Betrayal...Forgiven

Let’s open up the conversation about the … between betrayal to forgiveness. I’ve always accepted the promise of our Father that He didn’t want to lose not one of His sheep. But I have often had mixed thoughts on the fate of Jesus’ disciple Judas Iscariot. A God which is so loving would not want to lose a chosen one in his inner circle, even to achieve the ultimate goal of salvation for all of his lost sheep to sins dirty stain, would He? ““What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?... ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’” Luke 15:4 & 6b NASB

This morning I pondered this thought over and over and then the Lord gave me a revelation. At Calvary and on a cross he accepted repentance from a convicted criminal. Our Lord hung between one criminal one who cursed and reviled Him and the other who acknowledged who He is, the Son of the Almighty. “And we indeed, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” Luke 23: 41-42 NASB And Jesus’ response to this criminal’s earnest repentance on his death throne was that He told him that he would be with Him today in paradise. “And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”” Luke 23:43 NASB

Even though Judas was a betrayer had he repented and asked for forgiveness even he could have been with our Lord in paradise. There is no, I say no, once again I say NO sin above my Jesus’ ability of forgiveness. It appears by Judas’ actions and un-forgiveness by hanging himself, that there wasn’t any repentance on his part. But I don’t know for certain, for as he hung himself did he ask for forgiveness, did he repent? I guess I shall have to wait until I meet my Jesus to know for certain.  

Self-limiting…?

Our backs are up against the wall. We have nothing and no hope. I am at the end of my rope. These sayings are staples in the arena of defeat. But I say to you ask the One who can give to “Sure –nough” help is the message delivered by the Reverend Donna Anderson of Trinity Waukegan AME Church. This message was offered at the Hour of Power services yesterday October 11, 2012 noon session at the 130^th session of the Chicago Annual Conference held at The Hilton Milwaukee City Center.

The delivery of this message was heartfelt, effective and biblically grounded.  The title of “What do you do when you have nothing?” is a self-realization of how self-limiting people can cause their own demise. The scriptural focus has a foundation in 2 Kings 4:1-17. This is where we find a widow who is in dire financial end of her rope. She has, what she thinks is nothing to support herself or her children. But she knew to call upon the prophet to help her through, to find her help. In this biblical time the prophet was the conduit to answers from God. The answer was supplied and she followed the instruction which removed her from her death walk of insurmountable debt.

 Today we have a direct line because of New Testament principles but the bases are the same. We must go to the One who has the answer in all things. And this doesn’t mean that this should only be done when we have no other recourse. We should seek Him in all of our endeavors.

In addition Reverend Anderson ended her message with an analogy. This analogy referenced a fisherman who was fishing and was observed as measuring his catch and throwing back the larger fish. When the man was questioned as to why he threw back the larger catch his answer was that his skillet was only 8 inches. Therefore, any fish longer than 8 inches would not fit in his skillet so he would throw it back. The answer per Anderson is a bigger skillet. And immediately I thought, just cut the larger catch and it will fit. This man was limiting his achievement.  Beloved are you limiting your catch…your achievements… your blessings? 

Note: Thank you Reverend Donna Anderson your message is timely and well supported. You are to be applauded as a woman of God with the gift of delivering the Word to a depraved and deprived world who believes that there is no hope.

Getting Real... Love Thy Neighbor

My life cannot be simple and uneventful. This I found out yesterday as I ran errands yesterday afternoon. All of the errands where complete in the middle of the afternoon and I was waiting for public transportation to go home. At the bus stop I notice a short woman exit a currency exchange just outside the bus stop. What I noticed was not only her nationality, her height but the fact that she was in desperate need of a touch up on her white roots of about one inch. 

The bus of the route that I needed to take was approaching and I moved closer to the bus stop sign. When the bus proceeded to stop this woman walks up to me and attempted to snatch the bag with my purchase from Bed Bath & Beyond. What this woman didn’t know is that I had the double plastic bags wrapped around my left wrist. As she grabbed my bag she shouted, “Mine.” I looked at her in shock and got a firmer grip on my bag and stated, “You better let my bag go.” She looked dumb founded.

Once I got on the bus the operator and a handicapped passenger asked me what had happened. I stated that, “This woman attempted to snatch my bag and she almost got her butt whipped.” The ride home, even with high school students aboard, was quite peaceful. As I exited the bus the operator stated that the woman might have been confused. But my thought on this is that she picked the wrong victim. I also stated that I planned to report this incident to the police.

Once I arrived home I made a non-emergency call to the police, left message for a call back from a police officer.  This morning a message was left on phone about my call from the day before. The officer didn’t leave a name, just stated that I could call 311 if I still needed to make a report. I called back immediately and spoke with an officer who exclaimed that a crime was not committed. No I was knocked down, I didn’t get a scratch on me and, no I didn’t pop the offender for attacking me. The only reason I didn’t get harmed is because I was able to defend myself. The officer claimed to check with her supervisor and they agreed that a crime was not committed. So now I’m still waiting on this police supervisor to call me back.

Last night I had to take the offender to the throne of grace with prayer. For had it not been for my having my wits about myself 1) she could have stolen my purchase and 2) I could have hurt this woman more than she realizes. My major concern is that the next victim might not be as aware or elderly. This could result in possible broken limbs or some other harm for the offender or the next possible victim. Also, I had to remember that although this person attacked me I have to realize to true attacker which is an attempt to take me outside my inner peace from the Almighty.

Now I must continue to on the vigilance of prayer for the offender, the police department, and myself keeping a pleasing reaction to attacks. But hey what can I say? In Him I’m up to the challenge. For all are children of the Almighty. . “All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” John 1:3 NASB

Note: I do not know if this attacker has some type of mental condition or if she is possibly working within a robbery ring of snatch and grab. So anyone shopping in the vicinity of Roosevelt Road and Jefferson Street in Chicago stay vigilant and aware of your surroundings.