#SpeechTherapy| Healing through forgiveness|Part 4| with Jewel Taylor!

Hey there BCU Family!

We are in our final installment of our Healing Through Forgiveness with the amazing Jewel Taylor! A few weeks back, Jewel joined us on our weekly Bible study live on Periscope (Thursdays @ 8:05pm EST on channel BlenCouragesU), to talk us through how to heal through forgiving. Last time we were together we started talking about how Joseph, from the book of Genesis REALLY had to forgive and heal with all his family and others put him through.

Jewel and fam
Jewel hanging with her kids!

This time, Jewel finishes up Joseph’s story and  highlights the tragic events in Joseph’s life and how he remained faithful and forgave through everything!  The study notes are below, so feel free to print and make any other notations you’d like! Finally, if you need the notes in a nifty PDF format, just email us (Blen@Blencouragesu.com), and we can make it happen! Click on the icon below and be blessed!

 

#forgiveness: FROM JONAH TO JOSEPH

Why is Joseph’s story an integral part of forgiveness? Joseph is one of the best examples, besides Christ, of forgiveness. The pain he endured at the hands of his blood family became the launching pad of blessing for nations.

Jonah still had issues with the extent of God’s grace and forgiveness in his story, therefore we do not have final resolution for forgiveness from Jonah’s heart in the Bible. However, once we have gone through the steps of forgiveness, our end goal is to become like Joseph. Enduring, forgiving, wise and generous despite our past, hurts and experiences. Life is cyclical and we will experience hurt more than one time and in different and varying forms. Our job is to remember what Joseph went through and use him as encouragement that no matter what we face, we can endure, forgive and move forward triumphantly.

Joseph was born to the favorite wife of the patriarch Israel as the 11th of his sons. Though Joseph was one of the youngest, he was favored in his father’s view so much, that it drove his older brothers to deadly jealousy. Joseph was also favored by God (Gen. 37:6-8) and when he told his family what the Lord had showed him, the hatred from his brothers reached its boiling point.

After being used several times by his father to spy on his brothers’ behavior, his brothers conspired to kill him (Gen. 37:18). They ended up sparing his life and selling him into slavery to a passing merchants who ended up selling him into the house of the captain of the guard of Egypt (Gen. 37:28-36). From there Joseph:

 Excelled (Gen. 39:1-6)
 Was wrongfully accused/framed (Gen. 39:7-20)
 Served diligently in prison (Gen. 39:21-23)
 Blessed others while in prison (Gen. 40:1-22)
 Had his good deeds forgotten (Gen. 40:23)
 Blessed Pharaoh (41:1-39)
 Is blessed and set on high by Pharaoh (Gen. 41:40-46)
 Blessed the nation of Egypt (Gen. 41:47-49)
 Received increase (Gen. 41:48-57)
 Proved his brothers love (Gen. 42-44)
 Blessed his family and ultimately the nation of Israel (Gen. 45-47)

Joseph did not allow his negative experiences/past to stop him from working to his full potential in God. Joseph never withheld his gifts because of the trauma nor did he give with respect of person. He used his gifts for those in prison as well as the palace.

This is the will of God. That we heal by forgiving those in our lives who have offended us or hurt us. We must forgive each and every person diligently from our hearts as prescribed in Matt. 18:35. Though all manner of ill-will was shown to Joseph, there is no mention of his retaliation or his unwillingness to serve in whatever capacity he was afforded. Joseph understood that what had happened to him was for God’s purpose.

If we knew everything God had set aside for us to do ahead of time, we probably wouldn’t take one step in the journey. God has fashioned each and every one of us through our various experiences to get our hearts and minds to the point he deems necessary to execute his will. Therefore we must live our lives forgiving, healing and ready to forgive again, knowing that the trials that we face build our character and impact a greater story.

And there you have it, BCU Family! Jewel shared with us that her husband, Richard preached a sermon “It hurt, but it worked”, meaning that ALL the things that God allows to happen in our lives is really to serve God’s purpose. With His grace, we need to go through it, learn from it and to apply those lessons in our lives.

I trust this series was a blessing to and challenges all of us (myself included) to be a doer of the Word ( James 1:22) in forgiveness and in ALL areas of our lives with the help of the Lord.

Thank you SO much for tuning in, liking, subscribing, commenting, sharing and encouraging us to continue to encourage you. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest posts, classes and whatever the Lord inspires us to do! In the meantime, may God bless and keep you! #StayOnTheWall!

 

Love,

 

BCU

 

 

 

 

BlenCouragesU1 Comment

Child, have ya’ heard?~ A lesson on gossip

Hey Family!

Have ya' heard the latest?
There’s a gospel song called “Birds in the Church”. Actually, its a narrative by Rev. Benjamin Cone, Jr. (from Mississippi Mass Choir, I believe) who among other things, tells us how people can be a lot like parrots–freely repeating other people’s business. I  get tickled when I hear it, but there is truth there.

Before I was saved, I could be a little “Willona-ish” (from Good Times) when it came to discussing the happenings of people’s lives. The intent wasn’t malicious, just something to talk about, dissect, and share my “expert opinion” on the matter at hand.

