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There
Is Forgiveness with God
Heaps
of Mercy & Deliverance, Too
by
Barbara Hamel
“If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
[keep record of] iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is
forgiveness with thee … hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy
[unfailing love], and with Him is plenteous redemption.” (Psalm 130:3,4,7)
Forgiveness is a subject that most definitely affects
every human being on Planet Earth.
Every single one of us has need of forgiveness regardless of
nationality, gender, family name, social status, education or religious
affiliation.
I can say this confidently because the Bible clearly
states, “All (of us) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
(Romans 3:23) And because the Bible
also reveals that the wages of man’s original sin in the
Garden is eternal separation from God (Romans 6:23a), it is
imperative that we seek forgiveness or pardon for our sin.
Initially, we
receive forgiveness from God when we accept His Son, Jesus Christ as Savior. It’s a
package deal. (John 3:16; Romans 6:23b)
Because He’s a very loving and uncomplicated God, He made this as
simple as saying, “God forgive me.
Jesus, I choose You as my Savior.” (Romans 10:13)
Once we’ve done
this, we become members of God’s Family.
However, we’re still going to be faced with the very real issue of
sin. Satan is the
god (small “g”) of this world and he’s not going to show any of us any
mercy whatsoever. (2Corinthians 4:4)
He’ll do all he can to trip us up, enticing us back into sin and
then condemning us for listening to him.
When this happens, God, Who is now our Father, promises to cleanse
us from all of our slipups.
“If we [His
children] confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
(1John 2:1; 1:9)
Almighty God Alone Has the Authority to
Forgive Sin
“O Lord … there is forgiveness WITH THEE …” (Psalm
130:3,4)
The Hebrew word for
“Lord” in this Psalm is “Adonay.” This word is used exclusively as a proper
name for God only, not Buddha, Mohammed, Rev. Moon, Krishna, Allah or any
other make-believe god.
It is an emphatic form of the Hebrew word “Adown” or “Adon,” which means “Sovereign or Divine
controller.” That would be Almighty
God, Creator of the Universe and your Creator/Father, as well. (Genesis
1:1,26) He alone is the One from
Whom you receive forgiveness for sin.
Many false
gods and false religious leaders
promise forgiveness for sin, but the simple fact of the matter is, they are unable to produce.
As His Family
members it’s vitally important to keep in mind that our Father God is a
good God. Our Father is a good and
loving Father. He’s not nearly as
concerned with our slipups or our falling down as He is with our asking
forgiveness and getting right back up again.
My husband and I
always tell people, “When you’re in trouble don’t run from God, run to
Him. Just as fast as you can. He’s always your solution. He’s never your problem.”
Jesus perfectly illustrated
this fact in the narrative of the Prodigal Son.
(Luke 15:11-32) When the Prodigal
returned home to ask the Father for forgiveness, the Father didn’t reject
him, berate him or even punish him.
The Father saw him coming and ran down the road to meet him. He hugged and kissed him and immediately
restored him to a position of dignity and
authority within the Family.
This is what our Heavenly Father longs to do for you today if you
have fallen away and desire to come home.
With God There
Is Endless Mercy
“… hope in the
Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy [unfailing love]…” (Psalm 130:7a)
Religious tradition
teaches that God is often angry and out to get you. It portrays Him as a white-robed
puritanical monster leaning over the balcony of Heaven awaiting the
opportunity to zap you with a bolt of lightning. It wrongly portrays Him as
mean and moody, striking you or some loved one with sickness or poverty or tragedy to teach you a
thing or two. Trouble is, no one ever knows exactly what it is He’s trying to
teach.
Religion also
cautions you to walk around on tiptoe because you just never can know what
God is going to do. Have you ever
noticed that these false teachers and religious leaders can never give you
Scripture to verify these wrong allegations? When they do quote Scripture to back up
their false teaching, it is always taken out of context and twisted to mean
something other than what the Bible says about the God of mercy.
Here’s what the
Bible really says about the God of Mercy.
Almighty God is our
“Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.” (2Corinthians 1:3)
His mercies “are
new every morning” and they are “from everlasting to everlasting...”
(Lamentations 3:23; Psalm 103:17) God
doesn’t take yesterday’s mercies back in order to give you new mercies
today. God will never send out a
“recall” on yesterday’s mercies. You
can never accrue too much mercy. Our
loving Father lavishes us with mercy.
