In the Old Testament, Jonathan and Tamar are both given opportunities to forgive. Jonathan has a verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive father; yet he is able to walk in forgiveness. Tamar is sexually abused by her step-brother Amnon, but carries her shame as a “desolate woman.” Christ’s shed blood on the cross not only forgives us of our sin (propitiation), but also cleanses us of the shame of sin (expiation). When given the opportunity to forgive and be forgiven, how will you respond?

Today is a day of mercy and grace. God is gently calling out to those who are backslidden, those who have grown cold and those who need to make things right with God. The first call of Jesus is of love and forgiveness. The second call is, "You make a move"! The Bible says, "today if you hear His voice harden not your heart." Jesus is coming soon, so get up and shake yourself form the dirt and when you rise up the shackles of captivity and sin will fall off!

[Exodus 14: 1–4; 1 Samuel 9:3–7] We have all kinds of fears — public speaking, spiders, death, etc. One of our greatest fears is a fear of faith. It seems too dangerous, too demanding, and too draining. Trusting God often means we find ourselves in a difficult situation — in a place we don’t want to be, without resources, and at a time not of our choosing. Faith requires being placed in circumstances where all we can do is depend on God. If we are not willing to step out, we can miss what God has for us.

America has made a tragic mistake by allowing the worship of Baalism into the House of The Lord. The god of prosperity has become the god of this age. How this must break the heart of God! The Lord doesn’t judge with any delight in His heart but He looks down on what was supposed to be His heritage and says I can't let this go on any longer!

Philippians 2:12-18 – Our culture is permeated with a self-help, pop-psychology mentality — using past hurts and experiences as excuses for present behaviors. As Christians we are called to “work out [our] own salvation.” This doesn’t mean we save ourselves; rather salvation is a gift from God that must be engaged. There is more to our faith than professing with our mouth that we are Christian. We must live a life that is pleasing to God and demonstrates the transformation that has taken place in us.

Paul says that “to live is Christ and to die is gain,” but often times we seek life outside of Christ — some look for life in success, wealth, and fame; others turn to drugs, drinking, and sexual immorality; while many just seek escape through television and entertainment. Religion proposes to offer a solution, but only asks us to give up “things” rather than completely dying to self. Have you been crucified with Christ? How do you handle difficult circumstances? How do you react to difficult people? What do you do when you don’t get what you want when you want it?

Discouragement can be debilitating. We can get so despondent that we will begin to doubt the existence of God. God will allow seasons of discouragement when:

Before anyone ever knew us or saw our face, God knew us in the most intimate of ways. God sees everything in our life as it truly is, and yet He does not withdraw His hand from us. Even if we make our bed in hell He is there with us and does not despise our failures but desires to deliver us from every stronghold that has us gripped with darkness. We can close our eyes in our worst nightmare and we will still see His face. It does not matter how disappointed we feel about ourselves we cannot squander the revelation that God loves us.

If faith is going to emerge in difficult days we will be invited by Jesus to follow Him into the supernatural. We might not always like these places but if we trust the leading of the Holy Spirit we will be led into situations that will increase our faith. We might not understand all that is going on but we can trust that God knows our future and He has everything under control. In these times we must stand in the presence of God until He gives us what we need for every situation.