom line.  If we did not need forgiveness, Jesus would not have had to come save us.

So, abundant life yields (produces, provides, delivers, and generates) forgiveness from Jesus to us. That is how we come to Christ in the first place. We recognize that we are sinners, unable to conquer sin on our own. We recognize that we need forgiveness and then we ask for it. That is how a relationship with Christ begins.

But it doesn’t stop there. Then we need to go on to the second definition of yield. Abundant life yields forgiveness in us (helps us relinquish the right or possession of un-forgiveness) so we are free to forgive others as we have been forgiven.

Forgiveness is hard, no doubt. But rest assured you can never be more like Jesus than when you have to forgive someone. Ask the Lord today whom you need to forgive. Praying for you!

Sara