Y??
For your listening enjoyment you can hear this on epidsode 7 at the JesusRx prescription for life Podcast.
As the dispensing pharmacist for the JesusRx prescriptions for life, I have to tell you…the two most potent prescriptions you CAN EVER TAKE IN, IS LOVE AND FORGIVENESS. The other medications depend on these two medications. It’s a bit like the physical medications you may take…sometimes one will be more effective when you take it in combination with another. All I know is I would rather be taking in 10 or more prescriptions from the Great Physician (Jesus) daily than ten pills from my doctor here. Honestly, I don’t have a doctor with skin on right now.
I don’t suffer from any chronic illness; again, if I’m honest, I’ve suffered from asthma and allergies for many years; the asthma is gone, and I always let the doctors know. But the swollen eye allergy thing can get to me. My eyes swell and hurt, and I’m just miserable. I look ugly, but oh well. Some people think I look ugly when my eyes aren’t swollen. HAHAHA. The inflamed, swollen eyes have raised their ugly self again. We moved from Georgia because it was awful there as far as my eyes were concerned. We loved everything else. (you can check out my blog at jesusrxblogspot.com for pictures, I was ugly) A bad eye day in Nevada is like a good eye day in GA. I deny any chronic illness, almost like I do sin in my life. Daily, I have a thought that doesn’t align with God’s thoughts; I’m human. But why do I do this? I’m human. I think it goes back to relationship…the kind of relationship you and I can have with Jesus. It’s like no other relationship you will ever experience.
I look at my prescriptions from the Great Physician and realize that without love, there would be no forgiveness. Forgiveness is love in action. God spoke it very loud for all to see when Jesus said, “IT IS FINISHED.” Jesus' action on the cross brought forgiveness to us because of God’s great love for us. I pray the suffering Jesus did for us on that cross touches your heart.
If you know Jesus, what is your relationship based on, and how did that relationship begin? Any long-lasting relationship starts with trust. The trust that another person will do what they say and do things showing they care about you. No one is perfect on this earth, so we may mess up in a relationship. It’s possible our selfishness could cause a problem. A friend's or spouse's expectations seem like demands we feel are too much for us, and that causes a strain on our relationship. Communication is key. In our JesusRx prescription for life workbook, we have a prescription for speech, and it helps with how we, according to God’s word, should communicate with each other. I’m sure it’s happened to you before; you communicate your feelings, and the other person thinks you are a horrible person for it. I’ve learned that my timing or tone may not always be right. What do you do then? What I do is take a step back, pray, ask God to reveal to me if I was and am a horrible, thoughtless person, and ask forgiveness to someone I may have left feeling “less than.” Less than what? Less than loved. I know not all our love tanks are full all the time. Go to God, not people, to be filled again. If you think you might be relationship-dependent on people, I would like to recommend a book that will require work, especially if that is where you find yourself. When a person is relationship-dependent and not Spiritually dependent on God, they will be trapped and unable to live freely in God’s love.
The book is “Don’t Call It Love,” written by Dr. Gregory L. Jantz and Dr. Tim Clinton, and with Ann McMurray. It teaches how to break the cycle of relationship dependency.
The first prescription we went over on the podcast was Love. If you want the workbook, go to my website, evapopek.com, and you will see where you can order it from. We went over God’s amazing love for you. HE LOVES YOU, AND THAT IS WHY HE FORGIVES YOU. He will forgive anyone coming to Him, believing Jesus was sent for that reason. He will forgive anyone who turns to Him,
forsaking his evil ways and thoughts; God will show His mercy to them. He will freely pardon them. (Isaiah 55:7)
I’m sure we all know nice people. They don’t need God; they are good. You know, the kind they don’t ever complain or talk negatively about their life or anyone else; they seem to always choose to do the right thing. Why would they need forgiveness? My best answer is they need forgiveness for relying on themselves and not acknowledging God as their maker. Maybe they really think they came from a monkey. I know I didn’t. I know the words David proclaimed and hold true for us today in Psalm 139:14-16
“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, Marvelous are your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book, they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. “
Others think they can earn their way to God. I was one of those people. Even though I had accepted Jesus, I was still bound up in works. God would love me more if I did things right, was good, and helped others. More than what or who I ask myself now. How ridiculous I was to try to earn the love that I had. I had that love over me because I had Jesus in my life. I was living life “however’, being a good person by the world's standard. You know I was a “church person.” I was kind to children and animals, LOL. I was reliable and responsible, paid my bills on time, and stuff like that. Oh, I remember being so upset when my husband was trying to get free cable (this was many years ago, and he tries to get it free legal ways now). Oh, and taxes, I hate when people cheated on taxes. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned legal ways to pay less tax; you have to know those ways. I am reminded every tax season of what Jesus told the Pharisees in Mark 12:13-17 (NIV)
Later, they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius, and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him.
