Wonderful Jesus!

Tag: Forgiveness

• Under the Influence!

  Posted at 3:15 am by wonderfuljesus8, on January 24, 2020

  Luke 4:1 – “And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,”

  Today, we are influenced by many things. When someone is stopped by the police and that individual has been drinking, we say they are under the influence of the alcohol. When people are flying high and acting out of character, we say that they are under the influence of a drug, or a demon.

  Unfortunately, we can be under the influence of so much more! Influence is the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc. of others. Every where you look and everywhere you go, someone is trying to influence you.

  Whether that influence is for good or for evil; or whether that influence is direct or indirect, make no mistake, we are affected by the people and things around us. Other powerful influences on mankind include the music we listen to, the movies and shows we watch, the books we read. For example, when a young man wants to propose to his love, he sets the mood with music, flowers, and a meal to influence her decision positively. When in the store, different types of music is played to influence your spending. When you read the word of God your faith in Him grows. When you are in a church service, soft quiet music is played to put you in a reverential mood, and so forth and so on.

  But in our verse for today, Jesus is influenced by the Spirit of God and led to a destination. Luke wrote that Jesus was so full of the Holy Ghost that He led Jesus from Jordan and to the wilderness (Luke 4). The devil thought He had Jesus over a barrel. After all, He had been fasting for quite some time. But the Spirit of God led Him to fast and led Him to the wilderness to meet up with the devil, when the devil thought he was setting up the meeting. And because He was led of the Spirit, He whipped up on the devil with the Word of God!

  Jesus’ victory was assured because of the leading of the Holy Spirit. We can learn a very important lesson from this verse: If God leads us to a place or in a situation, our victory is guaranteed! And if He doesn’t lead us, and we find ourselves in a tough spot, we can turn to Him for direction to come out victorious! Hallelujah!

  Let’s return to the definition of the word influence and put the Holy Ghost in strategic places. When the Holy Spirit’s influence is upon your life, He is a compelling force on your behavior, your actions, your opinions, your words, and even your thoughts. His influence produces the desired effects upon every area of your life that you can name. He governs where you go, or don’t go; what you do or don’t do, what you say or don’t say, because you are under the influence. People worry about how to obey God’s rules. I like to say if we trust His leading, the rules will be taken care of! He will never lead us astray!

  Under the influence of the Holy Spirit we are able to live by faith as the word declares. Under the influence we are able to forgive others! Under the influence we can live a life free of sin! Under the influence we can operate in the supernatural. Under the influence we can do what God says we can do, we can have what He says we can have, and we can be all that He calls us to be! Under the influence!

  Don’t settle for a cheap imitation of influence when you can be influenced by the Spirit of God! Make up your mind today that His influence will have the greatest impact on your life, on your behavior, on your conversation, on your walk. The word tells us that those who are led by His Spirit are the children of God! Looking for proof that you belong to the Lord? Well, are you under His influence? Wonderful Jesus!!

  Posted in Attitude, Christian, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Luke 4:1, Victorious Living | 2 Comments | Tagged Believer, Christian, Faith, Forgiveness, Holy Spirit, Jesus, led by the Spirit, Luke 4, obedience, victory, word of God

• Sins, Transgressions, and Iniquities

  Posted at 1:00 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on January 10, 2020

  Psalm 32:5 – I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

  In a conversation with someone, I was asked if I could share what the differences was between sins, transgressions and iniquities. I felt that I understood iniquity, but was not really sure about how the others lined up, so I did a little study.

  First, I had to find a verse that uses more than one of these terms in it to show that they were somehow different. In this particular psalm, David begins by rejoicing over forgiveness. But as he continues, he acknowledges with this psalm that there are different types of sin. So I just want to share what I have discovered and maybe help clarify it for us.

  The first word for sin is “chattath”. It means a “coming short” or “falling short” of a mark. In my Logos commentary it describes “chattath” like the sport of archery, where the individual releases the arrow but it falls short of the target. In this case, the target is God’s law and we as human beings can fail to measure up to it, even as believers. So this sin is in relationship to the word of God.

  What could that look like? I think this could involve those sins that are directly spoken of in the word of God: adultery, fornication, lying, stealing, etc. These things are sins, and they definitely affect humanity, but they are sins against the word of God. Thus when committed we have fallen short of the mark of what God’s word says to us.

  The next word for sin is “transgression” which in Hebrew is “peshah”, and it’s literal meaning is “a going away or “departure” or “a rebellion”. This would be sin that directly affects our relationship with God.

  What is this rebellion all about? If we are turning away, could this be backsliding? How about atheism and other cults where we are in obvious rebellion to the One who sent His Son for us? I’m just trying to make a correlation! And could some of those “chattath” sins be included when we just make up mind that we don’t care what God said about a thing, we are going to do what we want? Just wondering! David seemed to feel that he had done them all, maybe in the same setting at the same time. It’s possible!

