07/21/13 - Sunday - A Simple Sinner's Prayer?

"God, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that your son, Christ Jesus, died on the cross for my sins. Thank you. I ask for your forgiveness.  Please show me the way forward.  In Christ Jesus' name I pray.  Amen"

This is what some would call "A Simple Sinner's Prayer".

The prayer may be simple.

In order to truly know God's grace through this prayer you have to mean it with every once of your being and be repentant. 

The process for saying that prayer and meaning it are anything but simple.

To get to the point of saying this prayer, accepting God's mercy, grace and opening my soul to be filled with his Holy Spirit was a journey of missteps, bad choices and of a life for a person who felt she was unimportant.

From that point to today, there is the old Malinda and now the Malinda who is perfectly herself each and every day.

This new Malinda knows:

• I am important and at the same time everyone else is too.
• I have made mistakes, they are a part of me that I will not deny.  Without those mistakes, I would not be who I am now - I own them.

• That God has a purpose for all of us.

• The only person I can change is me.

• That as I move forward on my journey I need to continually seek and effect changes in myself that will help me to become the Malinda that God wants me to be.  In this way I leave the old Malinda behind.

• That God EXPECTS me to share my journey. That is the job he has set before me.  We all have a different journey that will lead us to kneeling before God on Judgment Day.   At the same time, our paths intersect at different points.  God tells me that just as I have learned from him and through others, others can learn from me.  In this way, others can make their own changes.
• That I have been forgiven.  Being forgiven came at a high cost to one person, Christ Jesus.
• That God loves me, no matter what, and that as long as I listen and continue to strive to move towards his vision of the perfect Malinda, I will continue to receive his grace and mercy.

• I know I will face challenges, I will suffer loss, grief, harm and hatred.

• I know a sense of peace and joy, that will not leave me for I know I am God's.

This knowledge and more is available to all of us.

All we have to do is say that Simple Sinner's Prayer, mean it and be willing to live in it.  How you and I get there and move forward is what's not so simple.

As I move forward, I will share what God has shared with me through all the formats he has shared it.  God's word starts with the Bible and that is just the beginning...for our God is a living God.

Abba,

Thank you for that still quiet voice.  Thank you for Pastor Jim Combs.  Thank you for all of the seed planters and gardeners in my life.  Please continue to lead me forward so that I can better serve you and those you place in my life.  In Christ Jesus' name I pray.  Amen  :-)  XOXOXO