Unforgiveness

Visited a fren's blog yesterday. His nick is "unforgiven__". Almost immediately, I was reminded of a song:

Here I stand forgiven
Here I stand holy and righteous
You paid the price
And You laid down Your life
Jesus I surrender all ...

God loves us. He has already forgiven us for all our past, present and future sins through the death of His Son, Jesus on the Cross. Many of us, whether we know or not know Him, alas continue to live in defeat, forsaking the liberty that comes with knowing that yes, we're forgiven - by the God of the universe.

Or from the sermon last evening, we're not grateful and not understand the magnitude of God's love on the Cross for us. Yes, Jesus died on the Cross for us. Sometimes it became more of a fact than a relational truth. What does the death of Christ mean for us?

Am still struggling to forgive X in my life. The altar call was given last night for believers to release forgiveness by first receving the forgiveness of God upon our own lives. The Presence of God was strong at the altar. I kneeled before God and utter,"Lord I release.." At the word "release", my hands started to shake violently. I knew it was the Holy Spirit. I just continue to release forgiveness and also remembering to receive anew God's forgiveness for me.

It was another milestone for me. How many times must I forgive X? Jesus said "70x7 times" (matt 18:21-22), figuratively meaning the numbers are not important at all. We forgive that we can be forgiven.
It's a process - the process of sanctification by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Sanctification creates a "new man" within us in the image of Christ, a new "nature" that is drawn to life and immortality instead of death and corruption. Unlike the instantaneous event of justification, the process of sanctification continues through our entire life on earth, reaching completion only in heaven. (RBC resources)



I thank God for all that He has done. He will bring to completion what He has begun in me.

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John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.