Tag Archive | Forgiveness

Forgiveness and Fellowship

Throw Back Thursday: I ran across this post from December, 2011. I am happy to say that Ruby no longer chews on cords or anything she isn’t supposed to chew on. She dearly loves the treats “Daddy” gives her, Skippy and little Alice around 9pm each night.

Miss Ruby hiding under the table after chewing the tree light cord.

Poor Ruby. When she gets bored, she chews on things such as the Christmas tree cord which was thankfully, unplugged. She also loves the strings on window blinds. At our former home, our mini blinds had a plastic twist-to open or close- rod. She loved to bat it back and forth and then she discovered the threads holding the blinds together. What a temptation!

She is actually the sweetest kitty I know. She loves to give “kitty kisses” and wants to be near us. (Maine Coons are not as snugly as some of our other cats but that doesn’t mean they don’t show affection in their own way.) If you stop and think about it, we are very much like that with the Lord. We give into temptation and then when we realize our sin, we feel guilt and run from the Lord.

When Ruby realized she was being naughty, (our scream might have been a clue – we were afraid she would swallow the plastic as thankfully, the lights were not plugged in.) she ran and hid under the kitchen table and chairs. (It didn’t help that “big brother, Skip” pounced on her!) She didn’t want to come out and play or sit on her cat tree. Even though after the initial scare, and we were sure she knew the tree lights were off limits, we spoke softly to her and told her it would be okay.

Because I have been so bad!

“I’ll help!” I’m glad Jesus forgives too!

I aint gettin nutin’ for Christmas

She watched as John had to snip away the tight plastic ties holding the pre-lit lights to the branches. Eventually, she got closer and closer as she watched him remove the evidence of her destruction but she didn’t come out from under the table until after we put the rest of the tree together and prepared to go to bed. She followed us from room to room until she was satisfied she was forgiven or her guilt was lost with time.

Ruby’s Christmas gift.

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As you see, Ruby and Skippy had a wonderful Christmas!

Now she is content to sleep under the tree.

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How many times have we sinned against the Lord and our guilt held us back from reading His Word, praying or from having fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ? How can we forget that He has already forgiven us? That the penalty of our sin was paid on the Cross by our sinless Savior? Why does it take us so long to agree with God about our sin? Pride? Fear? The old sin nature?

I John 1:5-9

Verse 5) “This is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light,

and in Him is no darkness at all.

6) If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth;

7) But we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of

Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

8) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.“

Did you catch that? He paid for our sin on the cross with his precious, sinless blood which cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If we have confessed to him that I am a sinner, He forgives us – for always. The Word says that Jesus died once for all! He loves us. He wants to fellowship with us! He wants us to walk in the light – just as He is THE LIGHT. Verse nine is for believers. When we sin, we break fellowship with Him. Just as Ruby felt guilty and hid away from us because she knew that she had done something wrong.

He wants our fellowship! He wants us to walk in the light and share in the joy of His love. He leaves it up to us. To come to Him and confess our sin to Him – agree with God that what you did, thought, watched, listened to or harbored in your heart so that our sweet fellowship is restored and we want to come to Him. To fellowship with Him, to read His Word above all else and to pour out our heart to Him in prayer. He is our Heavenly Father and loves us.

At this time of the year when parents warn their children, “If you are naughty, Santa won’t bring you anything for Christmas!” (Or in days gone by, he may have left a chunk of coal in your stocking instead of goodies.) In a way, children are being taught a system of works. (Check out Ephesians 28-9) Isn’t it wonderful to know that Jesus has already taken care of the “naughty” and wants us to come to Him?

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This Christmas, let the children come to Jesus and adore Him together!

Have a blessed Christmas!

Kathy

Peter’s Forgiveness: A Rhyme for Preschoolers

Apr18

My friend who has been working with four-year-olds shared this in her newsletter yesterday and has given me permission to share it with you. Children that age love rhyme and as you know, some jingles continue to come to mind years after we learned it. Praying it is so with this song/rhyme!

