Forgiveness With Him -Psalms 130:3-4

"If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared."

A simple promise reminding us of God's amazing forgiveness.

In Him -Ephesians 1:7-10

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth - in Him."

You Will Show Yourself -Psalms 18:25-26

"With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd."

Forgave My Sin -Psalms 32:5

"I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," And You forgave the iniquity of my sin."

Saved By His Life -Romans 5:10-11

"For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."

Ready to Forgive -Psalms 86:5

"For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You."

Faithful to Forgive -1 John 1:9

This promise is a great reminder of God's mercy and forgiveness...if we confess our sin, God will faithfully forgive us and entirely cleanse us from our sins. We serve a great God!

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 

He Has Not Given us What We Deserve -Psalms 103:10

As we continue going through Psalms 103, we come to an amazing promise...and I find it very encouraging.

"He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities."

We sin so much. God offers us forgiveness and eternal life, and it's like we slap God in the face every time we sin.

And yet God hasn't given us what we deserved, He hasn't punished us like our crimes called for. Thanks to Jesus' death on the cross, He can now offer us mercy and grace...wow. We serve an amazing God.


Praise God!

Bless the Lord -Psalms 103:1-3

"Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,"

It's interesting how this promise shows that God is really in control in the areas we think we can solve.

The passage refers to two areas we think we can solve:
-We think we know how to heal people, but really, it boils down to His mercy as the Great Physician.
-We easily start thinking that we can solve our own sin problems, but only Jesus can truly forgive our sins.


If you noticed the comma at the end of the passage, you might realize that this is only the beginning of a list of promises...more to come later!

Return to God -Zechariah 1:3

This verse is a good encouragement to repent...sin separates us from God, and God promises to return to those who return to Him.

"Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Return to Me," says the Lord of Hosts, "and I will return to you," says the Lord of Hosts."

God Can Forgive Sins -Mark 2:10

...God didn't just make promises, He also gave proof of His promises. 

If you look at Mark 2, you read an account of when Jesus was preaching to a bunch of people in Capernaum. However, while He was preaching, a man who was paralyzed was let down through the roof. 

Jesus after seeing the man, forgave Him of his sins.

The scribes, hearing Jesus forgive the man of His sins, instantly decided that He was being blasphemous, since only God could forgive sins. Yet Jesus, to show His power, healed the paralyzed man. Verse ten says,

"But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins..."

The promise today is that God can forgive sins. God healed a man who was paralyzed, unable to move!

If God can do that, how much more able is He to forgive our sins?

The Great Restoration Project... -Hosea 1:10

Israel was in serious sin. And chapter 1 of Hosea is the account of God sharing through Hosea the prophet that He was going to destroy the Children of Israel...God was going to withhold His mercy!

However, God is a faithful God. And God promises in verse 10 that He will restore the Children of Israel.

"Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There it shall be said to them, 'You are sons of the living God.'"

As Christians, we need to understand that sin is a serious thing. We are directly rebelling against the God of the universe. However, we also need to remember God's promise to us, that God will restore those who are His.

We were once not His people, but through Jesus' death on the cross we are now "sons of the living God."


You know, when I look at my life, and all of my sin, I can't help but think that we are the great restoration project...

...great as in "huge", not great as in "amazing". :)

Not for us... -Ezekiel 36:26

Now, I strongly encourage you to read the whole chapter that today's verse is in...it's really good. I could post more of it, but I'm trying to keep these posts to short tidbits, nothing big.

This promise is one that I find amazing because of the imagery portrayed by the verse:

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."

The picture of a heart of stone: dead, lifeless, still. Here, I've included a picture for you:

Looks pretty dead, doesn't it? :)

We were "dead in our trespasses and sins", and God took that dead, lifeless stone heart and replaced it with a living heart, so we are now "alive in Christ." Wow! What a promise!


However, in case we think this makes us pretty special in and of ourselves, God is quick to remind us it's for His glory (in verse 32):

"Not for your sake do I do this."

Protection & Strength -Psalm 31:23-24

"Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person. Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the Lord."

When I look at these verses, I tend to see them with a little uncertainty.

Not that I doubt that God "preserves the faithful", but because I see how unfaithful and unloving I am towards God. And I understand that when I sin, it really is a form of pride, because I am really saying to God that my sin is better than what God has to offer.

Unfortunately, the verse above says God "fully repays the proud person."

This line of reasoning would continue to go downhill for me except for the fact that this is only the last two verses of the chapter. If you read the rest of the chapter (which you should), we see a prayer of David, crying out to God for protection and mercy. And in verse 10, David acknowledges his own sin:

"For my life is spent with grief, And my years with sighing; My strength fails because of my iniquity, And my bones waste away."

You see, David knew he was a sinner. And this whole chapter is a picture of David, crying out to God, clinging to Him for hope.

Because, even when we sin, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ."

Peace With God -Romans 5:1-2

Sin divides.


Before sin was in the world, man was in perfect fellowship with God....but after Adam and Eve's sin in the garden, man became separated from God.

That's why I find these verses in Romans encouraging. Because it points us back to how we receive the promise of God's peace...

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."

 When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He covered our sins, enabling us to have peace with God. If I had to somehow, reach out to God, I would completely fail because of my sin.

Because of Jesus, however, we can receive the promise that if we have been justified by faith, we can have peace with God.


But this peace can't be obtained by good works, "lest any man should boast."

If My People....2 Chronicles 7:14

I got my first "I voted" sticker today...

...and so I thought I would post the following verse. Kinda an appropriate election day verse, right?

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

I think often we as Christians fail to personalize it. We'll look at this verse and say, "we need to see a rebuilding of Christianity around the world!"

Sadly, we don't even look at areas in our life where we continue to be proud, unrepentant, self-seeking sinners.

...And yes, I'm talking to myself here as well.

Our Sin is Gone! -Psalm 103:12

"As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us."

 This promise is one that I personally find encouragement in. I really like the lyrics of the Casting Crowns song, "East to West". The chorus goes like this:

Jesus, can You show me just how far the east is from the west
'Cause I can't bear to see the man I've been come rising up in me again
In the arms of Your mercy I find rest
'Cause You know just how far the east is from the west
From one scarred hand to the other

May we rest in that as we fight the good fight of faith!