Acts 26:17-18 "...I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may
receive forgiveness of sins and a place among
those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
This portion of scripture
is Paul recounting what the Lord said to him after his amazing transformation in
Acts 9. He was converted from persecuting (ie. killing) Christians to becoming
one himself in a dramatic way and God used him in a dramatic way to help others
'see the Light'.
When we ask for
forgiveness from Father (knowing we've done wrong and hurt Him) and turn from
our sin (repent) - then He is "faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness" - 1 John 1:9. All we have to do is
receive it. It's a done deal with God... Jesus made it a done deal. 1 John 2:1
"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody
does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous
One."
Why is it SO hard to
receive a gift. Well, it's humbling for one - especially if we feel like we
don't have anything to give in return.... except our lives... which are a mess
(some, if not most of the time). Like, that's a really great gift... But to
God, it's we are the best gift of all. He's like a wood carver without any
wood. He so wants to carve something beautiful, but has nothing to work with
until He finds some wood. That wood is us. When we come to Him and ask
forgiveness for our wrongs and repent of the way we've been going and truly want
to follow Him - when we RECEIVE the work that Jesus did for us on the Cross as
our own - ("Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" - His words as
He hung bleeding, hurting and dying on the Cross) - we have the choice to
RECEIVE that forgiveness. Receiving and Accepting are two side to the same
coin.
If we don't receive -
reach out our hands and take ahold of His forgiveness - are we really accepting
what Jesus did for us? Why did we go through all the 'trouble' of asking for
forgiveness and truly repenting from our hearts??? Philippians 3:12 - Not that
I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press
on to take hold of that for which Christ
Jesus took hold of me."
But wait, doesn't the
Bible also say that if we don't forgive someone else their sins against, He
won't forgive our sins? Yes - in a round-about way in Matthew 4:16 "For if you
forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you." But think about this, when we first come to Christ - He just
wants us to be reconciled to the Father. He has not pre-requisites - we don't
have to have our acts together to come to him. Besides, that - HE KNOWS OUR
HEARTS. He knows that just by the act for asking for forgiveness and repenting
that we want to do right and He will lead us down the paths we need to go in our
own lives to bring total healing and restoration - forgiving others along the
way is part of that (oh, and forgiving ourselves should top the list).
Jesus made us worthy of
forgiveness and everything He has for us when He died for our sins. So, let's
throw off unworthiness and shame and anything else that hinders us from
receiving the forgiveness we asked for... and experience His joy for the first
time, or at a deeper level than we ever thought possible.
God's love and patience
towards us has no end. For that, I'm thankful...
Pray for Forgiveness - Alicia
Keys
Freedom - Bethel Live
2012
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