Dear Friend, have you ever read something and it just stuck with you? Well, that happens to me often! I was reading Proverbs 27:19, "As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." I even found myself singing a song about it. (Weird huh?) Finally, I had to stop and ask the Holy Spirit, "What is the life lesson for me in this passage?" A lot of ministers study the Scriptures to get a message, but I study to be a message! The condition of our heart is the key to our life in Christ. God searches our hearts, revealing areas that will block our relationship with Him. The Bible talks about the three gifts of forgiveness: The forgiveness God gives us. The forgiveness we give to ourselves. The forgiveness we give to others. Colossians 3:13 says, "Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." These three gifts of forgiveness are important in our lives. We must understand God's gift of forgiveness to us, through the shed blood of Jesus. But we must also learn to forgive ourselves - which simply means receiving God's gift of forgiveness and agreeing with it. Now we are obliged to forgive others. If we refuse to forgive others, then un-forgiveness will block the daily expression of God's forgiveness in our lives. Let me walk you through a process. The stages of un-forgiveness A). Initial hurt: Someone says or does something that wounds our hearts (Psalm 109:22). B). Resentment: If we don't deal with it right away, we begin to harbor resentment. Our hearts dwell on the hurt. We are filled with self-pity and a continuing anger against the person who hurt us (Colossians 3:8-10,12-14). C). Retaliation: We get back at that person, usually either by not speaking to them, or by slandering them to others (Romans 12:17-20). D). Bitterness: This is where we allow un-forgiveness to defile our hearts (Hebrews 12:15; Ephesians 4:29-32).
 Matthew 6:34 says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Many Christians are either a prisoner of the future (through worry) or a prisoner of the past (through guilt and un-forgiveness). God wants to set us free so that we can live each day with Him - a day at a time. One simple principle in forgiveness is not to allow feelings of hurt and un-forgiveness to enter a second day. Each evening we can get things right with God and with others. I have learned, to forgive someone for hurting me doesn't necessarily mean I have to trust them again. You release them according to Romans 13:8, "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another." When Jesus died for us, he took the judgment we deserved. We now owe Him a massive debt which we have no ability to repay. But God doesn't require us to repay it -except in one way: God has transferred this debt to Him onto others around us. We are now indebted to everyone. The only way we repay this continuing debt is by forgiving one another. When we consider how great our debt is to the Lord, is this too big to ask? We now express our love to God by loving others. We cannot be close to God while harboring hatred and un-forgiveness. When we forgive others, we acknowledge several things: 1.God's love for us. 2.Our love for God. 3.Our trust in God's justice. 4.Our faith in God's plan for us. 5.Our readiness to suffer abuse. 6.Our enemy is not people. 7.Our secure position in Christ.   I believe one of the greatest examples of forgiveness is found in 2 Samuel 9. King David, after the death of Saul and Jonathan, sought relatives of the former king to show forgiveness and kindness. Even though Saul had sought to kill David for many years, David was willing to show forgiveness on the household of Saul. David invited Mephibosheth, a grandson of Saul, to eat at his royal table as part of the family. Mephibosheth was a crippled man who still had some of Saul’s servants working with him. David gifted all the land of Saul to Mephibosheth for his servants to work and earn from. However, Mephibosheth himself became as a son to David.
In closing, if you forgive, will the hurt you feel go away? Probably not immediately. But forgiveness has nothing to do with feelings. Forgiveness is a decision. Forgetting is a process. If we decide not to forgive, the hurt is like an open, festering wound, which is very difficult to heal. When we make the decision to forgive, the hurt is cleaned up, and the healing process is then quick. Psalm 147:3 says, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." God is able to heal every heart. In fact, this is part of the Gospel message in Isaiah 61:1. But more than that, God wants to use us to minister that healing to others. Only when we have experienced both the personal forgiveness of God and the grace to forgive others can we be used to minister healing to others. These verses in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 have gotten me through some very tough moments; It says,  "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."  Let's pray: "Heavenly Father, Thank You for allowing me to come to You in prayer today. I humbly bow before your throne of grace and ask that you forgive me for all the times I have failed to come. I need You more than I know. Please help me experience the fullness of Your life-changing presence in a fresh and powerful way, for Your glory! In Jesus Name, Amen"
Two Simple Nuggets "Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and..... realizing you were the prisoner!" "Forgiveness is making a decision to live in the present....even if the past still hurts!"
FYI: "Forgiveness doesn't excuse a person's behavior. Forgiveness prevents their behavior from destroying your heart!"
All my love and prayers,

