Tag: anger

Our Ability to Love and Forgive Marks Us as Disciples of Jesus Christ

1 John 2:2
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

God so loved the world that He gave His Son to die for the sins of all of mankind. In this one act, we see the perfect love and the perfect forgiveness of both the Father and the Son. The advocacy of the Son is limited to believers, but the propitiation for sin extends as far and as wide and as deep as the evidence of sin in all people.

When we receive the Son, Jesus Christ, as Our Savior, we are receiving the fullness of His perfect love and forgiveness. We also receive the indwelling Holy Spirit who instills in us this perfect love and forgiveness to share with the world around us. As it is with the Father and the Son, we are to withhold love and forgiveness from no man.

With all the anger and bitterness that is spewed every day in our society, we should not withhold even the smallest portion of love and forgiveness from any man anywhere. Our ability to love and forgive under all circumstances is what marks us as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let us set aside the anger that the world stirs in us. Let us refuse to partner with the bitterness that our flesh demands. Let us live in the fullness of joy and peace that is only found through perfect love and forgiveness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the unlimited flow of love and forgiveness that comes from Your Throne. We bless the name of Jesus for becoming sin for every man so that we all could receive the eternal gift of salvation. We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will guide us as we learn to become free flowing vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask for the grace to overcome all bitterness, anger and unforgiveness in our lives so that we may in no way hinder the provision of Your love to the world around us. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Quick to Forgive and Quick to Ask for Forgiveness

Matthew 5:22
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Jesus was absolutely crystal clear in defining His position about forgiving others. He taught that there is no leeway given for those who are unwilling to forgive. Whoever is angry with another without cause is in danger of judgement themselves.

We need to look to Jesus Christ when we consider whether we are justified to be angry with another. He is the essence of perfect love and forgiveness. Jesus’ anger was limited to those who took away from the glory of the Father. He set aside His anger and replaced it with love and forgiveness when any other lesser offense was involved, whether it be directed toward Him or not. His perfect standard is the same standard that we are all called to meet. When we fall short of this standard in our daily lives, we are commanded to right ourselves before we come to Him with our offerings and our prayers. Otherwise, our prayers will be ineffective.

Let us first recognize our shortcomings in reconciling our differences with others. Let us be quick to forgive and just as quick to ask for forgiveness. Let us share the perfect love and forgiveness of Jesus with the world around us as we grow as disciples of Jesus. Let us prepare to receive the fullness of His love and forgiveness in our own lives so that we may be worthy to bring our prayers and offerings to the Father.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You have shown us. We bless the name of Jesus who is the essence of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We pray, Father, that we may become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May the world know us by our ability to set aside our anger. We ask all these things in the name of Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord of Our Peace, Jesus Christ.

Receiving All that The Lord Has for Us When Life Seems Unfair

Job 42:10
And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

The Bible records that Job was blameless and upright. He had a great family and much wealth. It was written that he was the greatest of all the people in the east. And then it all changed. God allowed Satan to take it all away from Job.

As we read about the story of Job’s life, we see Job in his anguish. He not only has lost everything, but he is mocked by his friends and even his wife tells him, “Why don’t you curse God and die.” Job assumes that God is persecuting him and hiding from him. He lashes out at God in pain.

Once Job turned from his anger and turned instead to intercessory prayer, the mercies and blessings of Our Lord were released to him. He found his prayer for others to be profitable for himself. More importantly, he found that Satan had no more power over him.

No one goes through life without hardship, heartaches, and headaches. Most of us have learned to face the reality that life is difficult. But still it can feel almost intolerable for us to accept and cope with what’s seems so unfair at times. Like Job, our relief will come when we turn our focus away from our pain and on to the wondrous majesty and mercy of Our Creator. When we do this, our concern will be more for others than for ourselves. At this point, we will receive all that the Lord has prepared for us.

“The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Let us focus on the faithful love of the Lord. Let us trust in His mercies each day.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we lift Your name above all names. There is no name above Yours. You are Our Creator and Our Sustainer. You have given us life and granted us eternal life through Your Son. We give thanks for the unmerited grace that You pour upon us. We pray Lord that You strengthen us for the battles that we face in life. We ask for the divine inspiration to keep our focus on You always. May our days be spent in service to You, free of any anguish that the world tries to bring us. We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

Whom Shall I Fear?

Psalm 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Many of the Psalms were written by David. David was proclaimed by God to be “a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do”. Because David proved himself to be obedient to the Lord’s calling on his life, sought God in all things and trusted God in all things, God made him king of Israel.

The first we read about David, we see him as a young man who believed God would give him victory over the giant, Goliath, when everyone else cowered in the face of the giant. The men of the day tried to provide David with their armor to fight the giant. David refused. He knew he only needed God on his side.

The same God that helped David slay Goliath is the God that helps us to slay the giants in our lives. The giants in our lives are not named Goliath. They are named such things as addiction, fear, worry, depression, confusion, manipulation, control, bitterness and anger. We do not need to turn to the world to defeat our giants. We only need to go to Our Heavenly Father in the name of His Son, Jesus.

Let us not be fearful in any battle that we are fighting. Just as David did, we can go to the Father to be perfectly prepared for the battle. Let us confidently proclaim victory against whatever giant or giants we are facing. Our ultimate victory has already been set aside for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Son, whose death on the Cross gave us victory over all things. We exalt the name of Our Savior King who opened the gateway to heaven for us. We are so grateful that Jesus stands beside us as we face our giants. We pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us to trust in You, Lord, just as David trusted in You. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord Mighty in Battle, Jesus Christ.

