“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.
Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. Psalms 103:1-7 NKJV
The Lord has made known to His people His heart and His deeds—His ways and His acts. He wants us to know Him and to know what His heart is toward us. He gives us His Word so there can be no excuses. The only reason we may not know what He wants us to know is because we choose to ignore or disregard His Word. He does not want us to be ignorant or misled about His character or about how He feels about us. He wants us to KNOW what He has done for us and what He will do for us. He daily loads us with benefits. He is the One Who forgives ALL our iniquities, Who heals ALL our diseases, Who redeems our life from destruction, Who crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies our mouth with good things and Who renews our youth like the eagle’s. He is on our side and He will defend, deliver and protect us.
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. Psalms 103:8-14 NKJV
The Lord is infinitely patient with us. It takes a lot to make Him angry and it takes a long time for Him to get angry, neither does He stay angry for long. You don’t want to be on the wrong side of God when He is angry! But thankfully—for us—He is long on patience and mercy! He has graciously not dealt with us according to our sins nor punished us according to our iniquities. He has poured out mercy on us, when what we actually deserved was hell. He knows all our weaknesses and limitations and so He purchased our redemption Himself.
We could never earn salvation on our own merits—the price was so much higher than what we could ever afford. His mercy is as high as the heavens are above the earth and He has removed our transgressions as far as the east is from the west. How far is the east from the west? East and west will never meet. They are continually moving in the opposite direction—away from each other. Our sins keep moving away from us—never to return.
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 NIV
“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence.” Isaiah 43:25-26 NIV
God blots out our sins and He remembers them no more. You may have a hard time forgetting and the devil will try to accuse you, but you need to remind yourself of God’s Word on the matter. God wants to argue—discuss—the matter of your innocence. He knows the offer of mercy that He has made you, but do you know it? Think of your eternal destiny as being decided in a court of law. Father God is the judge. The devil is the prosecutor. Jesus is your advocate and the Holy Spirit is the bailiff. God’s desire is that you would walk out of court a free man or woman. He has made a way for you to be free, but you have to stand on your rights. You have to know what you believe and why you believe it.
The devil accuses you before God—stating his case of why you should be consigned to hell. You must know, without a doubt, what your rights are. You must know that you have a right to live eternally in the presence of God—not because of your good works, but because of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have received Him as Lord and Savior and justice has been served. Jesus was already judged, sentenced and executed in your place. He rose again to bring you into right standing with the Father. The words “judge” or “judgment” mean, “to make a decision.” Almighty God, the Righteous Judge, makes a decision concerning your life according to the decision you have made for your life. There is only one sin that will send you to hell forever and that is the sin of not receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. There is only one good thing that you can do in order to go to heaven and that is to believe that Jesus died and rose again for you and to confess Him as Lord of your life.
