Access Granted

As I sat with the Lord this morning, He and I discussed a situation for which I need His constant forgiveness.  It is a mindset that took root in childhood, and I cannot seem to really get a hold of it.  I am vigilant over it; I monitor my thoughts and try to take them captive before they manifest sin, but that way of thinking is so rooted in me; I truly struggle with it.  As a result, when I come to the Lord repentant, and in need of forgiveness, I feel like I am taking advantage of His grace, because I have to ask for forgiveness sometimes daily!  Surely, if I were truly repentant, I could overcome this sinful mindset, right? 

The Lord patiently listened to me as I presented my argument. Then He quietly led me to 1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  First, He addressed the sin.  "Child (that's what He calls me)", that mindset entered in from trauma that occurred in childhood, and one of the reasons that it remains is that it brought with it shame and guilt.  You have need of understanding concerning my system of forgiveness.  If you can release the guilt and the shame regarding the mindset, you can find freedom." I became still. "Whoa", I thought.  "This is deep."  I said, "Lord, break it down." 

He said, "Renita, think of my forgiveness like a bank account with unlimited funds to which I have given you legal access.   When you go to the bank to make a withdrawal, your completion of a withdrawal slip only acknowledges that you need access to the fund.  It doesn't say a thing about your ability to access the fund; it is simply a request, right?  "That's true," I said.  He continued, "When you come to me and ask for forgiveness, it is simply an acknowledgment that you need to make a withdrawal on your 'Forgiveness Account'.  Because of Jesus' work on cross, you were given access to a completely funded account that belongs to you.  You don't need to ever worry that you won't have access or that somehow you may not qualify to receive what's in the account.  I have given you an identity through the Blood of Jesus that allows you to access what already belongs to you, whether you ever need it or not.  It never runs low, and it never rejects you.  The enemy wants to make you think that you have to qualify for access; that's the truly sinful mindset!  I am faithful (trustworthy) and just (I render what is due) to forgive (abandon all mutual claims) and to cleanse (consecrate for My use) from all unrighteousness (every violation). When you ask for forgiveness, it is simply a withdrawal slip (an acknowledgement that a need exists) that will never be rejected."  If you can first accept that you are ALREADY forgiven before you request it, you can truly deal with what is at the root of your mindset and receive the freedom that you desire.   

"Ok," I said, "what about when I need to extend forgiveness to others?" I countered.  He said, "Renita, do you know how wealthy people remain wealthy?  They remain wealthy because even if they have the cash, they borrow other people's money to fund their projects. They use their cash only as collateral to qualify for a loan, so that they don't have to use their own money on risky projects. That way they don't have to have great credit, because the bank knows if they default on the loan, cash will be available to cover the debt. You can extend forgiveness to others, because your name on the 'Forgiveness Account' guarantees that it can cover any outstanding debt that is owed.  When you extend forgiveness to others, I guarantee you that any debt that is incurred by the one that you forgive has been covered by what is available in your account.  In other words, when you forgive, it costs you nothing, because I am backing the forgiveness funds that you extend to them.  It's my loan, not yours (Proverbs 19:17)." 

Can I tell you that God's simple explanation has brought me great freedom?  Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY (2 Cor 2:17)!  I am grateful to have access to an account that not only guarantees my debts, but it will cover the debts of all that is owed to me! What a mighty God we serve!  Hebrews 4:16 says that we can come BOLDLY before the throne of grace and obtain mercy, because the Blood of Jesus guarantees our access!  Amen. 

We are on His Mind 

            One of the hardest truths for us to accept is that God really does love us and that he does think about us.  David captured this ever-present question in Psalm 8: 4 when he asked, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit him?”  David looked at God’s creation, and all God had done, and wondered how He even had the time to bother with man. The real question should have been, how could God not be bothered with man?  1 John 4:8 says that God is love.  Understand that this does not mean that He chooses to love us.  He is not the image of love, He is not the idea of love, and He does not embody love.  He is love.  His being is love.  If we were able to look at God’s DNA, and interpret it, we would find nothing but love.  Isn’t that amazing?  He loves us simply because He is love.  That means we can’t be good enough to earn His love, and we cannot be bad enough to lose His love.  Hard to believe, isn’t it?   His love exists because He exists. Doesn’t it leave you awestruck to know that we are on God’s mind?  He is filled with us.  He thinks about us continuously, and He is always orchestrating the events in our lives so that we can become closer to Him.

See I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are

continuously before me.  Is 49:16

            There are times that I can be really forgetful. My schedule keeps me constantly going and I must continuously write things down to keep up with what comes next.  When I don’t have a piece of paper,  I have been known to write information--phone numbers, names, even recipes on my hand, so that it will be virtually impossible for me to forget the information that I need, and where I put it.  God says that we are so important to Him, that He has us engraved on the palms of His hand. Think about that!  Those who still engrave items by hand use a real diamond to cut words or designs into precious metals. A master engraver is highly skilled at his craft. He is intimately acquainted with the tools being used, and the precious metals or woods with which he works.  He carefully, painstakingly takes a nondescript item that has little or no real sustaining value, and turns it into a work of art.   In fact, an image engraved on a surface by a master engraver is unique and cannot be duplicated or counterfeited.  Imagine this:  God thinks that we are so precious to Him that he uses what we consider to be a valuable resource as a tool, to literally cut our names into his hand. In and of ourselves, we have little value in eternity, but He has taken us-- what is some would consider nondescript and of little value, and  He turned it to a work of art.  What is even more than that, he says that He has engraved us on the palm of His hand.  He did not engrave our name or our image. He engraved our being into His being. That means each of us that are hand crafted and uniquely made, so that we are easily distinguished from one another.  We cannot be duplicated or counterfeited, because the Master Engraver has fearfully and wonderfully etched us into his very life form. 

  He goes on to say in Isaiah 49 that our walls are continuously before Him.  This means that He watches carefully the works of our hands, He watches our comings and our goings; He watches our established boundaries, and He watches what we keep as treasures behind our “walls”.  Every detail of our lives is sacred to God, so much so that His eyes are trained to everything that we do, say, think or feel.  For all of us, that could be a scary prospect.  Do we really want God to be privy to our thoughts, and desires?  It really doesn’t matter, because we are engraved on the palm of His hand, nothing –absolutely nothing we can do, say, or imagine can remove us from such a treasured place in Him.  He has made it impossible for Him to forget us.  He reiterates this through Jesus’ prayer before the last supper in John 17.  Jesus prayed that those that were given to Him—those who would believe the message of the cross, would be in Him, as He was in His Father.  We are as one in Him!