Covenant Church

After 28 years, Cornerstone Festival, which has given a platform to alternative Christian music groups, will hold its last concert series on July 2-7 in Bushnell, Ill. Past performers have included David Crowder Band, Skillet, Switchfoot and Jeremy Camp.

Pure Flix Entertainment

After his daughter dies in a car accident, Malcolm’s life begins to fall apart. God’s grace and the power of forgiveness are revealed as this father fights to save his lifeline to God.

Dr. Les Parrott

(Tyndale House)

Dr. Les Parrott’s new book, You’re Stronger Than You Think, was written to help you learn to reorient the way you think and understand your feelings so you can access the hidden strength inside of you.

Michele Perry was born without her left hip and leg, but that hasn’t stopped this missionary from helping more than 100 Sudanese children every day. In her latest book, she shares how to allow God’s supernatural power to change any circumstance.

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” But the Lord replied, “Have you any right to be angry?” —Jonah 4:1-4

When Jonah went into Nineveh (a godless nation) with his message, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (Jon. 3:4), the eventual result was that the king himself proclaimed a fast.

Is this because the king invited Jonah to his palace? No. Is it because the king left his palace to hear Jonah? No. It was because “the Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth” (v. 5). It began with the people. Today we use the expression “grass roots”—what ordinary people think and do. It was the people who “believed God.” (It doesn’t say they believed Jonah.) The consequence was that the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he got involved (v. 6). The fast in turn moved the heart of God, who had sent Jonah to Nineveh in the first place!

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. —Jonah 3:10

The whole scenario, then, was God’s idea. He had looked upon a godless nation with graciousness by sending Jonah to them. The only ungracious person was Jonah himself who lost face because of his unvindicated prophecy.

God hates ingratitude. His undiluted wrath was displayed in ancient times because people who knew God did not glorify Him as God, “nor gave thanks to him” (Rom. 1:21). God notices our gratitude happily, but He also notices our ingratitude and our not remembering to thank Him.

Excerpted from Just Say Thanks! (Charisma House, 2005).

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. —Colossians 4:6

God could throw the book at me at any time. But He won’t—that is, unless He sees me pointing my finger at somebody else. Then God will say, “Sorry about this, RT, but I must step in and deal with you. You should know better.” God Himself will see that I am judged if I judge others.

It has often been said that a little bit of learning is a dangerous thing. Sometimes a little bit of spirituality is a dangerous thing as well, because one may be just spiritual enough to see what is wrong in others—and to point the finger. The true test of spirituality is being able not to point the finger!

You may say, “Well, I have to say something, or nobody else will!” So what if no one else does? The person you are judging doesn’t want to hear it, so you are not really helping anyway. When he is judged, he usually will feel worse but not change his behavior.

Consider the atmosphere you live in when it is devoid of criticism. How pleasant it is when we all live in harmony! (See Psalm 133:1.) It is so sweet and so good. Now consider the pain that follows when someone is critical to you. If you don’t like being criticized, don’t criticize others! A lot of grief could be spared if people would learn to control their tongues.

Jesus Himself said, “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matt. 12:36). That is enough to scare me into watching what I say!

Excerpted from Total Forgiveness (Charisma House, 2002).

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. —Matthew 5:7

When Jesus said, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), He was setting the stage for a higher level of perfection than many Christians have even thought to strive for. What we see in Jesus’ words, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” (Matt. 7:1), is an example of this level of perfection—not the sinless perfection of Christ, but a level of maturity that allows us to have a true intimacy with God and a greater anointing. Being merciful is showing graciousness. Paul said, “Let your gentleness be evident to all” (Phil. 4:5).

The word gentleness in this passage comes from a Greek word that literally means “to be gracious.” When you could throw the book at somebody but instead you show mercy, you are making the choice to be gracious.

One acrostic that I have found helpful is built on the word NEED. When speaking to or about another person, ask yourself if what you are about to say will meet his need:

Necessary—Is it necessary to say this?

Encourage—Will this encourage him?  Will it make him feel better?

Edify—Will it edify? Will what you say build him up and make him stronger?

Dignify—Will it dignify that person? Jesus treated other people with a sense of dignity.

Judging is the opposite of graciousness. Being gracious is the consequence of a choice. Remember that any time you choose to judge, you are not being gracious. Judging someone else is actually uncalled-for criticism. That’s what Jesus meant by judging. Criticism that is either unfair or unjust, even if it is true, should not be uttered. Remember, be gracious.

