Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: HLFT
Program Code: HLFT000002A
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00:27 Hello, and welcome to Heart Lift.
00:29 I'm Jill Morikone, and I'm so glad that 00:31 you've joined us today. 00:33 We're on a journey of hope, of healing, of finding the 00:37 transformation that the Lord Jesus Christ wants to do in your 00:42 heart and mine, as women of God, as daughters of the King. 00:46 If you're just joining us for the first time, last week our 00:50 last program, we discussed the brokenness that we all 00:54 experience as the result of sin, as a result of the 00:57 world that we live on. 00:58 We talked about the mask that we wear, the mask we put on 01:02 to kind of hide who we feel we are inside, the mask that we put 01:06 on for other people to see. 01:09 We talked about the lies that Satan tells us about ourself, 01:13 about who we are, and how none of that really matters. 01:17 Because all that matters is what the Lord Jesus thinks about us. 01:22 When He looks at us He says, I love you. 01:25 You're My daughter. 01:27 I made you. I have a beautiful plan for your life. 01:31 Our Scripture today is 1 John 3:1. 01:35 If you have your Bible, open up with me. 01:37 If not, you can jot down the reference, 01:39 and you can always look it up later. 01:44 The Bible says, Behold, what manner of love the Father has 01:49 bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. 01:53 Let's pray. Father we come before You right now 01:57 in the name of Jesus. 01:58 Thank You that You call us as Your children. 02:02 Thank You that You call us as Your daughters. 02:05 And I pray right now for the anointing of Your Holy Spirit, 02:09 that You could speak, and that we could hear what You 02:13 have from Your word. 02:15 And we thank You in the precious and holy name of Jesus, Amen. 02:21 She was just a little thing. 02:24 When we first adopted her, or maybe I should say, 02:27 When she first adopted us, she was probably six inches 02:31 from the tip of her pink nose to the end of her tail. 02:36 She was a little grey ball of fluff; a little kitty cat. 02:39 We loved her. She came into our yard and she would roll on her 02:45 back in the gravel driveway, because she liked her tummy 02:48 scratched, which is kind of unusual for a cat. 02:51 She loved to pounce on unsuspecting birds, and beetles, 02:55 and bugs. She loved that. 02:58 She would sleep in the flower beds. 03:00 We named her Pebbles, because she was grey, and she looked 03:04 like a little grey stone. 03:06 We'd had her about four years when the unthinkable happened; 03:10 she disappeared. Greg and I had traveled for 3ABN, 03:14 and when we came home we jumped out of the car and we said, 03:18 Pebbles, and she wasn't there. 03:21 And Greg said, It's fine. 03:23 She's out hunting something. 03:24 She's maybe sleeping somewhere. 03:27 It's fine. So we went inside and we unpacked all our luggage. 03:30 And then it began to grow dark, and she always 03:33 comes by that time. 03:35 And so we went out in the backyard. 03:38 We have a field out back of our house. 03:39 We went out in the back and we called, and called. 03:44 But there was no answering little meow. 03:47 I was kind of discouraged. 03:49 And Greg took my hand as we walked, 03:51 and trudged back to the house. 03:54 He said, Jilly, it's okay. 03:58 We can trust God with her life. 04:01 And I knew that, but I didn't want to think about that. 04:05 I just wanted her home. 04:06 I wanted her safe. 04:08 I knew that she was not a very good fighter, 04:11 and we have coyotes in our area, because we've seen them. 04:14 We have bobcat in our neighborhood. 04:17 We've seen them in our driveway. 04:19 We have owls that come. 04:20 And I thought, she doesn't fight very good. 04:23 She wouldn't stand a chance with any of that stuff. 04:26 We went to bed and we prayed over her. 04:29 We got up the next morning at five o'clock. 04:33 I ran to the front porch, I opened up the door, 04:35 I flipped on the light, and I called. 04:38 There was no answering little meow; no Pebbles. 04:42 Greg left for work, and I pulled on his old jeans, 04:46 and an old flannel shirt, and I went out to see if, maybe, 04:50 just maybe, I could find her. 04:53 Across the road... We live on a gravel road. 04:56 We live in the country. 