Hanging on to unforgiveness creates in us the necessity to build and maintain a facade.

Hanging on to unforgiveness creates in us the necessity to build and maintain a facade.

Jesus wants us to be totally honest, transparent, believable and consistent. He wants the transformation of our inner being to be so complete that what we show to others is who we truly are. We must be willing to be washed clean inside and out. Otherwise, we are but a superficial reflection of God's love, filled with impurity behind our facade.

Whenever we remain unforgiving, we become like the Pharisees who demanded compliance with the letter of the law, yet held intolerance and self-righteousness within their hearts.

Luke 11:39-40 ESV And the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. (40) You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?

Both in action and in attitude we must be transparent, allowing God's love and grace to permeate our entire being. Purity within and without invites others to know us without reservation. Unforgiveness lodged in our heart creates a false, fleshly protective wall that separates who we really are from the image we project to the world.

♦ We don't want people to know our innermost thoughts and motivations so we erect barriers to keep others from getting too close

♦ We don't invite others into fellowship with us for fear they'll see the truth of our family life.

♦ We avoid telling stories on ourselves because we have to maintain an image of having it all together.

♦ We are afraid to go to a counselor because we know we will be confronted and have to deal with issues that may be painful.

♦ We can't risk or be spontaneous because we have a need to keep everything under control.

♦ We can't adventure because we're insecure if asked to move outside our comfort zone and risk things we aren't sure will work.

♦ We don't trust others to love and accept us if they really knew who we are.

Building facades such as these to protect our unforgivenesses means that we are living a lie. That puts a terrific amount of stress on us--stress which will eventually take its tole in alienation from others and from God, breaking the unity of the kingdom. We must not use the security of our own salvation experience to excuse that part of us which remains unregenerate.

John 4:19-20 ESV The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. (20) Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."

1 John 1:6-7 ESV If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

If you're blessed by what's been written here please purchase Choosing Forgiveness by John & Paula Sandford and Lee Bowman

reconciling a bad break...uhhh??? ::sigh:: Lol but it's Gods way

I recently got out of a relationship that start to get bad (verbally abusive) not severely but it was going into that direction. The person started drinking very heavily and now i understand that alcohol can change your personality. He became very uptight and not respectful of himself or me and difficult to get along with. I stayed some what supportive for the last 3 months we were together but I was so miserable in the relationship I had to leave as I realized he wasn't or isn't ready to take responsibility for himself yet. I've been crying at various times since I've been out of his life first because I was so angry and then I was hurt and i cried because of that and then finally I cried because I felt compassion for him because, he's blinded by his own ambition to find happiness in something that he's well aware provides emptiness. What would God say to something like that?

Am I a fool? I want to be reconciled to this person and no, not in a relationship. I believe that portion is very much so over unless God would change us both in a strong way. I'm torn between whether or not God would really want something like that or if I feel like I should make one last and i mean this in a good way, 'desperate' attempt to try and be some positive person in his life if he would allow. The last thing i said directed toward him was that he needed help for his anger and addiction to alcohol. He told me I needed to move on, I simply repeated myself...a couple of weeks after that. I woke up with John 3:16 repeating in my mind, I knew that I was hearing Gods voice and that he wanted me to share that with him, well I did but I sort of doubt that he saw it or saw it and thought i was doing that in bad taste, I really don't know. I've been reading about forgiveness and reconciliation and about what to do when we have done someone wrong or when someone has done us wrong. Fear has come over me because I know who I'm dealing with. It doesn't take one month for me to all of a sudden become a perfect loving child of God and for him to become the most generous, respectful person in the world. God showed me his heart and I felt compassion because God showed me his heart has been crushed under the issues of life and the little hope he probably has is being distracted by worldly desires, we've ALL been there. God more directly has shown me, myself in the situation and that I broke away in desperation and I didn't allow myself patience through Him to say what I wanted to say in Love and the honest truth. I had a responsibility that I did not fulfill. Lord forgive me! My fantasy would be he would up and contact me an apologize but that is my pride speaking to me. God loves us all and we are drawing very close to the very end of Days. There are children of God everywhere that God is beckoning to come home no matter they've done. If God wants this reconciliation to be done, I will definitely not be hasty and if i am wrong I will accept this as a time to heal and move on in the Lord.

Thank you for reading

God wants us to be one with Him

Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son..."

We were at a point 'forever' separated from God by the works of our flesh, the increase of sin, and our own rebellious age.

World Population : Almost 7 Billion people living on the earth today.

If we consider the amount of people that have gone into eternity and having known Christ in correlation to how many people have lived on earth since it's creation, most people have gone into eternity without God from either ignorance or refusal to accept the words and work of Christ and submission to the will of God. His existence is evident through out all creation and His love is also evident through out all creation.

