How can God Forgive Me?
God hates sin; it damages our relationship with the Lord.
Surely, the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, or his ear too dull to hear, but your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that He will not hear" (Is. 59:1-2).
Can God really forgive someone like me?
The only hope that we have of forgiveness is by receiving it through the grace of God. God loves you no matter who you are or what you have done and you can know his love by asking him to reveal his love to you, by giving your life to God and allowing others to help you to mature and grow spiritually.
Rom. 10:13
, For "anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."God does not wait until we are perfect before he will forgive us. To show how great his forgiveness can be, God reached out to a man named Saul. Saul was someone who hated Christians and wanted them all locked up or dead. But God turned Saul into Paul the Apostle. Paul was a leader of the early Church and was responsible for starting many of the first churches and for writing many of the books in the New Testament part of the Bible. Even if you have committed murder, God can forgive you.
If you are worried that you might have sold your soul to Satan, the good news is that Jesus offered his life for our "redemption." The word redemption means "to buy back." When Jesus died on the cross, he redeemed us - body, soul and spirit.
You represent a huge investment to God. Would God want to just throw away something so precious to him? God wants you to be saved and he would move heaven and earth if that would save you. God does not enjoy punishing anyone.
Ez. 33:11 says, "As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live." He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent (2 Pt. 3:9).
The price for forgiveness is high. Scripture gives the following requirements for forgiveness.
*Sacrifice - Jesus, the sinless Son of God, died on the cross and became the ultimate sacrifice for sin. Christ bought our forgiveness when he died on the cross.
"For Christ died for our sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (1 Pt. 3:18a).
*Forgiveness of others - "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Mt. 6:14-15).
*Confession of sin - We must admit our sins to God if our relationship with him is to be restored completely. Confession is the way to restore that relationship with the Lord.
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn. 1:9
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