Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forgiveness. Show all posts

Wednesday

10 Bible Verses of Encouragement about Forgiveness



We all need encouragement and the best place to go is to the Bible.

In this blog Post I have tried to gather some Bible passages or Bible verses which will encourage us all around the topic of Forgiveness.






I do believe that we should not just grab a verse and read it on its own but we should always lift our bibles and read a passage of scripture to make sure that we know the real meaning and context of each of the verses we are putting our trust in. 

I pray that you will do the same and only use this list to guide you as to where you may find help.



So here are 10 Bible verses or short passages for us to turn to in times when we are concerned about forgiveness.




1.   1 John 1 v 9     

Starting at the beginning with what we need to be sure of - the fact that He is the one who is willing to forgive our sins

and

cleanse us from them






but

we also have a part to play - we must confess our sins.

 


2.   Daniel 9 v 9


Daniel did not have the benefit of the New Testament and the narrative of Jesus about His Father but yet he still knew what a forgiving God we have, regardless of how sinful we are.





"To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him." 





3.   Isaiah 1 v 18


“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.



God is so gracious to explain to us that even though we are so sinful compared to our Holy God He still has made a way for us to be changed.





4.   Isaiah 43 v 25  

“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions

 for My own sake;

And I will not remember your sins.



We cannot get rid of our sin but God will.

Then he actually comforts us by telling us He will not remember them - in other words He will not hold them against us afterwards.




5.   Psalm 103 v 10-14


10.  He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

We do not get what we deserve

11.  For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

God's mercy is greater than we can even imagine

12.  As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

There is no getting these sins back because of His forgiveness

13.  As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.

Fear (awe) of God brings our the tender mercy of our God

14.  For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

God made us so no-one can know us better than He can



Are we deserving of any of this forgiveness?

No but God gave Jesus in our place so that He can forgive us when we turn to Him. 





6.   Ephesians 1 v 7




In our previous verse we saw the effect of God's mercy on our forgiveness now we see His grace.




7.   Acts 10 v 43

It's not a complicated process to apply for the forgiveness of God, we simply have to believe






this is where faith comes into the process.




8.   Isaiah 53 v 5-6

We have seen the mercy and the grace of God to bring about our forgiveness.

Then we saw the faith we need to have and now we see the hope we have in this Saviour 








but none of this is to be taken lightly because our Saviour took such a heavy burden that belonged to us.










9.   Matthew 6 v 14-15





Forgiveness is not just something that God does for us.

We must remember that once we have faith in God and become new creations we have the responsibility of taking on the commands of God and so we need to love others as He does and be ready to forgive them.

It should be an outworking of the Spirit of God working in and through us.








We finish with a reminder from the Apostle Paul



10.   Colossians 3 v 13


 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.



The most important thing to remember is we must give forgiveness because we have first received forgiveness from the Lord.









Monday

The 5 Best Quotes on Forgiveness + Free Printable - Coffee & Conversation









I am not a fan of QUOTES

In fact sometimes I get very annoyed at how people almost treat a quote
 as more important than the Word of God

I actually wrote a blog post about Do We Really Need This Quote?








However I've been thinking about Forgiveness this month and there are some good quotes on the topic.

I have seen quotes from so many people on Forgiveness but I prefer to only refer to or recommend ones from people who I trust as standing firm on the Word of God.

So in the list below I will quote


Not Joel Osteen   but   St. Augustine

Not Joyce Meyers   but   Corrie Ten Boom   

Not William P Young (author of the Shack)   but   C.S. Lewis





1.  Saint Augustine

"Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again."



2.  John Bunyan
"No child of God sins to that degree as to make himself incapable of forgiveness."




3.  Charles Spurgeon
"I believe that as often as I transgress, God is more ready to forgive me than I am ready to offend.  "


4.  Corrie Ten Boom
"Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart."



The visual above is available as a  Forgiveness Quotes Free Printable



5.  C. S. Lewis


I could not decide between these two quotes so I've included them both
(I had the same problem in The 5 Best Quotes on Love too)
"I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves.  Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him."

 

"I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality.... asking Him not to forgive me but to excuse me."









and I cannot but think that C.S. Lewis is definitely speaking for us all when he said

"We all agree that forgiveness is a beautiful idea until we have to practice it."

 


A personal Question of my own about Forgiveness is






Don't forget to download  your Forgiveness Quotes Free Printable











Wednesday

The Day my Best Friend Bit Me! - A Dose of Encouragement


When I was young and at primary school I was a "Tom-Boy", wanting to be active, out and about as much as possible and looking for company to play with.


My only sibling is my sister who is 10 years older than me so I didn't have her to play with and sometimes there were not too many other kids around.