04:58 Across the road from our house is a whole forest of trees, 05:02 and brambles, and thickets, and all of that. 05:05 So I crossed the road, picked up one leg over the barbed wire 05:09 fence, the other leg over the barbed wire fence, 05:12 and almost immediately the brambles, the thickets, 05:18 forced me to my hands and knees. 05:20 And I began to crawl, dodging deer droppings, and poison ivy, 05:25 pausing to yank Greg's old flannel shirt off of one of 05:29 those briars and thorns. 05:30 Every so often I would pause, I would call, and I would listen. 05:36 But there was no answering little meow; no Pebbles. 05:41 After an hour I finally gave up and I came back through all that 05:47 out on the main road. 05:49 Later, almost as if on an impulse, 05:52 I started off a different field. 05:54 And I'd almost given up hope. 05:56 I'd been searching for a few hours; there was no kitty cat. 05:59 And I went down this other road, and all of a 06:02 sudden I called again. 06:05 And I don't even know why I called, but I called 06:07 and I heard meow. 06:10 And I thought, Ah! Is that Pebbles? Meow! 06:14 And so I went into the woods. 06:16 I said, I'm coming! 06:18 And I went in and there she was, back arched, 06:21 tail up and waving proudly. She was there! 06:25 Why hadn't she come home? 06:27 I don't know. Maybe she got lost, and turned around, 06:32 and she couldn't find her way back home. 06:35 Maybe she was so worn out that she said, I'm too tired, 06:41 too tired to come back. 06:43 Whatever the reason, I started for home. 06:46 She does not like to be carried, so I thought, if I walk she's 06:50 going to keep pace with me. 06:52 But she didn't. She just stayed back there. 06:57 So I did the only thing I knew how to do. 06:59 I went back, I picked her up, and I carried her close against 07:05 my chest, close to my heart. 07:08 Across the field we went; a dirty scratched up woman, 07:13 and a little kitty cat, both content and at peace. 07:18 And as I walked, my mind traveled to the many times 07:22 my Father, the Shepherd, has looked for me, 07:26 to the miles He's walked in my pursuit, 07:31 to the brambles and the thickets that He has braved 07:35 trying to find me. 07:36 Sometimes I think I purposely hid. 07:41 I heard His voice calling, yet I was afraid, afraid of a holy 07:45 God seeing my sin polluted heart. 07:49 Other times I just got turned around and lost, and I couldn't 07:54 seem to find my way back home. 07:57 Still other times I was so worn out with the fight that I didn't 08:03 think I could take another step. 08:07 Those were the times He reached down, He picked me up, 08:11 and He carried me close to His chest, close against His heart. 08:17 Every time I think of that story that happened with my kitty cat, 08:22 Pebbles, I'm reminded of a verse in Ezekiel. 08:25 If you have your Bibles, turn there with me. 08:28 If not, just jot down the reference. 08:33 And Ezekiel's talking to the people, and then God says, 08:37 Repent and turn away from what you've done. 08:39 Turn away from your sin. 08:42 And then He says in verse 31, For why should you die, 08:47 O house of Israel? 08:49 God's coming to you, He's coming to me. 08:53 He says, I don't want you to die. 08:56 I don't want you to perish, lost in the brambles and the 09:00 thickets, a long ways from home. 09:03 I want to go and find you, and to bring you home. 09:08 We have a self-evaluation for this program. 09:11 And when we do this self-evaluation, I want to 09:13 remind you to be honest. 09:15 Don't feel like you have to say what I want to hear, 09:19 or what your spouse wants to hear, or what even your 09:22 pastor wants to hear. 09:24 Just be honest. Where are you right now? 09:27 Do you know that Jesus has forgiven you? 09:30 How would you rate your forgiveness? 09:33 your peace with Jesus? your assurance of salvation? 09:38 We have four different options, and just pick the one you feel 09:40 most accurately reflects where you are right now. 10:06 I know that has been my experience. 10:09 I know there have been times when I know I messed up, 10:12 and I know I do something wrong, and I don't even want to 10:15 come back to God, because I already asked for forgiveness 10:18 for the same thing again. 