Your Life Still Counts-Day 2

 

There are twenty chapters and twenty-one amazing stories in this book.  The chapters have about ten to fourteen pages packed full of nuggets of truth. In order to complete the study in January we will need to read five chapters a week. That is doable, right! right. We will start reading the book on Monday to give those that have ordered books time to receive their book.

Tracie writes in the introduction, “Have you ever wondered if something you did, something your parents did, or something someone did against you or to you, is the reason God is allowing hardship in your life? Have you ever entertained the thought that your pain and suffering are because God is punishing you for your sin, or because He doesn’t see any value in you as a result of all that has happened, or possibly because of all the bad choices you have made? If you honest answer is yes to any of these questions, then I can relate. I entertained those thoughts for many years, confident that God was going to give me the punishment I deserve for my sin. But I’m here to tell you–He never did.”

 I have made some poor choices in my life and Satan condemned me. He wanted me to believe that I would never be free of those choices. I seemed to sin, confess, sin, confess and the cycle continued with me making the same mistakes. I think at one point I hated my life and I believed forgiveness was for everyone but me. I carried the guilt of my choices to the point of making myself ill.

In Romans 7: 14-19 Paul writes, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

King David a man described as a man after God’s own heart committed adultery and tried to cover up the sin and sent Bathsheba’s husband into war so he would be killed. God sent Nathan to face King David. We see his confession in Psalm 32.

1Blessed is the one

whose transgressions are forgiven,

whose sins are covered.

2Blessed is the one

whose sin the Lord does not count against them

and in whose spirit is no deceit.

3When I kept silent,

my bones wasted away

through my groaning all day long.

4For day and night

your hand was heavy on me;

my strength was sapped

as in the heat of summer.^b

5Then I acknowledged my sin to you

and did not cover up my iniquity.

I said, “I will confess

my transgressions to the Lord.”

And you forgave

the guilt of my sin.

6Therefore let all the faithful pray to you

while you may be found;

surely the rising of the mighty waters

will not reach them.

7You are my hiding place;

you will protect me from trouble

and surround me with songs of deliverance.

8I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

9Do not be like the horse or the mule,

which have no understanding

but must be controlled by bit and bridle

or they will not come to you.

10Many are the woes of the wicked,

but the Lord’s unfailing love God

surrounds the one who trusts in him.

11Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;

sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Sin separates us from God, but God does not want that separation. That is why 1 John 1:9 is so powerful, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” When King David confessed his sins, he writes in verse 5b, “You forgave the guilt of my sin.”

Just as Tracie shared, He never punished her but she punished herself. I punished myself for my poor choices. but God wants us to feel loved not condemned. He has a purpose for our lives. He wants to give us a future and a hope as it says in Jeremiah 29:12.

Father God, today I come to your throne of grace, you are our ABBA (daddy). Lord will you ” Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  For each person reading this blog let her know that you want an intimate loving relationship with us.  For the person who is suffering from illness or hardship, let her draw close to you. Your word says that if we draw near you will draw near to us. For the person who is hurting let her give those hurts to you.

Today, will you trust that God wants a better tomorrow for you.  Blessings,  Diana