Fear. Guilt. Pain.

“Did that little girl eat all those ribs?” Our server nodded at the pile of stripped clean, baby back, barbecue rib bones in front of our five-year-old daughter, Kari.

“Yes.” Kari had eaten more ribs than her Dadda and twice as much as I did. Yet, she looked clean. There were no outward signs to indicate she had eaten anything. Especially barbecue.

She had wiped away the evidence with those little “towelettes” our server had provided. Her face glowed. Her fingers held no signs and we found no trace of the sauce on her clothes.

If a little child can clean up so much external filth with a few small pieces of wet paper towels, how much more can Jesus cleanse in your life.

Everything! Every mark. Every stain. Every bad feeling. Fear. Guilt. Pain. Envy. Coveting. Every sin, for no sin is greater than another is. Christ died for them all that we may have eternal life.

Jesus already knows your sin, and He is still wooing you to so sit down and talk to Him. He knows your hopes, your desires and your dreams. He also knows what is holding you back.

Our God is not an angry God. He created us to love Him but gave us free will. We can choose to love and follow Him or we can remain in this world of sin and death.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV).

In Christ,

Berta

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Still a Long Way Off

The parable of the prodigal son was my story. I had a well-paying job I loved but had nothing else to fill my life. I wasted my money on physical things I thought would make me happy.  I only felt worse. 

I hated being alone so I sought the company of other people who also hated being alone. After each night out, each party, I was alone again.

Earl and I met and spent time together at the hospital. Without a word of condemnation or salvation from him, God’s love began to seep in to my heart. We began dating after a year. My partying friends noticed I drank less, cursed less and acted different.

My entire social structure collapsed in on me one night. Tears blurred my vision as I drove to Earl’s apartment. Through sobs, I told him, “I don’t know what to do. My friends won’t talk to me. They laughed when I talked about you.”

He held me close and I calmed down. He kissed my salty cheek and told me he loved me. We talked a while then he asked, “Will you marry me?” Of course, I said yes.

Another year passed and I became a pastors’ wife. Suddenly I knew why my friends laughed when I spoke of Earl. I didn’t belong among church people. I didn’t deserve to be a wife—especially a pastors’ wife. My sins were too terrible, too many, too ugly, too harmful, too selfish, too damaging!

My shame ran deep. Like poison in my veins, it was killing me slowly and painfully. I knew I deserved the flames that were licking at my feet.

It took four more years for me to consider that God might love me in spite of me. I opened up to a small group of young Christian women and learned I wasn’t the first to feel defeated. When I cried out to God, I was amazed at how quickly I felt His presence. His peace filled my spirit and I felt His love for the first time.

I joined the church members the next Sunday as a fellow worshipper of God and faithful member of Christ’s church. I began courageously witnessing to God’s love, peace, grace and forgiveness in my life when and wherever God opened a door.

My Father has provided all I have needed and more than I deserve. He is faithful in all His promises and I am blessed to be His daughter.

“But while she was still a long way off, her father saw her and was filled with compassion for her; he ran to his daughter, threw his arms around her and kissed her” (Luke 15:21 NIV personalized by writer).

In Christ,

Berta

Friends, Remember to share with your friends. People are being blessed around the world for God. I am so thankful to be a broken vessel in the hands of a loving God. May He bless you. 

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A Sinner Saved By Grace

Have you ever heard or said, “I’m a sinner saved by grace.” I know I’ve said it and read it on bumper stickers.

In my reading this week, this identification was challenged. Are we really sinners first? 

Are you a sinner? Is that the way the world sees you?

I know a man who worked in a factory alongside the same co-worker for twenty years. While on break one day this man pulled out his Sunday school lesson. His co-worker saw this and said, “I didn’t know you were a Christian.”

God cannot look upon sin. Remember that moment on the cross when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) If God could not look at his only begotten Son who took on the sins of the world, how could he look at us as “sinners saved by grace?”

Once we were sinners. Sinner’s sin. (Habakkuk 1:13).

But we were saved once for all by the blood of Jesus when we accepted him as our Lord and Savior. (Hebrews 5:9) That salvation gave us a new name.

Saints. Holy people. (1 Corinthians 1:2).

God wants us to live out our salvation as saints who sin. In his grace, we spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in this sin-filled world by our words and actions.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me (1 Corinthians 15:10).

In Christ,

Berta

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Besetting Sins

After my baptism at age 28, I didn’t feel “saved.” Did I not get it? Am I still the same? What did I do wrong?

Over time, I couldn’t break free from many of my sins. Each time I sinned, I confessed then I sinned again. I couldn’t stop the cycle. I didn’t understand why and I felt trapped.

I hated myself and my life. I suffered from debilitating loneliness as I pulled away from people who loved me.  I lost hope of ever experiencing victory.

Through a Christian ministry, I was encouraged to read The Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson. Suddenly aware of the spiritual realm, I learned about spiritual footholds and attacks of condemnation.

Even though I’d made a profession of faith, Satan had access to my spirit. Sins of my past that I still felt guilt over had allowed footholds. He wanted me to suffer and believe God couldn’t or wouldn’t forgive me.

Jesus shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins, and prayer in His name breaks the bonds Satan has on us. Therefore, we must turn to Jesus and resist Satan to experience freedom in Christ.

I was right to confess my sin, but I had failed to follow through. Binding Satan through the power of Jesus blood will set you free.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7 NIV).

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1, 2 NIV).

Pray this prayer, or your own, out loud to protect you and your family from bondage:

Father, I praise You and thank You for the forgiveness of sin Jesus blood supplies, and I bind Satan with that power and in Jesus name. Satan, I bind you and cast you out of my life and the lives of my (family/children). (I'm/we/they are) covered by the blood and you have no authority in (my) life. In Jesus name, Amen

In Christ,

Berta

If this devotion blessed you, would you consider sharing it with your friends? Thanks, Berta

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