Peter lied to Jesus and denied knowing him. What did Jesus do to Peter? Jesus died for him, conquered the grave and rose from the dead, then came looking for him. You’d think Jesus would mention Peter’s denial of him, but he didn’t. He met him where he was and affirmed his calling. Jesus will do the same for you.

If you feel like you’ve grown distant from God in your heart, I can assure you, God has not grown distant toward you. God’s affection for you is not affected by yours for him.

Whether you realize it or not, you have spent a lifetime working on your self-portrait. This is not an external painting, it’s an image of yourself in your heart. You have constructed a detailed picture of who you believe you are that drives every belief, thought, emotion, and choice you will ever make.

Every time you have a decision to make, you look at your self-portrait. That internal image reminds you of who you are. This is not a conscious process. This is a subconscious process that happens in your heart without thinking about it. What you see in your self-portrait may or may not reflect the truth.

Ultimately that self-portrait in your heart should look like Jesus, but you painted over that image with pain, fear, failure, and sin. The good news is, the original image remains!

God has the utmost respect for you. He has a high sense of value for you. You are worth his own life. You are worthy of being treated with dignity and respect because of the kind of being you are (crowned with glory and honor).

Being made in God’s image doesn’t mean you look like him; it means you are a being that’s worthy to be in his class. You are not a worm. You are a valuable creature, born of God’s image, carrying his presence everywhere you go.

What if you believed that about yourself?
What if you believed that about others?

The world’s systems can fall apart in a matter of days. The things we trust in and depend on can go away overnight. Then what? What do you do if you lose everything? Answer: Remember the Lord and forget not his benefits. God sees ahead and makes provision, our job is to stay receptive to him so we’ll follow his leading into provision.

It may take a while, you may have some difficult days or even years. You may have to work a job you don’t like for a while. You might lose your pension/retirement. But the Lord is with you and is able to do exceedingly above all you can ask or think.

Be wise, plan, save, invest, but remember those things are not your provision, they are simply tools to manage the Lord’s provision.

The reason we don’t cling to God and allow him to lead us through adversity into extravagant blessing is we forget about his benefits and lean to our own strength in the process. We become afraid or get mad at God that we’re going through a difficulty and close off our hearts to his spirit, and constrict his blessings from flowing in our lives. It’s the principle of the sower and the seed from Mark 4, the receptivity of your heart to God’s word determines the degree of his kingdom you’ll experience in this earth. (more on that topic here)

You have the responsibility to believe and co-labor with God. BUT!! REMEMBER!! You are not limited to your ability. You are not limited to what’s in your hands. You have God’s faith working in you and he is able to believe in a way you can’t imagine. But that doesn’t absolve you from believing, it’s a collaboration, so don’t forget his benefits.

You know you are supposed to pray for people who have hurt you, but sometimes it's hard, especially if that person is still in your life. We're encouraged to forgive and move on, but forgiving the person who caused so much pain is not easy.

You might be in a position where that person, or possibly faith leaders in your life are pressuring you to forgive. I want to show you how to genuinely find forgiveness in your heart and get to a place where you can pray for and bless that person.

Before we get into how to pray for and bless those who have abused you, let's establish a few key points. Remind yourself of these truths as you process through forgiveness, into praying for and blessing your abuser.