Desperation and Forgiveness

Do you remember your first desperate plea? Do you remember His answer? Do you remember how you felt?

Have you been complacent in your walk with Him? Have you been able to recreate that atmosphere of desperation?

Maybe you have taken your eye off the mark only to find yourself without Him. My personal experience was one of “weariness in well doing”. Not looking to God for my answers, I stopped in my weariness for a “rest”. Jesus continued on without me. I indirectly chose not to follow Him.

It is not that the Lord chose not the search for the “lost” but that He knew the end from the beginning. He waited until I was desperate enough (again) before He reinitiated His pursuit. Just as Satan knows how to respond to my reactions, how much more the Father knew when to re-engage me. However the problem isn’t Him forsaking me because His Word says He won’t but me forsaking Him. Rekindling the urgency and desperation of that initial encounter with Jesus is an absolute necessity. The steps are outlined clearly for all in the Bible; Repentance, Baptism, Forgiveness, Infilling of the Holy Ghost and Following His Word.

God created a place of initial cleansing from sin in His Word in Acts 2:38 for nonbelievers; Repent, and be baptized . . . for the remission of sins. . . Also place of continued safety is offered to all cleansed believers in 1John 1:9; If we confess . . . he is faithful . . . to forgive . . and to cleanse . . . As believers, we need to remember that our baptism washed away all sins prior to that day and that sins committed since need to be confessed.

Repentance and accepting God’s forgiveness isn’t usually the problem. Jesus said that He would forgive but we must learn also to accept that forgiveness as our own. We cannot be like the man in Luke 11:24-26; When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man . . .return into my house. . . findeth it swept an garnished . . . taketh him seven other demons more wicked than himself . . . last state of that man worse than the first. and reclaim our previous life. We must remember Romans 6:4; Therefore we are buried with him by baptism . . . as Christ was raised up . . . we should also walk in the newness of life.

Upon receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, Acts 1:9 notes that But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: Power to continue our walk in the newness of life with Jesus. Reading the Word, learning to wield His power and applying it literally to our lives will help keep our eyes on the mark. The Holy Ghost is our divine connection to Him and the power to maintain our walk.

We must remember the source of our desperation and how His forgiveness covered it. We must learn to forgive past hurts and remember Jesus’ command in Matthew 6:12 . . . forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. even if that debtor is us. This is the place we must hold in balance so that we don’t take our eyes from His mark and find ourselves without God.

Ellen Conn Taylor
2006