  The last word for sin in this verse is iniquity, derived from the Hebrew word “hawon”. It means “corrupt,” ”twisted,” or “crooked.” And in the Hebrew interlinear bible it is translated depravity. This is the type of sin that relates to humanity. We know that man can get into depravity. I choose not to mention things that are considered depravity. But we can all recognize the corrupt, twisted, and crooked things that people do. And when people are involved in these types of things it can get pretty devastating to humanity. Committing adultery and having someone’s husband killed qualifies in my book as twisted.

  Well, I don’t know if I have helped the discussion or made it more confusing; I’ll have to study it some more. But I couldn’t get away from the question and therefore I knew that I had to explore it!! One final thought, make no mistake about it, all of these sins are forgivable! And whether you can identify them or not, be sure to repent of them and receive the blessedness of forgiveness! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Believers, Christian, Forgiveness, Psalm 32:5, Sin, Victorious Living | 4 Comments | Tagged Christian, Forgiveness, iniquity, Psalm 32:5, Sin, transgression

• The Problem With Sin!

  Posted at 1:00 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on January 7, 2020

  2 Samuel 11:4-5 -Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”

  This morning as I was packing up to head out the door, I heard a news commentator talking about something someone did twenty years ago. My first thought was, “Seriously? Give it a rest already, that was years ago.” And then I said, “That’s the problem with sin!” I knew it was the Lord and that I would blog about it today.

  David was having a time of leisure since his men were out to war. As he was on the roof of his castle he noticed Bathsheba taking a bath. Then he invited her over for an evening of pleasure and she got pregnant.

  As a result of that sin, David continued to sin to cover up what he had done, displeasing God every step of the way. The prophet Nathan goes to David to basically let him know that he hadn’t gotten away with a single thing and God was bringing judgment to him because of his sin.

  You see, David sinned of his own free will; but he could not control the consequences of his sin. And even though he confessed his sin and was forgiven of his sin, the consequences did not go away.

  First, David did his sin privately, (as privately as a king can be) but his consequences were public and long reaching. In sinning, David gave God’s enemies a reason to blaspheme His name (12:14), then the baby died. Then his son Ammon raped his daughter Tamar, causing his son, Absalom, to kill Ammon. Then Absalom flees to another city for three years, but bitterness took root in his heart; and when he returned he turned the hearts of the people from David to himself.

  He then takes over the throne causing David to run for his life, sleeps with David’s concubines on the top of the house (where his father probably saw Bathsheba) and was later killed by Joab. So much came against David as a result of his sin, and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop the consequences. He may have loved Bathsheba but I bet he wished he had left her alone.

  You see, this individual they were talking about this morning, I am sure has moved on; but the world has not. They keep bringing his sin up. His family is constantly reminded of it. And so are his friends. The consequences his sin brought to his door was more than he bargained for.

  That’s the problem with sin! It may feel good at the moment and make you feel as if you are on top of the world. It may stroke your ego and cause your feathers to plume, but when all the fanfare is over, there will be a price to pay and consequences that last a lifetime. I like what our Pastor says, “Sin will take you farther then you wanted to go and keep you longer than you wanted to stay!” That’s the problem with sin!

  As we go into this new year, don’t take the attitude of many that you can just ask for forgiveness and it will be alright because we are living under grace. That’s a lie! You are fooling yourself and the devil is laughing at you! Flee sin! Turn your back on it and ask God to help you to overcome temptation, because the problem with sin is that forgiveness doesn’t equate to erasing consequences. Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in 2 Samuel 11:4-5, Believers, Christian, Sin | 1 Comment | Tagged 2 Samuel 11:4-5, Absalom, Ammon, Bathsheba, Believer, Christian, consequences, David, Forgiveness, Sin, Tamar

• Mustard Seed Faith Explained!

  Posted at 4:39 am by wonderfuljesus8, on December 24, 2019

  Matthew 17:20 – So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

  So I’ve been reading everything I can find on the topic of mustard seed faith and I have listened to a lot of sermons on the subject, and I am amazed that so many theologians are stuck on the size of the mustard seed. I won’t pretend that I understand all of what Jesus said and meant, and I am still searching for answers, but I am absolutely certain that a small amount of faith doesn’t move mountains, trees, or Jesus!

  If we look at the situation that causes Jesus to make this statement in Matthew and again in Luke, we can hopefully get some more understanding of what mustard seed faith might mean.

