Thursday, July 1, 2010

Vanish!

Verse: Psalms 103:12
"...as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."
One cold winter evening my husband and I lit a fire in the fireplace. As the wood burned we occasionally threw in a bank statement or other piece of paper that had sensitive information on it. Then we would watch it go up in flames and turn into ashes. The next day in bible study the group sang, 'In the Presence of Jehovah' by Cathy Goddard. Some of the lyrics in the chorus of that song are, '...troubles vanish, hearts are mended...' The word in the chorus of that song that caught my attention was the word 'vanish.' I thought back to the night before, after the fire was extinguished no trace of the paperwork was left, except for the ashes. However, it occurred to me that even the ashes could be swept up and taken outside to vanish in the wind, never to be seen again. Similarly, the Lord is to our sins what the wind is to the ashes; with one word from Him our sins are removed.

Through Jesus' sacrifice and our repentance, He does remove our sins far from us with no traces remaining (Isaiah 1:18). It is amazing that when we genuinely ask for forgiveness our sins are gone, removed, cleansed, they vanish. At
http://www.dictionary.com/ the definition for vanish includes, ‘to become invisible, to disappear by ceasing to exist, to become zero.’ If we really stop to think about how our Heavenly Father forgives our sins it is astonishing. Our offenses, insults, and disobedience that cause heartache; or more specifically cause His heart to ache are gone; they ‘become zero.’ They are not counted against us, and the very person whose heart aches because of our sins is the very same person who forgives us and removes our sins entirely. Only a mighty God could do that.

Since He has forgiven us so completely, we don’t have to continue rehashing past mistakes. We can let go and let God forgive, and then rest in His forgiveness. Peace comes when we believe, by faith, in his total forgiveness.

For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does!

Prayer: You are great and amazing O Lord! Thank you for your faithfulness and forgiveness.

Read More: 1 John 1:9, and Colossians 1:21-22.

Action Plan: During your prayer time today confess your sins to Him and lay your mistakes at His feet. Make a decision not to pick them up again. Regret can be debilitating, to combat regret memorize 1 John 1:9 to use against Satan when he tries remind you of past mistakes.

If God has put something on your heart and you feel comfortable sharing it, make a comment and let us know what it is. We can encourage each other by bearing one another's burdens and praying.