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Revision to “If Christians Are Free From Condemnation, Why Do Many Struggle With It?”

Author: Lisa Groen

Through my interactions with other Christians over the years I have noticed a deep need. Many times, a person who is dealing with shame may be battling it because it has stemmed from a history of abuse suffered in childhood or later in life. If the abuse was long term or serious, the shame may be deep rooted. This shame can be heavy and even paralyzing for some.

The source for much and even most healing for our emotional needs will come to the Christ follower through the word of God. I have experienced this both personally and seen it in the lives of wounded friends who have received healing over the years. The word of God heals us through the very things it says to us about The Lord, about our faith and what our faith brings us, and about our progress in the faith. We will end up through the perseverance God provides, looking like Jesus in our spirituality. God means for us to be whole, stable, fruitful, and to be filled with Jesus.

If we have repented but still feel guilty, shame indeed can be exclusively an attack from the forces of darkness. The believer just like Jesus was, is equipped by with the word of God to fight against lies the enemy tried to send us and by believing the word of God we fight the good fight of faith.

What hope can we find in the scripture that leads us out of the bondage of shame? We first must look to who Jesus is and see plainly in scripture what he has promised the believer and intends for the believer to possess. We possess traits from the Lord because of our faith in Him that work themselves into our personality, emotions, our motives, and thinking. Embracing who the Lord is through our worship of Him is a normal way of life for the Christ follower. Seeing and looking into His traits brings freedom to us one scripture at a time, and we will look more and more like Jesus.

A great statement that John the Baptist made to his disciples in discussing how Jesus was baptizing more followers than he, is found in John 3:27 “John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.”” If we truly think about this statement, we can know the Lord would not have his people holding onto anything unless it has been given to them from heaven. The statement by John the Baptist was referring to the ministry that a person receives can only come from heaven. But in the broader application of the scripture, I think this would include that a person can receive only what heaven would have us to receive, and this includes food, shelter, clothing, friendships, love, purpose, work, spiritual strength, truth, etc.., but also would mean that it is not within the will of God for his people to receive any thing of any sort from the kingdom of darkness. That would mean it would not be right for us to receive lies, oppression, or faultfinding attitudes, fits of rage, backbiting, or other types of “equipment” from the enemy.

Even if the scripture John 3:27 was meant to have a very narrow context, it is still correct to say that it is not God’s will for his people to carry around a shame-based nature. We know this because of the promise of Romans 8:1 which says “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The very first thing we should ask is “do I know of any sin in my life I need to repent of? “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17. The good thing regarding this is that God will give a person the grace to repent of their sins. Sin can and must be dealt with in the life of the Christ follower. God does provide help for us to become free from sin.

Romans 6:18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.I

Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

If sin is not the reason that is opening the door to the shame or guilt we may be dealing with, why do we struggle so long with it at times then? If we have repented of all known sin, there may be a spiritual attack of condemnation or accusation from the enemy. A demon of shame or condemnation could be at fault. Our enemy would like to send lies and accusation our way to get us to doubt the truth about the Lord and our Christian identity. The enemy wants us to doubt our faith, he wants us to doubt our relationship with the Lord, and he wants us to doubt the faithfulness of our God.

God’s work in a Christ follower is powerful. Since there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1 a relevant question to ask is “how does one get into Christ?” This question is about salvation. We must learn about the work of Jesus and what he has called his own people to. To simplify the question of election and predestination, let us assume a person is a seeker of the Lord. Seek, ask, and knock, and it will be opened to you is what the Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7-11  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” I believe a person who seeks to be saved will be saved. I believe the Lord is the One who gives a person the inclination to begin with to seek salvation in the first place.

There seems to be a tension in our walk with The Lord to keep fighting the good fight of faith, and to keep our hearts pure before The Lord. We are commanded to abide in Him. He expects us to go about our daily lives doing and being led by Him to take care of our affairs. Right along with the normal every-day work, relationships, housekeeping, care for our belongings, etc.. we are concurrently responding to The Lord. He is looking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. This is the place a believer abides in the Lord—in a place of respect for what the Lord has done for us where we take those realities into our minds and hearts which helps us to be in a place of worship of Him as we go about our days.

