February 21
And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. Ex 34:5-7 (KJV)
Beloved, it is God’s mercy that brings you to the throne, cleanse and purged from all uncleanliness and filthiness. When you senses that you have failed spiritually, how do you handle it? Come and discover the right thing to do when we see failure looking at you face to face:
Spiritual Failure
How do you deal with your spiritual failures?
- · Despair?
- · Self-condemnation?
- · Self flagellating?
Or
- · Confession: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.“ (1 John 1:9)
- · Acceptance of His grace: “If Thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities… who could stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.“ (Psalm 130:3, 4)
- · New determination: “A righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.“ (Proverbs 24:16a)
How you choose to deal with your spiritual failings probably has something to do with your view of God, either as a condemning Tyrant, or as a loving Father.
Here’s how Francis of Sales, a Seventeenth Century mystic handled his failings:
“Well my poor soul, here we are in the ditch again – in spite of our earnest resolve to stay out of it.
“Ah well, let us get out and be on our way; and we will do well enough, God helping us.”
Unless we comprehend and appropriate a measure of His grace amidst our personal struggles with sin, we will despair of the Christian life. Those pilgrims who end their spiritual journey well have learned to drink freely of that grace (Rom 7: 24-25). How about you?
It might interest you to know that many who clamour for the GRACE and MERCY of God do not know how to give same to those that needs it around them. Do you remember what our Lord Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer that opens shut doors by principalities and powers? “Forgiveness”. Discover more my dear:
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.—Matthew 6:12
Few things are more precious to receive than forgiveness. After carrying the burden of our sin, it is wonderfully freeing to know that the one we have wronged has completely forgiven us. Jesus told His disciples to ask God for forgiveness every time they prayed. Jesus knew that we would daily incur debts against God, as we inevitably fall short of God’s standard. A day does not go by that we do not need to ask God to remove our debt against Him.
Jesus warned that we should expect forgiveness from God as we forgive those who sin against us, for God will forgive us in the same way we forgive others (Matt. 6:15). God’s nature is forgiveness (Exod. 34:6–7). If we are to be His disciples, we must follow His example. If God will forgive our most relentless enemy, we can do nothing less. Jesus did not say that certain offenses are unworthy of our forgiveness. We have no biblical excuse for allowing unforgiveness in our hearts.
If you choose to withhold forgiveness from someone, your worship and prayers are futile (Matt. 5:23–24). Ask God to make you aware of those dark corners in your life where you are harboring resentment. A keen awareness of your own need for forgiveness will put the offenses of others in their proper light.
Ask God to make you like Christ so that, even when you are being persecuted, you can pray “Father, forgive them.”
Easy? Very difficult someone said. But, that is what is written and it cannot be broken. How about that? Beloved, I have resolved that nothing on this earth worth my missing heaven absolutely “NOTHING” so I have made up my mind to pursue righteousness at all cost. I have learnt to keep quiet when am hurting. Resolve to take the matter to throne as often as possible until I receive grace to forgive and move on.
Nothing only that, unforgiveness blocks your access to the throne, even Christ forgave those who nailed him on the cross. E! Not easy, Evangelist. I pray to God to release “GRACE” upon you now, in Jesus Name!
REMEMBER, the devil moves around like a prowling lion looking for who to devour, don’t make yourself available to him; He will mess you up. And am sure you don’t want that. Remember your forgiveness depends largely on the forgiveness you granted unto others.
Meditate on these until by the grace of God, we meet next week.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
Evang. Ifeoma Ohondu.
