Open And Receiving
Wednesday April 25, 2018
One of the hardest things for hurting people to do is to continue to receive the love of God until they are filled and healed. We’d rather hold a record of wrongs. We’d rather hang onto resentments that give us an excuse to act out. We want our rights. We want others to make things right with us. We want justice. God's ways of dealing with suffering in our souls is to offer us grace - grace for our own shortcomings and grace for others who also have shortcomings.
Make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:13-14 NLT)
We need to keep on receiving God’s love until every hurtful issue in our minds and on our hearts is soaked in His love. How do we do that? First, we receive comfort for every painful thing that has been cluttering up our minds and our emotions, and then we let the generous love of God bring healing to those places.
As God's enduring love fills us with peace and security, we can then bless others. When people around us act poorly and hurt us, we can bring those hurts before God and receive healing. If we react poorly to a situation and are filled with guilt and shame, we can confess our shortcomings to God and receive His forgiveness. We can then go to the person who was on the receiving end of our poor reaction and ask for their forgiveness. In this way, God invites all of us to live in His safe and unfailing love. We love because he loved us first. Anyone who says he loves God but in fact hates his brother or sister is a liar. He doesn’t love his brother or sister, whom he has seen. So he can’t love God, whom he has not seen. Here is the command God has given us. Anyone who loves God must also love his brothers and sisters. (1 John 4:19-21 NIV)
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I embrace the lavish love You have for me, and receive healing for all my hurts. Where it is hard for me to believe and trust, I receive hope and faith. I receive the generous grace You pour out and Your peace that passes all understanding. I receive. I receive. I receive. Amen
©2018 Partners in Hope
More information on this and other related topics @ http://www.partnersinhope.ca/life-with-god-in-recovery-resources/
Audio for Open And Receiving
Recent Meditations
Giving Hope
Partners in Hope is supported wholly by our friends and community. We are thankful to everyone who partners with us to help bring hope to the discouraged, hurting, and hopeless.