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Verse:But Christ has shown me that what I once thought was valuable is worthless. Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage. All I want is Christ and to know that I belong to him. I could not make myself acceptable to God by obeying the Law of Moses. God accepted me simply because of my faith in Christ. All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him to life. I want to suffer and die as he did, so that somehow I also may be raised to life. —Philippians 3:7–11, CEV
I wish I could forgive the way that God forgives.
Instead, I rehash my faults and flaws over and over again.
It’s sometimes easier for me to forgive others than to forgive myself.
I get to a point when I just say, “Really? Are we here again?” I long to be more like Jesus. He chooses to let go... never look back. He makes the choice not to go there again (revisit the sin that I have repented for), and I trust that He is all He says that He is. Those sins that I have asked God forgiveness for have been cast into the deepest depths of the sea. Gone. Wiped clean. We are told that Satan is the “accuser of the brethren,” meaning that Satan will try to convince us that God could never love us.
We need to recognize those thoughts as lies and instead believe what God says. What God says about us in His Word (the Bible) is truer than anything we could think or feel. Jesus said that those who build their lives on His Word are those whose lives stand strong and secure, able to weather anything in life (see Matthew 7:24–27).
One of my favorite stories is when Jesus is in the boat with the disciples while the storm is raging all around them. When I’m feeling doubt, that’s the storm raging. Praise God that He never leaves my side. He is there when I doubt.
He holds me even closer and desires to reveal Himself to me more and more. If you’ve asked God to forgive you and to come into your life —you are forgiven! His Word says so. He says so. Thank Him for His forgiveness and begin to rejoice in your secure relationship with Him. He can change areas of your life that don’t line up with His desire for you. First Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (NASB).
Joey Norwood Tolbert