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AriseandShine.org

July 2018

Being Held Hostage

7/5/2018

 
If the Son therefore shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed.
John 8:36

On July 1st I wrote about a new day and a new season... 
God, who is gracious, allows for new beginnings for those with repentant hearts.

The truth is that some things in our past cannot be changed, fixed, or atoned for by our own efforts. So in my situation, all I could do was turn my past over to God. He knew all about it anyhow.

The most difficult part, however, was to fully accept God’s forgiveness. It took time. But several years into my journey with Jesus, God’s forgiveness became more clear. My doubts were gone. It happened one day, maybe 25 years ago, when on a Wednesday evening in the chapel at Sullivan Correctional Facility, a preacher by the name of Mark Peters was giving a message from Micah 7:18-20 in the Old Testament. It seemed as if he was speaking just to me.

As the minister expounded on the passage, that God delights in showing mercy, and how He takes all our sins and casts them into the depths of the sea never to be remembered anymore, that I was able to accept the fact that I was completely forgiven. It was a breakthrough. The heavy load of guilt lifted. That evening I left the chapel knowing true freedom, liberty, and inner peace. Never again would I be held hostage to my past.

D. B.

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    ​​David Berkowitz
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