Terrific Tuesday Devotional… Dear Calvary Christian Church Family and Friends, It seems to me that God has chosen the cross as the place where the power of forgiveness comes from because it is the place where the ultimate price was paid for each of us. When we take up our cross and follow Christ we live in an experience of the power of the love of God that enables us forgive beyond what our human capacity is capable of. To withhold forgiveness then is to deny the cross, Christ’s work of redemption and the power of God’s unfailing love. As Oswald puts it, “The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ.” And so the basis for us to forgive others is the cross. CONTINUING IN THE WORD BIBLE STUDY – Mark 11:25, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Matthew 18:35, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” TUESDAY PRAYER GUIDE - PRAY FOR ISRAEL AND THE PEACE OF JERUSALEM! OSWALD CHAMBERS DEVOTIONAL - “When He Has Come” When He has come, He will convict the world of sin . . . —John 16:8 Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin. We know the experience of being disturbed because we have done wrong things. But conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one— “Against You, You only, have I sinned . . .” (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every bit of his conscience that God would not dare to forgive him. If God did forgive him, then this person would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the breaking of His heart with grief in the death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary— nothing less! The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ. It is there that His conscience is satisfied. Forgiveness doesn’t merely mean that I am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven (no one would accept forgiveness on that level). Forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ. Bible in One Year: Ezekiel 11-13; James 1 Have a great prayer time and a Terrific Tuesday! Pastor MichaEl
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 05:37:42 +0000
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