Friday, September 04, 2020

Preemptive Forgiveness

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

“...and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

“Lord, right now I forgive everyone for everything, past, present...and future.  God, I forgive everyone in advance for anything they might do or say today, so that I am free to love them with the power of Your Holy Spirit flowing through me.”

That’s how I do it.  That is how I practice what I call “preemptive forgiveness.”

Preemptive forgiveness means forgiving in advance.

Look, you know something dumb is going to happen, right?  You don’t know who.  You don’t know when.  You don’t know what.  You don’t know why, but sure enough, there it is.  Someone is going to say something, they’re going to do something, it might be on accident, it might be on purpose, it might even be with criminal intent, but I say we forgive them IN ADVANCE and get that part out of the way, so then we can be completely free to love them in the way that God wants us to love them.

Jesus told us to love another.  He told us to love our neighbor.  He told us to love our enemies.  

But listen.  You can’t love someone you hate.  You can’t love someone properly while at the same time harboring unforgiveness.  A house divided against itself cannot stand.

In Mark 11:25, Jesus told us that if we have anything against anyone, we must forgive them.

Let it go.

And we do that with a very specific purpose in mind.  We forgive them so that we can be completely free to love them just as God wants us to love them.

The fruit of the Spirit is…love, among other things, but the first on the list is love.  God wants us to love people, He empowers us to love people, and to properly do that, we must walk in forgiveness.  

And what I’m promoting is something a bit unusual.  It is forgiving...in advance.  It is preemptive forgiveness.  

In Luke 17:1, Jesus said, “It is impossible that no offenses should come…”  Offenses are coming.  Knowing that, what should we do?

I say we forgive them in advance, preemptively.  We bomb the enemy’s base before he even gets the offense rocket off the ground.  

That eliminates the offense altogether.  I’m not offended because hey, I forgave that already.  Now I’m free to love them in whatever way God wants me to love them, in whatever way they need to be loved, in whatever way is best for them, for their life and their future and their own walk with God, and their eternity.  

That doesn’t make us doormats.  That doesn’t mean people can walk all over us.  Listen.  Love is the power position.  Perfect love casts out fear.  Love causes you to lay down your life for others, and a person who is so sold out that they are willing to lay down their life like that...like I said, love is the power position, the very opposite of a doormat.

When you love someone, you want what is best for them.  Sometimes accountability is exactly what they need.  Sometimes being arrested is what they need.  Yes, you can call the police on someone you dearly love, because sometimes that is exactly what they need.  But you don’t do it because you are offended and hurt and bitter and harboring unforgiveness.  Listen, you can forgive...and press charges.  It can be done in love.

The point is, remove offenses from the equation.  I’m saying, never get offended again by practicing preemptive forgiveness, which sets us free from all offense, which sets us free to love people which is what we must do anyway.

And the way I do that is very practical.  Each morning I pray through the Lord’s prayer, and when I come to that part about trespasses I pray “Lord, right now I forgive everyone for everything, past, present...and future.  God, I forgive everyone in advance for anything they might do or say, so that I am free to love them with the power of Your Holy Spirit flowing through me.”

Amen.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.


Thursday, September 03, 2020

Is That God Speaking to Me?

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

In John chapter 10, Jesus said that He is the good shepherd, that He speaks to His sheep, and that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him, for they know His voice.

So the question is, do I know the voice of the Good Shepherd?  How do I know if God is speaking to me?  

First of all, in John 4:24, Jesus said, “God is Spirit.”  In John 6:63, Jesus said that the words He speaks are “spirit.”  

So when we talk about hearing the voice of God, we’re usually not talking about hearing a physical voice.

Romans 8:16 says that His Spirit bears witness with our spirit.

That’s spirit to spirit communication.  I know, it’s getting deep, but I would expect nothing less.

So God is Spirit, His words are spirit, and His Spirit bears witness with our spirit.

As born again, blood-bought believers, we each have God’s Holy Spirit inside of us, teaching us and guiding us.

Now listen to this.  I’m leading up to a key that will help us answer the question, “Is that God speaking to me?”

In John 16:13, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit “will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak.”

In the next verse Jesus said, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”

So when the Holy Spirit speaks to us, He speaks the words of Jesus.  It’s Jesus talking to us, through the Holy Spirit inside of us.  Back to Romans 8:16, it is His Spirit communicating with our spirit.

But the question is, when you hear that little voice, how do you know it is God speaking and not just some random thought, or worse, some random devil?

Now here is the main key of this lesson.  Luke chapter 4 verse 32 says that people were astonished at the teaching of Jesus.  Why?  Because His word was “with authority.”

And that’s the key.  That is one way we might discern the voice of God.  We answer this question.  Did it come with authority?

Some translations say, “His word was with power.”

So when we are seeking God, trying to hear from Him, and suddenly we hear a voice speaking inside of us, here’s a question to ask, “Did this message come with authority?  Did it come with the power and authority of Jesus?”

His sheep know His voice.  How?  Because our Shepherd speaks with authority.  He speaks with power.  His words come with conviction.

Yes, there are other considerations.  We should consult Scripture.  We should consult the body, by which I mean our fellow believers.  And another key is what Jesus said in John 16:14, that the Holy Spirit would glorify Jesus, so another question is, “Does this glorify Jesus?”

But here’s the main point we’re focusing on today.  When we are asking, “Is that God speaking?” we can remember the example of Luke 4:32.  His word comes with authority.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.


Wednesday, September 02, 2020

Soul Issues and Goal Issues

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

God can solve our soul issues and our goal issues.

Think about it.  Many of our problems are either soul issues, or goal issues.

Our soul issues include our identity, “Who am I?” and our value, “Am I worth anything?”

And our goal issues include our purpose, “What am I here for?  What am I supposed to be doing with my life?”

Fortunately, God can solve all of our soul issues and goal issues, and they are actually summed up very tidily in Ephesians chapter two.

The foundation of all of our soul issues is that we start out dead in our sins.  We are sons of disobedience.  We conduct ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and are by nature children of wrath, separated from God.

The good news is that there is actually a quick solution to our soul issues, and I’m still in Ephesians chapter two.  It says that God, who is rich in mercy, loves us with His great love!  He loves us so much that, through Jesus, even though we start out dead in our sins, He makes us alive through Christ!

And it’s not because we start doing good, or because we finally get our act together.  He does it by His grace and kindness toward us, not by our own good deeds.  

This solves our soul issues.  Who am I?  Through Christ, I am a very much loved, born again child of God!  Am I worth anything?  I’m worth so much that the creator of the world, God Himself, loved me and saved me and calls me His child!

Now what about the goal issues, what am I here for?  What am I supposed to be doing with my life?

We are still in Ephesians chapter two.  Verse ten says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

What am I here for?  What am I supposed to be doing with my life?  Good works!

Just look around and say, “What good works can I be doing today?”  Then do them!

Ephesians 2:10 says we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works,” and it says that “God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

God CREATED us to do good works, and He PREPARED BEFOREHAND that we should live this way...doing good works.

One more soul issue:  the idea of loneliness.  We find the solution again in Ephesians chapter two.  We are not in this alone.  Verse 19 says we are “...fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…”  

All the Christian believers all over the world?  We are all in this together!  

And as God’s children, we have His Holy Spirit inside of us.  Ephesians 2 concludes with verse 22 which says we are “being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

Yes, we are all born with many soul issues and goal issues, but the good news is that God can solve them all as we turn to Him!  

And we can find them all summed up rather tidily right here in Ephesians chapter two.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.