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No doubt, at one time or another, you've been hurt. Most likely, someone you loved and trusted did something unthinkable. Perhaps it was so devastating that it changed your whole perspective on that person.

If that's the case, you have a choice! You can either wallow in self-pity, pain, and anger. Or you can forgive! Forgiveness is the act of giving up the resentment we have toward someone along with the desire to retaliate. It involves three important steps.

First, we must release the general feeling of resentment. That is, we must make a decision not to suffer in our pain. This can be difficult! Many people seem to enjoy holding on to self-pity or a sense of martyrdom. They may believe it's just their lot in life to suffer. But that's not true. You can choose to move past it.

Second, forgiveness means we must surrender specific feelings of resentment toward a particular individual. We must let go of our anger at being hurt, and seek to restore the broken relationship.

Third, we lay down all claims to revenge. You cannot forgive someone with your words while secretly wishing him or her harm. True forgiveness seeks the other person's good, not punishment.

Ephesians 4:30-32 urges us to “not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

Someone with a forgiving attitude may say something like this: "Though you hurt me, I choose to forgive you! I won't dwell on this. And, I won't allow it to destroy my life or my attitude. I won't spend one minute plotting revenge. You are God's precious child. And I love you."

Truly forgiving another person carries a price. But without a doubt, the rewards are greater. Unleash the power of forgiveness in your life today!

Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS, Volume 9.21. Live for God, on purpose, enjoying the blessings experienced when you choose to forgive.

The Purpose of the Spirit

Some of the fondest memories from my childhood are from the many weekends that my younger brother and I would stay at my grandmother’s house. My parents would drop us off on a Saturday afternoon, and after dinner, a regular habit we had was to walk “upstreet,” through the tunnel under the railroad tracks, and into the little town of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. Every week, we made this trek, stopping first at the local news stand, and then heading to Isaly’s for one of their famous skyscraper ice cream cones, then walking back to “Gramma’s house.” One of the special things was that each week Gramma would buy her Sunday newspaper – and also would buy my brother and me a 12-cent comic book! On rare occasions, Gramma would allow us to get the giant 25-cent comics! Mike and I each had our favorites. He always got Batman. But, not me. There was only one comic I wanted – Superman! When we got back to Gramma’s house, we would each read our comic books and watch “Studio Wrestling” with Bill Cardille (otherwise known as “Chilly Billy Cardilly” – don’t ask – it’s a ‘burgh thing.)

Superman, if you remember, was mild-mannered Clark Kent, reporter for the newspaper “The Daily Planet.” But, when duty called, he would slip out of the building, go into a phone booth (good luck finding one of those today!) and quickly change his outfit, donning his blue and red superhero tights with the big S on the chest. In an instant, the weak, glasses- wearing individual was transformed into a muscle-bound powerhouse with abilities that defied human thought – he was invincible!

Now, note this – once transformed from Clark Kent into Superman, he didn’t stand around, flex his muscles, impress people by seeing through buildings, or doing any number of “carnival trick” acts to demonstrate his powers and abilities. He went immediately to the work that he had to do. He had a distinct purpose, and he was focused on doing that work.

We could learn a lot from Superman! While we are not from the planet Krypton, we have nonetheless been given extraordinary powers, far beyond human capability, and actually even more dynamic than those of the “Man of Steel.” But, what do we do? Once a week, we “Pentecostal Christians” jump into our “phone booth” that we call “the church” and put on our version of blue and red leotards (I think we call them suits and ties now.) And then we have cute little meetings where we have the opportunity to see all the powers of all the other “superheroes” – all without leaving the phone booth.

Isn’t it about time for we believers to go “up, up, and away” into all the world and allow the “superpowers” we have been given to be used for the purpose they were given?

Well, that is exactly what we will be talking about this week, as we continue our “Persuaded by the Power of God” series with the fourth message – “Persuaded by the Purpose of the Spirit.”

Hope to see you at WFA this week – and watch you discover the “superhero” within you!

Ten Steps to a Deeper Friendship with Your Spouse

Friendship is one of the most important components to marriage.

by Alyson Weasley

Marriage, like any friendship, begins with areas of commonality, but the stresses of normal everyday life – children, work, finances, illness, caring for elderly parents – can tax the union and cause it to grow apart. Traditional marriage counseling is one way to deepen your friendship, but you can also engage in some simple practices.

Here are ten suggestions to cultivate a stronger relationship with your spouse. I've also included quotes from average folks that have successfully built this kind of friendship:

1. Recognize that friendship building takes a lot of work – and time. Cut the fat out of your day.

Establish a time each week to spend quality time together – then guard that time with your lives!
Choose to spend time together rather than apart. This may mean sacrificing good things for a season such as small groups, ministry, or bonding time with guys or gals.

"We've made some significant concessions for the sake of our friendship. Phil lives close to his work so that can come home for lunch as often as possible. The short commute has improved his mood and energy." – Amy

2. Explore the interests of your spouse be it baseball, art, musical theater, gardening or hunting. Find out what their passionate about and then join them. Often this takes a bit of sacrifice.

