absent.

Maybe blogging is not for me. I mean I've been absent from the post for almost a week. I've been busy :) Isn't that the most common excuse. Life. It gets in the way.

We had a great service Sunday. The Lord spoke to my heart through the many testimonies that were given. God's mercy endureth forever. He will never leave us or forsake us. Then Sunday's night message was a challenge to us. Pastor Pallotta has been preaching for several weeks on 'How to have a good year'. Yes, it was March 21, but I did say for several weeks :)... Sunday night's message dealt with fleeing sin. He read the passage from II Samuel 11, were David sinned with Bathsheba. David then had her husband, Uriah, placed on the front line of the battle so that he would be killed. Sad, sad story... There's a passage in Psalm 51 where he cries out and says, "my sin is ever before me". God grants forgiveness when we repent, but that sin is always present in our minds. Sometimes the devil will use it to discourage us from serving God. We must say with David,

"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me...Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."

Oh that I will make right choices this year. Pastor mentioned that sometimes even people who are on fire for God can get caught in a sin so quickly that it destroys them. I believe David was one such person. We must be on guard 'for the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.'