My phone is great!  It let’s me talk with people, with it, I can take pictures, it will tell me what the weather is going to be, it allows me to buy things and will even let me throw birds at pigs!  Pretty cool device, but there is one problem!  Every now and then, I forget to plug it in and the battery gets low.  My phone is pretty much useless without the power of the battery, so I have to plug it in and let it recharge!

In each of our lives, we have a power source.  Allow your power source to become too low without recharging and you are going to be in serious trouble.  Our power source is our heart and we need to stop and take time regularly to make sure that it is getting recharged!

How do I recharge my heart?  By spending time with my Creator!  I plug-in and I use the gifts He has given me and discover inspiration that does amazing things.

I open my eyes and take the time to look around me and I appreciate all of the beauty.  I listen beyond what I can hear and hear something that most people miss.

I touch and am touched by other human beings with the realization that we really do all need each other!  I breath in and smell the power of the living and I breath out and lay claim to impossible possibility!

When I actually take the time, I can taste that life is good and my heart is recharged and I am ready!

Ready for what?  Whatever great adventure is next coming my way!  Live blessed!

I wanted to take a moment to wrap up the conversation we started this week on dealing with and getting rid of anger.  We all know that anger left unresolved is dangerous and unproductive.  We also know that while it is not easy to get rid of anger, it is possible.  To get rid of anger and it’s harmful impact, there are some things that we need to remember and remind ourselves of on a regular basis!

We Must Forgive Others!  This is for their benefit and ours!  We tend to be a selfish, angry, bitter and unforgiving people, especially if someone has done us wrong or hurt us!  This mixture of bad attitudes does not honor God and what He has done and wants to do in our lives!

My wife – Joy can do 100 right things, but I tend to only notice and focus on the one thing she does wrong!  Why is that?  Because, I expect her to do what is right!  The problem is my selfish nature!  My selfish nature will cause me to forget the 100 right things and focus on the one wrong thing, while allowing anger and bitterness to take control of my life!  And the real problem here is that – this attitude robs me of what God forgives me for – life not in the flesh, but in the spirit!  Jeremiah 17 says: “Man is cursed when he takes his trust from the Lord and puts it in the flesh!”

Forgiveness Sets Us Free!  Only when you get unbound from the one you can enjoy the one hundred!  Forgiveness is not optional for the child of God!  It is a command!  Jesus says: “The measure we use will be used on us!”  To forgive is to release the debt!  When I forgive I surrender/give up/let go of the debt to God!  Jesus is our perfect example!  In I Peter 2:23-24 it says:  “23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”   This is why Jesus was able to pray:  “Father forgive them for they know not what they do!”

We want to hand others over to God for judgment and punishment, but God desires to show them the same mercy, grace, forgiveness and love that he shows you and me! Matthew 5:44-45 says “44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

So How Many Times Do I Have To Forgive?  Are you really ready for the answer to this question?  A wise person once said:  “Only if I am keeping a tab, can I keep count!”  If I’m keeping a tab, then I am not really forgiving and wiping the slate clean!  Ouch – gets you doesn’t it?

So our only other option is to pull out “OUR BIG EXCUSE!”  We love to say:  “I would forgive them, but they have not ask for my forgiveness!”  But then we remember – God forgave us way before we ever thought to ask for it, otherwise we would have been wiped out a long time ago!

Another way of thinking about it is like this:  Have you remembered to ask God to forgive you for everything?  At some point in time, we are going to fail to ask God to forgive us of something, because we are imperfect, but God gives His forgiveness anyway and we have to decide if we will receive it and what we will do with it!

There are three steps to breaking the addiction of anger!  1.) Receive God’s Forgiveness!  2.) Give Forgiveness To Others! (This sets you free!)  3.) Allow others their time to receive it!  When they receive it! (It sets them free!) And the beautiful thing:  FREEDOM BRINGS GLORY TO GOD!

We Have Been Given A Way To Get Rid Of Anger!  The problem is, we don’t like the way we have been given, but it is the best!  It really is the only meaningful and productive way to accomplish the task.  Are you ready for it?  Are you sure you’re ready for it?  Okay – here it is:  Forgiveness!  Forgiveness is the way to take on and take out anger and its devastating impact upon your life and the lives of those that you love.

When you can’t forgive yourself – life is filled with guilt and despair!  When you won’t forgive others – life is filled with bitterness and anger!  You can’t or won’t enjoy life and you don’t want anyone else to enjoy it either!  We try to punish those that hurt us and end up destroying ourselves!

Jesus gives us “A Little Lesson On Forgiveness!” in Matthew 18:21-35, it says:  21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.  23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.  32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Forgiveness is a need that we all have!  Jesus is making the point that earning forgiveness is impossible!  The servant in this story owed his master 10,000 talents -10,000 Bags of gold!  There was no way, he would ever be able to repay it!  In a life time of working, he could never be good enough to earn enough to repay what he owed his master!

The Bottom Line:  We all need forgiveness, but not a one of us can earn or deserve it for ourselves! (Isa. 64:6 = says that our most righteous acts are as filthy rags!)  Justification does not and cannot come from man.  Justification comes from God!  The purpose of God Word is to reveal our need for God’s justification!

Forgiveness Is Free!  God does not require penance, but He does require repentance! Repentance is an act of faith!  It is our response to the call of God to lay down our old, messed up life, so that we might take up our new life created for us by God!

We don’t repent because we fear hell, we repent because we see God and His goodness!  Repentance is all about getting the something better that God created you for!  Forgiveness is complete, because the debt is forgotten!

We love to revisit the graves and memorial markers of past sins and failures!  There is just one problem:  Our sins do not reside there!  We want to hold onto what God has let go of!

There are two important things to remember here: 1.) There must be genuine repentance! (God will judge the genuineness!) 2.) Forgiven sin is intentionally forgotten! (An on purpose act of letting go!)

The Scriptures have this to say about God and His forgiveness:

Micah 7:18-19 
”18 Who is a God like you, 
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression 
of the remnant of his inheritance? 
You do not stay angry forever 
but delight to show mercy. 
19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot 
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”

And then we read in Psalm 103:11-13 “11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, 
so great is his love for those who fear him; 
12 as far as the east is from the west, 
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.  13 As a father has compassion on his children, 
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;”  

And in John 8:34-36  “34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Forgiveness Requires Forgiveness!  When you really get what God’s forgiveness means – it changes everything!  You can’t help it – you must forgive others or it’s just not right!  When you accepted God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness and love, you give up, surrender whatever little bit you have left, so that you could take in all that He has for you!  When you really get this – you will be glad you did!