I cannot begin to encourage you enough to see that each new day is a new beginning because you cannot change your past. We can learn to be humble before a Holy and loving God. I started reading a book called “Redemption… Freed by Jesus from Idols we worship and the Wounds we carry” by Mike Wilkerson. This book was sent to Marty and I to read by a young man that we knew when he was a teenager. He was in a Sunday School Class that I taught and was part of a group of very active teenage boys. He is special to me! He has made mistakes by his own confession, but has learned the power of forgiving himself with humility. He now reaches out to others and he has reached out to our son. He lived two houses down from us in Anchorage, AK and was part of our son’s life at that time. God has blessed us with a reconnection with this man of faith. A new day brings us the opportunity to make new choices.
Something from the book brought a new light to my heart that I did not realize before this date. The new revelation comes from the Adam and Eve documentation in the Bible. God had a personal relationship with His created beings where He talked with them daily. He instructed them not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We have all heard the story, probably from childhood. The serpent, which was the enemy of God, persuaded them to eat from the forbidden tree by telling them that they could be gods. WOW! This is where our self centered, self-reliant, self-promoting, self-destructive, self-hatred, self only attitudes, self ideas of being super important began and why people seem to not need God. The persuasion to focus on self was offered by the enemy to direct them away from the Garden of Eden that was full of harmony. We were created to have a relationship with God who had our best interest in mind. He was willing to teach us this gentle harmony, love, peace and creativity that would bless the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ’s message that comes from the cross is to get that harmony and relationship back that the devil and disobedience once destroyed. The enemy has no interest in us accept to cause suffering, because this has successfully created a barrier between people and a Holy God. The truth is that the devil wanted to be God and there is only one God through the power the God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit!
We take too lightly the powerful message of the cross of Jesus Christ. The GRACE that has been offered to people who have accepted the truth of His death has renewed the heart to have a relationship with God. We must humble our hearts to a pure God asking Him to forgive our rebellion, accepting the cleansing that Jesus offers and choosing to take steps to start fresh every day, to read the Word, pray and worship God with our lives. We will still struggle and suffer with temptations from the enemy, because that is the nature of a fallen world that was once perfect.
1 Peter 5:6-9, Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. NIV
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