Sunday, September 8th

If you've never read the book If, written by Amy Carmichael, you need to.  It's a very small booklet, not meant to be read in a single session.  I've had my copy almost 20 years, and though the pages have yellowed, the spiritual nuggets of wisdom are still profound to me.  Today I share with you a thought from its pages.

If I cast up a confessed, repented, and forsaken sin against another,

and allow my remembrance of that

sin to color my thinking and

feed my suspicions,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

 

Often times when we've been hurt, we honestly do our best to forgive.  With our best effort we do try to forget.  But, there are times when we save our hurts, nurture them almost, in order to use them as weapons in the next battle with the one who hurt us.  I've done this with circumstances and situations that I know I've genuinely forgiven.  When I ponder the circumstance that caused me pain, it doesn't bring that little stabbing ache any longer; but, I will still use that past hurt to my advantage.  It invokes sympathy, after all, from the one who wounded my heart. 

 

Today, I encourage you, dear girls, that when the sweet Lord pours a balm of healing onto a wounded spirit and by grace gives you forgiveness for one who's wounded you, don't save your hurt for the next battle.  When you forgive, relinquish the ability to use the hurtful circumstance in the next battle.  What if, though we knew in our hearts we were forgiven of our sins, the Lord still reminded us of the awful things we did before we were saved?  We'd not lead a very victorious life in Christ, would we?  There would be no way we could if we were constantly reminded of what we were.  Instead He does the opposite...

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

 

 

 

Scripture Reading for the Day:

 

Proverbs 8

John 9