12 Gifts From God Gift 4

GIFT NUMBER 4: FORGIVENESS

Forgiveness is something we all seek at one time or another. Have you ever said or done something that has upset or hurt someone else and then have to ask them to forgive you? When my kids were little one would hit the other or call them a name or yell at them and I would finally have enough of the bickering and fighting and name calling so I would tell them to stop and say I’m sorry. Of course the I’m sorry yelled at each other wasn’t what I was looking for so then I would tell them to hold hands, smile, and say I am sorry like they meant it. This got a quick response because they didn’t want to do that so they would hurry and say it the way I wanted so they would be able to stop holding hands. They may not have meant it then any more than the first time they said it but at least they were talking nice and acting nice for the moment and I a think they probably didn’t think anymore about it till the next time they were fighting. The lesson I was trying to teach them was that we shouldn’t do things to hurt each other, but if we do we should say I am sorry and seek their forgiveness. The same is true with God. We do things we shouldn’t and things that grieve God and if we ask him he will forgive us so the 4th Gift from God I think is Forgiveness. In 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” and in 1 John 2:1-2 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world”. KJVGod doesn’t want us to sin but knows we will sin because we are human, so the key is if we ask to be forgiven he will forgive us. He provided this forgiveness through the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ for us. All children do things that are wrong even though we as parents would like for them not to. We don’t stop loving them because of it but we forgive them because we love them. That is the same with God, it grieves him for us to sin and do wrong but just like a parent he still loves us and wants us to have forgiveness all we need to do is like I made my kids do say we are sorry and mean it and ask him to forgive us and he will, done deal, He will forgive us and continue to love us. So the 4th gift is Forgiveness given to us from God for our wrong doing because he loves us. Thanks be to God for being a loving forgiving God. This is a wonderful gift that we get daily if we ask for it. Remember to pass this gift on to others also so that they know they are forgiven too.

12 Gifts From God Gift 3

GIFT NUMBER 3: LOVE

The third gift from God I want to talk about is the gift of Love. God loves and wants what is best for us. An example of God’s love is in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.KJV God loved us so much that He wanted to make a way for us to have abundant life here and life with him in heaven and to do that He sent his Son to save us. He sent Jesus even though we didn’t deserve this love as shown in Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.KJV We hadn’t done anything to make God love us, but just the opposite. God loved us so much though that He loved us in spite of ourselves. What do I mean just this, we turn away from God and do things that are wrong and hurtful to God. We don’t live with God as the center of our lives, but even when we are sinful God still loves us and has given us away to be forgiven and to live with him. He didn’t have to do this, but it was his love for us that brought about his gift of Jesus dying for our sins. What a great love that is. It’s an unconditional love one we didn’t deserve but was freely given to us anyway. God loves us period, we don't have to be good enough, or do anything to get this love it is freely given and is and will be there always. He loves us because we are his and nothing changes that. What a comfort, to know we have God's love no matter what!
God’s gift of love to us is an enduring, and unwavering love that we can have confidence in being there always. Rom 8:35-39 35“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”KJV Praise the Lord He tells us right here when we become one of his children by accepting Jesus as our Savior that his love is there for always, what a wonderful gift. So next time you are feeling all alone and maybe unloved remember God loves us always and we never have to be alone or feel unloved. Thank you Jesus. This gift alone is life changing when you think about it. If all those who think they need love and look in wrong places for love and acceptance could know God and understand about his love look at how much the world could be changed. This gift of God’s love is so important for all. We should all try to share this knowledge of God’s love with everyone we meet.

12 Gifts From God Gift 2

GIFT NUMBER 2: JESUS

The second gift from God is his son Jesus. Luke 2:11 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord”. He sent Jesus here to earth as a baby, made him human to live here on earth and he was born specifically to die for us. He was made human to know the pains and hurts suffered by humans and then he went to the cross to die for us. This is such an important gift from God to all of us. Jesus was sent here to save us and to be our Savior. John 3:17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved”.

