Christ is risen

It's Easter Sunday and we celebrate Christ's rising from the grave and all that the Resurrection means for us. I don't feel too much different as a physical person, but as a spiritual person I feel stronger. Just as Christ appear to his followers when He rose, I feel like, in spirit, he has shown himself to me once again.

I felt drawn back to my old church in Basingstoke to celebrate today, I don;t know why. It's not like I've been part of the congregation there for a number of years. But it was the church where I was confirmed. Somehow it seemed right, as with the Easter service containing the Profession Of Faith and sprinkling of Holy Water, it seemed that it was a good place to re affirm what I believe.

Easter Sunday has long been a day with meaning for me as when Gemma and I were traveling a few years ago, I am 100% sure that, as we attended a service in a church we had never been to before, I was briefly in contact with the spirit of my mother, who had died a couple of years before. I think that maybe Easter Sunday has a certain power about it. Like maybe the heavens are just a little closer that day, or maybe Christ walks just that little bit closer to us on this day.

All I know is that prayers said in faith on Easter Sunday seem to have more resonance and more effect for me personally an it is a day that I feel drawn to celebrate.

Father, I thank you for

Jesus rising form the dead,

For everything that means for Christians all over the world,

And for those who have yet to discover Christ.

When I pray, may my prayers be true and

May I ask only for that which is your will.

Please share with others who have a weakness of faith,

Or those yet to come to you,

The joy of the Resurrection and the comfort that comes

From knowing that we are truly loved and truly saved.

In Jesus Name

Amen

Happy Easter

The true meaning of forgiveness

Ok, so in the run up to easer, I have been asking for forgiveness for some of my sins and forgiving others for things that I have held against them. Some of those I have shared on here, some of them are just between me and Jesus.

The truth that I think that I have realised is that even when we ask God, or others to forgive us, what we ultimately need to forgive ourselves also.

"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remeber your sins" (Isaiah 43:25)

"In Him [Jesus] we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the richness of His grace (Ephesians 1:7)

So if God forgives all those who come to him through Christ and confess their sins, seeking absolution, why do we not always forgive ourselves? One of the things that I have long sought forgiveness for, I find out by taking to the friend who I wronged, that they have long since forgotten my indiscretion and did not even recall it when I mentioned it to them. Yet, I still hold it against myself as one of the few things that I wish I could actually travel back in time and change.

And so we are with God, many times we ask for forgiveness and yet we do not really forgive ourselves. God loves us so much that he gave His only son to bring us to salvation. So we ask for forgiveness but do not really forgive our selves. God as forgotten our sins long before we have even truly forgiven ourselves and, indeed each other. Maybe we should all be a little quicker to forgive ourselves once we have asked for forgiveness from God.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)

So we are just to forgive ourselves, as God does not hold our sins against us if we truly repent.

Father, please help me to forgive myself

Of the sins that I still hold inside

As you have forgiven me the sins that I repent,

Please help me to feel this for real and to move on

from the sins that hold me back.

Please help me not to hold sins against other people.

As I pray for forgiveness of others, please help me to forgive them in my heart,

as you forgive them in yours.

As Easter Sunday approaches, please help me to

Appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross

And what it truly means to me

And to all those who come to you through Him.

For the fact that you can save the human race,

please help me to spread the gospel of your love

and to show my love for you in a way that others

can comprehend.

This I ask in Jesus Name

Amen

Todays Forgiveness...

Ok, short and to the point;

Father, today I ask for forgiveness for something that happened

about this time of year, many, years ago.

I once prayed for something that I shouldn't have been given

Yet I prayed with such force and conviction that you still answered me.

I prayed to be given a physical relationship with someone who I loved

Yet should not have been with.

And you gave me what I should not have had.

And being weak, I gave in - outside of marriage.

So, please father, forgive me for my moment of weakness.

I also want to forgive someone for the hurt that they have caused me and a close friend

And for trying to drive a wedge between us. I will not name a name

But I will put the initials N.S.

Father, you know who I mean and that is all that matters.

I want to forgive them for their actions,

Please help me to let go of the animosity that I sometimes feel towards them

And heal the hurt that makes me feel it on the first place

This I ask

In Jesus name

Amen

Does God Celebrate Easter?

On the face of it, that seems a really silly question, of corse He would... But think about it; you send your only Son down to earth to save the Human race, who you love as your own image. And what does the human race do? Most of them refuse to accept their salvation and end up killing your son. How much compassion does it take to forgive that? It's not exactly the sort of thing that you'd celebrate, is it? So, maybe its the resurrection? Certainly I think that there is someone in all out lives that we would celebrate the day that the walked again. And that's it. It is the resurrection that we celebrate, the abundance of life, the forgiveness of sins.

So that is what I am going to do. Between now and Easter Sunday, I am going to pray for the forgiveness of a sin that I have yet to repent for, and in turn, forgive another for a sin against me that I have yet to forgive them for.

So, 'Does God celebrate Easter?' My though is that He celebrates that we do.

Father, as I have said above, I pray for forgiveness

Today I hold before you the way that I behaved towards my

Mother when I was a teenager.

I have said that I am sorry before, but never

Have I truly asked for forgiveness.

Whilst she is no longer alive to forgive, I ask you in her place.

Please forgive all that I have done, that I am truly sorry for.

And, father, I ask you to forgive all those who bullied me when I was at school

I will not name names, although I could place a dozen here I'm sure.

You saw them and know who they are.

Despite what they have left me with, I am ready to let go and forgive

For those who have any remorse for their actions,

Please let them feel that they are forgiven and that I bear no grudge.

Please grant me the strength to continue to heal the wounds that they have left behind.

I ask in Jesus name

Amen