FORGIVENESS IS GOOD FOR THE BOTH OF YOU (New Series)

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Matthew 6:14-15

For if you forgive men their trespasses,

your father who is in heaven will forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men their trespasses,

neither will your father forgive you your trespasses.

 
I think I’m safe in saying that at some point just about everyone has had an up close and personal encounter with a grudge.  Unfortunately some seem to collect and hold on to hurts as if their life depended on it. 

So let’s stop and look at these sour grapes everyone has picked off the complaining vine and more than once.  Look at the harvest of hurts we all have stored away and consider the results when we have not been able to get them out of our system.

The couple had been married for 15 years and lately their disagreements were beginning to multiply.  But they wanted to find in their marriage what once they had had, so they both agreed to work at it. 

And as a way of doing this they made a rule that at the end of each day they would write down something that was irritating them, driving them up the wall, however you want to put it, and drop the piece of paper into a fault box.

The wife was diligent in her efforts.  The first day she dropped in a note that read, “Left the top off the jar of jelly.”  The next day her note complained, “Left dirty socks on the floor - again.”  On the third day she wrote down two more complaints.  She continued in this vein for the next four days.

At the end of the week, they emptied their boxes and examined the contents.

The husband looked troubled as he read her notes, but nodded his head in agreement that these were indeed faults he needed to work on.

When the wife read his notes she found that he hadn’t played by the rules.  On each of the seven sheets of paper were just three words, “I love you.” 

As you might expect, this only made her madder.  And so she turned and shouted at her husband.  “You’re not playing by the rules.  Don’t you understand that when you are upset you are supposed to say mean and spiteful things?  And say them more than once as a way of proving you are right.  And then you’re supposed to stay mad long enough to make sure the other person knows he’s wrong.  If you don’t play by the rules, husband dear, how are we ever going to get along better?”

Does this sort of logic leave you shaking your head?  Maybe leave you thinking perhaps you’ve wandered into the story of Alice in Wonderland?  Yet, in spite of its lack of logic that is really how many people act.  They would love to have more peace and harmony in their relationships, yet continue to follow the wrong paths to achieve that goal. 

They have heard and maybe even read the Sermon on the Mount but fail to apply Christ’s message about forgiveness to themselves. 

A motorcycle policeman was in a bad wreck.  He broke his left leg and his right arm. 

When he awoke after surgery he found the two casts in their proper places.

Then he looked down and saw a large bandage on his hairy chest.  The kind that would be oh so painful to remove.  Attached to the bandage was a note from his nurse, “A gift from the nurse you gave a ticket to last week.”

Some people don’t just carry a grudge around, they keep giving it as a gift over and over again.

          Letting go of a perceived wrong, or of a real one, can be hard.  For some, it is nigh unto impossible.  They have a constant burn on and they don’t look very hard for a hose of forgiveness to put the fire out. 

Some people never have seen an apology they were willing to give or to accept.

          They nurse their hurts as if they were a babe in arms.  If you ask them when they will forgive the person who has hurt them, and if they are honest, they will tell you NEVER.  If asked, “Does that mean you are going to hold that grudge forever?”  Their answer might well be, “Well, when I get to the pearly gates…I guess I’ll have to forgive them…but it won’t be easy.”

I know, they (and some places in THESE THOUGHTS, they is you and me)…they would deny this, but I think they worship a selective Christ.

They love the gentle, loving Christ.

They love that He who is a healer of bodies and souls.

They love the promise of eternal life beyond the door of death.

But when they come face to face with His commandment to forgive – and not just once, but seven times seventy, some Bible translations even spell it out - 490 times - it sticks in their throat and they just can’t or won’t do it.

That teaching, that example Jesus gave us during His life here on earth… to forgive, they erase that right out of the mix, right out of the picture.  It just doesn’t fit what they are willing to do…so they ignore it…and they don’t do it.