Jesus lived among the people and knew what it was to be hurt, loved, hungry, thirsty, to lose someone and to be tempted by the devil. Jesus and God know exactly how we feel when we have these things happen to us too and that can be such a comfort. It should make us feel better when we are going through a loss or sickness or a time of trouble and tribulation or the next time we are tempted by the devil, to know that God has felt these things by sending Jesus to earth. So not only did God send his Son to be our Savior but He insured by this act that we can have confidence that God knows our feelings because He has felt them also. This is another way that Jesus was a gift from God to us.
In sending his Son Jesus it makes all the other gifts we are going to look at possible too. Jesus is the key to all in our lives here on earth and Eternal life. So Jesus is the most important gift from God first because He is our Savior and second because He came to as it says in John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” to give us abundant life. This makes the gift of Jesus the most important part of our lives and all we have to do is except the gift of Jesus from God to have abundant life and all the other gifts too.We should continue to thank God daily for this gift of his Son and most importantly to accept this gift. So with the gift of Jesus we also get within this gift 1. A Savior 2. Abundant life and 3. Understanding. So thank you Lord for your wonderful gift of Jesus.

12 Gifts From God

I wrote this devotion back in 2008 and thought I would repost it now. God has given each of us so many things but I have chosen these 12 for this devotion.

12 GIFTS FROM GOD
written by Deb Forbes
Copyright pending

At this time of year we all think about what we can get to give to others or what we would like to get for Christmas. The Christmas music is playing and decorations are everywhere. The other day I was thinking about the Christmas song the “12 Days of Christmas” and how on each day they get some different item or gift and that made me think that God has given us gifts and why not go through at least twelve of them each day till Christmas so these are the 12 gifts of God that I have decided to look at. The thing about these gifts is that they are life changing and they are for ever and not something you will only have for a short time or till the next Christmas.

1. Life
2. Jesus
3. Love
4. Forgiveness
5. Salvation
6. Hope
7. Peace
8. Joy
9. Grace
10. Mercy
11. Comfort and the Comforter
12. Eternal Life
GIFT NUMBER 1: LIFE

The first Gift of God is the ultimate gift and that is the gift of Life. Now you might think why would I choose this as a gift but it definitely is because if God hadn’t spoke us and everything else into existence we wouldn’t be here now. In Gen. 1 it tells us how God created the heavens and the earth, sun and moon, water, animals, vegetation, and man and woman. Gen 1: 27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them”. So the first gift has to be the gift of life to all things including us humans. Then he also gave us our lives. You might ask what do I mean by this that God gave us our lives. The answer would be that I believe that God made each one of us unique and for a special purpose. It says that God knows each hair on our heads Matt. 10:30 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered” and if He knows us intimately enough to count the hairs on our head then He took great care and time in making each and everyone of us. Therefore if He would take that much time when He was making each of us wouldn’t He then, don’t you think, have a specific purpose and plan for us and make us just right to fit into that plan? So literally God gave each of us our lives and not only our lives but a life with a purpose Praise God. Next time you think your life is going no where then remember that you have a gift given to you by God and that gift is Life and not only life but a life with a purpose straight from God himself. So Life is the first gift of God and we should remember to thank him for this wonderful gift each and everyday and strive to live fulfilling the purpose God has for us.

And In This Corner The Battle With Our Past

Have you ever felt like you were in a boxing match with your past? I can hear the announcer now "and in this corner weighing in with all the past hurts and mistakes is the one and only vicious PAST. And in this corner there is little old ME." "PAST comes out swinging with all its might first with a hurt to the heart, then a mistake to the gut doubling ME over and right back with two more hits to the heart and ME is down for the count." "I believe its over for ME this time with hits like that ME won't recover." That's how it feels when your past hurts and mistakes try to defeat you. It is like you have been thrown in a ring to take a beating from the heavy weight champion, but it doesn't have to be this way. Once we give Jesus our hearts and life and he has forgiven us our sins, then the past is just that the past. It's like a tag team match, we just have to take the hand of Jesus and he goes in and defeats the past in our place.

