Tag: NoCondemnation

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Forgiveness Brings Freedom

This morning, I have been enjoying the sounds of a gentle rain. Oh my, rain on the desert stirs the senses. The cool air, the gentle pitter-patter on the roof and the scent of freshness.

It brings a cleansing and refreshes the soil.

I thanked the Father for touching this dry land and then I thanked Him for touching my life when it was dry and brittle. I thanked Him for his forgiveness and the freedom that forgiveness brings to a parched soul.

Guilt and shame can wither the heart like the scorching sun on the desert floor but the refreshing breeze of the Holy Spirit bringing forgiveness gives life.

If you’ve ever felt remorse, shame, and guilt over something from your past then you will know some of what the woman who met Jesus at a well was experiencing.

The disciples had gone to town to buy food and Jesus stayed at a well to wait. A woman came to the well to draw water and Jesus asked her for a drink. This was unheard of – he was a Jew, and she was a Samaritan, a half breed. This was not racially or socially acceptable, but Jesus did it anyway.

“Jesus asked her, ‘Would you please give me a drink of water?’

9 ‘You are a Jew,’ she replied, ‘and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won’t have anything to do with each other?'” John 4:8-9 CEV

As they talked Jesus told her that she could have living water. He was talking about Himself. She asked him to give her this water and when she did Jesus gave her more than she asked for.

He told her to bring her husband – you see it wasn’t proper for a married woman to receive gifts from a man without her husband’s permission.

Now comes the rub. This woman was going to have to reveal what she had wanted to keep hidden. She wasn’t married; she was living with a man, and she had had 5 husbands. Ouch!

“Jesus told her, ‘Go and bring your husband.’ 17-18 The woman answered, ‘I don’t have a husband.’

‘That’s right,’ Jesus replied, ‘you’re telling the truth. You don’t have a husband. You have already been married five times, and the man you are now living with isn’t your husband.’” John 4:16-18 CEV

Jesus didn’t condemn, he didn’t ridicule. He simply met the woman where she was and let her know that she was loved, forgiven and accepted. This loving outreach to a woman with something to hide made an eternal impact on her town.

“Many more Samaritans put their faith in Jesus because of what they heard him say. 42 They told the woman, ‘We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Savior of the world!’” John 4:41-42 CEV

I don’t know if you’re trying to hide something from the Lord, but I can assure you He already knows about it. Hiding gives Satan an opportunity to condemn us but bringing it to Jesus releases us from the condemnation, provides us with forgiveness and freedom.

“So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty. 2 That is because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you free. It made you free from the law that brings sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 ERV

Let God’s forgiveness wash you clean and shower you with freedom.

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No Coincidence

Through my years, I have learned that there are no coincidences with God.

This morning while I was praying I thanked God, the Father, for providing us with a “free” will. Then I said thank you to Jesus for paying the price for our salvation making it a “free” gift. Lastly, I thanked the Holy Spirit for guiding us each day and reminding us of the freedom that we have in Christ.

Free indeed!

Then I began reading in Psalms and there David was thanking God for freeing him of his past sins. From there my reading took me to the book of Daniel and I read the story of Daniel being sentenced to the lions’ den for his faithfulness to God. When Daniel was freed, he gave credit to God for his salvation.

My Bible reading ended this morning in Galatians, chapter 5.

“We have freedom now, because Christ made us free. So stand strong in that freedom. Don’t go back into slavery again…13 My brothers and sisters, God chose you to be free. But don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful selves. Instead, serve each other with love. 14 The whole law is made complete in this one command: “Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself.” 15 If you continue hurting each other and tearing each other apart, be careful, or you will completely destroy each other. 16 So I tell you, live the way the Spirit leads you. Then you will not do the evil things your sinful self wants… 22 But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these kinds of things. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their sinful self. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do. 25 We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.” Galatians 5:1, 13-16, 22-25 ERV

Free will, free salvation, free direction!

Just exactly what I had been praying about before I started reading.

Our freedom in Christ is no coincidence. It was planned in heaven before the world began. While we were in rebellion to God, He made a way for us to be reconciled (made right) with Him.

“So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty. 2 That is because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you free. It made you free from the law that brings sin and death. “ Romans 8:1-2

God’s plan is our freedom; free from sin, free from fear, from guilt, from anger, from selfishness, from hate. Our freedom is no coincidence – it’s the intentional plan of our loving Father.

