Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the group Point of Grace singing … Heal the Wounds … poignantly singing of how we, as Christians, must humbly allow God’s grace to heal wounds, such as unforgiveness or bitterness, leaving the scars to remind us of God’s healing mercies.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Genesis 33:11 [NLT] … 11 Please take this gift I have brought you, for God has been very gracious to me. I have more than enough.” And because Jacob insisted, Esau finally accepted the gift.
… Esau relents to accept Jacob’s humble gift to untie the knot of 20 years of unforgiveness between the two brothers.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Genesis 33:1-11 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jacob, humbly comes to Esau, asking forgiveness for having stolen Esau’s birthright; and Esau grants forgiveness.
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Reference Passage : … Lamentations 3:22-23 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s mercies are forever available to those who’re humbly willing to accept them by surrendering our sin to Him.
Reference Passage : … Luke 14:11 [NLT] … 11 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
… Jesus teaching on the power of humility to be exalted before God’s throne of grace.
Reference Passage : … John 8:34-35 [NLT] … 34 … “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
… Jesus teaching on how we untie the bonds of sin and walk free in our relationship with Christ.
Reference Passage : … 1John 1:9 [NLT] … 9 But if we confess our sins to him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
… We have to be willing to humbly confess our sins before a faithful/forgiving God will untie the knots of unforgiveness which have had our lives bound to our past sin.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Amy Boucher Pye, uses a theatrical illustration of how one must humbly surrender to God’s healing grace to untie the knots of unforgiveness in our lives. And the ODB author wrote: One Christian organization’s mission is to promote the healing nature of forgiveness. One of their activities involves a skit in which a person who has been wronged is strapped back to back with a rope to the wrongdoer. Only the one sinned against can untie the rope. [see photo] No matter what she does, she’s got someone on her back. Without forgiveness—without untying the rope—she cannot escape.
Offering forgiveness to someone who comes to us in sorrow for their wrongdoing begins the process of releasing us and them from the bitterness and pain that can cling to us over wrongs we’ve suffered.
When Jacob wronged his brother, Esau, by stealing his birthright, 20+ years passed with them separated from one another. Finally (see highlight passage), Jacob came to his brother and humbly brought gifts of great value to seek forgiveness from Esau, … who finally was willing to forgive to mend their relationship.
Of course, we sinners must humbly come before God’s throne of grace and mercy and ask for forgiveness, in repentance for our sins, so that we can be released from the curse of death on our souls. However, when we do, God unties the knot of our sin [see photo], which has been forgiven by Christ’s death on the cross, and completely forgives us and exalts us to become children of God [see reference Scriptures].
I pray all reading here have come before our God, as did Jacob to Esau, and humbly untied the knot that had us bound to our past sins and have been elevated from sinner to sainthood by our loving/forgiving Lord.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for providing us with the way to untie the knot of death which had us bound to our past shame and sin.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me to live free and forever with our Lord because the knot which had us bound to our sins has been untied by our humble surrender to God’s grace. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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