[SPEAKER_00]: in our last podcast in our week-long focus on forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Today, we're going to look at what it takes to forgive ourselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: For some of us, forgiving ourselves can be the hardest part of forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: May God give us the grace to see ourselves as he does and offer ourselves love, compassion, and forgiveness, regardless of what we've done.
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you for watching.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our scripture for today comes from Proverbs 28, verse 13, scripture says, whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: as Christians striving to love others well and live in obedience to the commands of Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: We often are harder on ourselves than our Heavenly Father is.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we are ever going to experience the depths of God's love in every season, we must learn to forgive ourselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: in Brennan Manning's book, Abbas Child, The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging.
[SPEAKER_00]: He writes a powerful statement that has the ability to both guide us to a greater lifestyle of peace and open the door of our hearts to greater affections from our Heavenly Father.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says this.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we cannot assume that he feels about us the way we feel about ourselves, unless we love ourselves compassionately, intensely and freely.
[SPEAKER_00]: In human form, Jesus revealed to us what God is like.
[SPEAKER_00]: He exposed our projections for the idolatry that they are and gave us the way to become free of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: It takes a profound conversion to accept that God is relentlessly tender and compassionate toward us just as we are, not in spite of our sins and faults.
[SPEAKER_00]: That would not be total acceptance, but with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Though God does not condone or sanction evil, he does not withhold his love because there is evil in us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our Father loves us unconditionally.
[SPEAKER_00]: His grace and mercy will never run out.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has never surprised when we sin or fall short of the life to which we've been called because he knows our need of him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knows that without his help, we will never succeed in living a lifestyle of obedience.
[SPEAKER_00]: He knows that without consistent encounters with his love, we will never be able to fully love others.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he knows that without being consistently filled with the Holy Spirit, we will never be empowered to live in the freedom from sin, Christ's death affords us.
[SPEAKER_00]: First John, two one says, my little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ, the righteous.
[SPEAKER_00]: God does not condone our sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: He does not enjoy our mistakes, but He will meet us in our place of brokenness and need every time we fail.
[SPEAKER_00]: He will offer us mercy and compassion.
[SPEAKER_00]: Every time we come to Him in confession and repentance.
[SPEAKER_00]: And nothing could ever cause Him to stop loving us for even a moment.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your heavenly Father is beckoning you to forgive yourself today.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's waiting to fill you with His mercy and grace to overflowing.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's ready to lead you into a lifestyle of loving yourself as he has loved you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Run out to meet him today, allow him to close you with love, honor and grace, allow him to show you the depth of his compassion for you, and live today in light of the glorious grace of Jesus.
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Begin by meditating on the importance of forgiving yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Allow scripture to give you God's perspective of grace and mercy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Isaiah 53-5 says, but he was pierced for our transgressions.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was crushed for our inequities.
[SPEAKER_00]: Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
[SPEAKER_00]: And with his wounds, we are healed.
[SPEAKER_00]: And next, where do you need to forgive yourself today?
[SPEAKER_00]: What mistake or failure are you carrying around like a weight?
[SPEAKER_00]: Where are you not offering yourself the grace and mercy offered by your heavenly father?
[UNKNOWN]: Thank you.
[SPEAKER_00]: and last.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ask God to share with you his perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: Ask him to help you see yourself as he sees you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Spend time resting in his love and compassion and being filled with his affections to overflowing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Romans 8 verses 37 to 39 says,
[SPEAKER_00]: for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus or Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: Often we carry the weight of our mistakes because we are unwilling to ask forgiveness from others.
[SPEAKER_00]: Confessing and repenting to those we've wronged is a vital part of the Christian life.
[SPEAKER_00]: Admitting our weaknesses and faults to others helps remove us from the pursuit of perfection and guide us to a life of surrender and humility.
[SPEAKER_00]: Confess your sins and ask for forgiveness from anyone you've wronged.
[SPEAKER_00]: and allow the forgiveness of your heavenly Father to fill you with joy, love, and freedom.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're only sin and shame abounded before.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening to our last podcast in our week-long focus on forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that you're feeling lighter and more free as the result of this time spent in God's presence.
[SPEAKER_00]: In my own life, forgiveness is one of the hardest commands of God for me to live in obedience to.
[SPEAKER_00]: But often times, it's the most challenging parts of faith that are the most life-giving.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks again for listening, have a wonderful rest of your day, and may God bless you as you see Kim.