It is much easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. I first heard this just right after sharing ‘Let Your Choice Be God’s Choice,’ when a person replied “Sometimes we think it is easier to ask forgiveness that it is to ask permission.” Then I heard it again just a few days later when someone posted it as a facebook status. And if that wasn’t enough for me, I heard it a third time, while I was watching a TV show, Flash Forward, and the team of agents wanted to go into CIA territory to investigate something, and they were debating it and someone said, “It is much easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.”
Now I don’t know who coined the phrase. I don’t know how long it’s been around or anything else, but I do know that when God wants to make a statement and He really wants us to get something, He confirms it, and He does that by putting it in the mouth of two or three witnesses, time and time again.
Sometimes we know what we should do, and I venture to say, OFTEN times we know what we should NOT do, but because we don’t want anyone, especially God, to tell us so, we operate as if it is much better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. I believe God wants so much for us to believe Him and to take Him at His Word, that He really does want the best for us. That He really really loves us and wants us to have life and that more abundantly. But because we take this in our own hands we miss what God wants to give us. Because we make decisions to do some things based on our “immature” belief of what we think will happen, we miss the greater thing that God has for us. God sees everything. He has determined our future from the beginning.
God said this to me, and he who has an ear, needs to hear this, “You want so much to do some things. You want some things and because somehow you believe that I do not want you to have what you want or do what you want to do, you go ahead and do what you want to get them. You go ahead and do the thing that you want to do. Foolishly ready and willing, supposedly, to suffer the consequences later.
You have a relationship with Me. You believe you know Me. And because You know that I am a forgiving God, you know that I am a loving God and you truly believe that I will never do anything that will cause you any pain, you plunge ahead and do what you want to do, fully aware that there may be consequences, but not fearing them because of Who you believe Me to be.
But what you are failing to realize is this, Who you think that I Am or Who you know Me to be, I AM not at all. You really don’t know Me as you should. Because if you did, if you knew Me to be Who I AM, God, your God, your Lord, you will not do what you wanted to do, but what you believed that I thought was best for you. And you would know that by asking Me. By asking of My permission instead of seeking My forgiveness.
And what this boils down to is trust,” saith the Lord. “If You really trusted Me, you would know without a doubt that I want what is best for you. That I only want what is best for you. And My permission would be granted to you freely if what you want falls in line with what I want for you.”
God said that we convince ourselves that we can deal with the consequences. That we can face them, no matter what they will be. After all, God loves us. How much would He make us suffer? And as Minister Jeff says, we believe we can 1 John 1 and 9 everything and God will forgive us and we can move on.
Yes, God is a loving God. Yes, God is a forgiving God. But God is also a just God. He is also a sovereign God and a jealous God. And He will not allow us to put anything before Him. It’s in His Word. Thou shalt not have any god before Me. And a god is considered anything that we worship, even our own ideas.
What we have to understand is that everything we do has a consequence, good and bad. And if it against God’s will for our life and we knowingly do it anyway, He has got to correct us. And correction is often painful.
God said that He had to correct Moses when Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to it and yelled at the children of Israel. Moses put his will above God’s when he allowed himself to get angry. He did not humble himself in the sight of the people and show forth God’s greatness. In some way, Moses was saying through his action, it was much easier to ask for God’s forgiveness than to ask for God’s permission. Which so many of us do, when we make up our minds, when we make conscious decisions to do what we want first, and suffer the consequences later.
God said, that what we also fail to realize is this, that thing we wanted so much to have, He would have given us much better than that. If only we had sought Him first and asked His permission instead of HIs forgiveness. He said, “When my Son was in the garden, it was not easy to do what He was about to do, and He could have just as easily turned away from doing it, but He didn’t. What did He do? He asked my permission, ‘Father if it be thy will, take this cup away from Me, but nevertheless, Your will be done.’ He knew Me. He knew that what I have asked of Him to do had a purpose and He trusted that I had nothing but the best planned for Him. And He received the best, the greater gift, for now He is sitting at My right hand, as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. “
God loves you so very much. He only wants what is best for you. Dare to believe Him and trust Him so you want have to ask for forgiveness.
God is real.
Be blessed.
A servant of the Lord,
Sis. E
http://sis.e.home.comcast.net
http://www.ongoodground.org
Testimonials to the goodness, faithfulness, and "realness" of God and His intervention in our lives.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Ask for Permission, Instead of Forgiveness
Evelyn Fannell has the true heart of a servant. She spends a great deal of her time assisting friends, family, and others with a variety of plans and projects, always seeking simply to be of help; always going the extra mile. A writer since her youth, in 2008 Evelyn created the blog, But God Is Real, inspired by real life situations and circumstances that speak to the “realness” of God and His intervention in daily life. After the death of her son, Joseph, Evelyn started another blog, In the Shadow of Grief, created to chronicle the emotions and stages of grief so that she could help others through their journey of pain and sorrow. Along with the blog, Evelyn also started a grief support group on Facebook, under the same name, where members can share with one another in a supportive, non-judgmental environment
In her spare time, Evelyn enjoys jigsaw puzzles, photography, and planning and creating items for special events. She also serves as First Lady and administrator of her church, On Good Ground Christian Fellowship, now in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition to Joseph, she and her husband, Jeff, have two daughters, Brandi and Jasmine, and a grandson, Christian.
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