The second big part of abiding in Him is to be ever mindful of His word, because His word is truth and His word has much to say about the new nature of Christ followers that we received as a gift when we became born again. We are told in Proverbs to listen to the teaching of the Lord to gain wisdom. Here is a small sampling of just 3 verses with a blessing and/or benefit as a result attached to the command to listen:

Proverbs 1:33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

Proverbs 8:32 “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways.

Proverbs 8:34 “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts.

Jesus said in John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

When we listen to the words of God and we abide in the word of God, we let it be what we listen to and hear, and it inspires our faith. We can then ask for whatever we wish (as long as it is within his will) and it will be done for us. God’s will for us includes to think the thoughts the Lord thinks about us as forgiven and redeemed. This would include having our hearts made sure with confidence of being rooted and grounded in him. Isaiah 45:17 says of Israel representing all of God’s people: “But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” We can then ask in faith to have untrue condemning beliefs about ourselves removed (if we have repented) that may be there not from the result of our sins, but from the attacks of the devil. When we get forgiven by God, we get washed by God, and the guilt and shame he removes from us. A big reason to seek God for this if you do struggle with condemnation, is that condemnation is not part of our God-given Christlike identity we received at salvation. The Lord does not mean for us to carry condemnation because Christ bore our sin and shame. Some believers may struggle a lot less with it and some may struggle a lot more with it than the average Christian.

The Lord has designed the identity and nature of His followers to be one that does not get its definition from or partner with shame. Lets look at the following scriptures which mention shame or reproach to understand what we have been delivered from in Christ:

We are to abide in Him so that we will not be put to shame at His coming:

1 John 2:28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

We renounce hidden sins:

2 Corinthians 4:2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

We presently have hope the Lord will be exalted in our bodies with the mindset to not be put to shame:

Philippians 1:20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

We are to be sensible, pure in doctrine, dignified, and sound in speech so as not to be put to shame:

Titus 2:1,6-8 But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.  6 Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; 7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, 8 sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

We are to keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which we are slandered those who revile our good behavior will be put to shame:

1 Peter 3:16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

Proverbs says that sin causes a reproach.

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

If a person’s sin was deep, or they fell out of fellowship with God, they may sense a need to get back into fellowship with the Lord and to believe in his atonement through faith in Christ. Then God’s grace is applied and the person in need is moved by God out of a state of condemnation and into a state of righteousness.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But, if we walk in the light (in Jesus) we will can get free from sin and not stumble (sin):

John 11:9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, (sin) because he sees the light of this world.

1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

How do we keep walking in the light? Keep going to Jesus and abide in his light.

What happens in the born again life is that the believer is brought from darkness to light, from the state he was in before being born again–spiritual death to spiritual life in Christ. Those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus for salvation are positionally no longer in a state of condemnation. The believer is positionally in a state of righteousness. This free gift of righteousness and state of being righteous is not earned nor maintained by the good works of the believer. God has changed the believer’s heart to love God and love his righteousness. The unbeliever however is in a state of condemnation already. God is the keeper of his people, and keeps them in a state of righteousness. The presence of the Holy Spirit is given to the beliver and abides in him and if the believer sins, he will likely have a sense that he has sinned and be moved by God to seek forgiveness, and cleansing, and to turn from that sin.

However, when the believer has sinned, he does not slip into positional condemnation. Positionally, the believer although he has sinned is still positionally righteous by faith in Christ. At that time the Holy Spirit prompts the believer to repent of their sin and seek cleansing. To contrast the unbeliever is positionally in a state of condemnation.

When the Lord may be working to bring about the salvation of the unbeliever they might either sense their need for God or might not sense their need. God might allow the unbeliver the awareness of their state of condemnation and along with that, God might grant them faith in the Savior. God is at work to draw people to himself.