When we become Christ followers we don't have to be hurt by our past mistakes and we don't have to let the old hurts hurt us, but even the strongest in faith will have times that the past will cause them pain. It doesn't mean our faith isn't as strong, it just means that is when we need to reach out to Jesus and remember that we are forgiven and a changed person. We aren't that person we were when those things occurred. We are a new creation in Christ, a new person. 2 Corinthians 5:17"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."(KJV)
In the past couple of days I have had to remind myself that the past is past and that my Heavenly Father loves me unconditionally. The things of my past don't have power to hurt me anymore because I am a child of God, a co-heir with Jesus, loved by my Heavenly Father and forgiven. We all can think of something that we wish we hadn't done, or think of things that have been said or done that has hurt us and if we let it, it can and will beat us up. If we give our past power it will hurt us, but we don't have to give it that power. We take its power away by turning it over to Christ Jesus and then leaving it there.

Recently my past mistakes were thrown at me by someone close to me. It is easy for me to let it get me down. In fact I was very hurt by them bringing it up. The blow from my past knocked me to the ground but didn't knock me out. I called out to Jesus and he helped me back up off the mat and got me back into the fight only this time I let him take control. Jesus gave me the power over my past.

The apostle Paul had a past of persecuting the Christians, but once he gave his life to Christ and became one of the believers, he went on to tell others about Christ. He had a past that he didn't like, but he used it to remind people that Christ took all that with him to the cross and totally forgave him. He couldn't change what he had done, but he could change who he was then and that is exactly what he did when he asked forgiveness and became a follower of Christ. No longer was he that man that persecuted believers, he was a man who gave his life trying to encourage believers and show sinners the way to Christ.


Christ wipes our sins away when we ask forgiveness and remembers them no more.
Ps 103:12 " as far as the east is from the west,so far has he removed our transgressions from us"(NIV) That doesn't mean that He can't use our past to help others. He can use that to help us witness and tell others what he has done for us. Paul reminded others of his past so that they can see how far he had come from that past and how much Christ had done for him. So our past doesn't have to have power over us and hurt us anymore. Just remember we are forgiven and we are not the person we were in that past because of Jesus. PTL

KO the PAST in Jesus name. Ask forgiveness and it is done. Ask Jesus in your heart and you are a new person. Let God change you into that new creature in Christ. Then the PAST no longer has power to hurt but can be a powerful tool to help. Thank you Jesus for your love, mercy and forgiveness and for this new person in you.

Written by
Deb Forbes
Aug. 20, 2010

When you need a friend

We all at times feel lonely and wish we had someone to talk to. I saw a teen and young person the other day say that everyone makes fun of them and that no one understands. This is not true there is always one who cares, who understands, who never puts us down or makes fun of us and most importantly is always there with us. This friend is Jesus and he loves us and stands with us. He made each of us the way he wanted us to be and loves us just the way we are. I know that when you truly come to know Jesus and have a personal relationship with him that you will know what a true friend is. I decided to repost this blog from last year with the poem I wrote last year.

A FRIEND


I’m there to hold your hand
When you desperately need a friend
I’m there with open arms
To keep you from all life’s harms
My arms are opened wide
So in them you can abide
I watch over you both day and night
Making sure that you are alright.
In times of sorrow and grief
I am there for you to call on so you see
You are never alone for I am always with you
I know where you are and all that you do
I am your friend and on me you can call
I am there to catch you when you fall
My love I give to you
I am always there to give help to you too
I know you and you know me
So I know what it is you need.
I call you mine now and for all eternity
You are so important and special to me
I am your Savior and I am your Lord
A friend to you I am for now and forever more

