Healing Past Wounds and Forgiving Present Scars..... Craig Denison

 Healing Past Wounds and Forgiving Present Scars

Craig Denison

Weekly Overview:

Offering forgiveness to others is one of the most difficult and important aspects of the Christian life. The Bible clearly commands us to forgive others. God longs to fashion us into his likeness that we might model the love we’ve been shown to a world with no concept of mercy. He longs for us to offer grace and forgiveness to the undeserving as we have been offered grace and forgiveness when we were undeserving. May you be filled with courage and boldness to offer forgiveness to those in desperate need of grace. And may God’s love shine through as you enter into your calling as a minister of reconciliation.

Scripture:“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” >1 Peter 2:24

Devotional:

All of us have experienced trial and pain. All of us are living life wounded and scarred. We learn to deal with our wounds and press forward, but whether we acknowledge it or not, wounds and scars change us. There are no perfect parents. There are no perfect friends. There are no perfect siblings or spouses. We live in an imperfect world with imperfect humans. We lash out and hurt others because we are broken and in need of healing.

One of the most critical spiritual exercises we can undergo is allowing God to heal our past wounds and guide us to a lifestyle of forgiving present scars. Without healing and forgiveness, other people’s mistakes will affect our future. Without the inner working of the Holy Spirit, we will live in continual suffering from the sins of others.

Our God is a God of healing. Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 103:2-4 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.” >1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” Your heavenly Father longs to speak to the wounded places in your life and heal them with his love.

What past experience, trial, hurtful word, or person is still harmfully affecting your life today? Where do you need the Holy Spirit to come and speak healing over you? Where do you need to cry out to God in anger or frustration over a wound? Opening the wounded places of our hearts is an emotional and difficult process, but until we allow God into the harmful events of our pasts we will never experience true freedom and restoration from them. Until we allow ourselves space to deal with what for some have been harmful and defining moments, we will never experience the entirety of the abundant life available to us.

And as the Lord begins to heal our wounds, we must allow him to guide us to a lifestyle of forgiveness for our present scars. We must forgive those people who hurt us so the scars in our lives become symbols of God’s redeeming love rather than reminders of painful events. James 2:13 says, “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” Show mercy to those who are undeserving of it just as your heavenly Father has shown you mercy. Love your enemies as Jesus did so that you can experience triumph instead of pain, freedom instead of enslavement to negativity, and joy instead of anger. May your heavenly Father be allowed to love you, hold you, and care for the places in your heart that need his healing touch the most.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on God’s desire to heal your wounds. Allow Scripture to fill you with courage to open your heart to the Spirit, and let him provide healing today.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

“But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.” >Isaiah 53:5

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” >Matthew 11:28

2. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what he wants to heal today. What wound is affecting your life? Where do you need God to speak his truth and love over you?

3. Open your heart to the Lord and ask him to speak truth and love to your wound. Ask the Holy Spirit to heal your wounds in whatever way he desires. Trust and follow his leadership.

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” >Zephaniah 3:17

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.” Psalm 103:2-4

Receiving healing for wounds and the courage to forgive present scars is a constant process. There will always be more for the Lord to heal. There will always be new wounds the Lord wants to speak to. If you will allow the Lord to faithfully love and heal your wounds, you will experience abundant life to greater depths than you thought possible. May you be filled with newfound courage and freedom today in response to the overwhelming love and power of your heavenly Father.

Extended Reading: Psalm 147

A Love Letter from God..... By: Anne Peterson

 A Love Letter from God (1 John 5:11)

By: Anne Peterson

Today’s Bible Verse: And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. - 1 John 5:11

Today’s devotional is my imagining of what God might say to us about His Word:

Dear Precious One,

I’m writing to you because I’m not sure you’ve read my other letters. Oh yes, it’s true, I’ve written to you before. It’s actually a bunch of letters I left just for you. I gathered them all together and bound them in a book, it’s called the Word, or maybe you’ve heard another name, the Bible.

Don’t worry if you haven’t read it, I know it’s quite lengthy. It’s something to take in pieces, something you read often. You see, I know that it’s hard being in the world. I know because I sent my Son there. And I watched as they mistreated him, railed on him and finally, nailed him to a cross.

