Response to Mistakes

[S] 2 Samuel 10:6 --
6  Now when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, and the men of Tob with 12,000 men.

[O] We all make mistakes so my reaction to my mistake has greater significance than what the mistake was.  Here we see that the sons of Ammon realized they messed up and made King David angry toward them.  They had an option of seeking forgiveness from David or to prepare themselves to fight against David.  As they chose the latter, they were subdued by David's army.  Their surrendering and seeking forgiveness would have been a wiser choice for them.

[A] Whenever I make a mistake, I must learn to admit my faults and find favor of others whom I might have offended to allow God's grace to permeate through.  Otherwise, I default to defending my mistakes which may even lead to greater mistakes or sin.  This applies to small things at times with my own children.  My pride gets in the way but I must lead by example of letting them know that when I make mistakes I will also seek their forgiveness.

[P] Dear Father, continue to humble my heart so that I will always be seeking refuge under Your wings of grace because I know I will be falling short of my own (let alone others) expectations and instead of trying to reinforce it with my own might like the sons of Ammon, I need to seek grace.  Thank You for the great reminder.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

The Hook of Unforgiveness

[S] 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 --
10  But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ,  11  so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

[O] Forgiveness does not come easy and Paul says that he will forgive out of obedience to Christ (who forgave so much for us) which results in protection against Satan's schemes to take advantage of us.  Not forgiving others means granting Satan to take advantage of myself and yet this "hook" is a hard one to loosen.

[A] It's not that I do not know the schemes of the evil one but in the end it is my own lack of obedience that will leave holes in my shield for the enemy's arrows to penetrate and weaken me.  Based on this I need to act promptly about going through the process of forgiveness with some individuals.

[P] Dear Father, please grant me Your peace and the openness of the involved parties so there would be a complete forgiveness in some relationships.  I'd like Satan to know that I won't fall for his traps anymore.  In Your name.  Amen.

Not Everything Has a Return Policy

[S] Matthew 27:4-5 --
 ⁴saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!"  ⁵And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.

[O] Judas realized the fault he had committed and wanted to reverse it the next morning by going back to the priests willing to return the 30 pieces of silver they gave him as the payment of leading them to Jesus.  But the priests already got what they wanted and had no desire to refund.  In despair, Judas throws the money back and then goes away to hang himself.  I see the result of repenting in wrong places.  Only God through the life of Jesus on earth can accept our repentance and forgive, there is no one else who may do this.  In fact, short of God, we will only make things worse as we see in this situation.

[A] With my faulty commitments, I need to bring them to God and surrender to Him in exchange for His peace and forgiveness because if I bring them to any one else, including holding them within myself, it will only rot away my mind and will lead me to self destruction.

[P] Dear Father, I'm so thankful for Your forgiveness through the Cross Jesus carried for me way before I was even conceived because through that all of my faults can be lifted up freeing me to live a life that will please You alone.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Have Achievable Goals in Life, not just Wishful Thoughts

[S] Matthew 18:26-27 --
 ²⁶"So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.'
 ²⁷"And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.

[O] Here is an excellent example of how a wrong set of assumptions or expectations can lead to a greater error.  The slave asked for a delay of payment until he can make enough money to pay it all back while the master in verse 27 actually released his debt completely.  The slave's "good intention" of paying back his debt was actually impossible to achieve because of the amount was something more like millions or billions of dollars in today's term.  Based on his (wrong) assumption of paying it back, however, drove him to start gathering all the money he can and that determination turned him into a merciless man only purpose in life is to make more money to pay back the master.  Instead of living a life filled with his own plans to achieve a goal and purpose that is unachievable, he simply had to accept the pardoning of his master and live a freed life filled with gratitude.

[A] This story speaks into my heart every time I read it because I find myself not really living out the "freed" life with gratitude of God's pardoning of my inability to pay Him back with my life's efforts.  I need to grasp onto His gift of forgiveness so I may enjoy this life for Him.