If a believer is experiencing a sense of guilt, and they have already repented of their sin, it might be that they are experiencing some level of spiritual warfare. In that case, the believer can simply ask God to remove the feeling of condemnation because they are in a state of positional righteousness.

In the Bible we see the Lord has provided the believer the spiritual disciplines to strengthen them in the faith. We must remember that the Lord said “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”. To keep condemnation out of our minds might need some healthy Spirit led work. This is a work of God’s grace when he strengthens the believer. With the help of the Spirit we are told to renew our minds by meditation on the word of God. We do our part and God will do His part in renewing our mind so then we are able to be more set free from old carnal mindsets. Definitely, through the process of God at work in the heart and mind of the Christian, leading them in sanctification, they will become free from mindsets or thoughts that are of a condemning kind.

Our part in renewing our mind:

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ephesians 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

More details are written about renewing the mind in Ephesians 4:19-22:

19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind…

God’s part in renewing our mind:

Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

The Lord has set the renewal in motion!

Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Again, the renewal he has set in motion is done by the Holy Spirit.

Condemnation is part of the old man that we were delivered from in Christ. Laying aside the old man and its thinking is simply what we have to do. We must be aware that many of our battles are won through the help of the Holy Spirit, and through believing God’s word. The main point I am sticking to is that through a born again relationship, our following the Lord by faith, repentance, and forgiveness, we close the door on positional condemnation. We receive righteousness from God through faith in Christ, and this is what God’s forgiveness supplies us with in a positional sense. Now, because of what the Holy Spirit does in renewing our minds we make progress in our security and intimacy with God and stand firm in faith against the lies and fiery darts shot at us from our enemy the devil.

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Prayer of Dependence on God-2

Author: Lisa Groen

The title of the song is a good one to follow to draw close to God-“Come ye Christians poor and needy”. With that posture let us look to the Lord in prayer:

Dear Lord, we your people live in a world of many seductive pulls and glitter. You alone know the reasons you have created us. You sent Jesus into the world to rescue us from the sin that would try to feed us. May we turn from the many shiny and sparkly attractions of this world to see you. May we have ears to hear you as we look up to you. May we magnify you and abide with you. Lord we must hear your voice above the attractions of this world, and we must ween ourselves from the abundance of comforts in this world to hear the only one who tells us the truth about everything. May we stay long sitting before you. May we quiet our rebellious flesh as we pursue the opportunity to meet with you. May we turn our heads away from the whining of our appetites and from the growling of our stomachs to gain something far better which is the life from your voice and the life that is in your word and your touch. May we turn our heads away from the pull of the TV and the internet to settle our spirits as needy children in your all wise grandfatherly arms of love. May we strip from ourselves as we discern any layer –even if there may be many –layer after layer of idolatrous habits. May our idols become less and less, not because we do less searching for them but may our self-examination be illuminated by you and not be diminished but let us keep looking through the lense of the gospel at our lives. May we as we keep our eyes on you keep striving to line up this area and that area, and more areas of our lives with the word of God, and our gospel examples. And this is only possible through the gifts of grace which are the basis of our relationship with you. And may our idols become less attractive to us as we begin to see them for what they are and as we strip them away by your help because we are enabled by your vision to do  more searching for you and and less gazing at temporal “answers”. May we put into practice being led by you more habits of self-denial. Our world is full of the gospel of me, mine and more!! May we seek the pure milk of the word and may our taste buds be cleansed from the world by drinking in the pure water of the word. Lord where our taste buds have gotten off track from too many options of flavors of the world, and too many thrilling worldly temptations may we still desire the pure milk of the word for cleansing us and the water of the word to satisfy us.

