Forgiveness Is A Kingdom Priority

“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Hebrews 12:14-15).

Forgiveness isn’t easy, but it is required.  It is more than possible to miss the grace of God. The key is connected to what it means to forgive from the deepest heart, or merely to tolerate behavior and “stuff it” until it explodes into a bitter rage. Failure to forgive leads to a growth in negative inner grief. The old saying goes “Bitter or better.”

Bitterness is nothing more than old unforgiveness. Bitterness is what grows from a seed of injustice, planted and watered in the garden of what-might-have-been. When nurtured, it brings forth fruit. This fruit, fully mature, tastes sweet at first bite, but it turns the inner being sour with a harsh and biting deep despair.

Jesus told us to forgive. More than this, He commanded us to pray for our forgiveness based on how we extend it to others! He leaves no room for yesterday’s sins and the grudges we nurse from old offenses. The kingdom is here and it means mercy! It stands for release from past wounds—suffered from those who sinned against us—based on the blood of His Son.

It is sobering to listen to the words that follow immediately after our Lord taught us to pray this prayer: “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matthew 6:14-15, NASB).

Forgiveness is such a kingdom priority that our Lord made sure we understood this by adding an addendum to the prayer. The thrust is that if we receive mercy, we are to extend it. receiving forgiveness must grow us to become so like Christ that we extend it to others freely.

Lord, teach me to have a heart of forgiveness and to turn my back on bitterness in my thoughts, actions and speech.  Draw me towards a deep desire to demonstrate only grace and mercy to others, even when they are unkind or do damage.  May Jesus live within me so fully that there is no room for anything but His character to be seen in my life. 

–Adapted from Power Praying (Hearing Jesus’ Spirit by Praying Jesus’ Prayer)by David Chotka. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the codeCONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.

Prayer Points

Praise the Lord Almighty, who allows city dwellers around the world to seek him (Zech. 8:20ff). Thank God for letting you find him. Confess times you have become indifferent and inattentive to his presence. Commit yourself to ongoing communion with him throughout the day. Ask God to regularly fill you with the joy of his salvation (Ps. 51:7-12).

Pray that God will move the hearts of national leaders throughout the world to provide open doors for the spread of God’s salvation. Ask that the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ (Rev. 11:15) very soon!

–Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayershop.org. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.

Free 2016 Election Prayer Guide!  Download a free copy of How to Pray for an Election: 2016 Election Prayer Guide to assist you in praying with power and effectiveness through this election season. Click here to join in the conversation on Facebook where daily prayers are offered up for our nation.

**The dollars you spend on our resources help Harvest Prayer Ministries to train churches to become houses of prayer for all nations! Visit our onlinePrayerShop! You will find many valuable resources on prayer to help you, your family and your church!

Connection (Devotions for Everyday Life) © 2016 is published daily byHarvest Prayer Ministries. Subscribe here.

Posted in Devotions on April 27, 2016

Thank you Betty for this. I have two friends right now that are dealing with forgiving. So this was right on the mark. 

It is funny how I see things around here and think of the Bahamas.

This was the bologna I ate while over there. The Oscar Mayor Bologna was about $2.00 more than this. This cost, I think? $2.99. 

But at Walmart is is only $.98. That was apart of my lunch Tuesday. You know cut it up and serve it on crackers. Hey it fills me up and taste okay. 

I got this from a good friend back in the Bahamas Thanks Harri

I pray this tugs on your heart as much as it did mine. ENJOY IT. 

What does it mean to be BORN AGAIN?

Jesus said, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3).” Born again? You must be kidding! Put life in reverse? We can’t be born again.

Oh, but wouldn’t we like to? A try-again. A reload. How can this be? Jesus answers inJohn 3:16—the hope diamond of the Bible. “For God so loved the word that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life“. A twenty-six word parade of hope!

If you know nothing of the Bible—start here. If you know everything about the Bible—return here! He loves. He gave. We believe. We live! “For God so loved the word that he gave his one and only Son…” John 3:16.

By Max Lucado
From: 3:16 The Numbers of Hope

Before I became a Christian, I have heard this saying many times. Please take a extra five (5) minutes and read the following. 

John 3:1-8

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[fn] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[fn] Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[fn] must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”  Very simple. There is nothing else has to be done. you have to be sincere. Just ask Jesus Christ into your heart. Then if you would please check out a church that teaches the Word. of God.  Hey everyone, I know I have talked about this before, but please at anytime you have any questions about what ever I put in this blog. I would love to hear from you. E mail me at  tombahamas7@gmail.com

I know I need a life?

