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!

The often sad reality is todays world is that many of us have an addiction to anger and we don’t even realize it.  Some where inside of us anger has taken up residence and it is slowly eating away at who we were created to be.

We don’t want to admit this.  In fact, even as we read it, we are thinking that does not apply to me, but the truth is:  This world that we live in feeds and nourishes the anger and it is often present and working without our even hardly realizing it, until we start to take a closer look.

I know in my own life, I would say:  “I am not an angry person!”, but just a casual glance over the last couple of weeks would reveal where anger has raised its ugly head more than once in my life, impacting the lives of those I love.

Once, we realize that anger is an issue for us, then we look to justify it, by calling it righteous or making some excuse for it!  This is a problem because the Word tells us in Ephesians 4:26-27: that while anger is a reality, we should be careful not to let it cause us to sin by doing something that we should not be doing or not doing something that we should.  It also instructs us to deal with our anger by not allowing the sun to go down on it.  We must be careful not to give the devil a foothold!

The real problem is that we tend to nurture and embrace the very thing that is killing us and our joy.  God has given us what we need to defeat anger and its devastating impact upon our lives.  This powerful gift that God has given us is called forgiveness in the days ahead we will be taking a look at how to receive it and give it.

Take a few moments today to get honest with yourself about anger that may be hiding out in your life.  Talk with your Creator about how to deal with this.  And take some time to think about forgiveness, both receiving it and giving it.  You will be glad you did!

We know that we need to spend time with our Creator.  We need to talk with Him and listen to Him, but knowing and doing are two different things!  Many know that they need to, but never seem to get around to it.

There are others of us that do it.  We actually make and take the time to be with our Creator, but we sometimes miss a real experience with Him, because the action of being with Him has become more about habit or routine!

Let me ask you a very simple question:  Do you go to God with your needs?  All of them?  We eventually go to God with the stuff that we can’t handle, but how about as soon as you have a need, no matter the size, do you take it to your Creator?

Let me ask the question this way:  Are you growing in your relationship with God?  Now before you throw an answer out, really take the time to think about it!  Are you growing in your relationship with God?  Are you closer to Him?  Do you understand Him better?  Will you go to Him, not just with some things, but all things?

The amazing thing about our relationship with our Creator God is that He created us for relationship.  God actually wants to have fellowship with us.  But far too many of us are missing a real and meaningful relationship with Him, because we are not willing to do the hard work or take the time that makes the relationship work.

Many of us are trying to grow spiritually and are just barely getting by, because we have learned to survive off of crumbs from books, blogs, podcasts, social status updates and sermons.  Many of us are living our spiritual lives vicariously through the relationship that our favorite author, friend or preacher is having with God.

Philippians 3:8-14 says:  “8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.  12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Focus in on the last part of verse eight and all of verse nine –  “…so that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

We don’t want a relationship that we have to manufacture and make-up, but one that God has provided through His Son Jesus and the righteousness that He provides as we learn to live with and through Him in faith!

We were created for relationship and God longs to have fellowship with us.  We need to learn from others, but Jesus calls us to follow Him, not to follow others who are following Him!  This is the biggest battle and struggle that we will most likely face in our relationship – learning to follow Him!

The only way that we can learn to follow Him is by spending time with Him!  This is Basic #1 – We must spend time with our Creator God if we are going to experience the growth and relationship that we were created for.

Here are a few quick tips to help you to get started in taking and making the time to grow the relationship:

1.) Pull The Trigger!  You need to put a trigger in your life that will remind you everyday to actually take and make the time to be with God.  The trigger is the event that sets off, reminds you and encourages you to actually take and make the time!  It could be something as simple as reading God’s Word with a cup of coffee!  Associate the two together, don’t have one without the other and pretty soon, every time you get your coffee ready, you will also be ready to spend some time with God!  Your trigger can be pretty much anything.  Pick what works for you and a time that works for you!

2.)  Be Prepared!  To spend time with God, there are some tools that you will need, here is a simple list:  A Bible – get a version or translation that you understand and enjoy reading!  A Journal – you need somewhere to record what God is saying to you and what you are saying to Him.  A Plan – a lot of people just jump around the Word.  Find a plan that helps you to read on purpose and that has what you are going to be reading next – up and ready to go, so you don’t have to waste time looking for something to read!  A Planner, Post It Note or Pad – to record any random or stray thoughts that might cross your mind and try to distract you!  Get all of these items together and keep them together for easy access!

If you are looking for a good reading plan, I would strongly encourage you to check out http://youversion.com  This is a great app with lot of translations and many different reading plans.  If you have a smart phone, android device or iPad, you can actually download the app and it will assist and remind you!  And the best part is – it’s free!

3.) SOAP – Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer!  When you spend time with your Creator, make sure to read the Scripture, this is His Word to you!  While you read the Word, take time to observe and think about what God is saying to you.  When you begin to understand what He is saying to you, make application by deciding what you are going to do about what He is saying to you.  Wrap it all up by taking time to have some prayer conversation with God = remember it’s about listening and talking!

4.)  KISS – Keep It Sweet and Simple!  This time with God in His Word is all about growing closer to God through relationship!  You cannot really grow spiritually without this time.  Jesus made time with God a priority and this should encourage us to understand just how important it really is.

5.)  Relationship/Fellowship!  Don’t miss the amazing reality that God created you for relationship and He longs to enjoy fellowship with you, not just every now and then, but all of the time!

I hope this post will encourage you to get back to basics and spend some time with your Creator.  I can promise you this – if you do, you will be glad you did!