How quick I was to blow up over even the slightest offense....against me. Do you think I'm some fool! How dare you try to make me understand how it happened again.....to me? I have run out of mercy and patience with this situation. Too many offenses....against me. You've seen the last of my smile, the last of my warm eyes. You have one, too many, times done this thing....against me. Love doesn't live here anymore. A heart turned cold all because there were too many offenses.....against me.
An image of what I despised stared back at me. It was easy to judge an offense when it was done....against me. But now I had become loathsome to myself looking to Jesus on the mercy seat....once again. I had several times done what I said I would do no more. Nevertheless, here I am again confusing grace with a free ride to sin. How could I have become the person I was so harsh on before? Charge after charge, piled up....I had become a repeat offender. Strange thing is, I never heard one of the accusations I had relentlessly charged others with. Instead of a blow up, I received a comforting whisper. When I tried to explain, He already knew. Expecting to be turned away....surely He had run out of mercy and patience with me. He grabbed me and assured me the matter had been settled. He said, "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool." (Isaiah 1:18, NLT) I thought surely this is it. No one can love me in the state I'm in. I had let Him down too many times. But the warmth and love I never thought I'd feel again embraced me.
God IS Love! And it shines brightest in our lives when we least deserve it. God is not like man that He would take His love away because we have repeatedly sinned against Him. No, he continues to wash us (after our repenting), and loving us evermore keeping no record of our wrongdoings. I don't care what you've done or how often you've done it, God desires that you be made whole IN HIM. "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:1-2, NIV) The law said we deserved death for our sins, but Jesus came in the fullness of time giving His life as payment for the debt we owed. He wants us to be free; otherwise, He would have died in vain. Receive God's healing, His correction, and His love. GET UP....and try it again. Remember what it felt like when it was "against me (you)". One death on the cross covered our many repeated offenses, and IN LOVE we were connected back to God. Today, though you may very well be that repeat offender, you still have the option to offer up with a sincere heart true repentance to God. He's not like me, he's not like you. He won't turn his back, but stands ready to forgive desiring that all would come to repentance. Once you do, your record has been expunged... Thank God for His grace and mercy :)
Be blessed...
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Going Back Under The Rug
Healing does not occur overnight (though many of us would prefer it that way, right?). Instead, it is a process that takes place IN you over time. God is careful to take His time with us that we may not miss the message in the mess. You might not realize what a blessing it is to be healthy until you have been sick....and that is applicable to both our physical and our spiritual. Well... How long does it take? When will mine begin? What will be my disposition post-healing? These are questions ringing in our heads...no one knows but God. However, the one area He leaves to your control is when it will begin. At the moment you recognize your need for healing and invite God into your situation, He will begin His work of healing IN you. So now that you've realized that you need to be and WANT to be healed, then what? You have to go back to the rug, and deal with what's underneath it. A lot of us, perhaps, have been trained to see the dirt and as an effort to not have anyone else see it or hide it from our own view, to just sweep it away....under the rug. Well TODAY, God is calling you back under the rug. You will have to go back with much prayer. Ask God to help you raise the rug and deal with the dirty past without the shame and guilt it brought. We try to get as far away from our dirtiness as possible....and this is good. But at some point, the dirt has to be dealt with in order to be truly clean. I know it's not the easiest thing to do. Going back is painful. It may make you sick, literally. Healing is like the "nasty medicine" you were made to take as a kid. Who remembers cod liver oil? Jesus! I would have rather suffered in my sickness another couple of weeks than take that! You didn't feel good, and it most definitely didn't taste good. BUT guess what....it MADE YOU BETTER.
QUESTION: How far removed must you be, and then again how close should you be as to not be so far removed?
ANSWER: Far enough to not get caught up again in those same situations, yet close enough to be healed from them and to help others in their healing from like situations.
Remember....we don't go through for us alone. There are souls attached to our testimonies, and God WILL get the Glory. When realness hits you from the testimony of your own mouth or from another's, don't judge, but embrace that person or yourself in love. Release past hurts, shame, condemnation, unworthiness, etc....none of these has God called us to walk in. We may go through periods of them, but we're coming out with a testimony, a greater love for Christ and His people, and most importantly...with a revelation of who God is and what He can do.