Jesus, I am impressed with the Israelites and how you brought them through the wilderness eating simply one kind of meal from heaven for 40 years, and that was manna. You are not a God who had a goal of boring your people on purpose with one choice, but I believe you were building the taste buds toward the bread from heaven into the consciences of the people as a simple and holy staple of a plain but pure heavenly food. May we simply recognize the temptations to the Israelites in the wilderness was not prostitutes, heavy drugs, or a life of crime, or drunkenness, –things we consider vulgar or obnoxious sins, but the simple foods of cucumbers, melons, leeks, and onions and garlic. Because of not having these things, they grumbled and fell in the wilderness. (Numbers 11).

They were made to “fast” in this way by you for their good—that you would do good to them in the end, and you wanted them to treasure you, your word, feed upon you, your provision, your love, your care, your shepherding and your baptizing them, even if the food choices were not in abundance for them at that time. You were building them although you stripped away their comforts.

Help us Lord as we apply what we can learn from the Israelites in their times of testing and trial and in their times entering the promised land though it may seem like a long and sort of monotonous and bland journey for us and them both (although their life may have been very much more difficult, and inconvenient and much more harrowing than ours, and for many more years!) Hebrews 4:11 NIV states “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” (See all of Hebrews 4) May we be strengthened in our fasting and learn directly from scripture the needed disciplines and heed the warnings of weaknesses seen in the Exodus so that we do not follow the same pattern of disobedience and unbelief. And build in us a sweet and tender abiding in You even if we are uncomfortable in the process.

Amen

Keep growing in the Word! LG

How Effective Could Fasting Possibly Be? I Mean, Can’t We Just Pray and See Results?

Author: Lisa Groen

It is my aim that today’s devotional will be motivational and show us the difference fasting can make for the believer, based on the first instance of fasting in the Bible that I came across after looking at a few different translations.

It begins in Judges 20:4 where a Levite tells of the death of his concubine, and later in the chapter Israel fasts and finds victory, but they have a slow and painful start until they add the corporate fasting.

Judges 20:4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. He tells how some men from Benjamin had raped her all night and murdered her and how evil it was that this happened. (And strangely the Levite doesn’t take responsibility for not protecting her… but that point is for another day…)

The response of “Israel” is to “go up against Benjamin”.

Problem #1 was even though they had unity as stated in verse 11, (So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man) They were overpowered by Benjamin and had a lot of loss of life of 22,000 Israelite soldiers. They prayed again to God for what to do….and encountered another problem

Problem #2 was even though they sought the Lord and got an answer from the Lord to “fight them” they were still overpowered by Benjamin and had more loss of life–18,000 more Israelite soldiers died.

Then in verse 26 they add the fasting solution: 26 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 27 And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

When we read from verses 29-48, we can see the Lord providing his people the strength and fighting power and overcoming ability to overtake their enemy and to deal out justice against wayward Benjamin for the horrible acts of rape and death that several of the men from Benjamin did against the innocent concubine.

This chapter is a clear picture of the power fasting gives in following out the command of God to fight the good fight of faith. For Israel to do nothing in response to finding out about what happened to the Levite’s concubine, would have been another atrocity and deep injustice because of the sin, but also the people of God, when united, when having the arc of God in their presence, and when having the go-ahead Twice from God to fight the enemy, should have been able to win! But they were wounded in battle, and had a lot of loss of life and the ONE solution that worked in their favor was to FAST.

Now, I know the Old Testament is not an exact parallel to the New, but Jesus never tells us in the New Testament that fasting is UNNECESSRY, but does the opposite, when he says “This kind only goes out with prayer and fasting…” So, based on our Old Testament example, we must consider the cost of not fasting (40,000 unnecessary deaths) and the rewards for fasting as seen here, and logically count it as well worth doing …

It is very probable that this story in the OT represents some of the battles in the NT that need to be fought with heavenly power and WILL require fasting in order to win. And some battles may possibly need a whole army to fight an injustice against maybe one single person when that person represents Christendom today. May we be people dedicated to being available for God to use to fight with victory and be ready to fast and pray when circumstances call for it that His message will travel like an army spreading righteousness across the land.

Amen!