Hey Costco has the Italian Sausage Sandwich. I texted Don, back in Balt. Md. Back when I was visiting him and his wife. We went to Costco a couple of times for lunch. I saw this sandwich and told him we don't have it here in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 

But now we do. It really looks good and it taste GREAT. 

Life is short and I try to get the best of all He has for me. 

The old girl needed a wax job.

That right I wax my windows too. The reason it is like Rain X your windows. 

As I was putting the wax on, two couples walked by. As most say things like, Hey when you are done there, my car is right over there. Well one of guys said that. I told I sorry, not today. I have to go to work by 1 pm. The gentlemen said, why not RETIRE? I said maybe?

But after he walked away, I was thinking how I have been asking the Lord for what is next? I have been talking about retiring. 

I went looking for the couples, I talked with. But I guess they were on the other side of the forest. 

I wrote a note and put it in the guys door jam. It said:

I am not sure if you would understand this or not? But I believe God spoke through you by saying Retire. Thank you sir, Tom.

It really was neat to write the note. 

It make me feel so much better after I wax this poor old girl. But she still looking good. I have been very blessed to have her and just enjoying having the truck. 

I have been going north to Vero Beach.

That right Vero Beach is a place I have been visiting a couple of times this last month. Folks you know you look at a map and say wow taking 95 is 9 or more miles to travel, than using the Florida Turnpike? Okay now look at the rate you are paying for 9 miles savings. That right $5.31 ONE WAY. I will be taking 95 from now on. 

It is funny how we look at one way and then look at the cost. The reason I say this is Sunpass is a great way to pay for your tolls, BUT if you had to pay by money? I think you would rethink that???

Devastated BUT NOT Destroyed. I get these devotions from a friend back in the Bahamas, thank you Betty.

LYSA TERKEURST

“He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’” Psalm 46:10 (NIV)

I took my seat in the middle of the food court and was thankful I could hide my tears by staring down at my food. I quietly brushed my napkin across my cheek. I blinked. I tried desperately to swallow.

I’m not normally a mall-goer, but that day I needed a place to hide. A place to process. A place to remember that the whole world wasn’t falling apart.

The news I’d received from just an hour earlier crushed me. And devastated me.

A friend I love made a decision that I couldn’t for the life of me understand. It wasn’t in keeping with her character. It wasn’t something I ever dreamed this person could do. The affects of this decision would careen across her life and mine with really hard consequences.

Glancing at the table across from me I saw two women a little younger than me. They were laughing and cutting up food into bite-size pieces for their young kids. I could hear them talking about costumes that needed to be made for their upcoming preschool performance. One of them was having a hard time finding purple tights and she desperately needed purple tights to make the costume complete.

I whispered under my breath, “I wish my biggest issue was purple tights.” Although my whispered statement was lost in the chaotic chorus of food court voices and noises, the scream inside my heart hovered over me in deafening tones.

What. In. The. World!

My mind raced. My throat tightened. My eyes leaked uncontrollably.

I tried to pray but honestly I felt like God was pretty distant at that moment.

It’s hard to stand on the goodness of God when you feel like life has just been stripped of so much good.

I forced my legs to support my body. I walked mindlessly to my car. And I drove home.

It’s in these moments where we know if the Word of God has seeped deep into our hearts or not. Though the world seemed to swirl and spin without anything for me to hold onto, one simple statement rose to the top of my mind and cut through with crystal clarity, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

I heard it over and over.

And I knew it wasn’t my mind conjuring up this Bible verse. It was the Holy Spirit inside of me speaking. Reassuring. And quite honestly, holding me together when circumstances were literally tearing me apart.

I don’t know what hard reality is crushing your heart right now. But I sense I’m not alone. The enemy is on a full-out attack against everything good, sacred, pure and honest. He is the father of lies who wants us to believe that if our circumstances fall apart, then so will we.

But take it from a woman in the middle of my own hard reality: Satan is a liar. God is a Redeemer. A Healer. The Author of hope. The Pathway of restoration. The great I AM.