Your healing....receive it in the name of Jesus. Go back under the rug. Don't merely raise it to peek at the dirt. Snatch off that false sense of "I'm over it", "I forgive them", "I forgive myself", "That never happened" that is disguising itself as a rug......face the dirt, and give it to God. It really never did leave you before anyway. It was there all the time hidden under the rug. I don't know what your dirt is. Some woman may be struggling with forgiving the man who hurt her, or the man who can't get past the woman hurting him. Maybe you've hurt someone and can't forgive yourself. Somebody may be struggling with an addiction that you can't seem to shake. Or is it you, woman, looking to find acceptance and love in any man who will look your way...because daddy never showed you this. Perhaps you're reading this and you knew too much about life too soon, either because someone took the innocence or you gave it away. Someone may be dealing with forgiving the father who was not there, or the mother who was not there. Or maybe neither parent was there and you want to blame them for things you have had to endure. Let's pause here: Nothing catches God by surprise, and every intricate detail of your life was etched out in heaven before you ever became a being on Earth. So, what you dealt with, what you're dealing with, and what you will deal with is all a part of God's perfect plan to mold you into who He has called you to be. It was all purposeful. Yea, it made you cry....it may still make you cry sometimes, but trust that God has your back and that it is all for your good. Whatever it is...YOU HAVE TO LET IT GO!!! You will not heal properly until you do so. It doesn't matter what happened. It doesn't matter how long ago it was or how recent it has been. It doesn't matter the frequency of the situation. Nor does it matter who did it to you, or who you did it to. God is more concerned with you being healed and free than with any of that. Leave those things to Him....He is way more qualified to deal with it. You focus on receiving what God has for you. Now that you are ready to deal with it and be healed and truly cleaned, go enjoy a new freedom and real peace. You will say to yourself: "Wow! Is this what true freedom and peace feels like? Am I what it looks like? Is this what it sounds like?" Your life will change as well as those around you. When people ask what's up this this new you, tell them "I WENT BACK UNDER THE RUG"...
QUESTION: How far removed must you be, and then again how close should you be as to not be so far removed?
ANSWER: Far enough to not get caught up again in those same situations, yet close enough to be healed from them and to help others in their healing from like situations.
Remember....we don't go through for us alone. There are souls attached to our testimonies, and God WILL get the Glory. When realness hits you from the testimony of your own mouth or from another's, don't judge, but embrace that person or yourself in love. Release past hurts, shame, condemnation, unworthiness, etc....none of these has God called us to walk in. We may go through periods of them, but we're coming out with a testimony, a greater love for Christ and His people, and most importantly...with a revelation of who God is and what He can do.
Your healing....receive it in the name of Jesus. Go back under the rug. Don't merely raise it to peek at the dirt. Snatch off that false sense of "I'm over it", "I forgive them", "I forgive myself", "That never happened" that is disguising itself as a rug......face the dirt, and give it to God. It really never did leave you before anyway. It was there all the time hidden under the rug. I don't know what your dirt is. Some woman may be struggling with forgiving the man who hurt her, or the man who can't get past the woman hurting him. Maybe you've hurt someone and can't forgive yourself. Somebody may be struggling with an addiction that you can't seem to shake. Or is it you, woman, looking to find acceptance and love in any man who will look your way...because daddy never showed you this. Perhaps you're reading this and you knew too much about life too soon, either because someone took the innocence or you gave it away. Someone may be dealing with forgiving the father who was not there, or the mother who was not there. Or maybe neither parent was there and you want to blame them for things you have had to endure. Let's pause here: Nothing catches God by surprise, and every intricate detail of your life was etched out in heaven before you ever became a being on Earth. So, what you dealt with, what you're dealing with, and what you will deal with is all a part of God's perfect plan to mold you into who He has called you to be. It was all purposeful. Yea, it made you cry....it may still make you cry sometimes, but trust that God has your back and that it is all for your good. Whatever it is...YOU HAVE TO LET IT GO!!! You will not heal properly until you do so. It doesn't matter what happened. It doesn't matter how long ago it was or how recent it has been. It doesn't matter the frequency of the situation. Nor does it matter who did it to you, or who you did it to. God is more concerned with you being healed and free than with any of that. Leave those things to Him....He is way more qualified to deal with it. You focus on receiving what God has for you. Now that you are ready to deal with it and be healed and truly cleaned, go enjoy a new freedom and real peace. You will say to yourself: "Wow! Is this what true freedom and peace feels like? Am I what it looks like? Is this what it sounds like?" Your life will change as well as those around you. When people ask what's up this this new you, tell them "I WENT BACK UNDER THE RUG"...
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