Lord may we fast at your leading!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Meditations and Prayers About Worship and Serving the Lord

Author: Lisa Groen

Lord, you are building the believers together into a holy temple in the Lord. When we were saved, we were given the new language of worship. Before we were saved our language was pointing to the things of the world because our attention was on the things of the world. But in Christ we were given a new language because our attention should be upon Christ. God leads our worship. And God our Father is growing us now as part of his worshipping family. We worship God more than with our songs and music, but with our lives, our plans, our decisions and actions, and thoughts. Listen to the passage in Ephesians 2:18-22. It reads “for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” As I read this, I am reminded today that “Unless the Lord builds the house the workers labor in vain who build it.” What we try to build ourselves in our own strength will not last. The word of God lasts and what is started by God will last because His fruit will last. I want to have lasting fruit and that is your desire for your people. What fruits you chose to be lasting coming out of our lives are fruits that get their life from you Lord. Take us into the place of more fruitfulness. Lord we ask that our hearts would be pliable moldable and our mouths yours and yours alone. My prayer is Lord, show me what I don’t see about myself that is keeping me from serving you more fully—wholeheartedly. Show me if I have any hidden sins that I need to surrender. Help us to count the cost that it takes to serve you at the level you have called us to so far, and Lord please forgive us for any way we have been lagging behind the leading of your Spirit.

By nature we are worshippers. Our hearts were designed by You Lord to long for something or someone to worship. Help us Lord to not make the false assumptions that what I long for in the here and now is as good or better than the goal Paul speaks of to lay hold of that which Christ calls me heavenward Phi 3:14. Lord, may we pursue as our goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Help us not to worship the goal of something that is just spiritual looking activity. Help us to have the substance of the fruits of Christ in our devotional time toward you Lord. We truly have relationship with you Lord as we put our faith in you and you change our hearts. Because of your life in us, we know you are bringing forth fruits from the life of your Spirit.  We worship You Lord, the Living God, and though this living relationship we are doing something other than worshiping the “practice” of worship. We sense and believe in Your Lordship and in the community you create through our worship time in our churches Oh Lord, and we believe you have given us a family of love—our Christian brothers and sisters. We find we are being built by you, built together by your spirit, and we have more than just “awesome friends”—we have a family born from above by your love Lord! We worship You Lord and are drawing closer to you in that worship. We are living for you, not just seeking to have “great ministries” or even having some spiritual mileage under our belts. We think, taste, see, and in many ways experience Lord that you are alive and well and real and able to communicate with us and somehow satisfy something within us as we worship you! We are not trying to show that we “know our way around the mountain” so to speak spiritually because it is only by your amazing grace that we can see anything at all in your spiritual truth and among our relationship with you and with our spiritual family members! Lord, may we not lean toward presumptions about our fitness to be ministers, because it is by your grace alone that we are saved, and not of ourselves. Free us from clouding our own vision with egocentrism, and self-sufficiency, and secondly may we never hold back from you how you would have us to surrender to the very work we trust is being done “by your Spirit” Oh God! To be built together by your Spirit into a holy temple in the Lord with fruit that will last!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Can God forgive terrible sins like murder?

Author: Lisa Groen

It will help us to consider first a few things. It is God who gives us a desire to please Him. I want to establish that the way we understand God is key to helping us to NOT misunderstand him. What we can know about the forgiveness of a holy God is inextricably linked to our understanding of both the justice and mercy of God.

A person who has committed serious sins might ask “I just want to know that I am truly forgiven by God, so, why would I need to know about the justice of God?” Someone may ask, “Isn’t the justice of God the opposite of the mercy of God?”

Actually, the Christian realities of God’s justice and mercy are not at odds with each other. We can see in scripture that God does not set aside his mercy to show justice, nor does he set aside his justice to show mercy. Justice and mercy are combined and unified in the person of God. God is whole and full and the source of wholeness and fullness. He does not fragment himself to provide for our needs. When we trusted in Jesus as our savior and Lord, he did not just provide an answer to our prayers, but provided himself in his fullness. There is unity within all aspects his personality. From scripture we can see the relationship between God’s justice and mercy.

