Who could confront me and get by with it?
I’m in charge of all this—I run this universe! Job 39:11

No matter what is happening in this world, no matter what people say or what doomsday theory is out there… we, as God’s Believers, need to remember that God is in control of it all (even the evil) and He turns it all for good!  In the midst of your trials; on the worst of days; with the world going wild… remember God is good (Psalms 73), God is love (I John 4:8) and God only teaches us what is best (Isaiah 48:17).

 Job 40:^1-6 Job answered God: “I’m convinced: You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans.
You asked, ‘Who is this muddying the water,
ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?’
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me,
made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, ‘Listen, and let me do the talking.
Let me ask the questions. You give the answers.’
I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears!
I’m sorry—forgive me. I’ll never do that again, I promise!
I’ll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor.”

We need to be meditating and memorizing scripture.  It turns up the volume of power in our life huh?

It’s like to know God is to turn to His scripture and then to impart them into ourself.

We become one with what He is saying.  To understand the strength and truth of God is to rest and trust that He is in total control and we are just the ones left to follow after a great big loving God that has adventure after adventure for us, if we will only let go and let God lead. Living this way does lead us into a freedom that lets us live abundant lives…

I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. John 10:9,10

All sin is on the Cross, forgiven...

How can we not forgive already forgiven sins?

The sin that came upon us from another and caused us pain, has already been paid for by our Savior. Who are we that we should hold that person’s sin by not forgiving?

When Jesus took the wounds upon His Body, it was our healing for the wounds we would receive from others…

When Jesus said, “It is finished…”  forgiveness was released for all ages, we are now not able to hold any sin against those who have sinned against us.

Corrie ten Boom, a native of Holland, was put into a German Concentration Camp in Nazi Germany for attempting to harbor & save Jews from genocide.
She wrote about dealing with the pain & memories of having been mistreated in the concentration camp.
“If there is one thing I’ve learned since I’ve passed my 80th birthday, it’s that I can’t store up good feelings & behavior; but that I only draw them fresh every day.”
Good advice, don’t you think?
This confirms Jesus’ words, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Later in life some close friends had taken advantage of her & she once again had to deal with more pain.
She also wrote about how she struggled with continuing to turn it over to God:
“Then it was that another secret of forgiveness became evident. It is not enough to simply say, ‘I forgive you’. I must also begin to live it out. I must also begin to live it out & in my case that meant acting as though their sins, like mine, were buried in the deepest sea.
If God could remember them no more & He had said your sins & iniquities will I remember no more, then neither should I. And the reason the thoughts kept coming back to me was that I kept turning their sin over in my mind. And so I discovered another of God’s principles: We can trust God not only for our emotions, but also for our thoughts. As I asked Him to renew my mind, He also took away my thoughts.”

That was God’s plan of reconciliation to all mankind, we no longer have to hold the unforgiveness of another person’s sin in our hearts or minds; nor our own sin.. because it all has been washed away by the Blood of Jesus,                           the Work of the Cross is sufficient!

So next time we are asked by the Spirit to “forgive”, we must do it quickly and completely, for that is how Jesus forgave us.

Genesis 11:1,6  And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

There is so much power in the unity of one language, one voice, one goal… unity in this scripture was humanism… “Let us make a name (verse 4).”

7  Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

Without understanding there is no unity…

⁸ So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

Church, when we misunderstand each other and begin to fight each other, we break unity and without it there is nothing we can do… we are a powerless people with a powerless religion. That’s the enemy’s plan. Let’s make it our goal this year to walk in unity with the Body of Christ. If we are offended let us quickly take care of it, for we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Psalms 119:¹⁶⁵ Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

“2 Corinthians 5:¹⁶ Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.

Church, we need to understand the scriptures, the antithesis of the Tower of Babel, is us being united as One in Him.  If we are in unity with each other, under God, there is nothing that can stop us… Not humanism (let’s make a name for ourselves), but… “Let’s do all we do for the glory of God our Father!”

Psalms 133:1 Behold, How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! …  3 for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

Unity is simply this… One Voice, One heavenly language, One Goal… proclaiming Jesus and the Cross – One Voice calling out for the return of our Lord and Savior!

Philippians 1: 27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,

Let’s make it our goal this year, 2012, to walk in unity with the Body of Christ.

Genesis 13: ⁸And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.”

“Revelations 22: ²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

As I was in our Spanish Church today, Conquerors of Heaven, I was meditating on Father God, telling Him I wanted to hang out with Him, I was brought back to a book I read called, “The Shack.”

Now “The Shack” is a controversial book (2006), but to me it brought me closer to Father God.  It also opened up my mind to the relationship the Trinity probably shares. It’s very unorthodox and many religious people are conflicted with it.  ”The Shack” asks us to see Father God as a large African-American woman, yes woman, who calls herself Elouisa and Papa, Jesus Christ is a Middle-Eastern carpenter, and the Holy Spirit physically manifests itself as an Asian woman named Sarayu.  I am not going to go into the reasoning of why the Trinity is described this way, only to say I understand why the author did it.  I don’t only understand, but because Father God was depicted as this person, I am now closer to Him.

Why was I brought back to this book this morning?  In “The Shack” the relationship MacKenzie has with the Trinity is so inviting.  When I read it I asked God, “Could I have a relationship like that with You?”  He answered, “Do you know what you’re asking?” There is always a price to pay; a sacrifice to make… ask James and John (Mark 10:35-40). Now when I enter into His presence I am often taken back to “The Shack”.  Why?

In the basis of “The Shack” there is a death and a deep sorrow and unresolved pain in Mackenzie’s life.  There is a blood stained spot in this place where his daughter was murdered.  Mack is asked to revisit this place of pain and to be confronted with his anger towards God; in the end to bring healing and closure so he can move forward in life with a new love for God, the Father.

When I go into the presence of my Father, I have to face a death in order to pass into the deeper relationship.  Yes, it’s obvious, I have to face the death of my precious Savior, but in order to have the deeper relationship with the Trinity, I have to see the blood stained spot as my death.  I have to die every time I enter His presence (Galatians 2:20) in order to go higher and breather deeper. In my death, I give into His precious touch operating on me to replace hidden agendas, to heal broken pieces of my live, and to trust what touches my life is from Him with good reasons. Even if I don’t fully understand all God does, as I die daily (sometimes hourly) I am able to enter into a place labeled ‘for dead people only’.  Dead to me, means alive to Him…  alive to Christ’s agenda for me; to His fresh presence full of life, laughter and purpose; and alive to His warmth as He reaches out to give me an assurance that no person on earth can… He’ll never fail me and He is in love with me.

So today in my time with Him, as I walked into the shack I noticed once again my blood stained spot of death with a smile on my face and a welcoming Hand reaching out to me…

If you are interested in some of the controversies of “The Shack”: http://windblownmedia.com/about-wbm/is-the-shack-heresy.html