Fresh Fire Ministries

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15 (NKJV) The spirit of unforgiveness can adversely affect our relationship with God, not to mention that it can bind us in the chains of bitterness, hostility, and animosity. Left unchecked and unconfessed it cultivates a root system that ultimately affects our personal testimony and relationship with others. "Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble; and by this many become defiled." Hebrews 12:15 (NKJV) Unforgiveness has a first cousin named hatred. When hatred is manifested as a result of our failure to forgive, it is then that we can no longer say that we love God whom we have never seen and then harbor hatred toward our brother whom we interact with daily. (See First John 4:20) We must forgive those who have committed "any" trespass against us. In our devotional passage "trespasses" are those sins towards another that cause "a lapse or deviation from truth or uprightness", or to put it plainly, a sin or misdeed. If we fail to forgive God will not forgive us. This is so critical because we cannot reconcile our relationship with God unless we first reconcile our relationship with our fellowman through the act of forgiveness. Once we forgive others, we must willingly receive God's forgiveness through the blood of His son Jesus Christ our Lord. It does not matter what we have done nor how long we have been bound within it, the blood of Jesus has the power to forgive us, but we must be willing to receive it. There is no need to continue to rehearse our past mistakes. "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to His grace." Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV) Most importantly, after we have forgiven our brothers and sisters who have wronged us, and then received God's forgiveness, then we must forgive ourselves. The memories of our past may continue to haunt us, and we may "feel" that we are not worthy of a continued relationship with God. We must understand that nothing can be further from the truth. Stop trying to remember what God has already forgiven and forgotten. God wants us to be forgiven and free. "How much more shall the blood of Christ, whom through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9:14 (NKJV)

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“Bless me, bless me. Oh Lord bless me indeed, enlarge my territory, Oh Lord bless me indeed. I pray for increase. I pray for increase. Oh Lord bless me indeed.” Good Morning our most holy and sovereign Heavenly Father. What a wonderful day that you have given to bless us with life and that more abundantly. We praise, honor, adore, extol, and magnify your holy and righteous name. Thank you for blessing us with all things that we need to live this life until Jesus comes. We pray this morning that we will decrease and that you will increase in us. May there be more of you and less of us ruling the affairs of our life. For it is Christ that now lives in those of us who believe. Increase our faith, increase our worship, increase our praise, increase our understanding of your word, and increase our knowledge of who you are so we may serve you with everything that is within us in these last and evil days. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Habakkuk 3:18 (NKJV) The devastation that the prophet Habakkuk observes in Chapter 1, during the historical period of his writing is almost beyond human comprehension. His observation reveals the captivity of his people at the hands of the Babylonians. The strife, contention, violence, iniquity, and trouble that he sees bring tears to his eyes. He is in dire need to know how long he will have to cry and why has God allowed him to see such a tragic level of calamity and his people, God’s people to suffer. Have you ever asked the same questions? You are in a situation. It has come upon you so quickly you are not even quite sure how you got there. Your back is against the wall, you see trouble, tribulation, and temptation all around nipping at your heels. You need to know how long you will have to endure, and why you have come to this point in life. Amid despair, the Lord who knows how much we can bear can quickly move us from the devastation of our circumstance to revelation. Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on the tablets that he may run who reads it.” Habakkuk 2:2 (NKJV) God can always give vision or revelation to those who are willing to run with it. Devastation can never prohibit God’s revelation. What is it that has you bound, in captivity struggling and fighting to be set free? You will find your breakthrough contained in the revelation of God’s word. When God speaks to us, when He reveals himself, there will be no need to try and prove, test, or fleece what He has revealed. His revelation will always come to pass all we need to do is wait for it. Wait for it. Wait for it. Wait for it. It’s easier said than done. There is a unique difference between receiving the vision and the vision coming to pass. Wait for it. Habakkuk received the revelation, but the time of its fulfillment remained unknown. He had no further information other than what the Lord spoke in Chapter 2. Write the vision, run with it, and then wait for it. Waiting is never passive, but it is always active. We run with full trust, belief, and anticipation of what God’s revelation has in store for us. While we are running, we cannot endure without faith. Faith is the cornerstone of our trust and without its God will not be satisfied.

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