The Lord is a God of justice and mercy, so he would have us to act with justice and mercy as well.

Micah 6:8 The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands: “See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God.” (CEV)

God’s throne provides both justice and mercy:

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Psalm 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

God can forgive murder. We see it clearly in the following scriptures where David got Bathsheba pregnant, and later has Bathsheba’s husband killed so he would not be found to be guilty of adultery. In 2 Samuel 11, verses 5, 14, 24, 26 and 27:

5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 

15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”  

24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 

27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.

Then, The Lord confronts David, but shows him mercy. In Chapter 12 of 2 Samuel, verses 13, 14, 16, 18b, 24, and 25:

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 

14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt forthe Lord, the son born to you will die.”

16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackclothon the ground. 

18 b On the seventh day the child died. 

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; 

25 and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.

We see how David repents of his sin with Bathsheba and records it in a Psalm. Note verse 14 where he names the sin of bloodguiltiness:

Psalm 51:1-3,7-14 ESV

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

Then what’s amazing in this Psalm is that David tells of something in verses 17 and 18:

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;

He talks about God not despising his heart, as long as his heart is broken and contrite, and he talks about God having good pleasure in doing good to Zion, and good pleasure in building the walls of Jerusalem. David believes God would have good pleasure in building the walls (building the protection back up) of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was David’s responsibility as a King to protect. When David sinned, God told him there would be bloodshed. Now David asks for the protection back that was lost by his own sins with Bathsheba. David has faith that it could or would be something God could take pleasure in restoring.

Over time the Lord does a work in the heart of David. The Lord brings him from being a man who the Lord says of David “you despised Me” in 2 Samuel 12:10 to a person wholehearted for the Lord again, as is seen in the words of others in 1 Kings who spoke of King David after the incident with Bathsheba’s husband (in the NIV):

1 Kings 9:4 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,

1 Kings 14:8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my eyes.

And in:

1 Kings 15:3 He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been.

The above three scriptures show us that The Lord can restore wholehearted devotion and service to God in a person’s life after a terrible sin, in this case the sin of murder. This is the hope for anyone who repents and turns away from sin to God. This is good news for any of us, even for those that haven’t committed murder, because it gives us a picture of the depth of forgiveness, mercy, justice, and grace of God.

One final proof is another example that shows us without a doubt that the Lord can not only forgive a murderer, but draw him to a place of close fellowship with him. We will read the very words of Jesus. Because Jesus is the clear image of God we can believe what he says are God the Father’s sentiments as well. (Jesus is called the exact representation of the Father in Hebrews 1:3, which says “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”(NIV)) When the soldiers nailed him to the cross, after an angry crowd chanted “crucify him!” (crying for the murder of someone who was innocent), Jesus reveals the heart of God, in Luke 23:34 where he says “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.” (NIV)

In the person of Jesus, and only by faith in Jesus the justice of God we deserve was fully paid for us through his work. He laid his life down to pay the penalty for our sins, so we don’t have to die for our sins. Consider first that the Bible says, even sins like lying, stealing, or lust, call for the justice of God against us and we deserve death even if we have not murdered someone. Apart from Jesus the justice of God for us is not dealt with. We would still deserve death. Mercy only comes from God to us by the payment for our sins having been made by Jesus. Mercy exists and is made available for us because God’s just wrath for our sins was justly satisfied as he poured it out upon Christ who died in our place. Because our sins are atoned for in Christ, God opens us his mercy for us, and he remains fully righteous in his making mercy available without compromising his righteousness or pretending like our sins never existed. The responsibility we have now after receiving the mercy God made available through Christ is that we are simply told to confess our sins, and forsake our sins, and we will be shown mercy, (Proverbs 28:13) and to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.(Matthew 3:8 and Luke 3:8).