Right this very minute there are some things you and I must cling and hold to as if our lives depended on it:

1. God loves us and He will not leave us.
2. This battle isn’t ours. The battle belongs to the Lord. Let Him fight for you. Save your emotional energy and use it to dig into His Word like never before. Our job is to be obedient to God. God’s job is winning this battle.
3. The battle might not be easy or short-lived, but victory will be there for those who trust God.
4. God is good even when the circumstances are darker than you ever imagined. God is good even when people are not. God is good even when things seem stinking hopeless. God is good and can be trusted when you feel suspicious of everyone and everything around you.
5. Lastly, God is good at being God. Don’t try to fix what He hasn’t assigned you to fix. Don’t try to manipulate or control or spend all your emotions trying to figure it out. Let Him be God. Free yourself from this impossible assignment.

Sweet friend, be still. And know. He is God.

I’m praying for you. And I treasure the fact I know you are praying for me.

Below you’ll see I had some bracelets made to help remind me of these truths in the hard moments. If you’re going through a hard time, get one of these and let’s band together to declare we Jesus girls may not have all the answers for our situations. But by God we will stand in the midst of our hard days and declare we trust the One who holds every answer.

We will … be still … and know … HE IS GOD!

Dear Lord, I choose to hand my situation over to You today. I will be still and know that You, and only You, are God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY:
Psalm 13:5-6, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.” (NIV)

I am blessed each time.

Remember last week when I was out riding? Well I saw the planes in the air there. That is because the Air Show is coming to town again. It has been a while since they had that. 

It is kinda neat when I am riding and I take pictures with out even knowing it. 

You can see they are bringing in more sand. not sure where it came from. But by looking at the rest of the beach, they are building sand dudes. That will look so nice. Plus it will help keep the sand from blowing over onto the street. 

This is just for fun,

I have been enjoying these small pies for many years. Back a little while ago, they sold for $.48 each. Then last year they rise the price to $.88 each. 

Not sure when they dropped the price back down to $.50 each. Okay that sounds good to me. I would enjoy one or two every once and while. For the taste and just good value for the money. 

But as I went shopping on Sunday night at Walmart. I found out the price is the same BUT, Look at the size now? 

Use to be 4 ounces and bigger in diameter. NOW they are selling us 3.2 oz. 

Wow every way they can cut cost and pass it on to us. 

How times do we as Christians worry about things? Oh that we don't worry, we are concern.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

Worry is really just another word for fear. When we worry about our kids, our relationships, our finances, or any number of things, we are actually living in fear. And it can be paralyzing.

Fear displaces faith in our hearts. Faith is the assurance of God’s ability to give us help and strength and wisdom. When fear displaces our faith, we find it hard to believe that our God is able.

Faith displaces fear. When we take each and every fear to God and give it into His hands, trusting Him to be our help and our strength, our faith displaces that fear. His peace comes in. It doesn’t mean our problems all fade into the distance. It does mean however, that we will have the strength we need to face every challenge.

It also means we can expect our almighty God to work within our circumstances in unexpected ways. It means we can be more than just survivors — we can be over comers.

To feel fear in the face of the unknown is a normal reaction. Yet God tells us we can live beyond that and let our faith extinguish our fear.

Take whatever worry is plaguing your mind and heart today and identify the fear that it truly is. Then invite God to help you lift the shield of faith to extinguish that fear. He is able and He will do it!

Father God, I thank You that You are more powerful than any of my circumstances. Today I ask You to increase my faith and to extinguish the fear that threatens to sap strength from my soul. Please help me to keep focused on You and not my fear. I lift up my shield of faith. In the name of Jesus, amen.

By Gail Rodgers

It really is neat how our Lord works things out. I got a e mail this morning from some friends back in Nassau. They are going there some troubles now and they just asked for prayer. So by reading this, our worries are nothing compared to our Father in Heaven. 

HOW SCARY IS THIS? I checked this out on Snope it is true !!!!

Pictures From London - A must see!

Those of you receiving these pictures in the U.S.A. and Canada.

Please see the last paragraph. And please forward them to everyone.

These pictures are of Muslims marching through the STREETS OF LONDON during their

recent ‘Religion of Peace Demonstration’.

 

 

Why would anyone think that we should be at war with such nice, peaceful Muslims?!
You need to forward this one to everyone! These pictures tell it all!
Muslims have stated that England will be the first country they take over!
These are pictures not shown on American TV or in American Newspapers – WHY?!

(but were forwarded by a Canadian friend who thought ALL Americans ought to know!)

I got this from a friend that lives in Canada, Thank you Walter. This is on Snope too. 
Please if you ever question a site or story please check it out on SNOPE. I believe they do their research . 

=

A Darn Good Question

This bike ride was so beautiful and peaceful.

This is the Deerfield Beach. I didn't take any picture riding north. I took US 1. That is some what a boring ride. All you see is the stores and restaurants. But going along A1A. . 