"I intentionally study the things that are having an influence on my wife. If she takes up a new area of interest, or is reading a new book, than I need to do that as well." – Bill

3. Take time to find common interests and then engage in them.

"We've tried many things together over the past 35 years. We enjoy cooking and gardening, and for as long as I can remember we take time away from the kids to backpack during summer. Part of the fun is doing research on hiking trails, camp sites, packs, tents, and cooking stoves ... it's the planning together that has grown our friendship." – John

4. Use conflict to sharpen and purify friendship.

"I thought I was particularly fortunate because my husband and I rarely argued – we agreed on almost everything. The process of recovering from adultery revealed unhealthy communication on both our parts. Now we have more disagreements, but they come about because we're being honest with one another, which is helping us get to know each other more all the time." – Andi

5. Nourish and care for one another. Be gentle with one another.

"We lost our first child. We more than comforted one another. We held each other ... lifted one another up ... and we knew at a deep level that our best friend in the world was going through the same thing." – Glenn

6. Accountability and mutual respect, including in the areas of sexuality, finances, and relationships, should be a priorities.

"My wife knows everything about my brokenness. I have gone to her first in difficult situations. There's a small circle of people who know me and know my depravity. My wife is in that circle. Having that transparency has given me strength, clarity, and tremendous freedom." – George

7. Establish daily habits especially praying together.

"Praying together every morning not only sets the tone for our day, and releases the burdens on our hearts, but it puts us on the same page in so many areas. God meets us in the midst of our friendship every morning." – Justine

8. Affirm one another every day. Be intentional in communicating the other's strengths.

"My wife and I make it a habit to regularly communicate those things we admire or value in the other. This practice has strengthened our friendship." – Al

9. Be transparent with one another.

"One activity I suggest to married couples is, at some point during the day, identify an emotional reality to your spouse. Label that feeling in a self-disclosing way such as ‘I'm angry, fearful, resentful.‘ We often limit our conversation to the reporting of events rather than communicating how we really feel." – Bill

10. Communication. Most experts agree that regular communication builds a friendship that weathers the storms of life.

"For us, communication, in part, is negotiating the rules that will make our relationship work better or flow more smoothly.

For example, just recently, I had the implicit assumption that my bike tools should be placed on the kitchen table. My wife, Annie, challenged this assumption, and conflict arose. By the end of our negotiation, we had made a new rule: bike tools do not ever go on the kitchen table.

It sounds silly, but her demand felt like a threat to how I operate, and therefore a threat to my personhood, my masculinity. In that encounter I had to learn that I was no less Jason, no less a man, no less a person, to concede to my wife's demands that certain spaces are set aside for certain purposes. My personhood goes beyond and deeper than that." – Jason

Learn to Make Better Decisions

If you're still making the same mistakes at 50 that you were at 20, you need to ask God for wisdom. "The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge; the ears of the wise seek it out" (Proverbs 18:15). What you are in the present is determined by the decisions you made in the past. Proverbs 14:15 says "A prudent man gives thought to his steps." If you want to change your future, learn to make better decisions.

Be wise! Here are ten principles to guide you:

1. Never make permanent decisions based on temporary circumstances. If you do, you'll regret it.

2. Don't let your emotions blind your reasoning. Pray, weigh things carefully and base your decisions on mature judgment.

3. Surround yourself with sharp people and draw on their gifts, without being intimidated by their expertise.

4. Take the time to consider all options. What looks good to you today may not look so good tomorrow.

5. You can't fight successfully on every front, so choose your battles carefully. Simply stated: some things are not worth fighting for.

6. Take time to get all the facts; conjecture leads to crisis.

7. Consider the consequences of each action. Ask yourself, "Am I ready to handle this right now?"

8. Make sure your expectations don't exceed your potential and your resources. Be realistic. If you can't count, don't apply for a job in the finance office. If you can't sing, don't try to make an album. Focus on what God gifted you to do. That's where you'll succeed.

9. Time is your most limited and valuable resource. Don't waste it.

10. Allow yourself a 10% risk of being wrong, a 50% likelihood of betrayal, and a 100% commitment to trust God. Go forward and survive it all.

Spiritual Bracings

by David Jeremiah

“My soul melts from heaviness; strengthen me according to Your word.” – Psalm 119:28

When designing a bridge, the engineer must take into account three different, but equally important loads: the dead load, which is the weight of the bridge itself; the live load, which is the weight of the daily traffic it must carry; and the wind load, which is the pressure of the storms that beat on the bridge. The engineer then plans for bracings that will bear all three loads.

As Christians, we need bracings for the dead load of self, the live load of daily living, and the wind load of emergencies and trials. The only bracings strong enough to withstand all three loads are found in Scripture, and they are available to us at any moment; all we have to do is open the Bible and seek the Lord.

