Victory Over Guilt..Dr.Charles Stanley

 Victory Over Guilt

Dr.Charles Stanley

John 3:16-17

At times, people are bound by guilt long after the feeling should have been resolved. Some rightly live with it because they refuse to give up the sin that brought it on. Meanwhile, others suffer the weight of false guilt because they harbor shame that doesn't belong to them. Whatever the root cause of your condemnation, the battle plan remains the same.

Victory over guilt begins with understanding that Jesus took our shame to the cross and paid our penalty. There is no way that we can pay for our own sin. But we do need to honestly identify the source of our guilt and confess before God. That means we agree with His perspective on what we've done. In other words, we admit when we're wrong. Repentance goes a step further: we turn away from the wrong and choose to do right.

Confronting guilt in this way replaces the weight of shame in our heart with peace and joy, which are far lighter and more freeing. And an amazing side effect is that we have wisdom to share. Openness about our past mistakes, resulting consequences, guilt burdens, and forgiveness can reveal the Lord to those in our sphere of influence. Through our witness, God may reach others who need their guilt chains broken.

The battle to overcome guilt is one that should not be delayed. The feeling won't just go away. Whether your condemnation is true or false, it needs to be dealt with quickly. Stop running, and face the source of your guilt. It's time to end your captivity and start walking in the joy of God's blessing.

Seek the Lord..Jessica Van Roekel

 Seek the Lord

By Jessica Van Roekel

“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29:12-14, ESV

A favorite game of children is hide-and-seek. One person counts to ten, and the other players scatter to various hiding places. Then begins the search behind doors and curtains, under the bed, and in closets. The winner is the one whose hiding place stays a secret, and the game begins with a new seeker. Does it ever feel like God is the one hiding and we’re the ones seeking him but never finding him? We search and search and search, but he remains elusive. We begin to feel like we are in exile.

Nebuchadnezzar had taken the elders, the officials, the craftsmen, and more to Babylon. The Israelites were in exile and far from home. The prophet Jeremiah wrote a letter to encourage them to live their lives and to stay faithful to the Lord. Their old life was over, and they entered a new normal. That’s what it can feel like for us when our world gets turned upside down and inside out. We long for the old normal and resist our new normal. We keep looking back at what we once had and fail to see God in our new present.

What areas of life do we struggle to adopt change? Aging, sickness, and disease bring unwanted change into our lives. Unmet expectations of a new job or relationship can leave us disappointed. Even something as simple as a home renovation project gone wrong can fill us with regrets. We can spend too much time in the land of “If only. . .”

• If only I had made that other decision.
• If only we hadn’t moved.
• If only I had paid attention to that lump.
• If only I responded differently to my child.
• If only God would have shown up when I needed him.

The Israelites must have asked the same question when they went into exile, and we can read between the lines of David’s Psalms as he dealt with similar if-onlys in his own life. If we look at our lives, we can find threads of doubt that God is with us in the middle of a new and sometimes unwanted life change. Unwanted changes can cause us to wonder how God’s plan for our life will unfold. We can wonder how God’s timing fits into the new and unexpected normal.

The changes that we experience can provide us with a fresh opportunity of drawing closer to the Lord. He guides our steps, he makes our way firm, and he holds us close. While we need to take the time to grieve what once was, we also need to seek God in the middle of our new normal. There are times when the change we go through is a place of God’s purpose and plans for our lives. God fulfills his Word and promises when the time is right.

Seeking him while we’re walking through unwanted change can reveal two important spiritual principles. When God desires to do great things in our lives, he inspires and impresses in us the desire to grow our prayer life. Second, the timing of God’s answers to our prayers relates to God’s purposes for his people and plans. When we joyfully and faithfully face the changes that challenge us and bring a different outcome than we expected, we provide a place of testimony of God’s faithfulness to us that other people can see.

Intersecting Faith and Life:
God can use your unwanted changes and make them a holy place. He can meet you right in the middle of the adjustment to a new normal. Take the time today to ask him to reveal himself to you. When you are tempted to look back with longing on the past, ask him to help you be grateful for what was and to help you look ahead with anticipation because he is with you this very moment and will be with you tomorrow. He goes ahead of you to prepare the way. Seek him today and ask him to reveal himself to you.

