Guilt is a giant with interesting powers. This giant is the most invisible, but the heaviest one of all. There are people all around us who are being slowly crushed, and suffocated by the giant of guilt. Three are many stories that could be told, and you could add to the list, but I believe the most powerful one of all is the account of David with his sin against Bathsheba, and murder of her husband. When Nathan the prophet confronted him for his sinful choices, we see David repenting and turning to the Lord. Psalm 32 and 51 give us a picture of that repentance, and how He overcomes his pain of guilt. Allow me to give you four points from Psalm 51 to help you overcome guilt in your life, and find the peace that God offers:

1. Removing Sin (Psalm 51:2 Only Go0d can wash the filth deep within our hearts.

2. Restoring Joy (Psalm 51:8,12) David here doesn’t ask for His salvation to be restored; what he wants back is the joy of his salvation. as a believer we cannot lose our salvation, but we can certainly lose the fringe benefits of our salvation.

3. Renewing … READ MORE

When we think of Psalm 118:24 we often picture a beautiful scene that brings us to relaxation and peace. Yet when Jesus sang this hymn at the conclusion of His last Passover, He was looking toward a day of trial, scourging, and death on the cross. But He was able to face the obstacles before Him with a peace and satisfaction, knowing that He was doing the will of His Father. As we approach today, and each day, we need to remember that for the believer, life is about doing the will of the Father. May we be ready to follow the Lord no matter where leading Him will bring us. Remember He has promised to be with us, so that we never have to face anything alone. Draw strength from the promises of the Lord, and recognize that “This is the day the LORD has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

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I am a fisherman, and as I go out and catch a nice fish, I like to put it back into the water, and then with a sense of satisfaction over the pleasure of the catch and release, I sit back and immediately get a sense that “I want another one!” All the fish I catch never seems to satisfy me; it only feeds the desire to get one more! Why is it so easy to become ungrateful? No matter what we have we seem to want more. Because of our perspective, we struggle to see the value of what is going on around us. Part of our struggle is that we see the world through the lens of what is best for ME! Ingratitude takes us places we were never designed to go, it makes us focus on ourselves, and causes us to believe that we deserve something better, or that we are somehow missing something that we need. How do we overcome ingratitude? We do so by intentionally directing our focus to what the Lord has done for us, and then remembering what He will do for us. Take some time today and read Psalm 118 from your … READ MORE