HOW TO FORGIVE OTHERS...

Everyone of us has been wounded by someone close to us. In some instances the wounds are so deep so abusive as to have altered the nature of our person hood. As we seek to recover we often see those who harmed us as having escaped suffering, while we have had to deal with the awful hurt. That makes it seem impossible to forgive. Our nature wants the offender to hurt as much or more than we have.

The truth is as long as we hold our offenders as captive to our revenge we remain the victim and open ourselves to roots of bitterness that will eventually strangle our soul. We become imprisoned to a life of misstrust, suspicion and shallow relationships. We do not open our hearts for fear they will be crushed again. One cannot LIVE this way only exist.

In order to embrace life again we must forgive.

"You must make allowance for each others faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember the Lord forgave you so you must forgive others. (Col. 3:13)" New living translation

So where do we begin in order to forgive? The first step may well be to forgive yourself. Victims often blame themselves for the abuse they suffer even when it clearly it was impossible for them to avoid. Start with the understanding that all people wound and hurt other people. Hurt people will Hurt people. We have all been victims.

The real key to forgiving other is in accepting the forgiveness we have in Christ and offering it as a gift to those who hurt us. In Christ we are not only forgiven but scripture tells us that God also forgets our sins. At first glance forgetting deep seeded wounds seems impossible.

We have spent years Repeating the wounds, Rehearsing them and Reliving them to ourselves and others. The above formula should be familiar to all of us. It is the formula we have used all our lives to help with memorization and study. While in school we prepared for tests by Repeating, Rehearsing, and Reliving what we had been taught.

To begin our journey toward forgetting we have to stop using the formula:

1. Stop Repeating: Do not retell this story or hurt.

2. Stop Rehearsing: Do not act out the events.

3. Stop Reliving: Visualization is a powerful memorization tool but it can be our enemy as we rewind the film of our hurt and replay it over and over in our minds.

Ask God to help you forgive. It takes His divine power to heal us and fill us with the grace we need to forgive these deep wounds.

He forgives me..

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities" the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Forgiveness! "It was not the nails that kept him on the Cross it was love" (Tommy Walker) When I was in Bible school I joined a group that traveled and sang across Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. One of the songs we sang was titled "Born Again". It highlighted the new life that begins in Christ as we accept His forgiveness and make Him leader of our life. It is as if we have been born again.

In the passage above there are three important theological words: Transgressions, Iniquities, Chastisement.

Transgression is when one violates the law, whither knowingly or in ignorance. In this case it sets one in opposition to God or against God's Laws. The transgressor finds themselves on the side of self interest, selfishness, seeking personal comfort rather than sacrifice.

Iniquities: Gross Immorality or injustice, wickedness. Continual, wilful transgression against the laws of God opens one up to a corrupting of the soul that seeks to put oneself on the highest throne of earth. In order to do that there one must sear his natural conscience so that empathy and compassion are all but gone. Instead of mercy, one offers quid pro Que. Rather than offer fairness one would offer a lesser seat at the table to those who do not war against his self imposed kingship. Wickedness is viewed as an means to an end.

Chastisement: to be berated, beaten down, humiliated. to punish as by beating. This word is descriptive of the price paid for forgiveness. Jesus was beaten and hung on a cross. The cost of sin is death and Jesus paid it for us. He willingly left the spender of heaven to come to earth to die for you and me.

Our challenge is to LIVE for HIM. Have a blessed week.

Alan Kirkpatrick

www.alanmaz1@earthlink.net

www.activerain.com/alanmaz

A Mile Wide...: WEEKLY THOUGHTS...

A Mile Wide...: WEEKLY THOUGHTS...

www.activerain.com/alanmaz

WEEKLY THOUGHTS...

Sept. 29

HE KNOWS ME...

One of the biggest steps in my young christian life was moving from God loves the world and others to a understanding that God loves me personally and knows me.

It was always easier to see how God could love someone else. At times I did not even love myself, so how could an awesome Holy, Powerful God love me. Besides isn't he busy with a vast universe. I am only a spec in that universe, surely He would not even miss me if I were gone.

How wrong I was! God did know me and He had singled me out as uniquely important as He has with us all.

"You have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit down and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways, before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

Psalm 139:1-4

As I opened to God in my daily life, He revealed how much he loved me and how well he knew me. I am not just another number to God.

There is a beautiful passage in Isaiah 49:16 that reads "See I have engraved you in the palm of my hands" That passage looked forward to the cross where Jesus' hands were permanently engraved with nails as he was put on a cross. That scar bears my name so to speak. It was for me that he went to the cross. I am engraved int he palms of his hands.

Knowing this changes the way we live. It is to higher purpose than survival we are called. We have been created and uniquely designed by God to fulfill His purpose upon the earth. In even the smallest ways of our daily lives we impact the present and prepare the future.

WEEKLY THOUGHTS...

