Looking for Renewal and Restoration; First Find Forgiveness

So what do you do first to receive forgiveness? Have faith.
Are you looking for renewal and restoration in your life?  It's hard to receive renewal and restoration when you are holding onto unforgiveness.
In Psalms 51, David appealed to God's mercy and love; not justice. If God was to write all of our wrong words and deeds in a ledger, we wouldn't be able to stand before Him. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be dealt with according to my sin.
David asked to be dealt with according to who God is.
God is more than able to forgive us of all our transgressions. As far as my research goes, it's the only question God won't respond "no" to.
Next be honest. David took responsibility for his wrongs. In fact he listed them in three different ways.
Iniquity which is to twist or pervert
Transgressions which is to rebel deliberately; ignore the "though shall not"
Sin is missing the mark.
David lived a haunted life and he was always in hiding. Did you know that when you sin that you first sin against God and then man? All God wants is your honesty, tell the truth about what you did wrong against yourself or someone else. He isn't going to beat you over the head with a stick; I promise.
Prayer is needed to find forgiveness.  Ask God to forgive you and allow Him to cleanse you, break the chains that bind you, change your desires from the temporal things to the eternal things of God himself.
Prayer is a cleansing and healing process. When David spoke on cleansing he referred to it as a cleansing ceremony as for lepers and washing as in cleansing like that of a garment. David also made the statement to "blot out my transgressions." When I heard this, I thought of a tide pen. You know that pen that you just wipe it on a stain and it goes away. Yeah, that kind of blot out; wipe or erase away.  When asking for a cleansing through prayer it is a desire to be completely cleansed of all your wrong doings.
The last thing to do to find complete forgiveness is to repent. This means to completely turn away from the sin in our life and run towards what is good and right.
A grateful person will want to be a bold witness, a chair member,  praising God for the complete turn around.
So are you broken over sin? Are you genuinely ready to commit your life and will to the care and control of Jesus Christ? Not there yet? It's okay; he's waiting. I suggest you  get ready because He won't be found forever.
This past month there were fall festivals on the night of halloween; satan's day. There were three boys that were up to no good. I watched them and they knew I was watching them. They were under the influence of a substance, but I didn't know what. Rodney and I prayed over the festival that was happening, when the Lord told me to go up to the ring leader of the boys and give him a message.
After praying, I walked around the festival to find this young man but couldn't. So I figured God just wanted to see if I was going to be obedient. I was good with that; confrontation isn't always easy.
Just after I had that thought and spoke it out, the boy came out from where he frequently visited his vehicle. I walked up to him, which seemed like miles away. I tapped him on his arm, he looked right into my eyes and I looked into his half closed, glassy, and beautiful blue eyes and said "I have a message for you." He said "what's the message?" I replied "Jesus loves you."  He paused for a moment and then responded "that is the best message I've ever gotten."
I don't know what God is going to do with him, but I am sure it is going to require some faith, a lot of honesty on his part, prayer from me and others, as well as himself, and repentance for what he has done to his body. The most important thing needed is his sincerity; your sincerity. You have to be completely broken over your sin. You have to not want it and detest it because God dislikes it. Your heart has to be genuine in its response to the call of forgiving.
One thing to remember when looking for renewal and restoration in your forgiveness; is that it can't be fake because God knows  your heart. God knows your heart better than you do.

God Size Beginnings

Why do we get so surprised when God does God size things? He is God of love, God of all-knowing, and God all powerful.  We worry about things that we have no need to stress over. We try to do all things in our power and then wonder why these things don't go our way.
We all get on this insanity cycle and either are too comfortable to get off of it or we are filled with so much fear that it paralyzes us to move forward.
I have been on both sides of this fence, oh let me not forget that when we procrastinate it kills the action that needs to be completed. None the less, we expect different things to happen even when we keep doing the same things. Can you think of something in your life that you keep trying to make happen differently, but you keep doing the same thing and the results are the same?  Yeah, the insanity wheel.

Well the LORD has guided my steps to come off of my insanity wheel, at least one wheel. What I have found is that when I totally surrendered myself to God and said okay, I keep screwing things up so I'm just going to let  you have your way with me, my life changed. I was bound and determined that since I kept messing my life up, doing things my way and not listening to him, that he would want me to be alone for the rest of my life. I was trying to prepare myself for that very thing.  I dove more into what I was doing around me, adding more things to my plate to keep my mind occupied and on the go.
Then one day the LORD prompted me to make a phone call to a gentleman name Rodney who heads up Jesus Jam youth event in Crescent City; so I did. We talked and I offered help where the LORD was guiding me to.
The event was a success, I saw relationships renewed, lives changed, and a lot of good music, skits, and more.  After the event, Rodney and I talked more and more. As we kept in contact with each other, our friendship began to grow and it is still growing.  The things we shared about our walk with the world and with the LORD were amazing at times. We are still fascinated by what God is doing in our lives.
The Holy Spirit reminded me of a time back when I was 14 years old or younger. There was a boy in our neighborhood that I went to school with and his name was Rodney. He came to my house to visit and during that evening, I knew that he was the one I was going to marry. I knew it in my spirit that I was going to marry him because his name was Rodney. I couldn't explain it, I just knew it. Well, a few days later, Rodney was cleaning his hunting gun to prepare for a weekend trip with his dad and the trigger went off. When I got the news, my heart sank and I guess I gave up on my feelings. After all, I was taught that feelings are facts.
One evening a few weeks ago, I was talking face to face with Rodney and my spirit swelled up in me and I lashed out.."your name! your name!" Rodney looked at me with peace and said "yes, what about my name." I told him about the story I just told you.
The Holy Spirit as the reminder shared that with me. I had forgotten it.  I also had a day where I questioned if I should get as close I have been with Rodney because of his past and mine. I have learned to go to my knees and talk with God about where He is at work in my life around me.  I want to please God before anyone else and do His work before my own. God quickly gave me peace about Rodney and me with what we do, say, and go. The spiritual world I experience when I am with Rodney is like no other time with others that I have been around. I know that God will reveal to others what He wants others to see through our walk.

What I didn't know before that phone call, was that Rodney had asked the LORD for me.
Can you see the picture? I resided to being so hidden in Christ that the boy would have to go to the Father and ask for me; just as Rodney did.   I know that the covering of the Lord is shifting from us being individuals to being one in the Spirit of the Lord. I don't know exactly what God is doing with us, but what I do know is that what I am experiencing with Rodney through Christ is God sized. What is going to happen is God driven and God completed. I am enjoying the journey of experiencing God.
Just a thought, if God knew us while were in our mother's womb than it is possible He knew us before we were there too.

Experiencing a God size beginning,

~Marjorie