OUT OF THE BOX

Dear Friends, I have been blessed that so many people from the USA and around the world have been visiting this site. And I have appreciated your emails and comments. If you are a visitor to this site, and we have not yet been introduced, please consider sending me an email and introducing yourself. You can write to me at blong8@sccoast.net   It would be great to hear from you. Thanks again, Billy Long

Our ability to forgive involves gaining victory over anger. Anger can be useful or destructive. It is like a weapon with purpose in the hands of a policeman but destructive in the hands of a criminal and dangerous in the hands of a fool. It can be an instrument in God’s hands or a tool of the devil detrimental to our spiritual life. It can give courage to overcome insecurity and fear, or it can be a harmful instrument for venting selfish attitudes and inflicting pain on those who have injured us. Anger can be a response to perceived injustice or it can cause an irrational loss of control in those feeling victimized. Righteous indignation has its place, but human nature easily uses it as an excuse to justify bad behavior. It becomes an obstacle to forgiveness, and hinders our ability to gain victory over the past. The Bible says we should “be angry and sin not” and not let the sun go down on our wrath. The wrath of man deceptively gives the individual a false sense of being an instrum...

In continuing our study on “Burnt Stones” we now look at the subjects of Forgiveness, which is a foundational  aspect of spiritual health. –Billy Long Forgiveness “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” Matthew 6: 12. One basic requirement for spiritual health is forgiveness. Conversely, unforgiveness is a major cause of spiritual derailment. The Biblical command is clear and simple and yet one of the most difficult to obey. A person does not have to be spiritually "deep" or intellectually brilliant to understand the verses relating to forgiveness, but there is something in human nature that tends to embrace unforgiveness and receives some perverted sense of satisfaction in harboring resentment. Conflict and mistreatment bring wounds and pain, and so victims feel they have a right to be angry and bitter. People who have been victimized will go to great lengths to customize scripture to fit the inclinations of the moment in order to justify thei...