Zondervan Inspire

Stand in the Light

From the Editor: I love how Ann blends personal experience, word studies, scripture and plain ole’ truth to say something so simple yet so profound. Her explanation of repentance is so spot-on. It’s not about simply asking for forgiveness; it’s a change of direction, attitude, behavior. Paul describes this concept of repentance in Ephesians 4:22-24 as putting off, renewing, and putting on. Any other thoughts on this subject?

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

I realize that forgiveness can be a process. It begins when I decide to forgive. But it can take time for me to let go of my emotional reactions to what someone has done and my desire to see them suffer for it. But God doesn't have emotional reactions. His forgiveness happens instantly — the moment I repent.

I remember the first time I realized what a positive thing repentance is. The Greek word that often translates "repentance" in the New Testament is metanoia. It expresses the idea of turning, of doing an about-face, of heading away from one thing so you can head toward another. It's not just a turning away from the disintegrating power of sin but a turning toward the creative, life-giving power of God. It's choosing to stand in the light rather than to linger in the darkness.

From The Tender Words of God

by Ann Spangler

Loved Despite Our Errors

From the Editor: There really is someone behind the curtain at Zondervan putting these posts together. I'm planning to add a little commentary each time going forward to foster better understanding and hopefully stimulate a little conversation. If you're helped in any way by the posts you read here, then glory to God! There will be times you may disagree with all or part of a post. That's fine. Please express your thougths.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

When we do make mistakes, it can be difficult to talk to people about those mistakes because we fear that we will be judged. This can lead to isolation and loneliness — after all, we have all made mistakes, and part of the desire to be affirmed is the desire to be affirmed as struggling people in process, people who are loved despite our errors. Without the safety of knowing that we will be accepted and affirmed despite our mistakes, it can be difficult to ever confess our mistakes — to friends, or to God.

From The Seven Desires of Every Heart

by Mark & Debra Laaser

Grace to Forgive as I Have Been Forgiven

I started thinking about how I had responded during the early months of the Iraq war when Saddam Hussein's two sons were killed. "Yes!" Both times, my response was instinctive, like cheering for my favorite football team. But then a discomfiting thought crept in. Was Jesus rejoicing at the death of these two men? I turned back to the Scriptures. "Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. If you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. How many times should you forgive? Seventy-seven times." These were Jesus' words. But really, I have to forgive rapists and mass murderers?

This Jesus, he asks so much. Yes, but he gives so much.

I can remember the sense of sheer mercy that came to me years ago when I finally admitted my failings and opened myself to God’s forgiveness. As I thought back to how gracious God has been, I felt willing to pray for a change of heart. Instead of cheering the demise of those men in Iraq, I wanted the grace to forgive as I had been forgiven, to let pure justice remain where it belongs — in God's hand.

From The Tender Words of God

by Ann Spangler

Any comments or testimonies today?

Come Clean

Many people don't feel the need to confess their sins to God, ignoring his prompting to come clean. Solomon reveals the foolishness of such self-delusion (see Proverbs 28: 13-14). Simply put, trying to hide sin from God interrupts and weakens your relationship with him. When you confess what you've done and sincerely ask for God's forgiveness, the distance closes and your relationship heals. God doesn't put a statute of limitations on sin, so any obstacles you put in the way of your relationship with him remain there until you take action to remove them.

From New Men's Devotional Bible

New International Version (NIV™)
Most read. Most trusted.
Celebrating 30 Years
30NIV.COM

Any comments or testimonies today?

Follow God's Leading

I sometimes wonder how many Christians today have missed out on God's beautiful purpose and have hurt themselves because they strayed outside the edges of God's will for them. They sometimes quote the familiar sentence of Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," but forget that this is not a license for doing our own thing whenever we feel like it. We must follow God's leading the way the Israelites followed the divine cloud through the desert, knowing that it will take us where we need to go. As long as the cloud is determining the route, we can be sure that God will fight on our behalf. Otherwise, we are on our own in enemy territory.

From You Were Made for More: The Life You Have, the Life God Wants You to Have 

by Jim Cymbala

Any comments or testimonies today?

conversation

Here, I believe, is the fundamental clue to understanding conversation with God. When we raise our concerns to God, we stand by him and look with him toward people and problems that we care about mutually. When we turn our eyes toward him, we say out loud our love and appreciation, just as we look toward our oldest and dearest friends and tell them how we care for them, though they already know it. We confess to God what we are and what we have done, which he knows all about. We express our faith in him. We thank him for who he is and what he has done for us. None of this is news to him, but all of this draws us together.

From Personal God: Can You Really Know the One Who Made the Universe?

by Tim Stafford

Any comments or testimonies today?

confession

Church history is also filled with movements of people who cry out to God that they are unholy, who identify and confess their sins—from Europe's Confessing Church to the US college revivals that began by humble confession of sins, by people beating their chests before each other and God. One of the most powerful things the contemporary church could do is to confess our sins to the world, humbly get on our knees and repent of the terrible things we have done in the name of God (see 2 Chronicles 7:14). Perhaps the world will be willing to listen to a church on its knees, a church that doesn't pretend to be perfect or to have all the answers.

From Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals

by Shane Claiborne

Any comments or testimonies today?