One of the greatest lies the enemy throws our way is that there’s a limit on how many times we can ask for forgiveness. If the enemy can get us to believe that, then we will be caught in a cycle of fear and hopelessness.
But God stands, arms open wide, extending the greatest gift of all: relationship and community with Him. But if the enemy can twist scriptures and get you to believe that God is capricious, unreliable, and conditional in His forgiveness, then you will be an impotent and ineffective Christian.
God chooses imperfect people and any distance or resistance in our relationship with God is birthed in misconceptions and misperceptions of what we think God should do for us and what we should do for Him. God’s heart is for you and not against you. Here are eight reasons that tell us so.
God is Kind
God doesn’t stand like an umpire at a ball game waiting to shout, “You’re out!” Instead, He draws us to Himself with kindness. It’s not threat of punishment that brings us to a place of forgiveness, but loving kindness. Genuine repentance happens when we are faced with genuine kindness; however, we have a tendency to treat kindness with cynicism. We question God’s agenda and wonder if He’ll send us to Timbuktu or snake infested jungles or if there really is a catch to this forgiveness thing. Receive God’s kindness at face value. He’s kind. His kindness has no agenda except to draw you to Himself. Romans 2:4
Design credit: Rachel Dawson
God is Merciful
In the darkest parts of the night and in the darkest corner of our hearts, we know that we don’t deserve mercy. It’s as if we cheated in order to get a passing grade, so we paste a smile on our face while a voice whispers, “You don’t deserve it.” And it’s true that because of our sin, we deserve to live this life without His help and in eternal separation from God. But God withholds what we deserve. He extends the richest and greatest form of mercy we could ever experience and doesn’t call us to earn it. He calls us to simply receive it. Ephesians 2:4-5
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God is Grace
If mercy withholds God’s punishment, then grace is the outpouring of His blessings. It’s mercy that withholds from us from experiencing eternal separation from God, and it’s grace that gives us innumerable blessings like hope, peace that passes understanding, and the power to live an earthly life while being seated with Christ in the heavenly realms. God doesn’t give up on us. If God deems us worthy to receive mercy and grace, why do we reject it? Accept it as the extravagant gift it is. Ephesians 2:8-9
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God is Compassionate
He extends forgiveness and desires us to receive Him. But we can stand in the way of receiving His compassion because it seems too radical for our finite, logical minds to embrace. He receives murderers and gossips with the same amount of grace, and this type of compassion is beyond our comprehension. But it’s not about comprehending in our own understanding, instead, it’s about leaning on God’s understanding. God stands at the door of our hearts and knocks even when we refuse to answer. He makes a way through the desert even when we run away from Him. We’re sheltered from life’s storms even when we think we’re about to drown. Time and time again God makes a way because compassion sees a need and takes action. Matthew 9:36
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God is Faithful
God will never leave us nor forsake us. He doesn’t leave us to our own defenses or understanding. He is our defender. His understanding no one can fathom, and yet it’s as reliable as the rising and setting of the sun. If we were to judge God based on what we can or won’t do in our own capabilities, we would come to the conclusion that we can’t rely on Him, because we’re the ones who aren’t very dependable most of the time. However, God isn’t like us, and we can’t make Him out to be. We can’t determine what He would do based on what we would do. His faithfulness is what enables our wretched, sinful heart to enter into relationship with Him. He is faithful to receive our repentant hearts. Hebrews 13:5
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God is Relational
The Israelites refused to draw near to God (Exodus 20:18-21), and they begged Moses to continue moderating between them and God. Because they did not fully embrace God, they struggled with misconceptions about God that prevented them from knowing His heart for them. His heart longed for them to know Him, love Him, and obey Him, and He pursued them just as He pursues us. God desires a relationship with us. Let’s not reject Him any longer, but run to Him and find peace and hope.
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God is a Deliverer
Deliverance is God’s theme throughout the Old Testament and into the New. He delivered the Israelites from slavery, enemy armies, and themselves. And He wants to be your deliverer too. “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing,” Zephaniah 3:17. I pray that your ears might be opened to hear the song of triumph that He sings. It’s majestic, holy, and altogether lovely. Listen to His heart of deliverance.
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God is Love
Love is woven throughout God’s word to us and it culminates in the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. God came and lived among men so that we might know the Father’s heart towards us, which is a heart for our good and His good purposes. Jesus, through His death and resurrection, proves the power of God’s love to remove the blinders from our eyes and ears. Our perceptions can be like the curtain separating the holy of holies from the people. Just as that curtain was torn in two at Jesus’ death, so can whatever is standing in your way of receiving the truth of God’s love be torn. The curtain that separates God from His people no longer exists. Nothing can separate you from the love of God and the eternal life that is available for you. Receive God’s gift of love and allow Him to work in you so that you live a life of love for Him. 1 John 4:9
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Will God Give Up on Me?
God’s heart is hidden behind our misconceptions, the misunderstanding of historical context of the Bible, our lack of maturity, and our tendency to make God in our image. It’s no wonder we ask the question, “Will God give up on me?”
I pray that according to the riches of God’s glory, that He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ, the love that surpasses all knowledge, and that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19
Never forget that He loves you enough to do what’s best for you. He brings you to spacious places as well as the trials of suffering so that you grow and mature into a man or woman after God’s own heart.
Lay aside your questioning and hold out your hands to receive His love, forgiveness, and mercy. His love for you unfolds as you lean on His understanding and not your own. Come to Him just as you are and there you will find the largeness of the Christian life as He molds you, shapes you, teaches you His forgiveness, and helps you learn to live this life as a believer in Christ.
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Jessica Van Roekel is a woman on the journey to wholeness through brokenness. She believes that through Christ your personal histories don’t have to define your present or determine your future. Her greatest desire is to see you live this “God-life” with all the power and grace that God provides. Jessica lives in a rural community with her husband and four children. She leads worship on Sundays, but seeks to be a worshiper every day. You can connect with her at www.welcomegrace.com and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/
Originally published Monday, 23 July 2018.