Further Reading:
Jeremiah 29:1-14

Living Plan B: A Lesson from Exodus..Ray Pritchard

 Living Plan B: A Lesson from Exodus

By Ray Pritchard

BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY: When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. - Exodus 13:17-18

Some time ago I heard the following statement on the radio and thought it was worth passing along: "The key to success in life is how well you adapt to Plan B." There is a world of truth in that simple sentence. So many of us go through life frustrated because we're still working on Plan A. That's the one where everything works out, where your marriage lasts forever, where your children grow up without any problems, where you climb to the top of the career ladder, where everyone loves you, where all your dreams come true and you live happily ever after. Plan A is life the way we all thought it would be. It's life with a happy ending.

Unfortunately, Plan A rarely pans out. Life isn't that simple, or that easy. Check out Exodus 13:17-21. When the children of Israel left Egypt, God did not lead them by the shorter coastal route to the Promised Land. Instead, he led them south into the wilderness. No doubt there was some grumbling and murmuring. Why go the long way? Why not take the road that goes along the seashore? Answer: The Philistines lived along the coast and God wanted to spare the Jews from having to fight them and be tempted to return to Egypt. What seemed like a detour turned out to be for their benefit. In this case, Plan B was better.

What's Plan B? It's the reality that your divorce is final and your marriage is over. It's the reality that your first career choice was a mistake and now it's time to start over. It's the reality that you don't have the money to buy the bigger house you want. It's the truth that you have cancer and your future is uncertain. It's the understanding that some people who seemed to be close friends aren't going to be there for you when you really need them. It's the reality that your dreams aren't going to come true, at least not in the way you expected.

Born in poverty and educated at home, he failed in his first business venture, ran for office the next year and was defeated, failed in yet another business, had a nervous breakdown, and was defeated in five more elections. But he never gave up, and in 1860 he was elected president.

Plan A not working out for you? Don't despair. Plan A rarely works out. Your success in life is largely determined by how well you adapt to Plan B. Just ask Abraham Lincoln, the greatest Plan B president in American history.

A Prayer for When You Feel Insufficient..Jennifer Slattery

 A Prayer for When You Feel Insufficient

By Jennifer Slattery

"Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone." - Deuteronomy 34:7

If you’re familiar with the Old Testament, you may know a bit about Moses, the Egyptian prince turned fugitive God called to liberate His people from 400 years of slavery and oppression. Through him, God wanted to change more than their physical location and situation. He wanted to bring them soul-deep freedom by drawing them into an intimate relationship with Himself, to bless them through that relationship by settling them in the agriculturally rich Promised Land, and then to use that relationship to reveal His nature, heart, and truth to the world.

The people had witnessed numerous awe-inspiring, miraculous displays of God’s power, provision, protection, and presence, including a series of plagues, the parting of a body of water, and a fire that blazed above the people each night. Yet, despite all this, the former slaves refused to entrust their lives and destinies to their loving Creator. Because of this, instead of entering the land of rest as God had planned, they spent 40 years wandering through the wilderness. This means that Moses, who was already 80 by the time he received his divine assignment, led them for another four decades! Well past his prime—according to human logic. But God doesn’t operate according to our understanding, nor, as Moses’ story illustrates, is He limited by our limitations. To phrase it another way, there is nothing God cannot do through a person whose heart is fully devoted to and dependent on Him.

Has God called you to something that feels daunting? Do your current circumstances feel overwhelming and leave you doubting your ability to thrive? Maybe your mind replays all the reasons you can’t overcome whatever challenges stand before you. But the same God that watched over, guided, and empowered Moses for every step of his journey watches over, guides, and empowers you as well.

Let’s Pray:

Holy Father, You are a loving, faithful, all-powerful, unchanging God. You are constantly working on our behalf, leading us to Your very best, toward a thriving, Spirit-filled life of ever-increasing intimacy with You, dependence upon You, and supernatural effectiveness through You. While we know from John 15 that we cannot do anything of eternal significance apart from You, we believe Jesus’ promise that we can do all things through our connection with You. Keep us close and increase our desire for You. Remove everything within us that hinders our growth, freedom, calling, and our relationship with You.

When we feel frightened and overwhelmed, remind us of all the ways You led Moses, as he led your people, for forty long years through the wilderness. Remind us of how You made sure their clothes never wore out, their feet never swelled, and they remained well-nourished. You did those things, not because they deserved Your care, and certainly not because they earned it, but because of Your perfect love and faithfulness. Just as You care for us, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of who You are. Help us to trust You more, and may You use our limitations to reveal Your power and strength.

In Jesus’ Name, we pray, amen.