I don’t know about you but I can emphasize with Peter. So often we speak before we think, we act on emotions and we want to be so close to the Lord that we desire to walk on water with Him. And then in a moment of distress, we forget all He has done and say or try to do something in our own strength and we fail. The good news is that through the Lord Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven and cast into the sea – as far as the east is from the west. Peter denied He knew Jesus; just as Jesus had said. When the cock crowed, he had denied Jesus three times. At that very moment, he looked up and Jesus was looking at him. Looking into the Lord’s eyes, Peter realized what he had done, then went out and wept bitterly. I love reading Mark 16:7 “But go your way, tell His disciples and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee, there ye shall see Him, as He said unto you.” Jesus was specific that Peter should know that He had risen from the dead and in including him, Peter knew that he was forgiven. kp

~*~

Okay, time to take a break and have some fun! Grab some four-year olds and let’s go!

First you’ll need to give some very detailed instructions, of course. Then give each of them either a set of lummi sticks or a triangle. (We’re talking musical instruments here.) No need to fret if they don’t get the instrument they want, they will be taking turns with them.

Now you need to learn the beat. Since you probably don’t have sticks and a triangle handy at the moment, you can use your hands. Slap your palms on the table (or on your thighs) twice to represent the lummi sticks, then snap your fingers once to represent the triangle. Ready? Let’s go! Slap, slap, snap. Slap, slap, snap. Slap, slap, snap. Slap, slap, snap.

Got it?

Good.

Now we need to add some words. Don’t sing them, say them. The more expressive, the better. Slap, slap, snap 3 or 4 times in between the verses. Here we go! Get your beat going first and . . .

Listen to the story of a man named Peter
Whom one day God called to be a great leader

Jesus found him fishing out at the lake
“Come with me, Peter, we’ve a journey to take!”

A journey of faith was what was in store
It would take much longer than a 3 hour tour

They walked and they talked along the dusty roads
Sometimes they were noisy, sometimes quiet as the toads

Peter saw Jesus heal the sick and lame
He saw Jesus help everyone who came

The blind, the deaf, and those who couldn’t speak
The poor, the needy, the lowly, and the meek

Jesus loved them all and helped them everyone
And then Peter knew the Son of God had come

Peter made a promise to never run away
No matter what happened, with Jesus he would stay

But then the crowds and soldiers gave him such a fright
That Peter lost his courage and ran out in the night

Peter was so sorry for the words he’d spoken
He cried and felt so sad, his heart was almost broken

Peter wanted to see Jesus, look him in the eyes
To tell Him that he loved Him and to apologize

After Jesus died and came to life again
Peter was relieved Jesus forgave him of his sin

Peter knew that Jesus knows all things
Peter told others of the joy Jesus brings!

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Cat fight!

Oct19

If only they were fighting over who gets to wash the dishes!

We have three cats. Two Maine Coons and one American Short Hair Domestic Cat. Skippy and Ruby are much larger than little Alice and could really hurt her if they wanted to but they don’t. She has given them plenty of opportunities, though. She loves to play “tag” and the simple game of chase can become a little heated and fluffy long hair starts flying!

The Maine Coon is often referred to as the “gentle giant.” If you zoom in on this picture, you will see that Skippy (the very large tabby) is not showing his claws. To show his dominance, he holds his fluffy paw over her as if to say, “calm down now, you little rascal!”

Alice, on the other hand, is showing many signs of angry kitty body language. Her ears are laying down on her head, she is hissing and definitely has her sharp claws out and ready for action.

The scuffle didn’t last long and I didn’t see any scratch marks on either kitty. Soon after John snapped the picture, they were on their way to making peace and Skip jumped up on my kitchen counter (“grrrr!”) to groom himself as if nothing had happened. All was forgiven in Purdy Kitty Land.

Perhaps, that should be a lesson for us. We hold grudges and allow bitterness to grow over truly insignificant things, don’t we? We take on the angry stance, bare our claws and hiss at our loved ones when we should be like Skippy. Raise our hands to the Lord and ask forgiveness for the anger and bitterness inside and then forgive the instigator. Even ask their forgiveness for our bad attitude and then – leave it all with the Lord. Step up to the mountain top of forgiveness and remember that He has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)

Whether we are speaking of people, dogs or cats; I agree with the Psalmist who said, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”