1st day of November and I am BACK!!!

Boy oh boy had it been a while...

I will not say I have been lazy, I will say I have been overwhelmed with some new ventures in my life and have been working like a fiend to try and get my day to day activities in order so that I can sit and take time on my blog and do justice to this wonderful media item that is made possible for me...

How have you been??? Even though I have not been here I have continued to be very active in sharing my life with those I communicate with on facebook and have continued to pray like crazy for each one of you and each one who comes in with prayer requests...Life has been a whirlwind at times and I have found myself wanting to just retreat...BUT never from prayer...no matter what is going on in my life, I will never not take time to lift in prayer those in need. There has been so much death and sickness that we have prayed over, so much heartache and financial woe for so many...we have prayed for the ones slipping from the world, we have prayed for miracles for those who are devastated with the news of disease, we have prayed over those who have been struck down with sadness and we have prayed for those who are lost and alone...That is what we do...WE PRAY...WHY???? because we know the power of prayer, we know that our Father in heaven is ABLE and we know that even though prayers are not answered in the way we would have them be answered...THEY ARE ALWAYS ANSWERED....Our God is so mighty, he has taken each of us and written our books, he has mapped our a plan for us that is so amazing that there is no way we can even begin to understand the power he is giving us. HE has put us on the right track more than we will ever even begin to know and HE is ALWAYS there for us, even in the darkest moment of our lives...HE loves us without condition and HE longs for us to love him the same way...All HE wants if for us to have faith, and to give love...sounds pretty easy huh? Well as long as we live here on this earth we will be tested at every turn, we will be tempted in every breath we take and we WILL make mistakes on a daily basis...the reason we are here is to learn the difference between right and wrong and to take the knowledge we acheive each day and share it with others...we are not here to be perfect, if we were perfect we would have no need to be here on earth...We are here to embrace the tests that are given to us and to get things right so that we can move on to the next test....you can't graduate if you don't get through every level of school right? Well that is going to be it for my return..PLEASE..never ever forget YOU ARE LOVED....lets start this day off with a scripture...for today I have chosen...

How to Get Right with God When You’ve Blown It Bigtime

March 7, 2012 — Chip Ingram

Sometimes smart people do dumb things, wise people do foolish things, and Godly people do sinful things. For some of us those things are a big, dark, ugly past. For others, it’s a secret we’ve never told anyone. Maybe it’s an abortion you had, or an affair, or you stole something.

Regardless of how we messed up, the one thing we all share in common is that we’ve all made mistakes. The Bible says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) Yet, many of us don’t know how to recover afterward.

So, how do we get right with God again after we’ve done something entirely wrong?

In the Bible, the story of David is one of the best examples of someone who blew it big time and then got his life right with God. David was one of the most Godly men in all of Scripture. He loved the Lord, yet in a weak moment he found himself committing adultery with Bathsheba and trying to cover it up by murdering her husband.

Psalm 51 gives us a snapshot of what’s going on inside of David’s heart after Nathan the prophet confronts David in his sin (2 Samuel 12). This Scripture also shows us the steps David took on his “road to spiritual recovery.”

Here are the Seven Steps that David took to get right with God: 

Step 1: Come clean with God. Get honest and get your mistakes out in the open. Sometimes we’re afraid of losing our reputation or being publicly exposed. And sometimes we’re afraid of losing the security we got from indulging in our “favorite sin.” But the peace we get in return for coming clean will be worth it! We can trust that God’s ultimate outcome will be good.

Step 2: Ask God for forgiveness. We have to ask God to wash, cleanse and forgive us. Notice that David doesn’t try to negotiate a deal with God or minimize his sin. He says, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.” (Psalm 51:1)

Step 3: Own responsibility for your sin. We need to own our part in our mistake and also its consequences. “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” (v. 3-5)

Step 4: Accept God’s forgiveness and cleansing. Like David, once we confess that we messed up and tell God we want a restored relationship with Him, at that very moment we receive His grace and forgiveness. But in order to experience God’s forgiveness, we first need to believe that we are forgiven, accepted and loved unconditionally.

Step 5: Request a fresh work of grace. Have you ever been tempted and then found yourself saying, “I’ll go ahead and sin and then ask for grace later”? What we need is for God to create a fresh work in our hearts so that we don’t want anything to do with sin.  Like David, we need to pray, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (v. 10)

Step 6: Resolve to use past failures for ministry. God wants to use the most difficult, sinful thing we’ve ever done and make us a trophy of His grace. God will use all of our sins to glorify Him, if we let Him. David tells God, when you do this new work in me “then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Open my lips, Lord and my mouth will declare your praise. (v. 13, 15)

Step 7: Pray for limited fallout. Our sin never affects just us individually. But we can pray that in His grace, God will minimize the damage our sins might have had on those around us.

Over and over in Scripture we are reminded that we serve a God who, although doesn’t treat sin lightly, understands that we are mortal and struggle with sin. And out of His love for us, He wants to forgive us and take our very worst moments and claim them for Himself.