What is the Capacity of God's Forgiveness?

By now most of us have failed at our New Year's Resolutions and repeatedly found ourselves in a state of remorse about it. For those of you that have not, I applaud you. Keep up the good work. For those of us who find ourselves in that failed state I offer the thoughts of David Wilkerson. 

No matter what you may think or feel about yourself, failing and struggling with overcoming sin is a real and often dealt with condition we live in. Not that there isn't forgiveness or mercy, there is an abundant provision of grace God has for us. We seldom have the same capacity of forgiveness of ourselves or others. We tend to judge ourselves and others much more harshly than God does.

Consider the relationship you have with God and ask yourself if you are interested in what God has to say about you or not. If you are not interested in what God thinks about you, then you can stop reading this now. If you are interested in what God has to say and your relationship with him, keep reading. Listen to what David Wilkerson has to offer with his thoughts about the capacity of God's love and forgiveness.

An UNUSUAL WORDby David Wilkerson

Recently the Holy Spirit gave me an unusual word, one that I did not want to hear! He said, "You are bound to a very limited vision of the Lord´s ocean of tender, loving mercies. You have endured much guilt, condemnation and fear because you have not allowed the Holy Spirit to reveal the vastness of My forgiving, healing, reconciling mercies. You do not know Me for My tenderness!"

God showed me that this is a root cause for many giving up and falling away. When sin strikes-when Satan comes in like a flood, when you fall into some old habit or sin-the devil creates a bondage. First, the guilt comes flooding in, then fear fills your heart. A sense of total failure and helplessness overwhelms your soul. At this point, most believers run out of grace-because their view of God´s mercy is so limited.

Satan comes to you and says, "You´ve reached your limit. You´ve confessed your sin time after time. There is no way God will forgive you now, because you´ve sinned against the light. If you return and confess once more, you´ll turn around and sin all over again. So quit now!"

The devil does not want you to see God´s ocean of mercy; he wants you to see only a trickle! Because of our ignorance of the forgiving, restoring power of Christ´s love, we are destroyed. We run out of mercy for ourselves because we are horribly bound by a limited vision. Our eyes have not yet been opened to the endless mercies of our tender Father! We are so bound by a false, limited view of His mercies, we find it almost impossible to believe or accept what James said: "[We] have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful (full of compassion), and of tender mercy" (James 5:11).

This verse means, "God is easily crushed by our troubles and hurts. He feels our pain and our failures, and He is kind and compassionate to us. He loved us even when we were His enemy. Even when we offend Him, He is quick to help, restore and forgive us."

The word mercy means "kind and compassionate treatment of an offender under one's power." God has the power to damn us to hell every time we sin; He has us under His control and can do with us as He pleases. And it pleases His tender heart to be compassionate, loving and kind toward those who have failed Him the most.

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Consider the relationships you are involved with presently. Do you have friends that love and care about you? Family members? Spouse? Children? IS there someone out there that can love you more than them? 

There someone that you can love more than all of them and He can love you much more than you can love Him. His capacity for love and forgiveness far outweighs your capacity. His love and forgiveness is limitless  He loves with a love never ending. 

What is it that keeps us from entering into that boundless relationship of love? Guilt? Fear? No matter what it is, He can erase the past and give you a new beginning. 

The one that limits you entering into that forgiveness and love is YOU! This is where the problem begins. And the solution is so simple. 

Are you stubborn and pig-headed enough to pass up the opportunity to be forgiven and loved by a father like He is? There is nothing but you that can keep that relationship from happening. Be restored. Be forgiven. Be loved. Be humble and soft towards Him. Give up your stubbornness and rebellion and submit your thinking and feelings to Him. He will take you into His heart and love you. He will forgive you, no matter what the offense is. There is nothing too large, too deep, too sinful that cannot be forgiven and forgotten by Him.

God's mercies are new every morning. Make a new start today by giving all your concerns, fears and doubts to Him and ask Him to forgive you. Ask him to demonstrate His love to you and you will find a fresh start and a new love you never new possible. Then rejoice and be glad! Because He loves you with a limitless capacity of love never ending.

Acknowledgements:
Thanks to Little Bits for the use of the "New Year's Hat" picture.
Thank you to Hospice of the North Coast for use of the "Heart" picture.