Showing posts with label John 15:9. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John 15:9. Show all posts

Thursday, June 1, 2017

The Snake That Bites (Part 1) - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

The Snake That Bites
Part 1

Now Think On This
Steve Martin


"In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part.” (Matthew 6:14-15, THE MESSAGE)


Slithering here, gliding there ventures the long, slimy camouflaged snake in the tall, pleasant looking grass. Little know of his whereabouts, for most of his work is done in secret.

Then he strikes. Only after he bites, and leaves his deadly poison, are the full effects realized. He could have been stopped at the entrance to the field, would have the stationed guard been watching, alert at his post. But that didn’t happen.

He came in. Unnoticed. And did what he has been doing for centuries.



The snake that bites, releasing his curse - the one that destroys relationships.

The older you become, the more venom you seem to carry with you, taking the life blood out of your very life. Unless you have dealt with it along the way, it still lingers in your veins. From the youthful days growing up, with kids teasing and bullying you; or the teenage years, when fitting in wasn’t working; you had craved for acceptance, but got bit instead. The love you desperately needed ended up killing the new life the two of you had created. Now you hate the one who had promised to love you.

When you got older, marriage (if you indeed did what was the righteous norm years ago) started off as the movies said it would, “living happily ever after.” But somehow the “ever after”, or even the “living happily” for that matter, ended up not so. When the honeymoon had quickly ended, followed by a tough six years of enduring the silent, or often blaring, physical abuse, you were left alone raising the two toddlers, having to care tiresomely for what was left.


Not so rough for you? How about those wounds you carry from words spoken to you in years gone by, even decades, which cut to your heart from your parent, your son or daughter, or one who you thought was a real friend? Still hurting with its venom in your veins, isn’t it? Now you get the point.
                                                                   
No wonder people become so hard. Is it any wonder that life could easily end now, make it all go away, and be done with it?

When the snake bites, the venom flows in the blood. Only one Person can remove the slow death. Only one Person, the Giver of Life, can take away the sting that has left so many crying out for the real thing. Our desire is to be loved and accepted. Forgiveness towards those who don’t believe or understand that thus has to begin somewhere.

It starts with forgiveness.

Jesus alone, the Only Begotten Son of God, has the power to forgive, both your own sins and those committed by the ones who hurt you. He paid the required price on the cross, to obtain forgiveness from the Father for the original snake bite. That one bite historically occurring in the Garden of Eden. First the deception. Followed by the outright lie. Then the bite, piercing into the mind, filling them with damnation.

It wasn’t a storybook fairy tale. It really happened, and we live the effects of it in our own lives still today, as the snake continues his evil movement all around the world, in all the nations.

You have been bitten. Many times. We all have. It is a fact of life.

To keep the venom from killing your heart, from tormenting your soul, while removing the joy of the Lord from your spirit, you must forgive those who have hurt you. You must let the Lord Jesus heal you, in spirit, soul and body, so you can live again.

Don’t let the snake’s venom flow in your veins. You can have the Blood of Jesus, which cleanses all sin, cover yours, and enable you to release forgiveness to those closest to you, and the ones whom the enemy has used against you. God the Father is a loving God. His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, paid the price on the damned cross, so you could be free from the snake bites that have kept you from loving Him and those around you.


 


Be free. Receive forgiveness today. Be forgiven and release forgiveness, so you can love again.

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.  This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
(John 15:9-12, NKJV)


Jesus loves you. He means it.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People, Inc.


Be sure to read Part II here: The Snake That Bites (Part II) - Healing the Hurt

 P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to support the families that we do, primarily in Israel, Hungary, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.


If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)
Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  
martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  
Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Full website: Love For His People

Now Think On This - In the Year of our Lord 06.01.17 - #288 – “The Snake That Bites - Part 1” – Thursday, 12:30 pm

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve


The snake is unforgiveness, which turns into bitterness.
Don't let it bite you. Or receive and give forgiveness if he has.