The Essence of Reconciliation

Matthew 5:22
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Jesus was absolutely crystal clear in defining His position about forgiving others. He taught that there is no leeway given for those who are unwilling to forgive. Whoever is angry with another without cause is in danger of judgement themselves.

We need to look to Jesus Christ when we consider whether we are justified to be angry with another. He is the essence of perfect love and forgiveness. Jesus’ anger was limited to those who took away from the glory of the Father. He set aside His anger and replaced it with love and forgiveness when any other lesser offense was involved, whether it be directed toward Him or not. His perfect standard is the same standard that we are all called to meet. When we fall short of this standard in our daily lives, we are commanded to right ourselves before we come to Him with our offerings and our prayers. Otherwise, our prayers will be ineffective.

Let us first recognize our shortcomings in reconciling our differences with others. Let us be quick to forgive and just as quick to ask for forgiveness. Let us share the perfect love and forgiveness of Jesus with the world around us as we grow as disciples of Jesus. Let us prepare to receive the fullness of His love and forgiveness in our own lives so that we may be worthy to bring our prayers and offerings to the Father.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You have shown us. We bless the name of Jesus who is the essence of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We pray, Father, that we may become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May the world know us by our ability to set aside our anger. We ask all these things in the name of Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord of Our Peace, Jesus Christ.

Let Us First Recognize Our Shortcomings

Matthew 5:22
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Jesus was absolutely crystal clear in defining His position about forgiving others. He taught that there is no leeway given for those who are unwilling to forgive. Whoever is angry with another without cause is in danger of judgement themselves.

We need to look to Jesus Christ when we consider whether we are justified to be angry with another. He is the essence of perfect love and forgiveness. Jesus’ anger was limited to those who took away from the glory of the Father. He set aside His anger and replaced it with love and forgiveness when any other lesser offense was involved, whether it be directed toward Him or not. His perfect standard is the same standard that we are all called to meet. When we fall short of this standard in our daily lives, we are commanded to right ourselves before we come to Him with our offerings and our prayers. Otherwise, our prayers will be ineffective.

Let us first recognize our shortcomings in reconciling our differences with others. Let us be quick to forgive and just as quick to ask for forgiveness. Let us share the perfect love and forgiveness of Jesus with the world around us as we grow as disciples of Jesus. Let us prepare to receive the fullness of His love and forgiveness in our own lives so that we may be worthy to bring our prayers and offerings to the Father.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You have shown us. We bless the name of Jesus who is the essence of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We pray, Father, that we may become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May the world know us by our ability to set aside our anger. We ask all these things in the name of Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord of Our Peace, Jesus Christ.

The Ability to Love and Forgive

1 John 2:2
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

God so loved the world that He gave His Son to die for the sins of all of mankind. In this one act, we see the perfect love and the perfect forgiveness of both the Father and the Son. The advocacy of the Son is limited to believers, but the propitiation for sin extends as far and as wide and as deep as the evidence of sin in all people.

When we receive the Son, Jesus Christ, as Our Savior, we are receiving the fullness of His perfect love and forgiveness. We also receive the indwelling Holy Spirit who instills in us this perfect love and forgiveness to share with the world around us. As it is with the Father and the Son, we are to withhold love and forgiveness from no man.

With all the anger and bitterness that is spewed every day in our society, we should not withhold even the smallest portion of love and forgiveness from any man anywhere. Our ability to love and forgive under all circumstances is what marks us as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let us set aside the anger that the world stirs in us. Let us refuse to partner with the bitterness that our flesh demands. Let us live in the fullness of joy and peace that is only found through perfect love and forgiveness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the unlimited flow of love and forgiveness that comes from Your Throne. We bless the name of Jesus for becoming sin for every man so that we all could receive the eternal gift of salvation. We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will guide us as we learn to become free flowing vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask for the grace to overcome all bitterness, anger and unforgiveness in our lives so that we may in no way hinder the provision of Your love to the world around us. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

The Willingness to Forgive Others

Mark 11:25
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Nothing we do has value in the eyes of the Lord unless it has been put in proper order in our lives. The Heavenly Father must be our first consideration in all things. If there is anything or any person the comes before the Father, He will not hear our prayers.

This is why unforgiveness hurts us so much. When we come before the Father in prayer with anger, uncharitable feelings and unforgiveness toward another, He cannot grant us spiritual power. We have supplanted His place as The First by coming to Him with our grievances against another mixed in with our prayer offering.

These grievances must be set aside through the same perfect process of loving forgiveness that we receive from the wondrous workings of the Cross. Jesus died for the forgiveness of all men, not just certain ones that met His expectations.

God’s Holy Word makes it abundantly clear that the forgiveness of the Father is not possible if we are not first able to forgive those who have given us reason to feel injured by them. Truly we cannot be forgiven if we are not willing to forgive others.

Let us recognize and understand that our forgiveness must extend to all. Let us learn to love and forgive in the same unconditional manner that Jesus did and the Father does. Let us be ever so mindful that we must release all grievances against others before we go the Father in prayer.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to hear our prayers when we come before You without claims against any other person. We praise the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who made it possible for us to stand before You as righteous men and women, free from unforgiveness. We pray for the wisdom and strength to forgive others as You have forgiven us. May we humble ourselves and kneel at the Cross daily so that we may receive the grace that we need to remain worthy to receive Your mercy. We ask all these things in the name of our merciful Savior, Jesus Christ.