Each of us asks these questions at times:

Am I really important in the grand scheme of God's design? Are the little details of my everyday life important to him? Is there purpose for my life beyond what I am currently living? How can I discover my purpose in life?

This past week I was hit square in the face with some of these questions. Since Michele and I left full time ministry in 2007 we have questioned at times: are we really where God wants us right now? We believed we heard from God when we moved here.
It has been a really great move for all of us especially our younger children (who are now in high school). We have been blessed with some great friendships, we love the schools here, we enjoy our community. Yet, there is still a calling to purpose on our lives that we have not been living out in a large way.

The result of prayer and time with God gave birth to a Bible Study that we are hosting in our home each Sunday night at 7pm. 1319 Ridgefield loop Round Rock (Teravista)

I have found that my life makes the most sense when I am in my purpose. Getting Amanda Ready for college next year, we have looked over the various degree plans. There is so much she can do, but what was she created to do and be? That question requires that we spend time with God in prayer and examining his words to us: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart, I appointed you. (Jeremiah 1:5)
I have reminded her of that passage as we have examined her gifts and desires for clues to who God created her to be and what He wants her to do. Examining our talents, gifts and desires is a good beginning point. God made you and I unique. He also equipped us for the purpose to which we are called.. "for we are God's workmanship, which God prepared in advance for us to do". (Eph. 2:10)
Your design is divinely inspired! Everything you need to succeed is in you by design. Putting God first is the key. As we let him lead us we will move from doing a job to fulfilling a purpose.
Take time to thank God for your design today. See you Sunday.

Alan and Michele

A PERSONAL PSALM

There is so much I want to say and yet the words are not readily available. As if my head and heart have been blocked from communication. At times like these, I press forward with the "pen" so to speak. in hopes that the blockade will break and the words pour forth more freely.

Robert Frost wrote: "something there is that does not love a wall.." I could not lay my hands on the poem but as I remember it he talked of how the frozen ground will swell and send the upper boulders of the wall tumbling to the earth. It is as if the earth rebels against the building of a wall between neighbors. Robert Frost captures the human delimit. We build walls for protection, only to discover that they need constant repair and in the end, for the most part must be torn down all together so that we can live in community. We were never intended to live alone.

The grand discovery of life is when independence slams into the broken heart. When we discover that we need outside of ourselves we are closer to God than ever before. Very recently. I have had the collision. My independence has slammed into brokenness. At the point of this writing , I am not sure what the outcome will be. save a deeper. closer walk with God.

I have been here before, it is familiar ground. The shadow of the mountain looms over me as I walk through the valley. God has upset my wall. Its boulders are tumbling down. There are new paths for me to walk and this is my motivation. I have nothing to go back too. I have no more walls to hide behind.

Stripped of title. old friendship, security. one can only present oneself. I have talents, abilities, accolades, but in a new place these things are unknown and unproven. Somehow it is good to be in this place. God's voice is more easily heard, there are fewer distractions. A familiar hope is stirring within a desire to reconnect with original purpose. I am closer to God now and it is comforting.

What is just over the mountain? My mission and purpose are moving me forward and I am grateful for the valley as I press for the mountain top.

The Winds of Change

As the fall approaches we are reminded by nature that change is inevitable. The winds of change are blowing across our nation right now stronger than ever before. In just a few years since 9-11 we have seen sweeping change. The way we board an Airplane. The way we look at one another. The way we view national security and so many, many more.
The country I grew up in is vastly different today. My parents never worried about what I was doing on the Internet. I had a small TV in my bedroom and my parents never worried what I was watching on it. At midnight every station played the national anthem and went off the air with an annoying high pitched sound.
I listened to AM radio at night to hear my favorite college team play and then to music that was DJ'd by Wolfman Jack. My parents never worried about what I listened to on the Radio. My brother and I played outdoors mostly, we walked all over town and if we got far enough away from home a hometown citizen would offer to give us a ride home. We left our house un-locked, our cars un-locked and our bikes sitting out in our front yard. The next day they were still there.
It is so much harder to parent today. We work hard to keep up with what is going on in our children's lives. My son was doing a school assignment a couple of years ago that required Internet research. He mis-typed the mans last name and a porn site popped up. We monitor our kids on the Internet. block offensive sites and keep that computer in a public place in the home. We saw what had happened within a few minutes. He felt ashamed and was in tears as we talked with him but it was not his fault.
We are under attack on many fronts in America. Just a few days ago, Disney had to fire a young woman who had a bright future with them because she sent her boyfriend explicit pictures of herself over the Internet and it became public. In recent years what we used to be considered obscene behavior has been glamorized and encouraged by magazines, TV, Cable, the Internet. and our school systems.
It is time for change in America. We need to take our culture back! It is time to get involved as parents in our schools, we need to let our leaders hear our voices loud and clear. We must become ONE NATION UNDER GOD!