I really loved the opportunity to play with the boy who would come to visit his grandparents across the street and the girls from the surrounding streets and stay out as long as possible.




But there were often times when there was no-one around to play with so I found a friend next door.

This friend was often around at the front of the house and he was very easy to chat to so I could go see him a few times a day.

His name was Tim and he was a black, scotty dog.

I used to go and sit on the front step of the house next door and pet him and cuddle him and chat.

He was so familiar with our family that there was never any barking at us just the tail wagging and little jumps of excitement when he thought any of us were going to have time to play with him.


photo credit - Pixabay

My parents were fine with me playing with Tim and knew that I was often on that front step.

I liked dogs and had wanted our family to have a dog as a pet but my sister did not like dogs so I had to be content with Tim next door.

Of course I took Tim for granted and thought he would always be there just when I would feel like going in through the front gate to play with him.


I was sure that he would always be happy to see me, ready to play 
and I would never be "not welcome".


Then there was that one day when I went through that gate and took the two or three steps to the front door to find Tim was lying there quietly not jumping up or wagging his tail at me.  I sat down beside him and put my arm around him but instead of getting the usual happy welcome I felt the pain shoot up my arm as his teeth clamped onto it.

I screamed, jumped up and ran out through that next door gate with Tim hanging from my arm but he let go before I got to our own gate.

I was sore, bleeding (although not too bad because he was an older dog and his teeth apparently weren't too sharp) and so confused that Tim had bitten me.

If I was looking for sympathy I had come to the wrong place because immediately I was questioned by my mother on what had I done to antagonise the poor dog - see how everyone loved him!





Well my arm was bathed and bandaged and I can't remember if I was told to stay inside for a while but I do remember that before long I was back sitting playing with Tim.

The neighbours talked with my parents and were concerned about what had happened and what my parents wanted them to do about Tim.  The result was that none of us wanted anything to happen to him because we all knew the situation had been my own fault.  Who would be so silly as to cuddle a dog that was asleep and wake him suddenly and frighten him especially when in the past few months some teenagers had often been teasing and at times kicking at him through the gate as they walked down our street.

I had not known that Tim, my usually happy friend, had become afraid of these teenagers and hence probably startled by me and reacted out of sudden fear.

Yes it wasn't long before I was back playing with Tim, he was still my friend and I forgave him for biting me but I think there was always just not exactly the same trust there as before.


He was still my friend and I forgave him.

Over the years I have seen friendships ruined over a hasty word, a sudden grumpiness, a searing hurt, a teasing jibe, when people just got so friendly and comfortable that they stopped thinking of situations from the other person's point of view.  Times when people got so careless and thought they could do or say anything just because they thought they were with friends.
Even if the friendships are not ruined they are marred in some way by lack of trust thereafter.

Sometimes we have been the ones to do the hurting and sometimes we are the ones who have been hurt but either way we need to try to consider how the other person felt, what may have been happening to them recently that we did not know about, who had been unkind to them, what had they heard recently, because something had caused a difference on that occasion.

There are two people in a friendship and also two feelings in that friendship and we need to remember to be considerate and kind, honouring the friendship and extending grace to each other in all circumstances.

It may not always come easy but oh it would be great if I could forgive others today as quickly as I forgave Tim.

It is not impossible to do.

As children of God we have the capability of forgiving because we have been forgiven and we have the greatest example of perfect forgiveness in Jesus.


Forgiveness. It is not impossible to do.


What about a letter, a phone call, a little chat?

The practical step needs to be taken to apologise and forgive.

And we can do it!




The Greatest Photobomb! - A Dose of Encouragement


Why is it when we are watching the news on television on an outdoor broadcast and someone walks behind the presenter or runs up and waves or makes silly faces we think they are so rude but when someone photobombs a pic we enjoy a good laugh?


The answer - I have no idea except that I know I am exactly like that.


Yes I think one is rude and the other can be comic genius.





DEFINITION of PHOTOBOMB
A photograph that has been spoiled by the unexpected appearance of an unintended subject in the camera's field of view as the picture was taken


This was the original definition and remains the official definition but the way things are now means that the attitude towards these pictures are changing.


Well I was looking for the greatest photobomb but I did not have too many to look at.

A friend in England sent me one





Not bad and we wouldn't think he was rude would we?


The way I might look at it is


 He's just a friendly guy waving in the background.


But how would the girls view it?

To them the photo is more personal.
It would be fine if they discovered what had happened immediately and were able to take another one but what if they had only taken this one picture and then noticed him later?


I just hope that it was not the first and last time these girls will have a picture taken together or they may be annoyed at the photobomber.


So is it the intruder to the picture that makes it good or bad?

