Tag: forgiveness
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Love Them and Let God Judge – Genesis 50:18-19 Genesis 50:18-19 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? Now the brothers come themselves. They fall down before Joseph’s…
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Still Afraid of Grace – Genesis 50:12-15
Genesis 50:12-15 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. And Joseph returned…
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Near Enough to Hear Grace – Genesis 45:4-5
Genesis 45:4, 5 “And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to…
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When You Cannot Preach, You Can Still Pray – Genesis 20:17-18
Genesis 20:17, 18So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the Lord had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife. This is such a gracious turn in the story. Abraham had not exactly put…
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Seventy Times Seven – Genesis 4:24
Genesis 4:24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. By the time you reach this verse, the line of Cain has become loud with pride. Lamech does not merely defend himself. He magnifies himself. He takes the principle of vengeance and stretches it beyond all proportion. Cain had become a warning.…
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The Blood That Cries, The Blood That Cleanses – Genesis 4:10
Genesis 4:10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. This is one of the most haunting lines in all of Genesis. Abel is dead, silent in the field, and yet God says his blood still has a voice. Cain may think the matter…
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Worship God – Revelation 22:8-9
Revelation 22:8, 9And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets,…
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White as Snow – Revelation 1:14
Revelation 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire I have seen pictures based on this chapter that make Jesus look almost frightening, as if John were trying to paint a terrifying portrait of a white haired figure with blazing…
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The Love That Starts It All – 1 John 4:19-21
1 John 4:19-21 We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he…
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he Mercy We Must Pass On – 1 John 4:11
1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. John makes it beautifully simple. If God has loved us like this, then love cannot stop with us. It must move through us. That is where this gets very practical, saints. It is one thing to sing about grace, talk…
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Growing Simpler in Jesus – 1 John 2:12-14
1 John 2:12-14 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye…
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Honest Hearts, Open Doors – 1 John 1:9-10
1 John 1:9-10 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. For years, these verses can trouble tender believers more than…
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The Handle Is Gone – 1 Peter 3:19-20
1 Peter 3:19-20 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. These are mysterious verses, no doubt about it. Peter…
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Which Tree Will You Choose? – 1 Peter 3:18
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Peter says Christ suffered once for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. That…
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Faith That Responds – James 5:15
James 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up… and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. The prayer of faith is not something we manufacture by emotion. It is not working ourselves into a mood, stirring up a room, or trying to…
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Mercy Comes Back Around – James 2:12–13
James 2:12–13 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. James says your mouth and your life should both remember one thing: you are going to be measured by a…
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Blood and Forgiveness — Hebrews 9:18–22
Hebrews 9:18–22 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of…
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Beyond Ignorance — Hebrews 9:7
Hebrews 9:7 …not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people. When the high priest entered the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he never entered empty handed. He came with blood. Blood for himself.Blood for the people. But the verse adds an interesting detail. The blood was…
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Mercy That Won’t Keep Score — Hebrews 8:12–13
Hebrews 8:12–13 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. This is where the heart just stops and stares…
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Confidence in Love — Philemon 1:20–21
Philemon 1:20–21 Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord.Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say. Paul now brings his appeal to a gentle conclusion. “Brother, let me have joy of thee in the…
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Put It on My Account — Philemon 1:17–19
Philemon 1:17–19 If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.…
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When No One Stood — 2 Timothy 4:15–16
2 Timothy 4:15–16 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words.At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Paul warns Timothy about Alexander again. The man had fiercely opposed the message of…
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The Lord Is the Avenger – 1 Thessalonians 4:6–7
1 Thessalonians 4:6–7 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. Paul is still talking about the same subject. He has not changed…
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Wear Him – Colossians 3:10–14
Colossians 3:10–14 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of…
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One Plea, Two Hearts – Philippians 4:2
Philippians 4:2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Paul does something fascinating here. He does not diagnose the problem.He does not host mediation.He does not publish the details. He pleads. Twice. “I beseech Euodias…and beseech Syntyche…” The repetition matters. In Scripture, when something is said…