How strong are our bracings? Every time we commit a verse to memory, read the Word of God, or ask for wisdom, we are strengthening our spiritual bracings so that during daily struggles or life-altering trials, instead of aimlessly searching elsewhere for solace and strength, we know exactly where to turn, seek wisdom, and take comfort.

from Dr. David Jeremiah’s “Today’s Turning Point” daily devotional. www.TurningPointOnline.org

Ten Inches of Water

A boy was sitting in a park bench with one hand resting on an open Bible. He was loudly exclaiming his praise to God. “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God is great!” he yelled without worrying whether anyone heard him or not.

Shortly after, along came a man who had recently completed some studies at a local University. Feeling himself very enlightened in the ways of truth and very eager to show this enlightenment, he asked the boy about the source of his joy.

“Hey,” asked the boy in return with a bright laugh, “Don't you have any idea what God is able to do? I just read that God opened up the waves of the Red Sea and led the whole nation of Israel right through the middle.”

The enlightened man laughed lightly, sat down next to the boy and began to try to open his eyes to the realities of the miracles of the Bible. “That can all be very easily explained. Modern scholarship has shown that the Red Sea in that area was only 10 inches deep at that time. It was no problem for the Israelites to wade across.”

The boy was stumped. His eyes wandered from the man back to the Bible lying open in his lap. The man, content that he had enlightened a poor naive young person to the finer points of scientific insight turned to leave.

Scarcely had he taken two steps when the boy began to rejoice and praise louder than before. The man turned to ask the reason for this resumed jubilation.

“Wow!” exclaimed the boy happily, “God is greater than I thought! Not only did He lead the whole nation of Israel through the Red Sea, He topped it off by drowning the whole Egyptian army in 10 inches of water!”

Six Worship Music Principles

by Tom Goodman

First, biblical worship uses a variety of musical instruments. We should "sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments" (1 Chronicles 15:16). Think of the wide variety of musical instruments in the Bible: drums and tambourines, "clashing" cymbals, stringed instruments, "loud" trumpets, wood instruments, and even a cappella singing (see 1 Chronicles 13:8; 15:16; 2 Chronicles 5:13; Isaiah 38:20; Psalm 150; Matthew 26:30).

Second, biblical worship includes untrained congregational singing AND trained skillful singing. God wants the whole congregation to sing (Colossians 3:16), even while certain people are to be set aside to sing "skillfully" (1 Chronicles 25:6-7).

Third, biblical worship is expressive AND orderly. As you read the Word, have you noticed how expressive people are in worship? They're clapping and shouting (Psalm 47), lifting hands (1 Timothy 2:8), bowing down (Psalm 66), and responding with a verbal "Amen" (1 Corinthians 14:17). At the same time, the Bible says, "God is not a God of disorder," and thus "everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way" (1 Corinthians 13:33, 40). So, we don't want to be a church that's expressive but not orderly. Neither do we want to be a church that's orderly but not expressive.

Fourth, biblical worship includes songs of celebration AND songs of contemplation. Some don't think a church service is reverent enough if the music is loud and boisterous; others don't think a church service has life if the music is reflective and earnest. But in God's Word, sometimes I read about loud instruments and shouts of praise, and sometimes I read about bowing in hushed reverence in God's presence. Seems to me God is pleased with both.

Fifth, biblical worship includes songs that express simple trust AND songs that express profound truth. In our services, sometimes we need to sing simple, childlike expressions of trust, like the one sung in heaven's worship service in Revelation 4:11. On the other hand, sometimes we need those songs that plumb the theological depths, like the ancient hymn Paul quoted in Philippians 2:6-11.

Sixth, biblical worship includes songs that are old and songs that are new. In the Book of Revelation John described heaven's worship service where he heard "the song of Moses" (Revelation 15:2-3). Talk about your old songs! But he also heard "a new song" (5:9). So, I think we need songs that have endured through the generations as well as songs that express the faith in contemporary ways.

as seen in Tom Goodman’s email devotional, “Winning Ways.”

The Last Impression

There was a little old lady, who every morning stepped onto her front porch, raised her arms to the sky, and shouted: "Praise the Lord!"

One day an atheist moved into the house next door. He became irritated at the little old lady. Every morning he'd step onto his front porch after her and yell, "There is no Lord!"

Time passed with the two of them carrying on this way every day.

One morning, in the middle of winter, the little old lady stepped onto her front porch and shouted, "Praise the Lord! Please Lord, I have no food and I am starving, provide for me, oh Lord!"

The next morning she stepped out onto her porch and there were two huge bags of groceries sitting there.

"Praise the Lord!" she cried out. "He has provided groceries for me!"

The atheist neighbor jumped out of the hedges and shouted, "There is no Lord; I bought those groceries!!"

The little old lady threw her arms into the air and shouted, "Praise the Lord! He has provided me with groceries and made the devil pay for them!"

Here in America, this weekend is a holiday – the Memorial Day weekend. Traditionally, it marks the unofficial beginning of summer, even though summer itself is nearly a full month away. Monday is Memorial Day – a day set aside to remember those who gave their lives while serving in the Armed Forces, so that we may have our freedom. Let’s make Sunday a Memorial Day as well, being sure to remember the One who gave His life so that we may have our spiritual freedom.