  A man came to Jesus, knelt before Him and asked for mercy for his son who was epileptic. Now I don’t know if that catches your attention, but I have been a parent of a child who was diagnosed with abnormal seizure disorder, which from what I can tell, is epilepsy. As a two week old baby she was having involuntary shakes that led to the diagnosis. She was immediately put on phenobarbital and given an evil report of things only getting worst and of never having a normal life.

  I can tell you right now that this man’s son was not in a good place. So he goes to Jesus’ disciples and they could not cure his son. But Jesus could and He did! Thank God for Jesus! Then the disciples asked, “Why could we not cast it out?” Jesus replied, “Because of your unbelief, for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you…”

  I think that because Jesus first mentions that the disciples were in unbelief, many have come to think that a little bit of faith is all we need to move mountains. I believe this is a trick of the enemy to keep us from receiving the things that we desire when we pray, as he knows small faith doesn’t move the hand of God, it only disappoints the individual.

  When we compare things in writing, we use similes or metaphors. As a matter of fact, in the YLT it states that Jesus is using a simile in Matthew 13, comparing the size of the kingdom of heaven to the size of a mustard seed. Let’s take a quick look at this passage:

  Jesus mentions the mustard seed in only three conversations in the word of God. In Matthew 13:31 -“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” Here, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed. He talks about the mustard seed being sown into the land. He then makes the point that if you sow this seed, though it is the least (smallest) of all seeds, it will become a tree that birds of the air flock to. I do believe that in this instance Jesus is referring to the size of the seed. After all, the kingdom started with Him, then He included His disciples, and it has grown to billions of souls over the centuries. I get it!

  Now in our key verse, faith is compared to a grain of mustard seed. This is also a simile, where we compare two things using the words “like” or “as”. A familiar simile would be, “I am as hungry as a bear.” My hunger is being compared to the hunger of a bear, not to the bear itself. I believe that faith is being compared to a grain of mustard, not in size, but in its productivity.

  You see, when a grain of mustard is planted or sown, it produces a mustard plant and nothing else; so faith when it is sown should produce what it is sown for. In Matthew 17 Jesus was instructing the disciples to know that when demons manifest, sow faith to cast out demons.

  In Luke 17:6, “So the Lord said, ‘If you have faith as a mustard see, you can say to this mulberry tree, “Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.”‘ As I was typing, I heard in my spirit, “If you faith as a mustard seed” meaning, if you have the same kind of faith that a mustard see has you will say…Meaning that a mustard seed will produce a mustard plant, and when it is sown, it knows it will produce mustard and not apples. And if you have that kind of faith, the kind that knows what it is producing, you will be able to say to the mulberry tree…or even forgive seventy times seven.

  After Jesus tells the disciples that faith as a mustard seed (this time He doesn’t say “grain”) will give them the ability to say to a mulberry tree to be uprooted, He goes on to talk about the role of a servant. He tells the disciples that a servant serves, even when he is tired and doesn’t receive thanks because it is his duty. I believe that Jesus is saying that faith has a responsibility to get done what we believe it will do, even if that means telling a mulberry tree to be uprooted or a mountain to be cast into a sea.

  When the doctors gave us the evil report about our baby, we put faith to work. Six months later, our baby was off the phenobarbital and given a clean bill of health. She has gone on to graduate from law school and has authored and published several novels. And she has never had another seizure. The seed of God’s word was planted in our hearts and we sowed it for her complete healing, and that’s what we received!

  What do you expect a mustard seed to produce? Mustard plants or trees! What should faith produce? The thing hoped for! Even today, I am still learning about faith. I can quote the scriptures and pull the books off the shelf, but I don’t always operate in mountain moving faith. But this blog has even opened my eyes to understanding faith in a different way. Faith, like a mustard seed, will produce what it is sown for: healing, finances, forgiveness, deliverance, a mate, a job…the possibilities are unlimited! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in Christian, Faith, Jesus, Matthew 17:20 | 4 Comments | Tagged Believer, Christian, Faith, Forgiveness, Jesus, Matthew 17:20, miraculous, mustard seed

• Worshipper, Warrior, and King!

  Posted at 5:14 am by wonderfuljesus8, on February 20, 2019

  1 Samuel 13:14 -But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.

  David gets a bad rap amongst Christians today. He’s actually a paradox to the Christian community being used as an excuse for a flesh filled life and the lie that they are alright with God when they are not. I would like to take a few minutes to look at David with God’s perspective.

  First of all, Samuel told Saul that God was replacing him as king with one whose heart was after His own. At the time Samuel didn’t know who this person was, but he was told that this person had a heart for God.

  When God was ready to anoint His new king, Samuel was sent to David’s home, but David was in the field watching the sheep. David did more than watch the sheep out there. David learned to worship God, to seek His face, to trust and obey Him. And because of that, David got God’s attention.