I know I need forgiveness for being like a Pharisee at times and trying to “get around the heart of Jesus and His examples. In other words, I’m trying to obey a rule. Forgetting the “rules” is what drives me to know I need God. When you or I put Him in the center of our heart we will do extraordinary things in this world without even thinking about them. In other words, we will allow the Holy Spirit to move us. When this happens, you can’t go wrong.
Being perfect, Jesus took on this world's sins and imperfections, allowing us to be forgiven and walk a new way. Read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. Here is a portion:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, and the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
We are called to the ministry of reconciliation. Without forgiveness, how can reconciliation happen? One reason forgiveness is necessary is for reconciliation. Those who have received Jesus have been reconciled to God. Another reason for forgiveness from us to others is that it is an example of God’s forgiveness for us.
The disciples asked Jesus to show them how to pray. In Matthew 6:12-15 Jesus tells them about forgiveness and how important it is to forgive others.
And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. (verse 12)
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.
When you receive Jesus, your sins are forgiven. So, the prayer is to restore one to God when sins are committed and to come back to God. This will allow you to forgive others. In a couple of my study Bibles, I looked up verse 12, and I read that the Greek grammar indicates that the disciple prays for forgiveness from God only after having first expressed forgiveness to others. I now go back to the teaching growing up when we would take of the Lord's Supper. It was often said not to participate in this if you have a sin you have not confessed to God or if you are holding something against another person. Please pray and make it right. In other words, go seek out forgiveness from that person or forgive them if that is due. Makes sense according to God's Word. God takes forgiveness seriously, as we should!
God forgives those who are truly repentant. True repentance results in a willingness to forgive others. (from the NKJV Study Bible)
Now really? But God, you don’t know what sins have been done against me…NEWS FLASH –GOD KNOWS.
God's forgiveness, like His love, is like no other. The ONLY WAY, I’ll say THAT AGAIN, THE ONLY WAY we can love others and forgive others for what they have done or said against us is by THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. You have the Holy Spirit if you have received what Jesus did on the cross for you. The Holy Spirit is mentioned in John 14:26
“But the helper, the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all things that I said to you.”
God has removed our transgressions because, yes, we violated God’s law—the Ten Commandments—which no one could keep. God has removed our transgressions as far as the East is from the West. Jeremiah 33:8 talks about God’s forgiveness to His people when they rebelled against Him. He cleansed them as only He could.
With forgiveness comes cleansing and redemption in accordance with the riches of God's grace. Ephesians 1:7-8 talks about this. I hope you can write down the verses I speak of; they will be listed in the show notes, and go over them. Daily, you could read one. They are not the same exact ones from the JesusRx daily prescription for life workbook. The workbook takes very little time to read the verse, answer a question, and get on with your day, hopefully with that verse in mind throughout the day. The workbook is available at evapopek.com. If you purchase the book, email me if you are interested in a 4-week session to review any of the listed prescriptions. Email is evapopekjesusrx@gmail.com
Now, let's go back to the prayer example Jesus gives us.
When you pray for God to forgive your sins, pray you can forgive those who have caused you pain, hurt, and suffering. Ask God to help you. If the person who hurt you is genuinely evil, know God is for you and will take care of the situation. Pray for that person. Pray for your protection and ask others to pray as well. We are not to be filled with hate for that person. We can hate people's actions all day long and should never forget our actions that may go against the ways of God. Some people's actions can be detestable, making you nauseous, so it’s wise not to hold on to them. You don’t want an unforgiving heart to cause sickness in your life. God can, has and does take the most vilest offender and can forgive when they turn to Him.
It’s hard to grasp. My humanness says, “LET THEM BURN AT THE STAKE.” God’s way is not my way….He says come to me and be forgiven, receive Jesus, and be made righteous in Him. I will make you new.
I’ve said in an earlier podcast I’m not here to compare one person's hurts against another. My purpose is to speak of God’s way. He did not create this world with all its chaos. Just read the first few chapters of Genesis to see how awesome this world was made. God knows we fail and have from the beginning because there is something in us that thinks we can be God. Just look at how many of us live our lives. Praise God that he made a way through Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to enable us to navigate life's issues.
Taste and see, the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). His prescription for forgiveness brings life. He says to come and take it daily.
Forgiveness matters for several reasons:
1. It is the basis of a relationship with God
2. It’s necessary for reconciliation. We have been reconciled to God and forgiven by God, which makes it possible for us to forgive others.
3. It is the example to others of how God has forgiven us
4. It cleanses our hearts
In our next episode, we will discuss forgiveness and forgetting. You are allowed to share any of God's prescriptions with others—you will always have plenty! You can’t do that with the medication your earthly doctor prescribes—you’re not supposed to anyway. Until next time, stay on your prescription for life!
You can be honest, I look ugly in most of these pictures. And it's okay!👌The body is an amazing thing. For the podcast I will be inviting guests to talk about there marvelous health journeys and where God has lead them. I'm excited to be partnering with a fitness/health coach to help people on their journey to health. Food is medicine and I'll announce our partnership soon. I know God brought us together to help others heal and feel good, mind, body and spirit!!
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