Or is it the attitude of the subjects of the picture or the viewers?


Then of course we have one from our son's wedding reception which I featured in an earlier blog post I Love My Family.   Daniel and his new wife Suzie were taking a selfie along with our daughter Linda and our oldest son Jonathan came along and threw himself into the photo behind them.





Did anyone get annoyed over this?
No way we all think it is one of the best photos of the day.

That's the view of everyone who sees it and in fact many would not even realise it was a photobomb.


Well I suppose some of you are saying what is wrong with her we all know what the greatest photobomb is, it's the one with the seal.


The one with the seal?


Yes the one with the seal who pops his head into the corner of a picture being taken of penguins.


You know the one that was all over the internet some time ago.


I just loved it, even though there is mass speculation that it is a photoshopped seal!!!


Taken from the internet where credit does not seem to have be given to anyone and if you do know who was responsible please let me know and I will credit it accordingly.

So is it the greatest?


Well it could be a tie between it and another photobomb that happened at that very same wedding.

Yes at the same wedding but this one was actually in the church!

Daniel and Suzie were posing for photos after signing the register and not one but two people decided to photobomb the picture.

Again it involved a family member.
Not Daniel's brother this time but his cousin Glen.

And the other one was Suzie's best friend Ashleigh.

Now to make matters worse Glen was the best man and the Ashley was the bridesmaid.




It was a spur of the moment thing but you would think it was planned because it was so good.

Just look at those faces.

Of course if you knew these two you would understand how something like that could happen because they know Daniel and Suzie so well and they are all full of fun.



How do we decide if the picture is ruined by that extra person popping up where they were not expected or if they have made it a great photobomb.


Who decides?

Who forgives the person for photobombing? 

  
Or who blames the person for ruining the photo?



We each have to make our own decision on it.
We each have to take responsibility for our own attitudes.

This is just the same as forgiveness in other matters.
We make the decision whether to forgive or to blame.

In some cases it is our perception or conclusion that the person is to blame for the outcome, we see the incident as something directed at us and focus on how it has hurt us.

In some cases it is really obvious that the person is definitely to blame for the outcome, they deliberately did the act that spoilt something of ours.


God's word does not have advice for different scenarios it only has advice 
on how we should forgive.


It is our attitude that God points us to.


It is up to us to make the decision to forgive.



Well now it just remains to make the decision here.

Which is the greatest photobomb?

Let's have a vote on it.

Make your decision and then leave me a comment to tell me your choice.





Which one is it?

The Penguins & the Seal 

or 

The Wedding



You can also tell me if you can make the decision to forgive.








The Coffee Mug - A Dose of Encouragement


I have a very annoying habit 
             -  according to my husband Fred.  

     You see everywhere I go in the house, I leave a trail of coffee mugs behind me.  Well really I think it's only in our bedroom and study and the living room, but I suppose that's bad enough.



      


Admittedly I do love my coffee in bed on a Saturday morning (compliments of Fred) but then Fred enjoys his tea and toast too!   

      Now my coffee has to be made just right, and sometimes for a treat some cinnamon added and it all frothed up in the mug, a home-made cappuccino.  

     



Anyway I do tend to take a mug of coffee with me to the study when I'm working at the computer and I never really drink all of it.



So you've guessed it - 


Fred found a mug of coffee in the study the other day which had congealed and was (according to him)


         "considering becoming an experiment for new life forms".  


He was not amused. 


"How can you ever drink out of that mug again?"  he said,

as he carried it at arms length into the kitchen.  


     Well to me that was no problem because I am a great fan of boiling water and dishwashers.  I left the offending mug to soak in boiling water planning to put it through a couple of cycles in the dishwasher later. 


      A few hours later I was passing the mug when I noticed how all the gunge had come away from the sides and bottom of the mug and was ready to be poured out.  


     Suddenly it struck me that exactly the same thing happens to us as we sit in the presence of the Lord each day - all the ugliness that has caught hold can be gently drawn out by God's Spirit.  Then as we confess to God and accept His forgiveness we are made clean and pure again just like the mug when it was finally taken out of the dishwasher.  

We find a wonderful prayer in the Bible that puts this request to God and we know that what we ask of Him believing in Him, He will keep His Word to us.







But you know what the good thing is, with God it doesn't have to take as long as the mug soaking and going through the dishwasher.



                  Now guess what is sitting beside me as I type this - 








Yes!  


Another coffee mug
   and I will try to remember to take it with me 
when I leave the study this time.




A Dose of Encouragement from a Coffee Mug.


Thanks for dropping in today and remember 


God wants to make us clean.



Are you a coffee fanatic like me?

I'm thankful God loves coffee drinkers like me, are you?