 I am praying God’s 250 great and precious promises in the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation over my spouse, children, and loved ones. I’m on promise number 16. If you missed the others you can find them here. Join me in praying for your family and other loved ones.
Today’s promise is FORGIVENESS OF SINS. As a Christian, we know that the moment we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior our sins are washed away and we are forgiven of our sins. Romans 10:9, “If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is LORD," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Just in this scripture alone, we receive salvation, redemption, and forgiveness. But as we live our daily lives even after we believe in Him, we are not exempt from others abusing us, defaming our character, offending us, and insulting us. For this devotion today, the focus is on being a Christian but carrying unforgiveness in your heart for someone else. Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” and Mark 11:25 relates this promise to our praying, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” What an amazing promise the Lord is giving us; but, to receive this promise it comes with a sometimes hard to act upon condition we must do. We must forgive. We must forgive those who have sinned against us. For this prayer, I am going to focus on the word forgiveness. Forgiveness is not agreeing and approving what that person has done to you. Forgiving the person that has sinned against you, that has caused you pain, is the beginning of not being chained by what this person has done to you any longer. Forgiveness releases us from being shackled to this person any longer. Forgiveness is defined by Webster’s dictionary as to stop feeling angry or resentful toward (someone) for an offense, flaw, or mistake. In the Bible, Jesus is saying forgiveness is to send away, to expire, to let go, to disregard, stop discussing it, to give up a debt, to remit/cancel a debt or punishment, to leave in order to go to another place. God has this promise available to us so we can live the fullness of what we were created for on this earth. Isn’t it true, if we hold on to unforgiveness, our minds get taken over by negative thoughts toward the person who hurt us? Unforgiveness makes us constantly rehearse the hurt in our minds, rehearse retaliation, rehearse telling that person off, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. That’s what unforgiveness does, it handcuffs us to this person, ties our thought life to this person, it keeps stirring up the hurt, it keeps us immobilized and we end up wasting too much time on this person. So what do we do? We forgive that person. But how? Forgiveness is intentional. The times I had to forgive someone who hurt me, I had to recognize all the time I spent rehearsing what that person had done to me. I had to recognize all the days I thought about telling that person off. Unforgiveness is a consumer. It consumes our time and devours our energy whereas we could be using that time and energy towards the plans and purposes God has for us. Remember, when you forgive a person who has wounded you, you are rising up straight and strong and saying “You can no longer control my emotions! You can no longer have any part of me anymore! I am breaking this invisible shackle you have had on me! I am releasing you to the Lord and I will let Him take care of you! I am free of you! I am free!” That is what forgiveness does. It frees you to let the Lord usher you into His destiny, plans, and purposes for you on this earth. And isn’t this something we want our spouse, children and other loved ones to experience? Father, I thank You for the promise of forgiveness of sins. Thank You that I do not have to be shackled and chained to (name the person that wounded you) any longer. I am deciding today this person will no longer hold my thoughts captive to this wound. I choose to praise You and call out the name of Jesus in the moments my mind wants to rehearse what they have done against me. I am letting this wrongdoing go and choosing to forgive them. I do not agree with what they did and I am not saying it is ok because it was wrong but I choose forgiveness because I want to be free, I want to live life in abundance as You have planned me to live. I want to walk in the fullness of the plans and purposes You have for me. I do not want to hinder You forgiving me of any sins I may do. Lord, I want this for my spouse and child/ren as well. I hold them up to You and ask You to bring to light any unforgiveness in their hearts. Lead them to forgive anybody they are holding unforgiveness towards. I know, as our child/ren walk through life, there will be classmates and other people who will offend them, hurt them, or try to insult them. Help my spouse and I teach our child/ren and show them how to forgive the people who do wrong towards them so they will not hinder You forgiving them of their sins and they will not live their life being weighted down by what others have done to them. Lord, if my spouse is being weighted down by a wrong someone has done to them, I stand in the gap for my spouse. Lead my spouse into forgiveness for this person. I thank You the enemy has no power over my spouse’s mind. I thank You that my spouse will choose to forgive this person and not carry unforgiveness in their heart. Thank You, Lord, my spouse will forgive this person and be set free from these shackles once and for all. Thank You, Lord, for the promise of when we forgive others who have sinned against us, You forgive our sins. I believe all I just prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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 I am praying God’s 250 great and precious promises in the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation over my spouse, children, and loved ones. I’m on promise number 15. If you missed the others you can find them here. Join me in praying for your family and other loved ones.