It was hard to watch. And why did he do it? He did it because I loved the world so much, I wanted them to one day be with me. You included.

Some of my earlier letters talk about this. When the people sinned, I told them to take a perfect animal, a lamb, and to sacrifice that lamb. Then they would put the blood on their doorpost. And when the death angel passed over, whoever had followed what I said would have their sins covered. That is, until my Son came.

When Jesus came and his cousin, John, was baptizing, he saw Jesus and said, “Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,” (John 1:29).

All have sinned and fall short of my glory (Romans 3:23). And the wages of sin is death, but my gift to you is eternal life through Jesus (Romans 6:23).

I know a lot of people think that they need to work their way to heaven, but it’s not true, that was man’s idea. And while man has a lot of good ideas, this is not one of them.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22). 

Day after day, a priest would stand and perform religious services, which can never take away sin, but Jesus offered up one sacrifice for sin, forever (Hebrews 10: 11-12). Jesus is sitting with me right now.

Did you know Jesus is going to call those who have trusted in him to come to heaven, and that day is coming soon?

It’s true. I only speak truth. But only those who have trusted in what Jesus did are going to be able to come. Salvation is something that is a gift, it’s through faith, not works so man can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). In fact, someone’s faith is counted for righteousness when they are not working for it (Titus 3:5)

If man could work to get into heaven, then it’s no longer a gift, and I love giving good gifts (James 1:17).

I want you to know about something. I used to have a beautiful angel named Lucifer. He was in charge of worship. But one day, he became proud and wanted to ascend higher than my throne. I had no choice, his name became Satan and I threw him out of heaven. He took one-third of the angels with him, who are now called demons.

If you’ve ever heard negative things about me, Satan is the source. You see, his destiny is sure. He can never go to heaven, so his mission is to discourage others. To turn them away from knowing the truth. And if they know the truth, he still likes to cause them to doubt things I have said, promises I’ve made.

If you have ever heard things like:

God doesn’t love you.

If God loved you, he wouldn’t have taken your loved one.

God has left you.

God is not fair.

Oh, my precious one. I want you to read my letters. It’s the only way you will be able to recognize Satan’s lies.

Life is not fair. But I am a just God.

And there has been no greater love than the love I have shown you by sending you Jesus (John 3:16). And allowing Jesus to lay down his life for you, his friend (John 15:13).

Did you know I’m preparing a place for those who have accepted my Son? (John 14:1-6).

I love watching you as you go through each day, but I want you to be with us. I want you to experience what I had in mind from the very beginning. A world without sin, a world without pain. I know you hurt in this world. I’ve kept track of all your sorrows and gathered all your tears (Psalm 56:8).

I want you to know how special you are to me. Yes, there are a lot of people in the world, but there’s only one you. You are unique. You are made in my image (Genesis 1:27).

Well, that’s all I wanted to say for now. I hope you sit down some day soon and open up my love letter. I meant each and every word.

All my love,

For now and forever,

God

It Looked Better in My Head..... by John UpChurch

 It Looked Better in My Head

by John UpChurch

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” - Philippians 2:3-4 

Your calling looks better in your head than in real life. Inside, safely tucked away in your synapses, the visions of what God wants to do through you come with puppies, double rainbows, and guilt-free cheesecake. It’s amazing how perfectly our brains can sand down the obstacles ahead, plaster over the voices of dissent, and generally build a future much like the highlights from someone else’s life.

With such a build-up, it’s easy to see why we get disappointed. After all, stories like these are all over:

• The country preacher has a vision to reach rural America with the gospel, to burn so brightly that a whole community is changed. But the church never grows. He sees nothing dramatic happen and finally moves on.
• A woman faithfully loves and serves her unsaved coworkers for years. She pours hours of prayer into the thing, hoping that at least one will really absorb what she’s been sharing with them. But all she seems to take with her when she retires are the pictures from her cubicle.
• A Christian missionary community, after years of serving the poorest in their adopted country, finally has a breakthrough when a local leader professes faith in Jesus. Days later, militants attack the area and murder the new convert, his family, and many of the missionaries.