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Unimaginable Love

There are a number of things on my heart this morning. My reading in Romans took me to Ephesians.

I love it when the Lord just opens up His word and drops it in my heart.

In Romans 7, Paul writes of his frustration of being human. He says he often ends up doing things he doesn’t want to do and finds himself lacking in doing the things he does want to do. His conclusion is that the fleshly desires of his old life are warring against the spiritual desires of his new life in Christ.

I know each and every one of us have experienced the same battles and probably with the same result. Paul deals with self-doubt and self-condemnation. But he doesn’t stop with those thoughts – thank God!

“What a miserable person I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death? 25 I thank God for his salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord! So in my mind I am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful self I am a slave to the law of sin. 8 So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty. 2 That is because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you free. It made you free from the law that brings sin and death. 3 The law was without power because it was made weak by our sinful selves. But God did what the law could not do: He sent his own Son to earth with the same human life that everyone else uses for sin. God sent him to be an offering to pay for sin. So God used a human life to destroy sin. 4 He did this so that we could be right just as the law said we must be. Now we don’t live following our sinful selves. We live following the Spirit.” Romans 7:24-8:4 ERV

Paul goes on to explain that God isn’t condemning us for our failures. No, indeed. It is God who has provided the way of victory and freedom for us from our sinful life through Jesus. “He did this so we could be right”.

As we go to the end of Romans 8 Paul writes that if God is for us, who can be against us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing! How can that be? Well, that’s when I moved to another of Paul’s writings in Ephesians.

“And I pray that you and all God’s holy people will have the power to understand the greatness of Christ’s love—how wide, how long, how high, and how deep that love is. 19 Christ’s love is greater than anyone can ever know, but I pray that you will be able to know that love. Then you can be filled with everything God has for you. 20 With God’s power working in us, he can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of.” Ephesians 3:18-20 ERV

The power of love.

God wants us to know and experience the depth of His love which really is incomprehensible to the natural way of thinking. We have to accept the depth of His love by faith. It’s greater than we can ever know naturally. The love of God fills our lives with everything our loving heavenly Father has designed for us, it is so much greater than anything we could ask for or imagine.

That’s what God’s unconditional love is…its unimaginable. It’s all God.

I know I started last year focusing on the love of God and here I am doing it again. The reason, after all my years of walking with the Lord I am daily becoming more aware of the depth of God’s love for me.

It calms my fears, dispels the condemnation, removes the guilt and defeats all the attacks that the enemy launches against me.

I am loved not because of my goodness or my works. I am loved because God, who is love, says I am. Therefore, I am confident in Him and who He has called me to be.

I want to encourage you each day as you also grow confident in His unimaginable love.

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Break Free

It’s the first Saturday in January. The first Saturday of a New Year. It’s a new beginning, a new life filled with new experiences and we can wipe last year’s slate clean.

God doesn’t want us held back by past mistakes, failures or even past sins. Through His love and forgiveness, we have been promised a freedom that no one else can provide. Remember a few days ago when I told you I am growing in God’s grace? Well, this is what I mean.

We are free to walk away from any hurt, any condemning voices, the memory of any blatant sin because of God’s grace and mercy.

“The Holy Spirit tells us this: First He says, 16 “This is the New Way of Worship that I will give them. When that day comes, says the Lord, I will put My Laws in their hearts. And I will write them in their minds.” Then He says, 17 “I will not remember their sins and wrong-doings anymore.” Hebrews 10:15-17 NLV

That day has come – the day of restoration and reconciliation with the Father. When we accept the sacrifice that Jesus made for our sins, giving His life for ours, we are cleansed completely.

Free from the past; free from sin, free from failure, free to love, free to serve. Free!

“So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” John 8:36 NLT

And the Son has made us free to be called sons of God, to enter into a relationship with the Father.

“If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished. 2 The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. 3 The Law of Moses cannot do this, because our selfish desires make the Law weak. But God set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin. God used Christ’s body to condemn sin.” Romans 8:1-3 CEV

The Father’s forgiveness is instantaneous – the moment we ask, it’s given and forgotten. The struggle comes when we let our own memories continue to condemn us. It’s important to realized that the Father’s unconditional love covers all sin.

“And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices. 19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:18-22 NLT

There’s an old hymn we used to sing, “Calvary Covers It All”. The chorus goes like this:

Calvary covers it all,
My past with its sin and stain;
My guilt and despair
Jesus took on Him there,
And Calvary covers it all.