Well we know God is love, justice and the truth, how would that relate to us being one with Him?
HIS LOVE is the reason why Christ existed before the creation of the whole world. We were created in the likeness of God. He created us from Himself 2Timothy 1:9-10 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (10) But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

HIS JUSTICE has called us to be free of the charges against us which would be the many sins we've committed against Him. He is our Judge.
Galatians 2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

HIS TRUTH tells us that He loves us but we are in danger of his wrath if we remain disobedient. If we work for an employer and we've been told not to do a certain thing and we continue even though we may have been warned eventually, we will suffer the consequences of our actions unless we repent and move forward without diverting.

Like what was state in the above verse, Christ was created for us BEFORE the world began. God already prepared for us a savior, Jesus the Christ.
Some parents when their child goes off on their own to live life they create a place for them to return if they want to come home. Some children go as far away as possible and others stay close because they know that they need their parents. God can be seen in this light. God gave us the choice to stay in His presence and will or depart from Him and live by our own life and standards. He created a safe haven for us in case we want to come Home. Many are called to return but very few actually do it.
1 Peter 1:18-20 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,1 Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

foreordained: to know beforehand, that is, foresee: - foreknow (ordain), know (before).

Reconciliation -1. The act of reconciling parties at variance; renewal of friendship after disagreement or enmity.

I love the fact that God wants us to be reconciled to him and live in oneness and unity. The enemies of God couldn't relate to those that desire to know God because their hearts and minds have been more or less infected by the works of the enemy. He has tempted many and by allowance he (satan) has taken domination over many lives yet, God is above all things and if we would just resist the works of the devil, he will flee and God will minister his warm graces to us and we will come into unity with God.

"Reconciliation and friendship with God, really form the basis of all rational and true enjoyment."
Many people live well lives apart from the living God. But at a moment in our lives we've all wondered "is their more to life than this." I don't believe a person can truly be who they are with out God working in their life. He's calling us to be in unity with Him. The works of the flesh are destroying the earth that God created for us to maintain and live in, in harmony and unity with each other and the desires of our heart have gone the opposite direction. He's calling us to be one with each other and the drive and motivation to be successful and have ultimate power is causing division and strife everywhere, amongst national and international leaders, in schools, in corporate businesses, on jobs, in households and in the church.

The reason why God is able to be reconciled with us is because He has forgiven us of our sins through Christ. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
If God held on to unforgiveness and gave up on His created people every single person created from a man and a woman would be sent to utter damnation. Thank God He isn't like we've become without Him.
also...
Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, (14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

If God wanted you to be reconciled to Him, today, how would you react? Would you say, yes, no, maybe, I'm not ready or, I don't care? We all are going to have to make that choice and i believe over and over again through out the course of our lives until we either die without Him or accept Him while we are still breathing and have the confidence of saying that we are now one with the Father, God.

Be blessed and thanks for reading.

God has a heart for us?

Moving on from something painful is very difficult to do and I've found simply confronting the pain is just as hard. When we make the conscience choice to confront that pain and hurt God is right there to comfort us. He will also show us where we sinned with-in what we feel. I've confessed in my heart love, forgiveness and letting go for someone who hurt me. I was praying one day in the afternoon i believe and God showed me this person drowning in a pool their hands and feet were bound, they could not move at all and this person was gasping for air. I envisioned the same situation for about 4 days. I could not figure out why i kept having this vision of this person drowning until God showed me if i want to find forgiveness and reconciliation to Him or possibly that person I must let go of them through the imprisonment of my unforgiveness. When I said in my heart "Lord I let go of them and release them to you for Your glory and power I envisioned that their hands broke free and flailed into the air. I must by the power of God shed in my heart prayer for my heart to release them and pray for myself to grow in the spirit of truth and love and for that person to be reconciled to the Father as a son of the living God through the Words and work of Christ. The world is a cruel place with out Christ and even crueler if you are out of His will when there is a call on your life. I heard once "there's no rest for the wicked" well, neither is their rest for the man or woman that has tasted from the Lords well of living water yet has decided to live outside of His Love and mercy. God is the ultimate satisfaction and he wants to bless us through and through from the inside out.

Love

Luke 6:27-31 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, (28) Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. (29) And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. (30) Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. (31) And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

Forgiveness

Mat 18:21-35 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? (22) Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. (23) Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. (24) And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. (25) But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. (26) The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. (27) Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. (28) But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. (29) And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. (30) And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. (31) So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. (32) Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: (33) Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? (34) And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. (35) So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.