License to Kill

This blog started out as a way for me to share my faith.  In the process, it has become a way for me to sort through my emotions.  It has become a way for me to channel my energies in a positive direction.  It has forced me to look long and hard at myself and evaluate the state of my faith life.

I’m thrilled that I have a platform to share my faith and triumphs.  A safe place to discuss downfalls and defeats.  This past Sunday was a triumph.  On Sunday, Bible Study Brother was licensed to minister.  People came from all over to pray with and encourage my baby brother.  It was a day to remember.

It was also a day that required much preparation.  Bible Study Brother had been working on his sermon for months.  How do I know?  Because God was asking him to live out the topic of his sermon.  He preached about forgiveness. 

If you’re new to this blog, you may have missed my brother and me discussing what forgiveness looked like in our relationship.  You can listen to the inaugural Bible Study Girl podcast or go back and read our blogs on forgiveness.  Or I could just tell you now that we had a hard row to hoe.  (Country slang…think of yourself in a garden with a hoe trying to break up the dirt to plant some corn but the ground is almost rock hard.  Hence…a hard row to hoe…)

I’d be lying if I said it was easy.  I would be hypocritical if I said we just shrugged our disagreement off.  It took time, prayer, counseling, and a whole lot of Jesus.  Not so that God could change the other person but so that He could change us individually.

The man that stood to deliver a sermon on forgiveness is not the Joe Baby that I knew even a couple of months ago.  He’s growing and changing.  He’s forgiving himself.  He’s forgiving others.  And he’s pressing forward into his purpose.

He studied, prayed, and fasted for that moment.  He had some sad days and disappointing nights.  He sacrificed.  He surrendered.  And it showed.  He told us that he couldn’t begin a ministry with unforgiveness in his heart.  That God wanted him to place all those issues at the altar and leave them there.

God wants the same thing for us even if we haven’t been licensed to minister the Gospel.  But we don’t need a license to tell the good news.  It should be flowing from our mouths continually.  It should be seeping from our pores.  Or has unforgiveness stopped your thanksgiving?  Has your bitterness billowed out in your speech?  Are you tormented by the debts that you feel others owe you?

Today is the day to let it go.  Forgiveness will set you free.  #wepreach