Excerpted from Total Forgiveness (Charisma House, 2002).

And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. —Mark 11:25

Forgiveness is a choice we must make, and it is not a choice that comes easily. If it were easy, why do you think Jesus would mention it again after He finished the Lord’s Prayer? He knows forgiveness is difficult. It wasn’t easy for God to do what He did either, but He did it anyway. He sacrificed His Son, and He asks us to make a little sacrifice in return. You must make the choice to let your enemies off the hook and even pray that God will let them off the hook. When you do that and really mean it, you are there. He looks down from heaven and says good. But then you have to do it again tomorrow. You must make the choice and live it out. Love is an act of the will.

Making a choice to continue in unforgiveness shows that we aren’t sufficiently grateful for God’s forgiveness of our own sins. Perhaps we haven’t taken seriously enough our own sin or our own redemption. Probably what we all want to say is, “Well, what I did wasn’t nearly as bad as what they have done!” And that’s where we are wrong! God hates self-righteousness as much as He hates the injustice that you think is so horrible, and He certainly doesn’t like it when we judge. So if you must forget the sins of which God has forgiven you, at least remember that one of the most heinous sins of all is self-righteousness.

There is, however, another cause for unforgiveness: that we don’t put a high enough value on our relationship with the Father. There should be nothing more important to us than our relationship with God. If you choose to withhold forgiveness from others, you are not putting a high enough value on things today that one day will mean everything to you.

Excerpted from Total Forgiveness (Charisma House, 2002).

Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. —Psalm 30:5

God knows how much we can bear, and even when He chastens in the sense of punishment, He knows how much each of us can take.

It is possible that right now you are going through something awful—a nightmare. Perhaps your nightmare is because you are obedient, and it is God’s way of making you more like Jesus. “For it is commendable if a man bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God” (1 Pet. 2:19). But the nightmare will end.

When the nightmare is over, it could mean a restoration of honor. In Psalm 126:4 the psalmist said, “Restore our fortunes, O Lord.” It could be that your good name is under a cloud. Maybe you have done something that has caused people to raise their eyebrows, or perhaps you have been falsely accused and you long to have your name cleared.

It could be a restoration of holiness. Are you a backslider? Have you been living in sin and just doing anything that your body feels like? It is not worth it.

It could be a restoration of humility: “Those who sow in tears, will reap with songs of joy” (Ps. 126:5). Perhaps you have become proud and unmanageable, and God has had to humble you.

Tears get God’s attention. Hannah wept because she was barren. God gave her Samuel. The church whose womb has been strategically closed by God may find the answer in sowing in tears, that God could say, “Sing, O barren woman, you who never bore a child. … For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back” (Isa. 54:1-7).

Do you want to know the way back? It is the way of tears, sorrow that is true repentance. When you are sorry, the way to end the nightmare is to weep. God sees tears.

Excerpted from Higher Ground (Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 1995).

If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. —1 John 1:6

One way we walk in darkness is by holding bitterness in our hearts toward others—bitterness that creates confusion in our minds and oppression in our hearts. You may say, “Oh, but I am having fellowship with God.” No, you’re not. You just claim you are having fellowship with God if there is bitterness in your heart. And if we claim to have fellowship with God but walk in darkness, we lie.

Walking in darkness is the consequence of unforgiveness. When I don’t forgive, I might spend hours a day in prayer, but I am not having genuine fellowship with God. If I can’t forgive the person who hurt someone dear to me, I am walking in darkness. If I can’t forgive the person who lied about me to others, I have lost my intimate relationship with the Father. I can even continue to preach, and people can even say, “Oh, what a wonderful sermon! You must be so close to God!” I could put on such an act that you would think that I am the holiest person in the church. But if I have bitterness inside or am holding a grudge against someone else, I am a liar.

Jesus tenderly shows us in the Lord’s Prayer that we will be hurt, and we will be hurt by people we never dreamed of. We might think, Well, yes, I can imagine so-and-so hurting me, but I never thought it would be you!

Some people do wicked things with their eyes wide open, and these people surely have to know they have done something wrong. You may say, “Do I have to forgive even that?” The answer is yes.

There is a wonderful consolation, however: the greater the sin you must forgive, the greater the measure of the Spirit that will come to you. Welcome the opportunity to forgive the deepest hurt, the greatest injustice, and remember that a greater anointing is waiting for you.

Excerpted from Total Forgiveness (Charisma House, 2002).