Do I have to forgive?

Hey Guys! It’s me again. I’m just chilling at home it’s Sunday afternoon here, I have church at night.

Today I’m going to be answering the question of forgiveness. Do I have to forgive the people who have hurt me and what if they still live with me? What do I do with that? This is something I spoke to you guys in Russia about a little bit. I talked about my parents and how I had to forgive them. For those of you who don’t know, I grew up with parents who were addicted to alcohol and drugs, my dad still is, he’s actually in prison right now. Through that God’s led me on a journey of forgiving them and it’s hard. For those of you who have friends or parents who have hurt you, you know, it’s hard. We all have been hurt by someone in our lifetime.

Today I’m going to answer this question in two ways. [and of course the answer is yes!] When someone has hurt you, you have to forgive them for two reasons. The first is because God loves them and therefore we have to love them. When we hold back forgiveness from someone, we’re not truly loving them like God has loved us. It’s deciding that we’re going to become a judge to them and not love them through what they’re going through even if it hurts us.

If you have a Bible look up the verse 1 John 4:10-12. And by the way, if you want to learn to love people, read 1 John 4 because it’s amazing! “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”
That verse says that it was a sacrifice for God to come and love us. A lot of times it takes a sacrifice to love others. We have to give up the pain that we have, the expectations we have. We have to love people and not expect anything back.

The second reason we have to forgive people is because God’s forgiven them and because God has forgiven us. When we decide not to forgive someone, we’re deciding to hold back and not give that person exactly what God has given us. When I wasn’t willing to forgive my parents, I wasn’t willing to give them the love God had given to me and it was really selfish! Something God had to teach me was that He has forgiven me a lot and I needed to be willing to give that to my parents.

I love C.S. Lewis, read him if you get the chance! He has a quote that says, “To be a Christian [or Christlike] means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
It’s going to seem like people have done worse things than us. I may think that since I’ve never been addicted to drugs or alcohol that I’m a pretty good person, but God sees us all the same. When we sin against Him, even if we’ve just done one wrong thing, He sees us all the same. He’s forgiven us just as much as He’s forgiven those who have hurt us and that’s why we need to forgive them.

Now lastly I want to talk about forgiving the people that we live with. How can you forgive the people I live with that still hurt me? Can you forgive them? The answer is definitely yes!

This is something I’ve struggled with a lot. Actually, while we were in Russia, I was struggling with it because my dad relapsed and went back to prison right before I left for Russia. So while I was in Russia it was really hard because I was trying to learn how to forgive him again and love him despite all of that. God’s really shown me that it’s a daily choice. That even with my mom and living with her and my brother… the things siblings do to you! Sometimes I love my brother… sometimes it’s really hard. But it’s a daily thing that I have to do. I have to decide everyday that I’m going to release that to God, that I’m going to love people. The people that you live with and are being hurt by, give it up to God every day! Every time someone hurts you, give it right back to Him.

When we don’t let go of it, we start to become bitter and bitterness is not fun. It’ll stop you from being able to do what God wants you to do, it’ll make you react to people badly, it’ll start to change you. That’s why forgiveness is important!

So to go back over what we talked about today: Yes we need to forgive people. First because God has loved them and so we need to love them and secondly because God has forgiven them and we need to forgive them. That’s going to be something we have to do every day!

Love you all… hope you’re having a great first couple weeks back at school. Have a great day!

Can I be sure I'm saved?

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We want to talk about assurance of Salvation! How can one actually know that they are born again? It talks in the Bible that we can know we are saved. 

John 5:24 

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes on him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."

If you are a believer and have accepted Jesus as your Savior, the devil wants you to have doubts. It's not uncommon for us to have doubts as Christians but there should be no reason to have them if we read the Bible and see what God says about it. He said we can know...

1 John 5:13

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life."

So when you become a Christian and are born again, God gives us the Holy Spirit and that's how we can know we are born again.

Rom 8:1 

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

The Holy Spirit will help us and that is what we need - to rely on him to help us get through our Christian life.

John 10:28

"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."

Once we are saved, no one can snatch us out of Gods hand. We are sealed and secured in God! If you're having doubts or fears about your salvation, remember these verses. We can know because we have the Holy Spirit.

Rom 10:13

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Salvation is a gift from God. He will not take it away from us if it's genuinely in our heart.

If you have fears and doubts about whether you are a Christian, or that you don't feel good enough, maybe you don't think God can forgive a sin you have committed! Always remember God will forgive you, its not a good enough reason to go and sin just because God will forgive us though...

If you are having doubts or fears, talk to God about it. Read the Bible too and see that God has offered us everlasting life which is forever and it cannot be taken away.

I hope this is an encouragement to you, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to ask us. We will do our best to answer them from the Bible.

Thanks for tuning in once again  

God Bless  

Sin and Temptation - You are NOT alone!

Regarding SIN -

Romans 3:23 - All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 3:10 - ... 'there is none righteous, no not one...'

None of us are able to do ENOUGH GOOD to enter into the perfect, holy presence of God. Our righteousness are as filthy rags to Him (Isaiah 64:6).  Any 'good' deed we would attempt to commit is tainted by our sin nature - we inherited this nature from Adam ('.. for by one man, sin entered the world, and death by sin..' Romans 5:12).
We are born covered by sin, slaves to sin, bound to SIN without choice.

In contrast to this truth, there is another truth. That by ANOTHER man, Jesus Christ, we are able to receive the gift of LIFE; grace by faith. (Romans 5:17) We are FREE from the condemnation of sin when we accept Christ as our Savior, who shed His blood on the cross for the penalty of OUR SIN. He died so that we might live.
Being IN CHRIST, there is no condemnation of sin. 'For the law of the spirit of LIFE has set you FREE in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death!' - Romans 8:2


On Temptation -

When we accept Christ into our hearts and become heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17), our bondage to sin is BROKEN. We are no longer Satan's slaves. We now belong to GOD. And now, being no longer an enemy of God, we become Satan's enemy.

Luke 17:1 - '..Temptations are SURE to come..'
1 Corinthians 10:12 - 'Let those who think they stand, TAKE HEED, unless they fall.'

Temptation is sure to come, even greater now that we are enemies of Satan. NO ONE is exempt from temptation. We will ALL be tempted at one time or another. We are not alone in these tempting's either! The bible tells us that the temptation we face is no different than what others have also experienced (1 Cor. 10:13). Satan will try to keep us enslaved in our own minds and tell us that we are alone, that God could never forgive us for our sins, that we are unloved, or trapped and unable to escape. SATAN IS THE FATHER OF LIES! Jesus himself was tempted by Satan, and He countered the lies of the Devil with the Truth - God's word!

1 Corinthians 10:13 - '.. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.'

Truth - GOD IS FAITHFUL!! When we feel like there is no way out, we can call upon God and His truth, knowing that there IS a way of escape that He has ALREADY provided for us!

Romans 8:31 - '..If God is for us, who can be against us??'

We are not only free from slavery to sin, but now, we have GOD on our side.
Know the word of God. Find a bible and read it, know it, study it with your whole heart. It is your tool, your WEAPON in the war Satan will be waging against you EVERY DAY. The more you know the truth, the more the lies of the devil are done away with.

You are not alone in temptation. You are no longer bound by sin. You are free from the law of sin and death. By the blood of Christ, you are no longer condemned!