And maybe something like that has hijacked your calling, too. You started out strong, pushing forward even when turbulence hit. You just knew God would work all things together for your good, and you had that verse, Romans 8:28, firmly planted in your noggin (and maybe scribbled on a Post-It Note on your mirror—just to be sure).

But along the way, the future you had imagined became more and more distant from the slog-it-out reality. You doubt that God was ever really in the thing to begin with, and, so, you try to forget that something ever happened, that something got you excited and charged up in the first place.

Don’t write off your calling just yet.

The thing about God is that He’s big, really big. And He sees much farther, clearer, and better than us. From our perspective, we can’t always see progress. But usually that’s because we’re trying to see the land ahead from a valley.

Intersecting Faith & Life: The truth is that we may not see progress in the short-term, maybe not even in our lifetime. But we’ve been called to faithfully serve where Christ puts us. We get bogged down when we imagine that all our service and work should produce results that we can experience. Our joy comes from seeing things happen, and not so much the serving.

But God never promises that we’ll see what He’s up to—at least, not while we’re camping here on earth. He’s called us to look out “for the interest of others,” both believers and the unchurched. Whether we see something happen or not.

For Further Reading
1 Corinthians 12
Ephesians 4

A Prayer for When You Feel Lonely..... By: Emily Rose Massey

 A Prayer for When You Feel Lonely

By: Emily Rose Massey

“A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
God makes a home for the lonely;
He leads out the prisoners into prosperity,
Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land” - Psalm 68:5-6, NASB

“I’m moving to California. But don’t worry, our friendship will not change. You are so important to me, and I want to be intentional about staying connected even though we are miles apart.”

I wanted to believe my (at the time) best friend, but I had been through this repeatedly, and I knew it was just the matter of time before I lost another good friend. It seemed that the moment I became close with a girlfriend, she either moved away or we drifted apart because of different life choices I couldn’t support. In the case of this friend, it was both situations. It broke my heart to watch our friendship fall apart; communication between us completely stopped within a year.

I would be lying if I didn’t mourn the loss of my friendships with other women, longing for a close girlfriend whom I could make lasting memories with and build a history together. A piece of my heart remains guarded when I meet a new potential girlfriend because I struggle with wanting to invest too much too soon, but also struggling with the fear of being hurt once again.

As a stay-at-home mom who wrestles with the pain of rejection in many areas, the loneliness often overwhelms my heart. Yet, I know that I can come to the Lord with my burdens. One night as my heart was particularly heavy and lonely, I was reminded of a comforting verse in the book of Psalms:

“A father of the fatherless and a judge [a]for the widows,
 Is God in His holy habitation.
God [b]makes a home for the lonely;
 He leads out the prisoners into prosperity,
Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land” (Psalm 68:5-6, NASB).

As a daughter who has lost a father and stepfather in her life and who also has a difficult relationship with her mother, this reminder in Psalm 68 of my faithful Heavenly Father was a healing balm to my soul. Verse six is promise that as children of God, the Lord is faithful to give us a family.

Although the family of God is bigger than a building, I do think it is so important for believers to find a Biblical church home and faithfully serve there. When we are struggling with loneliness or even depression, the enemy often tempts us to isolate ourselves, but that is when we need to reach out to others even more.

Believers are not meant to walk this journey alone, and the local church should be a safe and loving place for us all. If you are believer and do not currently have a church home, pray that the Lord would help you find one.

Loneliness is a part of life, but God promises us that He is always with us and that He places the lonely in a family. Look to the Lord when you are lonely. May He bring comfort to your heart to remind you that you are never alone, and you belong in His family.

Father, 

My heart is heavy. Loneliness seems to be lingering in my life, especially after this last year that we have faced because of the pandemic. Help me remember that even when I feel lonely, I am never alone. You are a father to the fatherless and You bring hope to the hopeless. I long to find my place in Your family. Help me remember the importance of being involved in the Body of Christ, in the family of God. I trust that You have placed me exactly where You need me and will always direct my steps to the home that You have prepared for me here on earth.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.