NEXT!

“Yes, I can forgive you. Your sin isn’t so bad. NEXT!”

“Hmmm…yes, your sin is forgiven,” as He eyes another person down the line with a long stare. “NEXT!”

“Well, you…I remember you…hmmm…your sin is a tough one…” more long and thoughtful stares and contemplation. “Yes, your sin is forgiven. But it was close. NEXT!”

“Oh…,” big sigh, a long look at me, as He sizes me up and thinks hard. “Yes, yes, yes. You. I have been waiting for you…mmmm. What do I do about you? Your sin is a doozy! I’m just not sure about your sin.” More sighs as He says, “Well, well, well…I’ll get back to you… NEXT!”

Thankfully this is not the picture of how God hands out forgiveness! Jesus’ blood covers it all, past present and future sins. None is too great or horrible to cover. It’s done. The forgiveness has been issued. We just have to believe and receive. And our sin is covered forever from the moment we believe and receive the gift of forgiveness made possible by His death on the cross.

It’s like God has created this great coat that is already made perfectly and hanging on a hanger for each person to receive. This coat is awesome because it changes colors and designs based on our needs. It is light and insulated at different times depending on our location and need. This is the last coat you will ever need and suits you perfectly but not everyone believes in its value or knows it’s there. On the day that each person hears that it is available; they chose whether they will walk away with it. Some quickly take it realizing its value. Some contemplate its worth and choose to decide later. Some look at the coat they are already wearing or know they have one in their closet and think, “I’m doing fine. I don’t really need this.” Others think, “This coat is ugly or useless,” and turn their backs and never think about it again.

Nothing changes about the coat, itself. Once it was created, it was offered and will continue to be offered for a very long time; not indefinitely but nearly. It will always meet your need. It’s waiting; you just need to take it.

When Christ died on the cross, our sin was taken care of. Forgiveness was available and complete, no matter when the sin or what the sin. It was finished. The only thing remaining is your choice to take what is being offered.

Have you? Will you?

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not die but have everlasting life.”

Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

OUCH!

A dear friend responded to my last post “OUCH! Thanks for the reminder!”

That’s a bit how I felt when writing that post and reading that portion of my Bible study – Discerning the Voice of God. I don’t remember all I have written over the last year and half but it is pretty safe to say that what I have posted has been messages I felt God was teaching me at the same time I was writing them. I too felt an "ouch" when first thinking of that last post. But ouches can be good. Sometimes we need something prickly to get us out of our rut of habits and misdirection.

I opened up my Bible study again this morning and read a quote by Jim Cymbala, pastor at Brooklyn Tabernacle of New York:
"Our spiritual ear will never be sensitive to His voice if we have a personal agenda to which we are already committed. God leads and speaks to the humble who have surrendered their plans and want to do His will. With an ‘open heaven’ and a surrendered will, we will be able to clearly hear God’s voice in our hearts.”

According to Pastor Cymbala's quote, to hear the voice of God in our hearts we must be more dedicated to God's plans in our lives and live a life surrendered to Him.

A verse has been popping up in my head for the last week or more and even more since writing that post. James 5:16 “the prayers of a righteous man availeth much.” A reminder of righteous living from Beth Moore, a righteous person does not willing or purposefully sin against God. We cannot ever call ourselves sinless but we can be living in such a way we where we are not purposely ignoring the leading and directions of Jesus, His Word and His Spirit.

I have also been praying for quite sometime to “hear” Jesus’ voice as I once did and to be able to pray effectively for others as I once did. These are some of the answers I have been getting: hear My voice, obey My voice immediately and listen some more. Basically it comes back to John 14:23
“…if anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching…”

I say I love Him, I must obey like I’m supposed to – immediately and completely. I want to hear Jesus' voice, so I must live a life surrendered to Him and His plans. I want my prayers to be effective and powerful for Jesus and His people, so I must live a righteous life.

What about you? Do you want to recognize the voice of Jesus in your life? Do you want your prayers to avail much?

“We must trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus.” (A quote from an old hymn.)

Thanks for being on this journey with me!

I said, “Do it NOW!”

Wow does that phrase bring back some memories…cringes…sassiness….LOL! It also brings back some memories of what I have had to say to my own children now that I’m the parent. Quite a phrase huh?

Although, I believe Jesus does not speak to us in this way and definitely has more patience with us than I do with my kids, I wonder if sometimes He knows my stubborn heart so well, this exclamation is required to get my attention; just as my parents did.

I have been doing a Bible study by Priscilla Shirer titled Discerning the Voice of God. This week’s study is about responding to God’s voice and today was about responding immediately. She shares a story of being in a relationship in college and seminary that God had clearly told both to end. Neither wanted the relationship to end despite God’s clear direction. The gentleman in the relationship eventually listened to God’s leading and ended the relationship. Priscilla shares how much heartache she suffered by not obeying God immediately and how much regret she had when she realized that the man she is now married to was going to her church while she was resisting God in her previous relationship. She potentially lost precious time with her husband because of her unwillingness to obey God immediately.

She followed up this story with an example from the Bible (Abraham and Isaac – Genesis 22:2-3) and a question for her readers: Has the Lord given you instructions this week to which you have taken too much time to respond? Let’s just say that my instructions were not this week and I had a couple that I could have listed. But the one I thought of almost immediately was this blog.

Last week I received a comment on my email from someone who had read my last blog. It was posted so long ago I’m not sure of the date off the top of my head. The comment was positive and this anonymous reader had been sent to my blog by a friend. I had also received a comment on the same blog post maybe two or three weeks ago. These comments pleasantly surprised me and encouraged me. Maybe I shouldn’t have stop posting.... I had allowed my schedule to keep me from posting regularly and then allowed some discouragement about lack of comments and visits to my blog to keep me from doing what I know God wanted me to do. I had not responded immediately like He wanted three weeks ago and not last week, so when reading this chapter in my study I decided that it required immediate attention. Hopefully by being so honest with you, my readers and those trying to be or thinking about being in relationship with Jesus, I will be held accountable to posting like God has asked me to do. We don’t know the plans He has for us, nor do we always know the plans He has for our required obedience. I have to remember that my obedience or disobedience effects more than just me. Selfishness…maybe a topic for another post, I guess I don’t realize how selfish I can be with my time and my decisions.

Priscilla made another very good point that actually prompted me to write this blog. “God speaks with perfect timing. Our response should be immediate obedience.” (pg 114)

As we complain and cry over God and His plans and awful timing, could it be that the poor timing is due to our poor response time? Something to think about...

Has the Lord given you instructions this week to which you have taken too much time to respond?