  I want to point out that in David’s time, that was unusual. When people had a desire to worship, they went to the temple. When they had a need, a sin issue, or celebration, they went to the temple; but David created a temple, an atmosphere where he could meet God in the fields, or where ever he was at. This was a New Testament order brought into the Old Testament because his heart was to worship God unhindered and unstructured.

  When Saul was appointed king over Israel it was at the request of the people, but when David was appointed king, it was at the request of God. What a huge difference in the beginning of the assignment on his life. We could say that God approved of Saul but He specifically chose David to be His king. Chose and HIs being the operative words!

  After Samuel anointed the shepherd, David, to be king over Israel, David went back to the fields. And as he was in the fields he continued to worship God, continued to open his heart to the will of God, continued to develop before the Presence of God; because when he was anointed king, the Spirit of God rested on him from that day forward.

  When the Spirit of God is mentioned about Saul, it is said that the Spirit came upon Saul, but with David, the Spirit of God remained. Already there is a notable difference.

  Now to get to the other point I wanted to make: as David continued on in life with God he wrote some psalms, killed Goliath, became a mighty warrior, turned the destitute into the mighty men, and united a kingdom, all while giving God the glory!

  As he settled into his kingdom David did a few things that were just plain wrong: he slept with Bathsheba and then he had her husband killed to cover it up. And God continued to love him and to bless him with favor; even made a covenant with him to give him an everlasting kingdom. And this is where people get confused.

  They think that David was this terrible sinner that God just loved on and used in spite of himself because of the plans for his life! Wrong!

  Let’s remember that God called David a man after His own heart. I don’t think people really understand the word sinner. A sinner is someone who sins, who is separated by their sin from God. They aren’t sinners because they sin, they sin because they are sinners. When David slept with Bathsheba, he sinned. But that didn’t make him a sinner who was separated from God. When he had Uriah, her husband killed, he sinned, but that didn’t separate him from God. It broke fellowship, it broke God’s heart, and had he continued, he may have ended up like Saul, but David’s heart was bent towards God and it was evident even then.

  When David was called on the carpet for his sin, he didn’t blame Bathsheba for bathing on the wall, he didn’t blame the devil for setting him up, he fell before God and took the blame and cried out for forgiveness. (Psalm 51) Then he begged God to allow His spirit to continue to remain with him. In other words, he repented and meant it and God knew that He did. These are not the actions of a sinner, but of one whose heart is towards God!

  My pastor explained this so beautifully once that I never forgot it. He said something like this: “When a man lies and admits his lie and repents of his lie, he just lied. But when a man lies, cover his lies, and continue to lie until he lies about everything he becomes a liar.” I share that to say, there is no continuous reporting in the life of David that he continued to sleep with other men wives having them killed off. David repented of his sin and moved his face towards God.

  He is even called ungodly. To be ungodly is to deny God or disobey God. An ungodly person doesn’t have a heart after God. If he did, God would be admitting that His own heat is ungodly. That’s ridiculous! David acted ungodly, yet again, he repented from the act of ungodliness or in this case-the act of disobedience.

  I will admit that what David did was wrong on so many levels. This is why I said he is a paradox. He loved God so much, had a very close and personal relationship with God and yet he sinned. But remember that a sinner keeps on sinning with no or little regard to what God says about it.

  Remember when Jesus hung on the cross? He asked God why had He forsaken Him? God forsook Jesus when Jesus became sin for us because He didn’t dwell with sin with Jesus HIs only begotten Son and He won’t dwell with sin in us. We must repent of it, be cleansed from it, and our relationship restored. Just like David, just like Jesus!! Although Jesus didn’t sin, but He carried ours and God forsook Him that we might be reconciled to Him.

  He’s a paradox because people look for reasons to twist the things in the word of God for their own justification. That’s not having a heart towards God. That’s fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind then wanting to validate those desires by looking at what someone else did, just like Adam!

  All of us can probably think of a time when we blew it, but the Word is clear that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. David understood that and lived accordingly; not to excuse his sin, but to be free from it.

  So I am in agreement with God about David. He was a man after God’s own heart; a worshipper, a warrior, a king! He was God’s man, imperfect in his ways, but He belonged to God. That makes David as far removed from a sinner as those of us washed now in His Blood. Maybe you have struggled with the truth about who you are in Jesus! Struggle no more because if you have been washed in His Blood you are no longer a sinner but are accepted in the beloved! Wonderful Jesus!

  Posted in encouragement, King David, Victorious Living, worship | 0 Comments | Tagged Believer, encouragement, Forgiveness, Sinner, Victorious Living

• The Bread and the Wine

  Posted at 8:40 pm by wonderfuljesus8, on March 31, 2018

   

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  Posted in Communion, Salvation | 0 Comments | Tagged Christian, Forgiveness, Jesus, Sin

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