Enter the New Year without looking back. God isn’t holding us in bondage to our past; He sent Jesus to set us free and now we are free indeed!

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Busy Day Blessings

Those of you who have been a part of my daily blog for the last year know we have gone through some changes.

It was just a year ago we came home from the mountain, put our home up for sale, sold it, downsized, and moved into an RV fulltime. Yes, all that took place in less than two months. Then we moved to a little community called Queen Valley. It’s southeast of Phoenix, remote enough to be out of the metropolitan area and close enough to see our daughters and their families without a three-hour drive.

We feel we have the best of two worlds. The mountain in the summer months and the desert during the winter. Dave calls it chasing 70*.

We spent this weekend going through our little storage building and eliminating some more “stuff”. The additional need to purge was prompted by the scheduled delivery of my new washer and dryer today. Out with the old, make room for the new!

“ Brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.” II Thessalonians 3:19 ERV

We were grateful for the strength to do the work that needed to be done. Last night, with our weekend job complete, we sat. The Lord blessed us with this beautiful sunset. It was good!

This morning I was thinking about how much we cleaned out, threw out, gave away and sold just a year ago. It seems there are times like that in our spiritual lives as well. It’s important that we get rid of things that are unnecessary and add nothing of value to our lives – anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, lying, selfishness. If we let them go unchecked these old habits could fill a dumpster when we get serious about removing them. Then once purged, it often only requires a quick clean-up to remove any new debris.

“ Don’t lie to one another. You’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete.” Colossians 3:9-10 MSG

So, what’s all this got to do with gratitude and our focus on the goodness of God? Glad you asked.

Our Father wants nothing but the best for us, that’s why He asks us to put off the old and take on the new. He doesn’t condemn, although, He is quick to convict. Condemnation comes from the enemy. Condemnation tears down and seeks to destroy, like a building that has been condemned.

Conviction points out what needs to be corrected and changed for our betterment. The Holy Spirit becomes our cheerleader – you can do better, you can succeed because Christ has given you all you need to be victorious!

“If you belong to Christ Jesus, you won’t be punished. 2 The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 CEV

“A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so everyone would have life, and have it fully.” John 10:10 CEV

Our Father is a good father. I’m so grateful for His love and for the beauty He has created!

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Not Condemned!

These words jumped off the page when I read them this morning.

“God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!” John 3:17 CEV

God’s word brings us a message of hope, of joy and reconciliation. Christ didn’t come to condemn us. He came to save us!

Religion makes the rules and tells us that we are useless and deserving of judgment and condemnation. Jesus’ message lifts us from the dirt, stands us on our feet and sends us forward with encouragement and conviction to “go on your way and sin no more”.

“When they heard this, they began to leave one by one. The older men left first, and then the others. Jesus was left alone with the woman standing there in front of him. 10 He looked up again and said to her, “Where did they all go? Did no one judge you guilty?”

11 She answered, “No one, sir.”

Then Jesus said, “I don’t judge you either. You can go now, but don’t sin again.” John 8:9-11 ERV

Society is all too quick to condemn someone because of their past. Jesus offers forgiveness.

He was condemned on our behalf.

“Once again Pilate went out. This time he said, ‘I will have Jesus brought out to you again. Then you can see for yourselves that I have not found him guilty.’ 5 Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said, ‘Here is the man!’ 6 When the chief priests and the temple police saw him, they yelled, ‘Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!’ Pilate told them, ‘You take him and nail him to a cross! I don’t find him guilty of anything.’” John 19:4-6 CEV

Jesus knew what it was like to be unjustly condemned. He did this so we could experience the amazing grace of God. He took what He didn’t deserve so we could receive the mercy and grace that we were unworthy of.

“So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty. 2 That is because in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit that brings life made you free. It made you free from the law that brings sin and death.” Romans 8:1-2 ERV

For many years I judged myself unworthy. I condemned myself for not being a good Christian. I didn’t measure up but then again none of us do. I kept trying to be good enough for God to truly love me.

I don’t know if you can imagine the peace, the joy, the confidence, the gratitude, the freedom that I experienced when I saw the truth from God’s word that He wasn’t condemning me.

“Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could be right with God.” II Corinthians 5:21 ERV

If you have struggled with condemnation let the word of God break those chains today. Receive your forgiveness, receive freedom, receive right standing with the Father and cast off the chains of condemnation!

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