Thinking Thursday: Forget Not All His Benefits

Sometimes life can be hard, and as Christians we need reminding why we are Christians.

Psalm 103:1-5
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.


Let us look at the benefits from God which the Psalmist lists:

1. Forgives all your iniquity
Forgiveness of sins is essential for the Christian life, it is the way we become Christians, and is the greatest gift through Jesus Christ.
Acts 13:38
Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
Eph 1:7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

2. Heals all your diseases
We may not have all our diseases healed in this life, but physical ailments can never attack eternal life. One day, you will be whole, and so will the nations.
Malachi 4:2
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.
Luke 9:11
When the crowds learned it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.
Rev 22:1-2
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

3. Redeems your life from the pit
Pits are deep and dark and you can't get out unaided. Joseph was thrown into a real pit, and God brought great good from it. Our greatest problem is the pit of sin.
Gen 37:23-24
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colours that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit.
Job 33:26-28
Then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness. He sings before men and says, "I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light."
Ps 40:1-2
I waited patiently for the Lord, he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

4. Crowns you with steadfast love and mercy
When an aircraft hits turbulence, the message comes for the passengers to sit down and fasten their seatbelts. When your life gets turbulent, fasten your seatbelt of prayer and leave it to the Pilot.
Gen 39:21
But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
Ps 59:16
But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
Eph 2:4-7
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.

5. Satisfies you with good
God does not just give us the minimum we need, he satisfies us, fills us, with all sorts of good things.
Ps.107:9
For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
Ps 91:16
With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.
Isa 58:11
And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

6. Your youth is renewed like eagle's
There was a belief that the eagle moults and renews its life, but also eagles fly very strong and very high. In spiritual terms, we can fly high in the spirit.
Exodus 19:4
You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
Isa 40:31
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

God's benefits to us are not a one-off thing. He looks after us continually. We may find at times that life is hard, but there are so many blessings that we take for granted. I said to a pastor once that it did not seem as if God was blessing me at that time, and he reminded me that I woke up that morning and I was still breathing. God had given me another day to be with my family, to deal with my problems, and to serve Him.

Lamentations 3:22-23
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Thinking Thursday: Forgiveness and the Justice of God

Awareness of guilt can be an awful thing.
Psa.32:3-4 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

There are two ways to cope with guilt:
1. Redefine it so as to reduce personal responsibility and personal failure
2. Face up to it as a reality, accept responsibility for it, and cope with it from a position of responsibility Acts 2:38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven."

Conviction or Condemnation
We have to be careful to distinguish between conviction and condemnation. The devil will condemn us, and make us feel hopeless. The Holy Spirit will convict us and give us the power to deal with our sin.

John 16:8 When he comes, (the Holy Spirit) he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin.
Rev.12:10b the devil is 'the accuser of our brothers'
John 8:44 the devil is a liar: When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The Basis of Forgiveness
We can be confident that forgiveness is available to us, because of the basis of forgiveness.

1 John 1:9 on the basis of justice, not mercy: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

With the demands of the law satisfied by Christ's death, God is legally and morally obligated to forgive us.

The Unforgiveable Sin
One thing that bothers many people is the question of the unforgiveable sin.

Mark 3:29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.

The Holy Spirit convicts us and points the way to forgiveness. To resist the working of the Holy Spirit therefore closes the way to forgiveness. Thus the unforgiveable sin is not an act one can commit in a moment but is a refusal to accept the only means of obtaining forgiveness.

1 John 1:7 'the blood of Jesus … cleanses us from all sin'
Rom.8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
See also 1 John 1:9 above

What God Does with our Sin
Ps.103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
East and west are non-existent points. In travelling east you never meet west.

Isa.38:17 … you have put all my sins behind your back
God sees everywhere, so this has to be very far indeed – outside existence!

Isa.43:25 I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers them no more
God knows all things and cannot forget. He deliberately refuses to recall our sins.

Rom.8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Only Satan brings condemnation.

1 John 4:17 Love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like him.
Why will we have confidence? Because in this world, we are like him.

[Based on Christ For Real by Charles W Price]

Thinking Thursday: Brother Lawrence

The Bible tells us that we should do everything to the glory of God, but that presents a real challenge. How can you change a dirty nappy to the glory of God? Or wash the dishes? Fill in your own job. Well, over three hundred years ago there was a monk who figured it out. His name was Brother Lawrence:

"At the beginning of my duties I would say to the Lord with confidence, 'My God, since you are with me, and since, by Your will, I must occupy myself with external things, please grant me the grace to remain with You, in Your presence. Work with me so that my work might be the very best. Receive as an offering of love both my work and all my affections.'

During my work, I would always continue to speak to the Lord as though He were right with me, offering Him my services and thanking Him for His assistance. At the end of my work, I used to examine it carefully. If I found good in it, I thanked God. If I noticed faults, I asked His forgiveness without being discouraged, and then went on with my work, still dwelling in Him.

Thus, continuing in this practice of conversing with God throughout each day, and quickly seeking His forgiveness when I fell or strayed, His presence has become as easy and natural to me now as it once was difficult to attain."
(The Practice of the Presence of God)