[P] Dear Father, please correct any wrong assumptions in my life so that I won't live a worthless life like this slave.  I want to enjoy the fullness of your joy based on the freedom You gave me to live without worrying about my faults.  In Jesus' name. Amen.

Sin Eliminator

[S] Hebrews 10:18 --
 ¹⁸Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

[O] The sin offering is needed because we sin. If we do not sin then there is no need for such an offering.  In that train of thought, this verse tells me forgiveness creates such an environment where there is no need for sin offering which implies where there is forgiveness there is no room for any sin.  The forgiveness is one of the disciplines of my walk with Jesus that is still very difficult for me to obey completely.  I realized that opens up the opportunity for me or others to sin and I need to take this verse to heart.

[A] The most challenging part about forgiving someone who's offended me is my emotions and feelings telling me I have all the right not to forgive them since I was the one who was offended.  I want to claim my own right.  But in light of what Jesus our High Priest did to get rid of sin, I need to follow that model and forgive despite my rights.

[P] Dear God, You know which part of my life needs more obedience in forgiveness.  It still does not come naturally but have to struggle with it.  I need to reflect more on how You, Jesus, had forgiven us when You had all the rights not to and You did this in order to accomplish God's plan and purpose.  I would like to do this not just to become a better person but so I may fulfill Your purpose and plan through my obedience.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

Know Thy Enemy's Schemes

[S] 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 --
¹⁰But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
¹¹so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

[O] True forgiveness requires a truly great effort to carry it out because by definition, for me to be in the position to forgive someone else already means that I have been offended in some significant way. Otherwise we don't even have to go there in the first place. Through these broken relationships our enemy works its way into breaking down the community of believers to the point of distrust and in many cases hatred. Once our emotions are dis-unified from one another, we've bitten the bate and are trapped into the enemy's schemes. This is why Paul mentions we should be fully aware of Satan's schemes such that we would avoid its traps that are spread along the path I walk together with other believers.

[A] Whenever I find myself in the position of giving forgiveness, just do it because then I'll for sure avoid Satan's traps and instead be lifted up by the wonderful and compassionate grace of God.

[P] Dear God, I seek to freely give forgiveness whenever I need to whenever I've been hurt by others. Please grant it with Your beautiful love overflowing out of my heart; and in addition, grant me the focus of my life to recognize the traps my enemy's throwing at me so I may avoid them wisely. In Jesus' name. Amen.

The Purity of Prayer

[S] Mark 11:25-26 --
²⁵"Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.
²⁶["But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."]

[O] Praying to God is both simple and complicated. It's simple when I think of it as just chatting with God but passages like these remind me that although it may be a simple action for me to carry out, I must have a right attitude and heart beforehand. So more than what I actually say (pray) to Him, what type of heart I'm lifting up to Him matters more. If you think about it, God already knows what I'm going to say anyways so the words I use is really not significant. So, what type of heart I bring to Him to speak those words is what matters in the end and He wants to hear a pure prayer which comes out of my pure heart -- the purity that is not contaminated with unforgiveness.

I know prayer must be an integral part of my life and at times I tend to focus on the quantity of prayer (how long I pray) but Jesus never emphasized the length of prayer except for the last hours before He was arrested when He scolded His disciples about not being able to stay up and pray with Him. However, if I think about that situation it is really not about the length but the desires and hearts of disciples Jesus was questioning. So Jesus' emphasis on prayer was always on the heart of the one praying as well as the right timing (when).

[A] I must pray at the right moment, and with right heart. Nothing magical or spiritual about the early hours but for me, my application is to pray early in the morning, and by forgiving anyone that I have anything against them. I want my prayer to be pure which is lifted up to God in Heaven. Also, I am going to encourage two people who's been going through some tension between them to forgive so that they, too, will lift up pure prayer to God in their lives.

[P] Dear God, I desire to lift up my pure prayers to You to start off the day. I desire to pray for others with the same purity. I desire to teach others how to lift up such prayers. In Jesus' name. Amen.