10:20 And I say, I'm just too bad, God. 10:22 I'm not even sure that You can forgive me. 10:26 Maybe that's where you are. 10:27 Let's look at number 3. 10:39 And the last one. 10:59 No matter where you feel you are right now today, 11:02 that really doesn't matter, come to God. 11:05 We're going to discuss today how we can know with assurance 11:09 that the Lord Jesus forgives us. 11:12 What are the barriers to keeping us forgiven? 11:14 What are the keys to experiencing and finding that 11:18 forgiveness ourself? 11:20 1. I think there's four steps. 11:23 1. Pray about it and ask God to show you what it is. 11:28 It might be a twenty year mistake. 11:32 What I mean by that, you might have done something when you 11:34 were 18 years old, and you've regretted 11:37 it the rest of your life. 11:40 Maybe you're 38 and you say, I can't forget something I did 11:43 20 years ago when I was 18. 11:45 Maybe you're 58, maybe you're 88 and you say, I've lived with 11:50 the knowledge of this sin for 60 years. 11:53 I cannot put it away. Maybe that's it. 11:56 Maybe it's a habit, and you say, Jill I have this certain habit, 12:01 and I ask for forgiveness, and I know God does forgive me, 12:04 but the next day I'm going to go right back to it. 12:07 How can God forgive me again? 12:09 How can He do that? 12:11 Maybe you have, you don't know what it is specifically, 12:15 but you feel like you're under a cloud of condemnation, 12:18 and you just feel like God cannot forgive you. 12:22 Whatever it is, ask God. 12:25 Pray and ask God to identify what it is. 12:28 That's 1. Write it down. 12:31 Pray and ask God to identify. 12:32 2. Pray over it and confess it to the Lord Jesus Christ. 12:38 When we do that we want to be honest. 12:40 God already knows all about our heart, and He knows what's 12:43 going on inside anyway, so be specific. 12:47 I think sometimes we come to God, maybe at night, 12:50 and we're in a hurry, Forgive me for all my sins today, 12:53 in Jesus' name, Amen. 12:54 Be specific. God, you know I gossip to my best friend 12:59 about the minister. 13:00 I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. 13:03 You know I just went out and slept with my neighbor? 13:07 I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. 13:10 You know I'm just falling back into those drugs, 13:13 and I thought I had victory over that. 13:16 God, I want to be clean again. 13:19 I want to be forgiven. I'm sorry. 13:22 Be specific. Ask for forgiveness. 13:27 3. Walk by faith not by feeling. 13:31 I think this is pivotal when we discuss forgiveness. 13:34 We can ask God to show me what it is in my heart, number one. 13:38 We can pray over, and ask for forgiveness, but just because 13:42 we pray, and just because we've asked, 13:45 doesn't mean we feel forgiven. 13:47 Have you ever been there before? 13:50 Have you ever asked and thought, It can't be that easy. 13:54 Surely I need to do something in order to 13:56 experience that forgiveness. 13:59 Choose to accept what God's word says about you. 14:02 Choose to accept His forgiveness. 14:04 There's a quote I love, it says, When you can't feel God 14:08 with your feelings, feel Him with your faith. 14:12 We were talking on Monday night with the girls in jail about 14:16 this concept of forgiveness. 14:18 We were talking about how all we have to do is come to God. 14:23 We ask, 1 John 1:9. 14:25 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, 14:30 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 14:33 What does it say? We don't make pilgrimages. 14:36 We don't have to do anything special. 14:38 We come to God and we ask. 14:40 And so as we were discussing this on a Monday night at the 14:44 jail, one of the girls raised her hand and she said, 14:47 You mean it's that easy? 14:48 You mean I can be forgiven today? 14:50 And I said, Absolutely. 14:52 The moment you ask, you are forgiven. 14:55 And she said, What if I killed somebody? 14:59 What if I killed somebody? 15:02 If I commit murder, does it take longer 15:05 for that sin to be forgiven? Absolutely not! 15:09 No matter what the sin is, God says, Come to Me. 15:13 I can forgive instantly. 15:17 Now the issue is we don't always feel forgiven. 