And have you ever noticed that people who don’t forgive quite often become like the people they refuse to forgive?  It’s a strange phenomenon, but sometimes spending so much time and energy engrossed in the faults of another, those faults have become part of their own personality.

So think on these things and if you see yourself anywhere in them...admit that they are your faults and that they need to be prayed about rather than make excuses for.

   

++++++++++++++++++++

Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER

         http://www.speakerneil.com/

       TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

       CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

       V. Neil Wyrick’s ninth book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN and is available at MAGNUS PRESS

DO YOU HAVE A HISTORY BUFF IN YOUR FAMILY?...Why not give THIS HIGHLY ACCLAIMED  BOOK

To Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

GO TO AMAZON.COM
check out the great price on a NEW book

       AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM and amazon.com Kindle

OTHER BOOKS BY REV. WYRICK

available on Amazon.com

Poor Richard's Almanack for the 20th Century

Sixty Plus and Not Holding

Boundaries Unlimited

I Am

The ABC"s of Parenting and Grandparenting

Letters to America

http://www.magnuspress.com/OurProducts2.html 

 

TIME IS WONDERFUL! (Continuation of Series)

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There are over 900 stories and commentaries on Neil’s One A Day blog. It is added to daily.

         

 

GO TO NEIL’S OTHER BLOG ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS and read the following brain teasers.   

CLICK ON URL BELOW

           

 

To visit this site…click on the URL below

        

 

 http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/

 

When Polish pianist Ignace Jan Paderewsky played before Queen Victoria, he won her enthusiastic approval. “Mr. Paderewsky,” she exclaimed, “you are a genius.” Paderewsky shook his head. “Perhaps, Your Majesty, but before that I was a drudge.”  Alluding to the years he had spent practicing and the number of hours he continued to spend practicing every day. 

          The writer Coleridge is the supreme example of a genius who wasted his writing talent by having a mind filled with all kind of books he never transcribed.

          He was one of my favorite writers in college and as I read what little he did actually put to paper I would almost weep at his wasted life.

          Discipline without some sacrifice is not discipline.  It’s a student studying when he had rather be enjoying the companionship of his fellow classmates.  It’s parents attending a PTA meeting when they’d rather be watching a movie.   It’s walking a mile or two when you’d rather sleep an extra hour.

When I was first beginning to learn how to play the piano, I practiced scales, which basically is fingers running up and down the keys to promote dexterity.  And though I never liked them, I kept on practicing scales all the years I seriously played piano.  It wasn’t as much fun as playing boogie woogie or some of my favorite classical pieces of music, but the discipline made me a far better player.

          Just remember that “the pain of discipline will cost you pennies, whereas the pain of regret will cost you millions.”

       TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

 

Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER

       http://www.speakerneil.com/

        

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

 

http://www.speakerneil.com/

        

V. Neil Wyrick’s ninth book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN and is available at MAGNUS PRESS

 

DO YOU HAVE A HISTORY BUFF IN YOUR FAMILY?...Why not give THIS HIGHLY ACCLAIMED  BOOK

 

To Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN click on the following

 

http://www.magnuspress.com/

                      

OR GO TO AMAZON.COM

        

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM and amazon.com Kindle

OTHER BOOKS BY REV. WYRICK

available on Amazon.com

 

Poor Richard's Almanack for the 20th Century

Sixty Plus and Not Holding

Boundaries Unlimited

I Am

The ABC"s of Parenting and Grandparenting

Letters to America

 

http://www.magnuspress.com/OurProducts2.html 

  

ARE YOU AS CLOSE TO GOD AS YOU WANT TO BE?

 

GO TO NEIL’S OTHER BLOG ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS and read the following brain teasers.  CLICK ON URL BELOW There are over 800 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/

 IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

          To Visit Neil's other blog One A Day Your Spiritual Vitamins click on the following 

  

 http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/ 

 

 

He is a minister today, but once, when he was a little boy of five, he had an experience he would never forget.  In his own words, I relate his story:

“I had my first experience with the presence of God when I was 5 years old. Arriving home from my half day of kindergarten, I usually ate lunch with my mom and then hurried off to play.  When I would run out of things to do, I would resort to another favorite game, spying on my mom. And so, on this particular afternoon, I stood outside her bedroom and pressed my ear to the closed door.

