I used to believe some twisted ideas about God’s forgiveness. Maybe you can relate to some or all of them. 1. There is forgiveness that gets you into heaven and
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Marie (not her real name) was nervous. She suddenly stopped talking as she buried her face in her hands. The counselor allowed her to sit in her silence, understanding that
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I was taught in college that 1 John 1:9 is the Christian’s bar of soap. In other words, our confession of sin cleanses us from sins we have committed. It
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My pastor friend, Roger, called me frantic one day. He had just gotten off the phone with another pastor named Alex whose marriage was on the rocks. Sherri, Alex’s wife,
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One Christmas song invites us to go home to be with our family for Christmas because it is the best place in the world. We can’t wait to get there.
Do You Struggle With Anger?
Do you ever feel angry? Of course, you do. Everyone does. If you say you are not angry because Christians aren’t supposed to be angry, let me use some other words for anger: frustrated, irritated, annoyed, exasperated, and aggravated. There are of course, stronger expressions of anger as we will see later.
When my kids were younger, there was a card game craze called Pokémon. My boys were drawn into that craze and loved it. One day, I discovered that two of them had stolen a few cards from some neighbor kids. I couldn’t believe it! I felt so angry. With one swipe of my hands across the counter, I scattered the cards and a bowl of popcorn across the room and told them I couldn’t believe they had stolen the cards! Then I went with them to return them to their friends and to ask for forgiveness.
Were my actions a demonstration of righteous anger like Jesus when he turned over the money changers tables in the temple? (John 2:13-16) Or, were they the fruit of my flesh, which just “went off?”
Anger is a normal human emotion which is sometimes sinful and sometimes not. Ephesians 4:26a says, Be angry and yet do not sin. Have you ever read some of the Psalms when the writer was expressing to God how angry he felt? In Psalms 10:16-17, David prays, Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed. The Lord is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land. This wasn’t sinful anger. He was simply telling the Lord how he felt, a great example for all of us.
There is also sinful anger which is often destructive in families and at work. This anger has many faces, according to Ephesians 4:31. Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind). AMP
What is God’s solution for our sinful anger? We need to admit to ourselves and mostly to God that we have this problem and stop justifying it. We need to remember that in Christ, we are not angry people but instead, already patient and kind. We need to tell Jesus how much we need Him to live through us in place of the anger. To remove barriers preventing Him from living through us, we need to deal with our past and our future. Let me explain.
To deal with our past, God has given us the grace to forgive those who have offended us. To deal with our future, God gives us the grace to relinquish our rights and expectations in every area of our lives to Him (more on that next week).
We may also need to ask forgiveness from the people we have hurt with our anger. I’ve had to do that with my wife, as most men do who are living out of their true identity in Christ. I need to mention one more thing.
We may also need to go talk through an issue with someone who has offended us according to Matthew 18:15-17.
If you have an issue with anger and need help, call us at 704-522-9026. We provide counseling in Charlotte, Albemarle, Asheville and anywhere by Skype.
Believe it! It’s the Gospel.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
Do You Struggle With Anger?
Do you ever feel angry? Of course, you do. Everyone does. If you say you are not angry because Christians aren’t supposed to be angry, let me use some other words for anger: frustrated, irritated, annoyed, exasperated, and aggravated. There are of course, stronger expressions of anger as we will see later.
When my kids were younger, there was a card game craze called Pokémon. My boys were drawn into that craze and loved it. One day, I discovered that two of them had stolen a few cards from some neighbor kids. I couldn’t believe it! I felt so angry. With one swipe of my hands across the counter, I scattered the cards and a bowl of popcorn across the room and told them I couldn’t believe they had stolen the cards! Then I went with them to return them to their friends and to ask for forgiveness.
Were my actions a demonstration of righteous anger like Jesus when he turned over the money changers tables in the temple? (John 2:13-16) Or, were they the fruit of my flesh, which just “went off?”
Anger is a normal human emotion which is sometimes sinful and sometimes not. Ephesians 4:26a says, Be angry and yet do not sin. Have you ever read some of the Psalms when the writer was expressing to God how angry he felt? In Psalms 10:16-17, David prays, Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed. The Lord is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land. This wasn’t sinful anger. He was simply telling the Lord how he felt, a great example for all of us.
There is also sinful anger which is often destructive in families and at work. This anger has many faces, according to Ephesians 4:31. Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind). AMP
What is God’s solution for our sinful anger? We need to admit to ourselves and mostly to God that we have this problem and stop justifying it. We need to remember that in Christ, we are not angry people but instead, already patient and kind. We need to tell Jesus how much we need Him to live through us in place of the anger. To remove barriers preventing Him from living through us, we need to deal with our past and our future. Let me explain.
To deal with our past, God has given us the grace to forgive those who have offended us. To deal with our future, God gives us the grace to relinquish our rights and expectations in every area of our lives to Him (more on that next week).
We may also need to ask forgiveness from the people we have hurt with our anger. I’ve had to do that with my wife, as most men do who are living out of their true identity in Christ. I need to mention one more thing.
We may also need to go talk through an issue with someone who has offended us according to Matthew 18:15-17.
If you have an issue with anger and need help, call us at 704-522-9026. We provide counseling in Charlotte, Albemarle, Asheville and anywhere by Skype.
Believe it! It’s the Gospel.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
Freedom: Charleston Victims’ Relatives Forgive Shooter
Last week, I wrote challenging myself and the rest of us with opportunities to live the New Covenant in the area of racial reconciliation. This week, I want to let two of the relatives of the victims who were slain, challenge all of us to forgive those who hurt us. These two of the nine, allowed Jesus to live through them to forgive the shooter face-to-face, though he did not ask for it, nor deserve it.
