Part 15 Keeping short accounts with God Part 1

Part 15 Keeping short accounts with God Part 1 One of the most remarkable statement in Gods Word is that which is found in, Acts 13:22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. Despite all of the short comings of King David, God considered him as a man after His own heart. There could be many reasons for this but one stands out which is, David kept short accounts with God. When King David sinned he was quick to repent, and he always continued on in his pursuit of God. King David always pursued the heart and ways of God; he sought to understand how God saw things and fell in line with those things. He wanted to be Like God in how he judged the people and in how he lived among the people he governed. His heart is revealed in his prayer in Psalm 139 Psalms 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: Psalms 139:24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. The word everlasting is the Hebrew word owlam which means the eternal realm of Gods Kingdom He prayed for God to search his heart and to lead him in ways everlasting or eternal.  He wanted to live his life like those in eternity, those in Gods Kingdom in heaven. He wanted a lifestyle like those who lived in the eternal realm of Gods kingdom in heaven. He wanted to be like his Father God. If David had lived in this age which you and I live in, the church age, David would not have survived, the church would have crucified and ostracized him. I am not seeking to gloss over the sins and short-comings of David, however we must learn to see others as God sees them. God sees us not as we are but what we are becoming. One of the problems we mortals have is learning to forget. Our perspective of person often is colored by what we remember about that person, especially if we remember their failings. I find it quite remarkable that God cannot remember our sins One we confess our sins the record is removed from Gods records in heaven and also removed from His memory. Psalms 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Hebrews 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Jeremiah 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. This forgetfulness of God is necessary in order for Him to see us as being redeemed people; He is not influenced in any way towards us by memory of our sins. When we get to heaven we will find that there is no memory of sin. There is nothing negative in heaven, there are no evil thoughts, and after the initial judgment or the giving of an account of our lives to the Lord which determines our eternal place and positions in eternity, there is no regret or remembrance of failure.  We will look at everyone in heaven with no memory of their shortcoming. The only exception to this is the record of those lives recorded in the scriptures and even then we will look at these records such as the sins of King David in such a way that will only bring rejoicing to our hearts because of the Love and Grace of God. Jesus told us to pray, ”thy kingdom come in earth as it is in heaven”  I have often heard this verse quoted in the context of healing, for instance there is no sickness in heaven therefore it is Gods will that there be no sickness on earth. I have no problem with this except, that is only one aspect of the kingdom of Heaven. There is no backbiting in heaven, no wrong attitudes, no memory of sin! Memories and Forgiveness We will always remember the wrong someone inflicted upon us as long as we don’t forgive them. To forgive is to forget and Love covers a multitude of sin. We are told in the scriptures to forget certain things Isaiah 43:18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. I have often counseled men and women whose partners have died not knowing the Lord and they live in the torment that forever they will be sad and heartbroken about it. This however is not the case they will not remember those things when they get to heaven, those things will be erased eternally from their memory, no sadness nor sorrow can exist in heaven. Joseph went through many really hard things, his brothers sold him into slavery and he was imprisoned on a false testemony. But there came a time when Joseph truly forgave his brothers.  Joseph did not wait to see he brothers before he forgave them, he probably thought that he would never see them again, but he had forgiven them before he was reunited with them. Genesis 41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house. This is a remarkable thing; this experience was so real to Joseph that he named his first son in honor of it. The name Manasseh means Causing to forget. This experience was so real to him that his first born son was named causing me to forget. I f you truly forgive God can cause you to forget. Many of you need a Manasseh experience, we really should aspire to be like our Father God and forget the sins the shortcomings of others. I have counseled many hundreds of people through the years, and many deep dark secrets and sins people have confessed to me, some of these people where very prominent in ministry many were not. My memory banks became loaded with the memory of other people sins and it affected how I saw them. It became so bad that I decided that I would not counsel anyone anymore. The Lord spoke to me and said you need a Manasseh experience like Joseph had. When I studied this I came before the Lord and said LORD CAUSE ME TO FORGET and he did I found that I could look these people and had no memory of their sins. We need to truly forgive all from our heart and then ask God to erase the memory of their short comings and if we are truly sincere He will do it erasing the memory of these things from minds so that can view others with a pure heart. God Bless youN Johnson © November 29th 2007