The good news is that when we confess our sins and repent desire in our heart to turn away from them God will always forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness not just seventy-seven times but an unlimited number of times. Why, because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour and we want him to be the Lord of our life.
The moment we believed in Jesus, his blood washed all our sins away - past, present and future - and Jesus clothed us with his righteousness. So now when God looks at us, he sees Jesus. Isn't that great news? God loves every Christian including you "passionately, wholeheartedly and continuously". There is nothing we can do that would make God love us any more. What God longs for is that we would experience his love every day of our lives.
That means all we have to do is spend time in his presence and our love and devotion for him will grow in return. We spend time in God's presence in the following ways which have nothing to do with making promises to God : 1.
Reading our bible As we read the Holy Spirit affirms that we are dearly loved children of God and reveals God's incredible plan for our lives, to build his kingdom and give him glory 2. Prayer As we have daily conversations with God through prayer, we bring all our issues and burdens to him and allow him to give us the wisdom and power that will transform our lives 3. Worship As we attend church services every week, we can give God praise for who he is and thanks for what he has done.
We can have fellowship with other believers and develop true friends who will walk with us through the challenges of life 4. What does the Bible say about forgiveness? According to the Bible, God will never break his promises, as stated in Numbers NRSV, "God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that he should change his mind.
God also says, "I will not break my covenant, Nor alter what my lips have uttered. To break a promise is the same as lying, and God cannot lie or do any sin. James warns us to take responsibility for our own temptation, saying, "Let no man say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God,' for God can't be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
If you are concerned about the bad things that do happen in the world, remember that humans have the unique ability of independent will, which is why evil happens in the world. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. And God will judge this evil, as Jesus explains in many of his parables, such as the Parable of the Weeds, "The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
However, remember not to confuse God being unable to break a deal with God answering a prayer. God is not a magic genie that he should obey our every wish and command.
On the contrary, we are to be his servants, not the other way around. One of the important factors that many neglect when considering forgiveness is the importance of repentance, which is the turning away from sin. Read about The Meaning of Repentance and Salvation for more information. He remembers that you are dust.
He has compassion for you. The one thing He doesn't want you to do is try to tough it out and bluff it out and act like nothing happened. The fact that your heart is tender, to me, is a very important thing. So you come to the Lord and say, 'I promised to do something and I didn't do it and I ask You to give me a second chance.
God is interested in redemption. He is interested in blessing; He is not interested in cursing. His desire is to make you whole in Him. By all means, come before Him and acknowledge what you have done and say, 'Give me a second chance,' and He will. I've heard about a form of body conditioning called Pilates. It uses the center abdominal region as a source of gravity and strength. I have friends who are against it because they think it has roots in yoga. My research says that there are no spiritual aspects involved.
Do you think it's OK for a Christian to practice Pilates techniques? It has to do with stretching and very interesting exercises. Some of these yoga teachers come with their little chants and little bowls and towels and all of this stuff that goes along with yoga, including special spiritual breathing exercises.
But as far as I can tell, Pilates is just good exercise -- if your body will take it. It is the hot thing in England and the hot thing in California, but it doesn't seem to have any spiritual connotations. The fact that you pick up something that is helpful from someone does not necessarily mean that the thing that you picked up is bad. For example, some of the shamans, the medicine men down in the jungles of the forest, came up with incredibly wonderful healing from plants. Well, from that if we get quinine or some drug that will help us get better, the fact that it came from somebody who supposedly is a medicine man to me doesn't diminish the effectiveness of what it is.
I would like to start doing devotions, but I don't really know what to do. Would you give me some guidelines on how a Christian can grow closer to God?
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