The Bible also
declares that “God is love” and that He has loved us “with
an everlasting love” that never fails. (1John 4:8; Jeremiah 31:3;
1Corinthians 13:8) In other words,
God’s love is fail-safe. Now that’s Good News.
I don’t know about
you, but I choose to go with what the Bible says God is and what He will
do, not what some uninspired “religious” leader espouses to the contrary.
No matter who you
are, where you’ve been or what you’ve done, God is offering you mercy
today. Lots of it, too. With Him there is no condemnation.
(Romans 8:1) Are you making a point
of receiving His mercy? It’s as simple as opening your mouth and saying, “I believe I
receive mercy, deserved or not, in Jesus’ Name.” (Mark 11:23,24)
With God There
Is Plenteous Redemption
“… with Him is
plenteous redemption.” (Psalm 130:7)
We’ve seen that
only the Lord God of the Bible has the authority to extend forgiveness to
anyone. Period. We’ve also seen that with Him there is an
abundance of mercy available on a daily basis.
Now, also from
Psalm 130, let’s look briefly at that word “redemption.”
The Hebrew word
used for “redemption” also means “deliverance.” Jesus Christ delivered
each one of us from Satan’s evil clutches when He went to the
Cross and fully paid the penalty for mankind’s sin. This means that we don’t have to pay the
penalty for our own sins any longer, based upon our acceptance of what
Christ has done. Now that’s even
more Good News!
In Psalm 130 the
Hebrew word for “plenteous” also carries the meaning of “exceedingly,
great, heaps and store.” These
further meanings make it clear that with God forgiveness, mercy and
deliverance is not just a one-time event.
It’s not a matter of “You better not blow it after making Christ
your Savior or you’re a goner.”
No. This Scripture is telling
us that with God there is tremendous, tremendous forgiveness, mercy and
deliverance available, no matter what the problem.
No matter what. No matter where. No matter when.
We could actually
read our verse this way. “With God
there is exceedingly great heaps of forgiveness, mercy and deliverance
stored up and waiting for you whenever you need it.”
No matter what your
problem, because of Christ, you have an absolute right to draw on God’s
exceedingly great heaps of forgiveness, mercy and deliverance. He’s just waiting for you to ask.
What do you need deliverance from? Adultery?
Pornography? Lying? You can draw on God’s exceedingly great
heap of deliverance.
Do you have
trouble keeping your word? Maybe you
are plagued with being a busybody or a gossip? You can draw on God’s exceedingly great
heap of deliverance.
Do you need
deliverance from stealing or cheating?
You have an absolute right to draw on God’s exceedingly great heaps
of deliverance. He’s just waiting
for you to ask.
We are not
condoning sin. Sin is wrong.
However, we are condoning
repentance. Repentance is always right.
Our loving Heavenly Father has stored up
for us exceedingly great heaps of forgiveness, mercy and deliverance. It’s available immediately, upon request,
24 and 7.
So we have seen
that Almighty God alone has the authority to grant forgiveness for sin.
Not only does He have the authority, He is willing to use that
authority on your behalf. He’s
willing to release His mercy on your behalf whatever the need. Not only does He have the authority to
forgive and the mercy you are in need of, He’s got exceedingly great heaps
of deliverance stored up and available to help you now. All you must do is ask.
Have you made
Jesus, the Prophet, the Lord of your life? If not, simply cry out of a sincere
heart, “Jesus, I choose You. God, forgive me, have mercy on me and
deliver me from my sin.” (Romans 10:13)
At that moment in
time you supernaturally become a member of God’s Family and a brand new creation in Christ. This qualifies you for the Family
benefits of forgiveness, mercy and deliverance from whatever it is that was
driving you to do those things you didn’t want to do.
From this point on
whatever it was that was tripping you up, stumbling you, tormenting you or
causing you to lag behind, is now subject to you. You can talk to it in the Name of Jesus, commanding it to be
bound and rendered void in your life and it must obey.
Make a point of
taking some time to follow some of the live links in this study. I’ve connected them to other related
studies that will help you quickly learn your authority in Christ.
Remember, our
Father’s forgiveness, mercy and deliverance is stored up in exceedingly
great heaps. He longs to lavish it
upon you. Simply let Him.
Be blessed in Jesus' Strong Name … Barbara and John Hamel
How
to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
How
to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
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