“I heard a familiar sound, the voice of my mother, talking to God in prayer.   Suddenly I felt as if something had reached underneath that door and wrapped itself around me while she prayed.

“I felt the hair on my arms stand up, and my spine begin to tingle.

“I had an acute awareness that something good was happening all around me as my mother worshipped God with tender words of prayer and adoration.

“What happened? There was something going on in that room that was not of this world.  Something that was impossible to express with words.  There was a conversation being conducted between heaven and earth.”

Have you had that sort of experience yourself?  And if your child or grandchild overheard you pray, would it cause them to have this sensation?  

What I’m talking about is the difference between singing songs about God and singing songs to God.  The difference between talking about God and talking to God.  Becoming emotional about God rather than working hard not to become emotional about God.

Realizing that true worship isn’t tied to Sunday or the calendar.

What was it Jesus said… “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be satisfied.”

Oh, people can go for a long while with far apart times of feasting at the table of the Lord.  Just as people in the concentration camps went without much food for weeks and months and even years, and some even survived, but when the allies arrived, they were mere shadows of their former selves.

So it is if we do not, on a regular basis, feed our souls; we are shadowy skeletons of what we might otherwise have been..

What I am saying is to take to heart the ongoing message of any nutritionist, “You are what you eat.”  So too, if our spiritual diet is the equivalent of spiritual fast foods, we will suffer from spiritual starvation, if not a spiritual death.

So how to change one’s spiritual diet?  Indeed, how to want to change one’s spiritual diet?

Part of an answer is found in the following Greek legend:

The young man came to the old theologian and asked, “How can I find - really find - God?  Really experience Him?”

The old theologian answered by commanding, “Follow me.”  And he led him down a rocky path toward the sea. 

He continued to walk right into the sea itself, and said to the young man, “Come, continue to follow me.”

          And when they stood side-by-side, up to their waists in the undulating waves, the old man, with a surprisingly strong grip, grabbed the young man by his neck and thrust him beneath the surface.  

The more the young man struggled, the harder he felt himself being pushed down. 

Finally when he was sure he would drown, he felt the grip lessen and he rose gasping for breath.

“When you want God as badly as you just wanted air, then you will find him in the way you were asking.”

          Most of you probably know the story of the Prodigal son which tells of another young man…but he was not looking for God, rather he was looking only for earthly happiness and earthly satisfaction.

 What he found was a poverty of mind, body and soul   And why?  Because he was looking in the wrong places.

CONSCIENCE (A Series)

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          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

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 http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/ 

Wasting a life is not difficult.

         It comes easily to all of us at one time or the other.  Judas had been a faithful follower of Christ – but he had his price, thirty pieces of silver. 

And a modern day Judas sells his or her soul for a new, important title at work or a raise in pay.

Or, turning a blind eye to improprieties, immoral or illegal, or both, ONE does not rock the boat because simply muting one’s conscience is safer.

And the first time THIS HAPPENS, this playing it safe rather than playing it right - the first time the coward who lurks within everyone rises to the fore, there is a great sound of inner pain that issues forth.  

And perhaps after a second time, but if every time a conscience tries to communicate what is right or what is wrong it is ignored, forgotten, broken on the rack of unconcern, told to shut up, eventually it will take the command to heart and, do just that, shut up permanently.

It may be carrying things a bit far, but perhaps it should be a custom to have a funeral service when someone has let their conscience die. 

All the family and friends of the man or woman should attend; and by so doing admit that since the conscience is now dead, no one will be hearing from it anymore. 

And, oh yes, the former owner of this conscience should certainly also be in attendance.

