Greetings, Dear Friends!

For those of you visiting I say welcome! I post every Wednesday.

My goal is simply this: to nourish your soul so that you may have a deeper life in Christ and a more powerful life on earth.

I love this picture. My sisters, my sisters-in-law, my mom, my niece and I sat down where the current was the strongest. We laughed, giggled, and sang songs. It was a great time.

The river of God flows with power and forgiveness and provision.

We will never enjoy the fullness of what God has for us until we jump in the river with full assurance that He owns the river and He wants us free; free from fear, self-hatred, and doubt; free to take hold of all He has offered us.

What keeps most of us from taking hold of the powerful life God promised us?

Unbelief, to be sure. But a close second has to be condemnation.

Many of us have a hard time letting ourselves off the hook.

We recount, rehash, and rehearse our mistakes and they re-injure us all over again.

How do we get past our mistakes? How do we get to the place in our faith when after we've blown it and repented, we are able to sit down where the current is the strongest and laugh, and giggle, and sing?

It's to this, we were called!

Currently I am reading Bill Johnson's book, "The Supernatural Power of a Transformed Mind" and he made a point that confirmed something I've always pondered.

First he describes the scene in Genesis where Sarah laughed at the thought of bearing a child in her old age. Johnson wrote,

"She didn't just give an embarrassed giggle. The Hebrew word for laugh tells us she was mocking what God has said. Not only that, she lied about it when God confronted her. But Hebrews 11:11 says of this same woman:

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Wow! The record sure sounds different than the reality! This tells us something precious; the book of remembrance doesn't have record of our mistakes. Genesis 18 was recorded for human benefit, so you and I could identify with those who followed God in the past. But Hebrews 11 is how it's recorded in the book of remembrance. Once the blood has been applied, there is no record of sin anymore. God brags all over heaven about Sarah, and He does the same about you and me. Maybe you had a bad week, but you stirred yourself to worship God anyway. That was recorded in the book of remembrance."

Isn't this a powerful thought?

I know I feel that way in regards to my own sons. I know them inside and out. I am aware of the weak spots in their character and I understand their strengths. I know when they try hard, and I know when they just do enough to get by.

When they stumble and fall and their hearts are broken, mine is broken too. But when they brush themselves off and look to heaven once again, I am overwhelmed with love, admiration, and gratefulness that they belong to me.

How much more is God's capacity to feel this way towards us?

To refuse forgiveness, fresh mercies, and a chance to begin again, is to refuse the message of the Cross.

It takes great humility and faith to jump in the river, and to sing, and laugh and play. In spite of where you've been or what you've done, if you've confessed your sin and accepted His forgiveness, you have no reason for condemnation, only praise.

Daily proclaim, "Because of Jesus' work on the Cross, I refuse condemnation. I embrace forgiveness and I will live out the number of my days in freedom! Jesus died that I might be free!"

Until next week...