I just love this area of A1A, it is covered with trees and just such a beautiful site. 

As I ride around this great area I am always being reminded that bicyclers have a right to use the roads. 

Wow I am riding along and look up and see this. Not sure who they are, but you can see they are practicing for a show of some kind? 

I tried to get pictures of the planes, but to far away. Still was neat to see. 

Folks if by any chance you look at these rides I take and say, what a waste of time. Well moments like this I get such a joy seeing things I normally would not. 

I think this is the first time that I rode south from Deerfield Beach? The reason I say that is I usually ride north on A1A and then take US 1 back home or Dixie highway. 

But this was a treat for me this time. 

I got this sign from a good friend a year or longer. I am very blessed when I can ride and just enjoy it. 

This is our last CORE VALUE #7

This sure was a beautiful way to end our core values. It is such a way to express what core values are. 

By looking at the knot, I was a little confuse on the way it goes, but after looking at it a little longer it makes sense now. The way the arrows go. 

If you have ever been to a Christian wedding. You would hear these verses told about what love is. 

1 Corinthians 13:1-13. I will not write out the whole chapter. But when you get a chance please read it.

It starts out with:

If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth, but didn't love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal. 

The final words in that chapter are,

13:13 There are three things that will endure- faith, hope and love, and the greatest is LOVE.

It has been a while since my last bicycle ride. I think over three weeks or longer.

I not sure why, but I just love riding towards the ocean and along side of it too. This is on Atlantic going over the inter coastal. 

The wind was in my face big time.

The ocean was ripping it up. I was told we did baptisms here on Saturday. Wow that is pretty rough out there. 

You can see it was not a day to hang out here. Plus I really think most of the Snowbirds have flown back home by now. Hey I use to be one of them. back in 1977. My folks moved down here and I came down to visit in 1980. Then I moved down to Lakeland Fl. in 1984. I have ever looked back and say why? It was a rough road after I did it. But I sure love the beach and sand. 

This has been a parking lot since I have lived here. Now it will be Pier Parking Garage. That will really help during the winter time. There has been a parking shortage for many years here. 

I really wanted to ride a little more than this, today. But the wind was in my face going east and then going north was just as bad. I thought well just travel south. But then I have to ride north to get home again. Not sure if the old legs could handle it. But I had a real nice ride coming home. The wind at my back. I have been very blessed to be able to ride and enjoy it. There are some jerks on the road, but like I said, BY HIS GRACE. 

This last Saturday a good friend of mine got Married.

This are pictures of their up bring. It is Joshua Whatley and Hayli White. 

Since I have been back in the states working at Calvary, Josh and I work together on different thing. You know setting up the Banquet rooms or moving this or that. 

As I first came aboard, I was to help Josh work on the keys and locks there. At first it was kind of fun. But as I had to change the pins in the locks, I had all kinds of issues. I would forget some things and after a while.I just told Scott and Josh, I don't have a gift to work on lock and keys. 

But as we still have events go on here, Josh is always willing to help us out. 

I received this a couple of weeks ago. I would have loved to bring someone to this. But as I looked over our schedule for the week-end. I knew I needed to work. So as I just kept popping in and out. I took some pictures and just enjoyed the time I could with them. So I know some of the picture are not that great. But ad least I was there. 

This is Rabbi Scott and Brandon. He really is not a Rabbi, He is a Elder here at Calvary plus my boss. So he had the privilege to be the one that married Josh and Hayli. Brandon use to be part of our team as Event Guys. But now he helps out with the Family Ministry. 

These are the steps the wedding party will use. This is our new replacement for Brandon, Lucas and you all know Jeremy. Folks I am very blessed to call this place my job and get to work along side these guys. 

This was our Friday before. That right we get to set up the wedding and what ever else it needed to make it happen. This is our NEW DANE FLOOR. That right the Grill went out and bought a NEW one. It was so nice to put together. But as Saturday afternoon came around, after the wedding. Lucas and I got to take everything down and put away. 

I stayed until Scott prayed, then I had to leave for something else to set up. But I was told the wedding was beautiful and all went well. 

These are the two that got married. Mrs. Hayli and Mr Joshua Whatley. I had a chance to sit down for a little while. It really was a wonderful time. I did have to get up and leave a couple of times. 

I really wish these two the best and look forward in seeing how God is going to use them in the future. If you think of them at all this next week, say a prayer or two. They are on a ship enjoying their new start.