This behavior continued after I got saved….more of a bad habit, I suppose. Then one time I shared something rather personal/serious in confidence with “Thelma” who went back told their family. Mayhap that wouldn’t have been so bad, if Family was offering sound wisdom, but Thelma came back to tell me Family laughed about it. May sound petty to you all, but I was SO hurt that someone would repeat and reduce my concerns to others so casually.

Say what?
Another time, I was involved in a sensitive situation where “JJ” had to get involved. JJ promptly started spreading the news and it got back to me. I politely confronted JJ, letting them know it really wasn’t right getting others involved in a matter intended to stay between selected persons. JJ was VERY apologetic–and it wasn’t done to be mean; just habitual, but hurtful behavior.  With God’s grace, I forgave Thelma and JJ and we’re cool.  I have to say I felt really hurt, embarrassed and betrayed. Through that pain, God showed me how awful it is to idly parrot and betray confidences AND that my idle chatter were NOT Christ-like at ALL! Thankfully,with His help that behavior soon ceased in Jesus name!

In the days since those times, God guides me on who I should talk to about certain things. Luke 2:16-19 tells us the people wondered about what the shepherds told Mary, but she “kept all these things and pondered things in her heart”. There is a valid reason she didn’t share that information with everybody! God also blessed me to be a confidant. People come to me with sensitive information and private challenges, knowing that with the grace of God, I will offer wise council, pray and keep the matter between us. Period.

People have also come to me with other’s business, I have to shut that down with a swift retort like, “I will keep the situation/persons in prayer”, “that’s not my battle to fight–only God can work that out”, or “have you been praying for them?” Talking about someone is not as effective as praying for them. I’m not saying that we can’t talk through someone’s situation to understand things better or help that individual in crisis—we just need to be sensitive to how the Holy Ghost is telling us to handle it so we’re truly walking in the Spirit, rather than the flesh.

Bottom line?  The Bible says we will give an account for every idle word spoken (Matthew 12:36). With God’s help, I’m working to make sure my spiritual balance sheet will indeed crossfoot on both sides. ~Debiting un-Christlike behavior (such as gossip and backbiting) is a credit to allowing God’s Holy Spirit to work.~

God bless you all!

Blen

Parrot Pic: http://www.squidoo.com/parrottalking

Willona Woods pic: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&biw=1180&bih=514&gbv=2&
tbm=isch&sa=1&q=willona+woods+talking&

BlenCouragesU4 Comments

Forgive-them-not?!!

Hey family,

Hope you all are well! I was thinking about forgiveness and decided to do a quick post.

My pastor, Bishop Larry Elliott often says “unforgiveness” is the number one sin among Christian people. That’s a little surprising, since our salvation was based in God loving us enough to forgive us–but Bishop raises a good point.

When someone wrongs us, as they often do, there’s no doubt that it hurts us–sometimes to the core, especially if it’s family, spouse, kids or close friend. And in many cases, we are JUSTIFIED to be upset with the offending parties. The thing is, though, we ARE NOT JUSTIFIED to have an unforgiving heart, mind and attitude toward them. “But, Blen, he left me high and dry with the baby and no money”, “she stole my man”, “they tricked me”, “teased me”, “broke my heart”, “violated my trust”, “said I wouldn’t be anything”, abused me”….I know, y’all, I get it and understand–they were wrong and you should be hot. Let’s take a look at this from God’s perspective.

Matthew 18:23-35 tells of the servant who owed BIG money to the king, didn’t have it, asked for mercy and his debt was forgiven. That same servant went to his friend and demanded the LITTLE money he was owed and cast the friend into prison. When the king heard, he cast the servant into prison, reminding him he should have given the same forgiveness he received. The Lord goes on to say that if we don’t forgive, we cannot be forgiven.

So by holding folks in the prison of our minds, we are really letting God know that we know better than Him and in essence really trying to supersede His wisdom. On top of that, WE don’t get forgiven. That can make us miss heaven! I know as much as can I mess up and am still growing in grace, I need forgiveness on a regular basis, don’t you? Is being upset with Lu-Lu about mistreating you in high school worth delaying your blessings, negating answers on your prayers, and risking your soul to eternal damnation? I’m checking the “no” box on that.

When someone does hurt you, know that the Lord sees and knows it, and will balance the scales in His time. In the meantime, take the situation to the Lord in prayer, and ask Him to help you forgive the offending parties from your heart, remove any bitter root, and heal you from the hurt and pain that was inflicted on you. This goes for the people that dogged you out years ago, to the cashier that rolled her eyes at you today– whether they asked for forgiveness, apologized or not.

You’ll know you have forgiven the person from the heart when the matter crosses your mind, is brought up, or you see the person and you do not get angry or keep negatively referring to the situation like it happened 2 minutes ago. God’s peace will totally take over and you will feel wonderful and marvel in the spiritual growth as you obey God’s Word.

True forgiveness takes God’s grace and a willing heart that wants to please God, rather than satisfy the flesh. Easy to do? No. But it is necessary to receive the benefits of God’s love and forgiveness.

Bottom line: You can’t change the past, but you can stop living in it.

God’s blessings to you!

Love,

Blen

BlenCouragesU10 Comments