                 

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER

       http://www.speakerneil.com/

       TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

       CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

       V. Neil Wyrick’s ninth book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN and is available at 

MAGNUS PRESS

DO YOU HAVE A HISTORY BUFF IN YOUR FAMILY?...Why not give THIS HIGHLY ACCLAIMED  BOOK

To Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN click on the following

http://www.magnuspress.com/

OR GO TO AMAZON.COM

       AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM and amazon.com Kindle

OTHER BOOKS BY REV. WYRICK

available on Amazon.com

Poor Richard's Almanack for the 20th Century

Sixty Plus and Not Holding

Boundaries Unlimited

I Am

The ABC"s of Parenting and Grandparenting

Letters to America

http://www.magnuspress.com/OurProducts2.html 

 

TIME IS WONDERFUL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH IT? (Continuation of Series)

If you want to share this blog with a friend go to the bottom of day’s content and click on TELL A FRIEND

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on Neil’s One A Day blog. It is added to daily.

        GO TO NEIL’S OTHER BLOG ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS and read the following brain teasers.  CLICK ON URL BELOW

          To visit this site…click on the URL below

        http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/

 Proverbs 10:17 says, “Whoever practices discipline is on the way to life.”

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.

Benjamin Franklin.

 

Do you consider yourself disciplined? 

 

Do you have a quiet time with God on a regular basis?  Filling your head and heart with the reality of an eternal God? 

 

Is this kind of discipline for your soul a part of your time management? 

 

Do you exercise consistently to build your muscles, and eat less to maintain a good body weight? 

 

Is this kind of discipline for your body a part of your time management?

      

    Have you disciplined your habits? 

 

Are you a habitual liar or a habitual truth teller?

        

     Do you have the habit of saying “no” to all the opportunities to sin that come your way or do you often give in and give up when it comes to disciplining your daily actions?

 

A key difference between successful-in-life people and those who struggle to get by is self-discipline. 

 

Disciplined folk don’t waste time.  Undisciplined folk squander far too much time accomplishing very little.  Successful-in-life people have formed the habits of doing those things that most people don’t want to do.

As Confucius wrote, “The nature of people is always the same; it is their habits that separate them.”

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            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

           

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

                                    To Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN click on the following  

http://www.magnuspress.com/

OR GO TO AMAZON.COM

QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE BELOW

 "The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

"Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln, while revealing the divine source of his strength"

Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.), Asbury College (Professor retired)

"Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of America's history most devoutly relious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

Maynard Pittendreigh, Presbyterian Minister

 

WHAT DID GOD HAVE IN MIND WHEN HE CREATED US?

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

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http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

– God has left the choices of what we do and in the process become up to each of us.  So consider where you put God in your daily life and the results of that assignment.

        If you seldom think of God in your busy days, your confidence in Him will be at low ebb because the best way to weaken a relationship is to fail to relate.

All that power and peace available, and passed by.  Sad…truly sad.

It’s not what God had in mind when he made us

“The Lord said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen. 1:26,27)

Our God gave us a mind (spirit), so that we could know Him.

Our God gave us a heart (emotions), so that we could love Him.

Our God gave us a will (freedom of choice), so that we could decide to obey Him.

God put in us a desire to relate to Him and worship Him on a regular basis. In a sense, to seek the light of Christ and keep that light on all the time. 

Not just at an occasional Sunday morning service, or when a fox hole experience drives us to our knees - but always on.  To make God something more than a spiritual Web Site to occasionally visit.

In short, to increase your confidence in God go for an all-out swim in the great ocean of God’s love, rather than a brief wade in some psychological substitute pond.

                     +++++++++++

VISIT NEIL'S OTHER BLOG

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

"""""""""""""""""""""

            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

          CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

                                     

To Order and Read Neil's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN click on the following 

 

 http://www.magnuspress.com/

OR GO TO AMAZON.COM

QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE  BOOK BELOW

  "The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

"Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln, while revealing the divine source of his strength"

Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.), Asbury College (Professor retired)

"Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of America's history most devoutly relious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

Maynard Pittendreigh, Presbyterian Minister