15:20 That is a challenge. 15:22 That has been a challenge in my own heart and life. 15:24 That promise in 1 John 1:9 we just discussed, 15:28 we can turn it around to an affirmation. 15:31 Father I thank You for the faithfulness of Your promise. 15:35 Thank You that You are able to forgive me, and to cleanse me 15:39 from any stain of sin. 15:41 Right now I confess my sin of 15:44 Fill in the blank, whatever it is. 15:46 I confess my sin. Thank You Father for Your forgiveness. 15:49 And the cleansing blood of Jesus that removes me from any 15:53 spot, any stain of sin. 15:55 I'm standing before You right now cleansed and forgiven. 15:59 Glory Hallelujah! As we learn to walk by faith, 16:04 and not by feelings, I think there's a couple things that 16:07 we can keep in mind that will help; things that have even 16:10 helped me in my own journey experiencing forgiveness. 16:14 1. Is to know that feelings will come. They always do. 16:18 If our feelings follow our thoughts, and if we choose to 16:22 bring our thoughts into line with what God's word says about 16:26 us, then our feelings will eventually follow that. 16:31 You know they say practice makes perfect. 16:34 I taught music lessons for ten years, and I'm here to tell you 16:38 practice does not make perfect. 16:40 When I would sit with one of my piano students, and they would 16:44 work at the piano, if you go home and you practice a B flat 16:48 instead of a B the whole week, what's going to happen? 16:51 The next week when you come to your lesson, you're going to 16:56 play the note wrong. 16:57 Practice doesn't make perfect. 17:00 I think practice makes permanent. 17:03 Practice makes permanent. 17:05 So if every time, if I make a mistake, if I do something, 17:10 and I go to God and I say, I'm sorry. 17:13 Will You forgive me? 17:15 I can choose one of two thought patterns. 17:18 I can say, He can't forgive me. 17:20 I asked again. Oh, surely He can't forgive me. 17:23 I'm too bad. Or I can say, Your word says whether I feel 17:29 forgiven or not, that I am forgiven. 17:33 I am choosing by faith to accept what Your word says about me. 17:38 Greg and I went to the zoo. 17:42 And at the zoo they have all the different animals housed 17:45 in their different area. 17:47 We were at the section for the big cats; 17:48 you know, the lions, and the tigers. 17:50 And I like those animals. 17:52 We were at the leopard cage, and he had a 17:55 pretty nice sized cage. 17:58 But instead of running around the whole cage, 18:00 do you know what he did? 18:02 He walked up the cage, back the cage, up the cage, on one side. 18:09 He went up and down, up and down. 18:12 He wore the grass down to there was dirt. 18:15 And then he walked up and down so much that it wore 18:18 a rut in the ground. 18:20 You could see that's what he did all day. 18:23 He walked up and down one side of his cage. 18:26 And I think as Christians we can do the same thing. 18:30 We can form pathways in our brain like the leopard 18:34 did with the grass. 18:35 We can wear pathways, those neurons, those synapses, 18:39 they start to connect and fire. 18:41 So if every time I make a mistake I go to God, 18:45 ask for forgiveness, and then every time I don't feel forgiven 18:49 I say, No, no Satan, God says I'm forgiven, I'm choosing to 18:55 bring my mind into line with what God's word says. 18:59 Every time you do that it's going to get easier. 19:02 It's going to get easier. 19:04 It's going to make a difference. 19:06 So know that feelings will come. 19:08 Know that practice makes permanent, so continue. 19:11 Choose to practice to bring your mind into line with what 19:15 God word says about you. 19:17 Spend time in the word of God. 19:20 Do you want to grow your faith? 19:22 Spend time in the word of God. 19:25 Romans 10:17. I like this verse. It says: 19:31 Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 19:36 Do you want to grow your faith? 19:37 Do you say, Jill I have weak faith. 19:40 I don't have a strong faith, but I wish I did. 19:43 Then spend time in the word of God. 19:47 Write out those 3 x 5 cards, promises that we talked 19:51 about the last program. 