Jake and I have recently been trying to do better at implementing family devotions alongside our own personal Jesus time every day. We're working through a devotional book called Walk as He Walked, and it was given to us by TEAM just before we left for Brazil.
It's amazing how simple little truths are the keys that unlock so much guilt and anger, frustration and bitterness. Being reminded of God's forgiveness yesterday was the breath of fresh air that I needed. Here are some of the verses we looked at:
Psalm 103:12 "as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us."ESV
Isaiah 38:17 "Behold, it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;but in love you have delivered my life
from the pit of destruction,
for you have cast all my sins
behind your back."ESV
Micah 7:19 "He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.You will cast all our[a] sins
into the depths of the sea."ESV
Isaiah 43:25 “I, I am he
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,and I will not remember your sins."ESV
Hebrews 10:17-18 "then he adds,
'I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.
'Where there is forgiveness of these,
there is no longer any offering for sin."ESV
I love the pictures that many of these verses conjure in my mind: God casting all my sins into the depths of the sea, treading them under his feet. Jesus forgave my sins completely and totally when He nailed them to the cross, when He became Lord and Saviour of my life.
But.
Every day I need to continually confess and repent of the sins that plague my life, and ask Him to take them away, 'as far as the East is from the West'. Let me repeat that.
Confession and repentance are essential for God's forgiveness.
God loves a humble and contrite heart, so we must be like clay in His hands, able to be molded into more of His likeness.
Truly a thing of beauty.
Love,
Ashleigh
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