Keep growing in the Word! LG

“Why Hardship? What Good Can Come Out Of Going Through Different Types of Hardship?”

Author: Lisa Groen

People have often said, “It should never be God’s will for a Christian to go through hardship!”. And “Hardship is from the devil, it’s not from God! You have to resist hardship with the promises of God!”

Does hardship require spiritual warfare to ‘get the victory’ for the Christian?

Or, is hardship a normal part of Christian life? Can we pray to be released from hardship but still trust the Lord to be the one who deals with reversing the hardships that are too big for us to change rather that we ourselves trying to resist any and every kind of hardship we must face?

These are smaller parts of the bigger question “Why does God allow suffering, even for his own people?”

Is there a bigger purpose for it?

We can know that with God’s personality which we see in scripture, we are told in Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Because of this, we can be assured that when God allows certain things in our lives, that he may have a thought about it that is higher than yours, and a reason for it that is nothing like what you could have imagined.

The following is not an exhaustive list, but some examples of why people suffer affliction may be because:

–We live in a fallen world (The original sin affects “all of creation”, therefore the results of that today are sin has still affected all of creation. Creation reaped hardship, sickness, and brokenness from the sin of people who lived before us.)

–God allows us to go through suffering to test our faith.

–To purge us and refine us.

–To remind us that we need a Savior

–To humble us

–Or to build our character, and to rub off the rough edges in our personalities.

If you have been a Christian for a while, you might have felt there were days in your Christian walk in which you were going through the ‘furnace of affliction’ as the Bible describes it. Maybe you have wondered if you were at fault, or if you somehow ‘messed up the plan of God’ that you imagined entitled you to a “trouble free existence”. Some of us have been taught things along these lines in our Christianity.

In considering these things we come with the understanding that salvation is a gift. Are good people entitled to anything good? A famous question brought up from the book “Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?” by Harold Kushner, might be better stated as, “Why do good things happen to bad people?” To keep it in perspective, we must remember that our salvation is a free gift. And we didn’t earn our salvation, so it is not possible to “earn” life or any of the blessings we see, because of the word “blessing” and the infused meaning it holds. A short definition of the word “blessing” is “God’s favor and protection”. Therefore, life itself and all the good things that come with it, is a gift.

From the Psalms we can read that God uses hardship and affliction to draw people to himself. Whether a person is unsaved, or if a Christian should ever backslide, God can use hardship, suffering or trials to draw people to himself. And even in the life of a believer who may not overtly be involved in any particular or habitual disobedience, the Lord may use some types of hardship for simply the purpose of causing them to grow closer to Him in their walk with Him.

Biblical reasons why God might allow people to be afflicted, taken from the New International Version Bible:

Psalm 107:17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.

Psalm 119:92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.

Psalm 119:71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Psalm 119:75 I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Many kinds of good news are also listed for those who have been afflicted as seen in scripture, from the NIV:

Isaiah 14:32 What answer shall be given to the envoys of that nation? “The Lord has established Zion, and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”

Isaiah 49:13 Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Isaiah 51:21-23 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine. This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”

And Isaiah 54:11-17“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. 12 I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. 13 All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. 14 In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. 15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. 16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; 17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.

And Psalm 10:17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

And Psalm 22:24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

With these great and marvelous promises, Christ followers don’t need to worry, fret, or be hopeless, because the Lord who marvelously holds us in his righteous right hand, is doing a wonderful work. He is committed to that work being fully expressed and brought to a full mature fruit in our lives to bring Him glory. We can know he will do wonderful things with our broken pieces and with our challenges and suffering, and as well for the same kind of needs of those we see around us. God can turn your suffering into a true blessing.

Keep growing in the Word! LG

“How do I know whether something is a sin?”

Author: Lisa Groen

Within Christianity, the believer is one who is given a new, born-again nature and a life that is united with Christ. As we learn about God in our faith and what it means to follow Him, we learn from the truths we hear from the word of God. We may discover a love for the word of God as it brings us hope and assurance and spiritual delight with the graces of glimpses of God. We discover also that God warns us about sin, and the Biblical warnings are real, and sometimes harrowing.

