From the Heart by B.Demaere

  To answer Peter simple question: How many times should I forgive someone, Jesus gives him the answer.  Seventy times seven= an astronomical number… One day long ago, I was in prison…visiting and it made me realize the heaviness of a sentence that some men would never be able to serve and be forgiven.   They would eventually die in prison and one friend of mine did.   Fortunately, that friend had been forgiven for the sins he had committed and is in heaven today.   He became a Christian. Today, I must talk about forgiveness because it is so sweet when you are at the receiving end of it.   Imagine that you have a great debt owing…some of us do not have to go very far.   You have a great debt owing. Well, that was a reality for a man in the story of Jesus in Matthew 18:21-35 The man owed to his master a debt of several million dollars.   He certainly could have never paid this large debt that him and his family owed.   He was brought to ...

  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT) (1Samuel 9-10) In this process God had chosen and called Saul to be king of Israel.   At first, he was timid and fearful and hid among the luggage.   As a consequence, he lost the respect of some of his people.   He lost his footing as a king soon after his calling.   Fear and timidity were not a substitute for humility in God’s sight.   God had given him a chance to be king.   Had he blown it? Maybe you have had a leader over you who was anointed of the Lord but showed a timid spirit and did not really fit in as a leader.   Nevertheless, as we look deeper in the story, we find that Saul’s shyness caused him trouble and worked against him. As God became sorry that he ever called Saul because of a disobedient step he gave him many opportunities to repent of his wrongs.   He placed a truly assistant on his path and David the next t...