Today’s promise is GREATNESS. Matthew 5:19, “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” There is so much pressure to be great in my daily life; to be exceptional and stand out as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. I don’t know about you, but in my life, I strive to be great. I want to be an above normal wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. I do not want to be just average. I want to stand out in my home, in my church, in my community, and in my work not to draw attention to myself but to be all that God wants me to be. If I am not careful, I can strive to be great based on how the world views being great and miss pursuing being great based on God’s word for being great. In the scripture above, Jesus specifically says to be called great in the kingdom of heaven, you must do and teach the laws of the kingdom. What are the laws of the kingdom Jesus is talking about? He is talking about laws on murder, civil suits, adultery, divorce, remarriage, making vows, retaliation, love, acts of charity, alone with God, the model prayer, condition of answered prayer, and fasting. Jesus is saying if you want to be called great in the kingdom of heaven, listen and do what I say to achieve being great in My eyes. Over the years, as a large family with eight children, I have received countless emails, calls, and texts asking for parenting advice. After 15 years of being a Mom to our children, I do have lots of advice about parenting; however, the greatest advice I can give a new Mom, a struggling Mom, or a Grandmother is to do and teach the laws of the kingdom; practice and communicate the words of Jesus in your home as a parent or as a grandparent. I truly believe we can help our children avoid so much of the world’s brokenness if we take the time to teach them the laws of the kingdom at home which are found in Matthew 5:17 – 6-18. What if you are reading this and you are divorced, you have committed adultery, or you haven’t always followed the ways and words of Jesus in some areas of your life? Well, my friend, there is no condemnation from God. He is a forgiving and loving God and wants the very best for you and your family. Today, you can make a change in your home and your parenting style. Before praying the prayer below, ask the Lord to forgive you in specific areas and, friend, He will wash you white as snow and you can throw off the weight of sin so that it doesn’t go with you in your tomorrows. Father, I thank you for the promise of being called great in heaven as we follow the laws of Your Kingdom while we are on this earth and as we teach the laws of Your kingdom to our families and as You open up doors of opportunity for us to teach others. Father, our goal is not to be titled with the word great but to be transformed by Your word; to be reformed as we submit to Your laws on how to live while on this earth. Lord, as my spouse and I do and teach Your laws to our child/ren, I thank You that my spouse, our children, and myself will be radically changed by Your word. I trust and thank You that as my spouse and I follow Your laws and as we train our child/ren up in Your ways and teach them Your laws, I will see all of our moral character develop; I will see our mind, body, soul, and spirit desire and grow to be a person of integrity and honesty. I will see confusion leave and a clarity of mind come forth in each of us. I thank You, Lord, as my spouse and I put a priority in following Your laws and be intentional in making sure our child/ren know what the laws of the Kingdom are and how to live the way You intended us to live that I will see a holy boldness rise up in each of us, a Godly confidence that only comes from You. I will see my spouse, our child/ren, and myself stand up for what is right. I will see us being set apart for our purpose and destiny You placed in us. I will see us grow in knowing who we are in Christ. I will see us walking through the tough times in life with You at our side carrying us through because we choose to follow Your way of living. Continue to show my spouse and I, Lord, where we can do better as parents in training our child/ren up in Your word. I thank You it is never too late to start following Your ways and teaching our child/ren Your laws. Thank You for Your great and precious promises. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Note: God's Laws of the Kingdom can be found in Matthew 5:17 - Matthew 6:18. Ask the Lord how to incorporate teaching His laws in your home. As you practice His laws and teach them to your family, pray that He will open up doors of opportunity to teach His laws in your community. Remember, it is never too late to start teaching your family His ways. Also, if you are a fostering parent, even though you will have children temporarily, teaching these precious children His laws, even if for a short amount of time, will plant Godly seeds within them that they will take with them on their journey to finding a forever family. |
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Wife, Mother, Adoption Advocate, Writer, IllustratorWho am I? Galatians 2:20 does a great job of summing up who I am. My life is His, the One who loves me and gave Himself for me . In return, I want to be all He wants me to be and do all He wants me to do on this side of Heaven. 
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Recipient of the Angels in Adoption Award 2016. A program of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute in Washington D.C.
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