Jan 5, 2020 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John

How Many Times?

I allow the Holy Spirit to convict me of sin. I want Him to clean up my life and make things right. It is God’s righteousness that I want in my life. I know righteousness cannot come without God cleaning house—my house.

So, I covet repentance and ask for God’s forgiveness. I also know that only God can bring forgiveness—I cannot create it on my own. The Holy Spirit has to draw me. At times He pushes me to repentance. To get clean and find wholeness is such a wonderful feeling and a wonderful experience each and every time it happens.

The Holy Spirit finds sin that I could never find on my own and even sin I had forgotten about years ago. I am in total agreement with Scripture as the Apostle John states in I John 1:5-10: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[^{a] sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (NIV)}

Once in a while I find a minister who claims he or she does commit sin or has no more sin in their lives; may God grant that person forgiveness. The Holy Spirit will always find sin in our lives. We are saved by Grace (God’s activity and nature in our lives) not by thinking we do not have sin. The Bible says, “God’s mercies are new every day” and it is His mercy that I depend on each day in order to do His will.

Needless to say, I am driven to repent; to live in forgiveness. “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 5:3. As you already know, “poor in Spirit” means contrite, broken, to be in a constant state of repentance. Jesus commanded us to be in a constant state of forgiveness—our personal forgiveness and our forgiveness to others. It is only then that we can find the Kingdom of Heaven either on earth or in heaven.

How many times have you sinned? How many times did you fail in doing what God wanted? What about those times of kindness, those little moments you did not respond too? You have no idea until the Holy Spirit convicts you of all the times you did not recognize the will of the Father or the words of Jesus trying to penetrate your hearing. Yes, we fail so often in so many ways. We have failed ourselves, our family, our friends and yes, even God, when we do not respond to His voice, His urging, His correction, His love.

We make our mistakes so quickly and easily. It is only because of Christ’s great love for us that we find grace to serve God each and every day. How Many times have I failed God? I do not want to know! I only want the Holy Spirit to move me to repentance and to find forgiveness. I will never be good enough to not sin in some way or to some degree. (Just as the Apostle Paul said that even though he chose to do what is right he fails to do the right thing.)

So, I do not want to remember all my sins—I would never stop crying. I only want to remember the times I repented. I want to always be at the foot of the cross; beholding Christ bleeding on the cross for me. It is the face of Jesus I want to see!

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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