Minister Dorothy King

Dear Friend, I am beginning this morning's letter with something I read while preparing for this week's Bible Study. A man was struggling to get his washing machine through the front door of his home as his neighbor was walking past. The neighbor, being a good neighbor, stopped and asked if he could help. The man breathed a sigh of relief and said, “That would be great. I’ll get it from the inside and you get it from the outside. We should be able to handle this quickly.” But after five minutes of continual struggle, they were both exhausted. Wiping the sweat from his brow, the neighbor said, “This thing is bigger than it looks. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to get it into your house.” “Into my house? I’m trying to get this thing out of my house!” (Ha ha) Well, I thought it was funny! The moral of the story is: Few things are more vital than clear communication. It is one thing to have vision, but without clear communication, vision will never become reality. Until others have understood the vision well enough to articulate it themselves, they cannot be expected to pursue it with passion. A wise person once said, “It’s not people who are right who change the world. It’s people who can communicate their definition of right to others who change the world.” One of the most powerful examples of casting God's vision is found in 1 Chronicles chapter 28. This tells when God provided David with a vision of the Jerusalem temple, the king really wanted to be personally instrumental in making that dream a reality. But the Lord told David that the job of building the temple would be given to Solomon, David’s son and successor. Just follow me on this. David chose not to view himself as having been cut out of the action. Instead, he energetically undertook his new charge – that of instilling his vision and passion for the temple in Solomon and enlisting his unqualified support: King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood…. Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time." “So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever. “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.” Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the Lord and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries for the dedicated things…. He also gave him the plan for the chariot, that is, the cherubim of gold that spread their wings and shelter the ark of the covenant of the Lord. “All this,” David said, “I have in writing from the hand of the Lord upon me, and he gave me understanding in all the details of the plan.” David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished. The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the work on the temple of God, and every willing man skilled in any craft will help you in all the work. The officials and all the people will obey your every command. Whew! That is sooooooo powerful! Notice how David proceeded. First, he made it clear that the vision had come from God. Second, he informed Solomon that his role would be to lead the charge in building the temple. Such a task would require total devotion to the Lord and to the work. A halfhearted effort wouldn’t get the job done. Third, David assured the people that this enormous task would be accomplished because God would enable Solomon to get the job done. Fourth, David gave his son sufficient detail about the temple that Solomon could visualize what it would look like. Finally, after casting the vision, the king gave his son another dose of encouragement. David actively participated in preparing his successor. He passed the baton to his son publicly and privately by endowing his son with the vision for the temple. One of the most significant tasks of a leader is to transmit the organizational vision to others. I have learned, most people’s reactions to vision statements go from being overwhelmed, to legitimate skepticism, to serious investigation of legitimacy. If a vision is well-stated, people will demand evidence. Doubts are to be expected when presenting a grand vision. You must be prepared to give them enough evidence and rationale to help them address their doubts. Assess the situation, take their fears to God, listen for his response and then obey. In closing, once a vision is cast, it may need to be cast again – several times. Since God’s vision always surpasses human comprehension, it requires persistence on the part of leaders to make sure everyone catches it and remembers it. Those of us who have the Holy Spirit living in us, we are called to be kingdom builders who play an active role in the realization of God’s vision. Through mentoring relationships, we enlist others in this grand scheme of redemption that God planned out before the foundations of the world were set. We recruit men and women to participate in a vision that will have eternal ramifications, eternal consequences. This is the longing of every heart: to participate in something that will outlive them! Please be mindful, there is a time for persuasion and selling the vision, and a time for pushing to get it done. Just know, God has a specific vision for each of us as individuals. God has a two-fold plan for all of us – to be conformed to the image of his Son and to reproduce the life of Christ in others. Beyond that, however, God has a unique vision for each of his children, and nothing will infuse our lives with more meaning, purpose and fulfillment than investing them to make God’s vision a reality! I'm going to throw this in as bonus. I personally believe the sense of being overwhelmed should accompany any well-formed vision statement. If the vision doesn’t have a sense of the ridiculous about it, and if the hearers don’t, at least initially, feel they are in over their heads, then there is no challenge, no spark that calls them to stretch and push! Let's pray: "Almighty God, as we go forth into the future, may we know your will and purpose for us. May we be truly alive in your Holy Spirit with the true and full love of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. May we walk out this journey with love, compassion and acceptance of all. Grant us understanding of each other and respect for the opinions of all. May we go forth to make decisions with open-mindedness and love, guided only by you. May the worship we offer you always be filled with reverence, life and joy so that each heart, young, old, and in between, will be filled to overflowing with love of you. Then may we take that love out into our world working towards bringing others to you. This we ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen"
One Simple Nugget: "Your priorities are your character!"
FYI: "Be stubborn about your goals, and flexible about your methods!"

All my love and prayers,
 
Minister Dorothy King