Day 3: Forgiveness Challenge

Note: If you are interested in participating in the Forgiveness Challenge, click here to find out more information about it. Remember it's never to late to start the Forgiveness Challenge!! 

Day 2: Forgiveness Challenge

Note: If you are interested in participating in the Forgiveness Challenge, click here to find out more information about it. Remember it's never to late to start the Forgiveness Challenge!!

Day 1: Forgiveness Challenge

 

30 Day Forgiveness Challenge

Hello Everyone!!! I hope all is well with each and everyone of you!  Ok, so some of you are probably

wondering what in the world is this forgiveness challenge and what it consists of! Well, I will explain to you in details what it is later on in this post.  We all know that forgiving people who have hurt us in ways that sometimes seems unforgivable is one of the hardest tasks we will have to do. When we hold a grudge against someone, don't you know that person has some power over us? What we have done is we have allowed them to have control over our emotions. For example, when we see this person, anger stirs up in our hearts as the memory of what they did or said plays out in our mind. No one should ever have that much control over us in a negative way like that. 

This challenge also includes not only forgiving other people, but ourselves. Some of us have problems with forgiving ourselves of things we have done in the past, but the word of God says,

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" ( I John 1: 9). 

I've been there and trust me it's not a good feeling when we are beating up ourselves for things God has already forgiven us for.  

I remember one time that I thought it would be almost impossible to forgive this particular person. Well, for me it took a lot of prayers to be able to forgive them, but God allowed me to love this person freely without having anything in my heart against them. I am telling you if it wasn't for the grace of God, I wouldn't even have thought about forgiving this person or would have been capable of forgiving them. God shifted my perspective from my own hurt to see the bigger picture that people who hurt others intentionally are hurt and broken people themselves. 

I think sometimes we fear that when we truly forgive someone, we are allowing ourselves to believe that what they said or did is okay. No, it's not okay!! We are just freeing ourselves from their power. The Lord placed this idea of doing a 30 Day Forgiveness Challenge in my spirit about a month ago. How does this work? I want you to pray everyday for 30 days for the person who have hurt you and you can't seem to forgive this person. Also pray for yourself if you can't seem to forgive yourself for things you have done in the past.  If you feel the Lord leading you to fast during this time, then do it.  Each day I'm going to put scriptures or some type of encouragement to help you along the way.Some of the scriptures that I will be posting will be talking about love and not necessarily forgiveness, but love is part of the forgiveness process. We must learn to love like Christ wants us to in order to forgive ourselves and others.  I can't guarantee that you will forgive this person or yourself in 30 days. However, this will lead you on the path of forgiveness and clean your heart of any strife or malice that may have taken root.

This challenge will commence on today. If you are interested in participating in this challenge, please email me at jesussaveseva8@gmail.com.

Your Sister in Christ,

Being Free In Christ

Naypong

What does it mean to be free in Christ? Does it mean that we can do whatever we want now? Paul addresses this issue in Romans 6. The first verse of this chapter proposes a question, "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" This is a question that many wanted to know during Paul's time. Paul answers the question in the second verse by saying, "By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" In order to be free in Christ, you must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. When you accept Christ in your life, you are no longer slaves to sin. You no longer have those evil desires to ignore Christ and do whatever you want, but to please the Father. Does that mean you will never sin again? No, of course not. This is bigger than our own willpower, but it's about the grace of God who gives us power through the Holy Spirit to live a righteous life.

Let's look at Romans 6:16 ,and it says, "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness?" I can say this for myself that once I came into Christ I did become a slave to righteousness. Most of my decisions are based on what God wants me to do even if it may not be exactly what I want. Being in a relationship with Christ is like being in a relationship with a significant other. When you are in a relationship with someone, you will try to do your best to please the other person.

Some nonbelievers feel that when a Christian follows the Word of God that they are in bondage because of all of its' do's and don'ts. No, actually by following the Word, you are setting yourself free from the bondage of sin. If sin is not bondage, then why do we have so many alcoholics, sex addicts, drug addicts, and the list goes on? When you ask an alcoholic to stop drinking, they can't unless they are delivered from it. Why do you think the word of God says in Ephesian 5: 18,"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit?" It's because God knows what excessive drinking can lead to.  If God tells us not to do something, it's because it's for our own good. It's not because he doesn't want us to have fun.  Christ is much wiser and smarter than we are. When we don't follow the word of God, there will be consequences to disobedience.  Let's take fornication for example.  In 1 Corinthians 6:18, it says,"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." When a person commits fornication, there are consequences to this action. The consequences are guilt, shame,an unwanted pregnancy, or some type of sexually transmitted disease.  Do you think that God wants this for us? He loves us so much that he tells us to avoid this so we will not have these consequences. The good news is that if you have committed fornication or any other type of sin and you want to repent of that sin, God can forgive you. 1 John 1: 19, it says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

In conclusion, being a slave to righteousness brings peace and joy unlike being a slave to sin which brings guilt and torment. Choose life by following Christ and your life will never be the same!


Your Sister in Christ,
 

GREAT NEWS!!!

Hello Everyone!! I have some great news as you read on the title of this post.  One of my posts will be featured on blogsbychristianwomen.com!!!!!!!!!! God is so good because different websites are wanting me to write articles for them. All glory belongs to Him! If you are interested in reading my post, click this link to go to their website http://blogsbychristianwomen.com/2014/10/will-trust/.

Your Sister In Christ,

Is Speaking in Tongues Real? My Testimony

Listen to this message by clicking this link:Is Speaking in Tongues Real? Podcast

Here is a great video to check out on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZbQBajYnEc


Your Sister In Christ,