Pardon: The Change Within

[CrystalCathedralMinistry]

Change starts from within. You must change yourself first before you can change the world. And the first step is to come to terms with God's pardon.

In the book they talk about the Sermon on the Mount. This is where Jesus taught us that when somebody hits us we must turn the other cheek; that we must love our enemies; and that if we are asked to carry a burden we must do so for an extra mile. The authors admit that this is not an easy teaching to follow. But then maybe Jesus is showing us how He feels when we sin, that though we hurt Him His pardon is still there for us. Jesus loves us even though we become His enemies when we revel in sin. And Jesus bears our burdens to lighten our load whenever we ask. Pardon - we must learn to forgive as God has forgiven us.

In World Changers, the authors talk about William Wilberforce's complete conversion to Christianity - when he came to terms with God's pardon and turned away from sinful activities like gambling and other societal temptations.

They talk in turn about when they felt God's pardon and changed their lives. Bob realized he could be a Christian when he saw Christian teams fight like ordinary men in a football game while Walt realized he could not control his illness when he had to have sextuple bypass and offered his illness to God.

Do you have a defining moment that changed your life? Did you come to terms with God's pardon at this moment the way William Wilberforce, Walt and Bob did? How did this defining moment change your life? Can you relate your experience to Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount?

[Andy Heller]

Hmmm...I dont think I have had a defining moment, but a defining period of time and I believe for me it is actually right now. Its not over yet...so I wont answer or cant answer the rest of the question.

[Wilde]

I was just one among those inconspicuous tourists lodging in a bed&breakfast hotel on one of the most obscure but picturesque villages of France. Intent on keeping in shape, each morning I jogged on the rough beaten paths and up along the hillside always passing by this seemingly abandoned white-painted chapel but during one of my routines I noticed that the doors were opened and heard sweet music emanating from and inundating the wayside flowers that looked like they were opening up to receive the lovely notes of the young woman's voice with her guitar.

I stopped running and entered through the wide-flung doors. She took a furtive glance at me but quickly resumed her singing and accompanying herself with careful chords by guitar interrupted at intervals with prayers of worship and intense devotion. She smiles at me but this smile came with an unspoken message beckoning to join what seemed to me a timeless ritualistic adoration of an angel before a God I vaguely knew of. It didn't take long for me to realize this was a human nightingale, earthly, but then again eternal. worshipping her Lord and Creator like the wayside flowers opening their dewed petals to receive the first rays of sunlight.

The whole setting was certainly kept well choreographed not only by this young woman's music and her rapt devotion but by an unseen force that felt like an electrical field or a magnet keeping the scene together in one big package of celestial holiness and divine peace. And at the same time when the first strong ray of sunlight shined upon the Cross, came her lyrics proclaiming "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world..." I knew my prayers were answered.

I am a journalist. I have witnessed the atrocities of war with bare eyes and seen evil's devastation upon the innocent, of hunger and disease eating away the last shreds of survival. I had been battling with my own demons in vain and also bore a burden of sins which seemed impossible to lay down. Until that magical moment in the small chapel when God saw me weeping.

[ConnieJoy34]

There is no better cleanser to wash the windows of our souls like "TEARS"! A good quote I refer to is "When it pours, God reigns!" Psalm 30:5. I am assured that tears also activate healing. Psalm 30:5 affirms "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning," and Job 8:2l "HE WILL yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of JOY."
```God's faithful Love abides forever!

[bulletgirl]

Hi ConnieJoy & Wilde, your posts reminded me of another song...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwy5MqNB23A

[bulletgirl]

Originally Posted by CrystalCathedralMinistry

Did you come to terms with God's pardon at this moment the way William Wilberforce, Walt and Bob did?

How does a person come to term with God's pardon? When i accepted Christ it was 3 days before i turned 5. I came to terms with it then. The failures and mistakes since then, even though I know God forgives are still hard to deal with. How do you learn to forgive yourself as God forgives? Even though it is not always easy, it is much easier to forgive others that to forgive yourself. I think it would definitely be a defining moment if i could figure it out. Satan has a way of throwing the failures in your face constantly making the guilt ever present constantly weighing you down causing you to live with the constant feeling of defeat.

[ConnieJoy34]

````Realize your body is the temple of the living God, and glorify God in it! What you believe in, you serve and are served by. Good is omnipresent and something good can come from each experience. As beliefs change, change takes place in circumstances and conditions. Use the power of the cross, as the up and down to represent "nothing has evil power". The right and left stroke represents "good now reigns." Take up your cross "Cross out belief in evil and receive life's blessings."
```God's faithful Love abides forever!