I used to say this often in my former way of thinking when I would travel on a religious high horse: “I forgive ________, but I will not / cannot forget!” And I remember clearly the night…the precise and painful moment…that God “knocked me off” my metaphorical religious high horse. ((Ouch…and ouch.))
Yet God says, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; And I will not remember your sins.” ~Isaiah 43:25
Who are we to say…how DARE we say…that we will not forget the transgressions (revolt) of another when God does that for those of us who belong to Him??
This is not relenting to a state of perpetual amnesia. God doesn’t have amnesia because He is omniscient. How does He do it? What example do we follow?
To “remember no more” is to make the conscious decision NOT “to mark (so as to be recognized)…to mention…be mindful, recount, record…bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance.”
Partial forgiveness is not true forgiveness. True forgiveness must involve the not remembering part…not entertaining or giving quarter to that offense/sin/trespass…not mentioning it…not counting it or keeping record.
How long or how many times must we do this not remembering stuff to truly forgive? As long as it takes and as many times until it sticks.
70 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7 x 7…((Matthew 18:21-35))
You see, we are not omnipotent like God…His true and full and eternal forgiveness sticks and stays the first time. We have to practice until it is permanent and forgiveness becomes more powerful in our lives than our flesh.
Yeah…I’ve been busybusybusy…in a season of waiting and transition…and stuff. To start off 2017, I want to share this video message with you. My iPad quit recording before I was finished and because I was looking at the camera lens…looking at you…which is at the opposite end from the record indicator, I did not notice. 😜 ((Oops.))
Anyways, the core message is in tact, and you can read the second Scripture address I was sharing about when it cut off.
Oh…and excuse the poor camera presence. I can express myself in writing and have no reservations taking a mic and a stage, but I get reeeeeaaaaallllly uncomfortable recording myself while looking at myself. 😬 Working on that.
We’ve all done it. We know it the moment it happens. And we cringe inside. Our internals knot up. Sometimes…we feel physically ill. We allow words to pass ((or fly)) through our lips without first consulting our heart and mind…or perhaps we choose to ignore the messages of those two, vital organs altogether…
“Everything is going to be okay.” ((but we don’t believe it will))
“I don’t know why I said/did that.” ((but we really do))
“I’m sorry.” ((but we’re really not.))
“I forgive you.” ((but we really don’t))
“I will pray for you.” ((but we know we won’t))
…And then there are those times we believe something so strongly that our mind is shouting, our heart is pounding, and their shared message is at the door of our lips, but we allow fear or pride to kill our voice. Resounding, painful silence.
There is a situation that begs for truth. ((silence))
There is a relationship that yearns for reconciliation. ((silence))
There is a legitimate offense that needs our apology. ((silence))
There is a need to forgive another…or even again. ((silence))
There is someone who needs our prayers…now. ((silence))
Sunsets are one of my favorites…this is one from a while back.
These are the things that resonated in my spirit when I was meditating on what is now my favorite salvation call in all of the Scriptures…Romans 10:8-13 (NKJV):
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
I asked God, as one who had already been born again and adopted into His kingdom, I asked Him, “God, why believe and confess? Why is it not enough For someone to believe in their heart? Why is it not enough for someone to confess with their mouth? Why both?” Now, I wasn’t asking God out of doubt or challenge of His sovereignty. I really wanted to know.
El Yeshuati: Do you remember times when you have spoken things you didn’t believe and how that felt?
Me: …uh…yeah…😕
El Yeshuati: And do you remember times when you believed something so strongly and wanted to say it, but you didn’t?
Me: …(groan)…yaaaaasssss…😩
And there was His breath of understanding. The fingerprint of His Word. He knows how distracted (on a good day) our hearts and mouths can be, and He knows how deceitful (on a really, really not good day) our hearts and mouths can be. When we enter that moment of surrendering our lives to His Lordship, He wants our heart and mouth to meet and agree on who Jesus is and what Jesus did for us.
When we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, we are acknowledging, agreeing, and making verbal covenant that Jesus is who He is revealed to be in the Gospel. When we believe in our heart that Jesus was crucified for our sins and resurrected from the dead, we are demonstrating faith in God and entrusting our very self – our spiritual and physical life – to His deliverance, protection, healing, preservation.
God loves you infinitely and immeasurably more than I love ((COFFEE))…now that’s a lot of L❤️VE❗️
This is available to anyone. ANYONE. It says so in the above verses. Twice. It’s even available to that co-worker who acts so ugly. It’s available to your momma’s-friend’s-son who stole something very precious from you. Anyone has access to salvation while on this planet…even and especially those who abuse, mistreat…deal harshly or speak lies…murder and thieve…and also those who live good, moral lives without regard for God.
Whoever..WHOEVER…all, any, every, the whole and as many as choose Him…
Will. Be. Saved.
Saved from what? I’m so glad you asked. Saved from spending eternity separated from God…saved from spending an eternity in ultimate, indescribable darkness with gnashing of teeth and torment and punishment and unrectifiable awareness that you denied Christ because you did not believe and confess when you had the opportunities and ability.
I was rescued from that end in October 1995 on a Sunday night in a pile of brokenness on my daughter’s bedroom floor. There was no “repeat-after-me prayer”…no Romans Road…no formulaic prayer. It was just a very transparent me bringing the overflow of my fractured and surrendered heart through the honest confession of my mouth to a holy, forgiving, loving, compassionate, merciful, patient, kind Father who received me with fullness and rejoicing.
You can have this assurance, too. All you need is a heart and a mouth. Even if you can’t articulate audible words, God hears your thoughts and reads your heart. Just confess and believe.
