Daily Bible Reading:

Psalm 130

"If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered."

Romans 3:23-24

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Broken Promises

I always make promises to God and then end up breaking them. I feel terrible after, but I don't know what I can do to have God forgive me. Do you have any suggestions?

....In short, what you have to do for God to forgive you is to ask .

Breaking promises to God is a very human thing to do. We promise God that we will not be hateful, or selfish, or engage in unhealthy activities, and then we do and we feel awful - not only because we know the act is wrong, but because we broke our promise to our creator who loves us.

The key to changing this pattern is twofold. The first is to deeply understand the act of repentance. Repentance is not just throwing up our hands and saying I'm sorry. Repentance involves truly admitting and understanding the nature of our mistakes, seeing the root causes of our wrongful activities and the consequences they have on other people and the world. It also involves trying as best we can to mend the damage that has been done, and then asking for forgiveness from God and from the people we have hurt. Repentance is work....

Excerpt from I Break Promises to God , ©Copyright Pastor Paul Raushenbush . Retrieved from  Beliefnet.com on 7/12/2006. Clicking on the link will take you directly to this article where you can continue reading it.

...I was there the first time you prayed

And I heard all the promises you made

And when you fell before me

Crying Father I have sinned

I picked you up and held you close again

You will always be a child in my eyes

And when you need some love my arms are open wide

And even if you're growing old I hope you realize

You will always be a child in my eyes

Lyrics to 'Always Be a Child' by Ray Boltz and Steve Millikan

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