By Deb Forbes
July 21, 2009


I was talking to someone the other day and they said they really didn't have any friends. They just didn't have anyone they could count on and that they could trust. I was thinking that is kind of sad but I understood what they meant. People can come and go and sometimes you don't feel like you have anyone you can turn to or count on when you really need a friend. I told them that they could always have one friend they could count on that would always be there and they could always trust. The best friend you really can have is Jesus. Heb 13:5b "for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."(KJV) Jesus never leaves us and will always be right there for us. He understands what we need and what we are going through. It says in Rom. 8:38-39 that nothing can separate us from him Rom.8:38-39
38 "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."(KJV)What better friend could you ask for than one that understands, stands by you, and never leaves you. Jesus wants to be your friend and all you have to do is ask him in to forgive you and to live in you and you will always have a friend. Jesus loves each and everyone of us and we can talk to him any time any where and about any thing. What better friend could there be. Last he gave his life for us and that is someone who loves us and cares about us. He is interested in every part of our life so next time you think you don't have a friend or know someone that thinks this remind them of your friend JESUS.

What A Difference A Year Makes/Dash Between The Years

I have been slow about putting anything down in my blogs but today I want to change that and get back to blogging regularly. A year ago at the end of June I had my first heart attack. In July I was still dying and going down fast. At the end of Aug. I had another heart attack but this was when God decided to change things and to heal the damage in my heart so I could live. Then on Sept 28, 2010, after years of being in a wheelchair and having to be waited on, God prompted me to walk and on faith I stood up out of my chair and started walking. My muscles from the first step were back and I have been walking ever since. Not only walking but walking 20 min miles, which for someone who wasn't walking and now is, I don't think is too bad. I am once again able to do housework and cooking and my favorite thing baking. So this last year a lot of things have changed some, like these, for the better and others that aren't better. The one thing I do know is this, that God can take the bad things and make good out of them, as long as we trust Him and that is what we do every day.

Last year at this time I wrote a blog about how I want to be remembered when my life is over. I am reposting it, but not because I am dying, but because I am living and in so doing wanting to honor God and show God's love to all I meet. So things in life change some for the better and what isn't for the better God will make good when we walk each day with him.

Thursday, July 16, 2009
Dash between the years

I heard more than once from our pastor friend that on our headstone there will be the year we are born, then a dash, and then the year we die. That small dash between the years represents our life. It is such a small thing that represents all that we are and have done. This got me to thinking what will that dash represent for me? What will I have accomplished and how will I be remembered.

I want to be remembered for being a good wife, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, mother in law, and friend. But most of all I want to be remembered for being kind, compassionate,loving, and above all else as an obedient, loving, follower of Jesus. I don't want to be remembered for the things I have or for being famous, but for being a person that loved God and my family and did good for others. What really is a better legacy than to leave with the people you love the knowledge of your love for God and your love for them.

I want to live life where I can serve God and others. I want to give love to as many people as I can and make their lives better. I want to tell all I meet about my God. I want, in every part of my life, to glorify God. I want to share and spend time with my husband and family and make good memories with them.

At church, Westside Family Church, our new series is on Treasure Hunt and what treasure do we hunt for, is it stuff or God. I want my life to be a hunt for the treasures of God and heaven and not stuff. The verses we studied were Matt.6:19-20 (19)Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. (20)But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.(NIV)I want, when people think of me, to know that I was on a hunt for heavenly treasures through out my life, treasures I willing shared with all.

Here are some of my quotes I have made into bookmarks:

MEMORIES TAKE A MOMENT TO CREATE AND A LIFE TIME TO ENJOY

REMEMBER WHEN ONLY HAPPENS WHEN YOU SPEND TIME WITH EACH OTHER

WHAT IS A LEGACY? SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU RICH AND FAMOUS OR SOMETHING I CAN LEAVE TO YOU TO REMEMBER THAT I WAS HERE AND I LOVED YOU

GO THROUGH LIFE MAKING SURE YOU TOUCH THOSE AROUND YOU IN A POSITIVE WAY

STRIVE TO BE KNOWN NOT JUST FOR HOW YOU LIVE BUT ALSO FOR HOW YOU GIVE

MAKE SURE WHEN PEOPLE SEE YOU THEY SEE CHRIST

Let us all take time to make that dash between the years stand for a life well lived loving, giving, and sharing but most of all serving and glorifying GOD!