19:52 Here's two I can think of off the top of my head that 19:55 would be great to do. 19:59 If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us, 20:02 and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 20:05 That's a wonderful promise. 20:06 Anytime Satan says, You messed up! 20:09 You're not forgiven. 20:11 Whip out your card and say, The word of God says I'm 20:13 forgiven, Jesus says I'm forgiven. 20:15 By faith I accept what it says. 20:19 John 6:37, Jesus says, Whoever comes to Me, 20:22 I will never cast away. 20:25 So first when we're dealing with forgiveness, 20:28 we identify the sin. 20:30 We go to God and ask Him, Okay, what is between me and You? 20:34 What is the issue here? 20:36 Then we ask for God's forgiveness, number 2. 20:40 3. We walk by faith, not by how we feel; 20:45 not by what our heart and our feelings say. 20:48 4. Is to be aware of conviction versus condemnation. 20:54 I was in Massachusetts. 20:56 My mom and dad live in Massachusetts. 20:58 And I went up to see my family. 21:00 And we were eating out at a little Tai restaurant. 21:03 It was just a cute little place tucked into a city block. 21:06 And as we were waiting for our food, my cell phone rang. 21:11 And I looked down and I saw it was one of my 21:13 girlfriends from church. 21:14 And I knew she was struggling, so I took the call. 21:17 And I went outside and I said, Hi, my sister. 21:20 How are you doing? 21:21 And she said, I'm struggling, Jill. 21:23 Satan keeps saying, Who are you? 21:27 What type of Christian wife and mother are you? 21:30 And I instantly was reminded of what my friend Rhonda always 21:35 says: Conviction comes from God, condemnation 21:40 comes from the enemy. 21:43 How do we know the difference? 21:44 How do we know if we're experiencing conviction from the 21:47 Holy Spirit, or if I'm experiencing condemnation 21:51 that comes from the enemy? 21:52 I think the difference is really in the spirit 21:55 behind the thought. 21:56 What I mean by that: if the thought has anything to do with 22:01 my worth as a woman of God, then I know it's condemnation. 22:05 The Holy Spirit brings conviction to our hearts. 22:10 Yes, He might say, Jill, you weren't honest there. 22:16 My daughter's tell the truth. 22:18 Go back and tell the truth. 22:20 That is conviction. 22:22 Now if Satan were bringing the same thought with condemnation, 22:26 he would say, You're never honest. 22:30 You've never been honest. 22:31 Why even try? You're a loser. 22:34 Do you see the difference? 22:35 God brings conviction, Satan brings discouragement. 22:40 God reveals our sin, yet He has a solution. 22:44 Satan taunts, torments, and offers no hope. 22:48 Our Savior deals redemptively, Satan deals destructively. 22:54 The last step... We've gone through identify the sin, 22:58 write down what it is. 22:59 2. Ask God. Go to Him and ask for His forgiveness. 23:03 3. Choose to walk by faith, not by how you feel. 23:09 4. Learn to recognize the difference between condemnation 23:13 from Satan, and conviction from the Holy Spirit. 23:17 And 5. Burn or shred your paper. 23:21 If you wrote that down, get rid of it. 23:23 Now there's nothing inherently good about getting rid of it, 23:26 it just is a symbolic act. 23:29 It symbolizes that our sins are cast into the depths of the sea. 23:35 That whatever we've done is put away. 23:39 I don't know where you are right now in your walk with Jesus. 23:43 You might say, Jill I just feel lost in the thickets; 23:48 lost and alone. I feel miles from God. 23:52 God knows where you are. 23:53 He knows exactly where you are, and He says, I want to find you. 23:58 I want to brave those brambles and thickets. 24:01 I want to come back and bring you home. 24:05 He said, I want to forgive you. 24:07 No matter what you've done, nothing that you could have done 24:12 in the past, or you could ever do in the future, would make God 24:18 love you any less, who would make God say, 24:22 I can't forgive you. 24:23 He can forgive anything. 24:25 We're going to take a short break. 24:27 When we come back we'll have some practical applications, 24:29 something you can do this week at home. 24:33 And then our next program we're going to discuss how we 24:37 can forgive other people. 24:39 Do you feel trapped? 24:40 We're going to unpackage how you can forgive others. |
Revised 2016-02-16