If you have come to know the Lord, you may have already asked a pressing question at some point: “How do I know if something is regarded as a sin in God’s eyes?” Or as a follower of God you may have said something like “I know the Bible teaches there is a cost to sin, and thank God Jesus paid that cost, but I know we are not to live in the sin that Jesus died to free us from. How do I know for sure if what I am doing is right?” How should we then navigate these questions? The Bible was written as a book to help us in our faith, to give us understanding about how to live for the Lord. As we come to know the Lord, we can know and believe the God we serve does not want confusion for us. He may allow some grey areas to come at times, perhaps for the purpose of prompting us to seek His light and guidance. Confusion is not meant to be the diet God provides for the believer, although He may allow us to question at times.

Many times, the Bible will explicitly say something is a sin. Sometimes it will not clearly state certain things are sins. Sometimes likewise it may say something is God’s will, and other times not. So, it is important to become familiar with the Bible so we can glean from what it does say. God often makes His will known to us through His word. At times when the word of God does not spell out things as sin, or either spell out his will, these grey areas are times to use what we do know about God and his plan for us. This may be how God plans we must trust Him in order to grow our faith. In these times keeping our eyes on the nature of the Lord that we can see in His word will bring assurance to our walk with God and we will become fruitful. Consequently, we will see the unfolding of His will for our lives.

For many of us, we would like a map of every day written for us from heaven for God’s plan for us, if it were possible. A Christ follower wants to stay close to God, and a Christ follower desires to be pleasing to God. However, in the infinite intelligence of God, He has foreseen that for the believer it is more fruitful for their faith if he or she does not have everything spelled out for them. What we do have is the sure promise that The God of salvation has already provided everything we need for life and godliness in following the Lord through faith in Him.

If you are a Christ follower and walking with Him, the need will arise when the Lord would like us to examine our relationship with Christ, and what He has done for us provisionally for the things we may need for following him effectively. We could fill entire libraries of books on what God has provided for us. We would then have to keep adding libraries.

But the point I am making is about how God will arrange events in our lives when we will need to lean on his Spirit and word and his eternal being for our help to move along safely in life. Our dependency on God will grow. If we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father to pray for us. To prepare us for times like this, the Lord admonishes his followers in Deuteronomy to “remember My word. For it is your life….”. Other benefits we see in going to the word are in the gospel of John, are where Jesus says, “My words are Spirit and My words are Life”.  In addition, throughout many Bible passages in scripture is the picture that God’s word is our spiritual food—our living bread. So, we know that leaning on Him and His word is meant to give us spiritual life and nourishment–spiritual daily strength. We know the Lord intends this bread to be eaten by his followers.

To tie together all of these points we see that if we regularly unpack what is in the word of God it will be daily nourishment, it will help us steer away from sin, it will be life for us, and it will help us follow His will. Reading God’s word and seeking to apply it day by day, should safeguard us from sin because it is life from our Life-Giver. These elements will safeguard us as we go to Him for guidance daily along the pathways we must take. 

Keep growing in the Word! LG

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Lisa Groen

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Lisa Groen is a Christian blogger and songwriter and possesses a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Spring Arbor University. She lives in the mid-Michigan area as a caregiver for the elderly and handicapped. As a lay Christian she believes in the importance of laying a sound biblical foundation as the key for a well-built life. She sees the church at large facing a great degree of biblical illiteracy and lacking in apologetics knowledge and hopes her blog will inspire and motivate people towards tackling these issues. In her free time, she serves the Lord through writing Christian devotionals, articles on the tenants of the Christian faith, the nature of God, and compares the religious teachings by individuals who claim they are God’s messengers to the word of God. In the recent past she hosted small devotional times of worship and guitar playing for the elderly and handicapped in local retirement homes. Currently she is learning about podcasting to address false doctrinal issues of the Word of Faith Movement.