Forgiveness
By: Rev. Ronald B. Stamets

Matthew 6:14-15 "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
 
These verses of scripture put to bed the concept of justified indignation and hope of recompense or retribution.  What is the biblical definition of forgiveness?  The Greek word for forgiveness is aphieme.  It’s translated application means to forsake, forgive, lay aside, leave, let (alone, be, go, have) put away, suffer, yield up.
 
In plain English to forgive is to LET IT BE, LET IT GO ... No justification of personal cause is acceptable to God.  No hard feelings are acceptable.  This almost sounds as though I am expected to be a hypocrite; hide my real feelings of hurt or betrayal.  In reality forgiveness is an act of obedience.  Nullifying the bitterness is a work of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
 
Unforgiveness is a result of receiving an offence.  It expects recognition of responsibility of another person.  Jesus received no offence from anyone and expected no one to recognize what they did in order to justify himself.  He simply laid his life down and said "Father forgive them".  If the goal of a believer is to take on the image of Christ, we obviously are required to grow in this attribute.  Jesus strongly stated this point by declaring if we can’t forgive others ... God can’t forgive us.  Saying that "I have forgiven" yet avoiding contact with another person states the truth that I have not forgiven.
 
This is hard, what can I do?  Telling someone that they are forgiven won’t work without first owning the fact that you have forgiven them.  As a matter of fact many will only get angry at being told they are forgiven because they never recognized their action in the first place ... and still don’t.  (Remember the folks who crucified Jesus?)  I believe that the first act of obedience that needs to be acted on is to ask God to forgive them and not hold them responsible for their hurtful actions.  Then, knowing God has forgiven them, I know that I can.  They don’t need to know I have, my actions towards them in the future will be the proof of my forgiveness.

Bringing Thoughts Into Captivity
By: Rev. Ronald B. Stamets

2Cor 10:5: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
 
The newspapers declare that the economy is going down the tubes.  After a visit to the doctor, the report indicated that I only have six months to live!  "40 years of age and I am pregnant and the medical report that I read said "Women over 35 are not known to have quality babies ... That means I might give birth to a mongoloid child!"
 
Our minds are assaulted daily with negative, ungodly uncertain possibilities.  These are the breeding grounds for imaginations and high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God.
 
We are given the seed of fear (f- alse  e- vidence  a- ppearing  r- eal).  Out of this seed is birthed the imaginations of the possibilities of the worst outcomes.  These imaginations when played over and over in our minds produce fear.  Fear is faith in reverse.  Believing the Word of God is not true for you.
 
How can I cast down these imaginations?  One way is to determine if the possible outcome is God’s will or the enemy’s.  Is it God’s will that you are financially destitute? (Read Jeremiah 29:11)  You can answer that one for yourself.  Is it God’s will that you are sick?  If it is, then why are you taking pills to get better?  I am not suggesting that you stop taking pills, I am suggesting that it is time to begin to speak the Word of God to yourself.
 
Get into the Bible!  In any situation that you are facing, find the scriptures that declare God's will for that situation.  You will discover that God’s will is always to bring victory, prosperity, health, welfare and a sound mind.  Once you "own" the Word and the intent of God’s will for your life you can then honestly say ... "Well the doctor said I will die within six months, but the Word of God says that the doctor does not have that power and My God is able to deliver me."
 
That imagination that exalted itself against the knowledge of God is now cut down to size.  Man said this ... But God says this ... I’ll take the God promise rather than the man guess.  God said it ... I believe it ... That’s that.
 
Glory to God ... Now I know that there isn’t anything that me and God can’t handle.

Not A People Thing!
By: Rev. Ronald B. Stamets

1Sam:16:7:
1. But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
 
Here was Samuel, a Holy Spirit powered prophet, sent by God to confirm a new king for Israel.  He had just checked out all the qualified candidates and was left staring at a ruddy redheaded, nothing of a kid.  Everyone was disbelieving, "What? Him?"  The problem that they had was that they were looking at the person.  They knew his little quirks and his boyishness and probably had their own little pet peeves with him, but God declared through Samuel that He was looking at something different than everyone else saw.
 
Something that we often forget is that we are men.  Yes, Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to abide in the believer, but we are "man".  No matter how spiritual we may believe we are, the Word of God declares that it is He that sees the heart.  Not us.  We see through a glass darkly, unclearly.  We sometimes are given supernatural understanding, but most often we do not have access to our own heart, let alone the heart of another.
 
When we assume that we know "why" (the heart) someone has said something, or done something; when we put a motive behind an action, we are most often out of our Godly area of rule.  God gave believers the ability to discern whether spirits are of him.  He did not give us the gift of discerning the motives behind someone else’s actions.  No matter how sure I am about why you did or said something, unless God confirms it clearly, there is a very good probability that I have looked at the outward appearance and missed the heart.  If that isn’t true, then why are we so often upset at someone for so long over an issue that never existed ... we only thought it did.
 
Looking on the outward appearance has created great rifts in what were once close relationships.  We need to learn to see through the eyes of Jesus by knowing what the Word of God says.  If someone says something which sounds hurtful, stop them right there and ask "Did you mean to say something to hurt me?"  Be prepared to accept the fact the answer may be yes, but more often than not, we are judging actions and things we hear through the fears, hurts, and baggage we ourselves carry.  Isn’t it time we took the approach like Samuel?  Look, listen and hear through the heart of the Holy Spirit.  Then His fruits will follow our lives.

S i t e
M a p
F o r
Rushing Wind
|           |
|W e l c o m e|
|           |
|Testimony|
|           |
|Peculiar People|
|           |
|Odds & Ends|
|           |
|Daily Bread|
|           |
Advisory Board
|           |
| Weblinks | The Sullivan County WebRing |
|  Shannon's Travel/Work Schedule  |
Rushing Wind E-Mail: Shannon@His-Family.com