Nadine Collier, daughter of victim Ethel Lance
“I forgive you. You took something very precious away from me. I will never get to talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you, and have mercy on your soul. … You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people. If God forgives you, I forgive you.”
Relative of Myra Thompson
“I would just like him to know that, to say the same thing that was just said: I forgive him and my family forgives him. But we would like him to take this opportunity to repent. Repent. Confess. Give your life to the One who matters most: Christ. So that He can change you and change your ways, so no matter what happens to you, you’ll be okay.”
These are taken from an online article written by Elahe Izadi in the June 19th edition of the Washington Post online.
In a similar article in USA Today, Susan Miller writes “No words are as compelling as those from the people of Charleston, who refuse to let their city be defined by this massacre. Forgiveness, faith, and mercy: Virtues of those who live and breathe what they learn at a weekly Wednesday night Bible study at the AME church.
This is what it takes for good to overcome evil.”
From People of Charleston, Lessons for All, Susan Miller, USA Today, Tuesday, June 30, 2015, News 2A
You’ve just read about Jesus living through our sisters in Christ. Yet, they don’t try to hide their immense feelings of grief, loss and pain nor their desire for the legal justice needed.
Do you think they felt like forgiving? Absolutely not! But they chose to anyway, accessing the grace they already had in Christ to make this choice. In Christ, we are forgivers and we are told to live like who we are in Ephesians 4:31-32.
It is the beginning of our own healing when we do.
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
As we approach our celebration of the 239th year of the USA’s freedom, why not go deeper in your own personal freedom by asking God if there are people He wants you to forgive. Then sit down before Him, alone preferably, and tell Him out loud:
- Exactly what they did to you.
- How you feel about it.
- Then say, “I forgive _________.” (call their name)
● We’ve discovered at GLI that the more specific you are in all three, the deeper your healing will be.
Do they deserve your forgiveness? No more than we deserved God’s forgiveness.
Forgiving someone is not saying you are OK with what they did. It’s saying the opposite. “It was wrong but I choose to forgive you anyway.”
Should you go tell them? Forgive them before God first, and then ask Him if He wants you to talk with them about it. He will make it clear to you. And if you do, it’s most likely for the purpose of reconciliation which is different than forgiveness.
After you forgive, give God time to heal your damaged emotions. It may not be instantaneous. Also, if it comes back up in your mind, remind Satan you already forgave that person.
Forgiving them will free you more than you know from the weight of pain you have been carrying.
Happy Freedom Day!
Believe it! It’s the Gospel.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
Freedom: Charleston Victims’ Relatives Forgive Shooter
Last week, I wrote challenging myself and the rest of us with opportunities to live the New Covenant in the area of racial reconciliation. This week, I want to let two of the relatives of the victims who were slain, challenge all of us to forgive those who hurt us. These two of the nine, allowed Jesus to live through them to forgive the shooter face-to-face, though he did not ask for it, nor deserve it.
Nadine Collier, daughter of victim Ethel Lance
“I forgive you. You took something very precious away from me. I will never get to talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again, but I forgive you, and have mercy on your soul. … You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people. If God forgives you, I forgive you.”
Relative of Myra Thompson
“I would just like him to know that, to say the same thing that was just said: I forgive him and my family forgives him. But we would like him to take this opportunity to repent. Repent. Confess. Give your life to the One who matters most: Christ. So that He can change you and change your ways, so no matter what happens to you, you’ll be okay.”
These are taken from an online article written by Elahe Izadi in the June 19th edition of the Washington Post online.
In a similar article in USA Today, Susan Miller writes “No words are as compelling as those from the people of Charleston, who refuse to let their city be defined by this massacre. Forgiveness, faith, and mercy: Virtues of those who live and breathe what they learn at a weekly Wednesday night Bible study at the AME church.
This is what it takes for good to overcome evil.”
From People of Charleston, Lessons for All, Susan Miller, USA Today, Tuesday, June 30, 2015, News 2A
You’ve just read about Jesus living through our sisters in Christ. Yet, they don’t try to hide their immense feelings of grief, loss and pain nor their desire for the legal justice needed.
Do you think they felt like forgiving? Absolutely not! But they chose to anyway, accessing the grace they already had in Christ to make this choice. In Christ, we are forgivers and we are told to live like who we are in Ephesians 4:31-32.
It is the beginning of our own healing when we do.
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
As we approach our celebration of the 239th year of the USA’s freedom, why not go deeper in your own personal freedom by asking God if there are people He wants you to forgive. Then sit down before Him, alone preferably, and tell Him out loud:
- Exactly what they did to you.
- How you feel about it.
- Then say, “I forgive _________.” (call their name)
● We’ve discovered at GLI that the more specific you are in all three, the deeper your healing will be.
Do they deserve your forgiveness? No more than we deserved God’s forgiveness.
Forgiving someone is not saying you are OK with what they did. It’s saying the opposite. “It was wrong but I choose to forgive you anyway.”
Should you go tell them? Forgive them before God first, and then ask Him if He wants you to talk with them about it. He will make it clear to you. And if you do, it’s most likely for the purpose of reconciliation which is different than forgiveness.
After you forgive, give God time to heal your damaged emotions. It may not be instantaneous. Also, if it comes back up in your mind, remind Satan you already forgave that person.
Forgiving them will free you more than you know from the weight of pain you have been carrying.
Happy Freedom Day!
Believe it! It’s the Gospel.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
