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Jeremiah 29 (NIV)

10 This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  
12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

God is always seeking our best.  And loving God, loving Agape Love, is the best thing for us.  God’s Word tells us how to do this.  Trust Jesus and obey Him.  But this is hard to do on our own.  I naturally want to take the quick and easy path of sin to meet my God-given needs.  Sin is fun for a little while, but the problem is that the fun doesn’t last long.  And the pain of sin is much greater than the pleasure and can last much longer.  And sin hurts me, others and God.  That’s why God calls it sin.  God wants us to meet our God-given needs His way.  And that takes patience for God’s timing and trust in His character and possibly some amount of effort.

The beautiful thing is that we don’t need to depend on our own strength to follow Him.  If we agree with God that we have had wrong attitudes and actions in the past (sin), if we believe that God the Father raised Jesus, God the Son, back from the dead, and if we surrender control of our lives to the One who loves us most, Jesus promises to meet our needs and give us strength.

And with Jesus in our heart, we will be able to love supernaturally, and God will give us joy.  The way may not always be easy though.  Satan used to ignore me but now that I follow Jesus, satan attacks me much more than before Jesus saved me.

But, Jesus said, “Take heart, for I have overcome [satan].

When I was a kid, Jesus’ words of Matthew 5 made no sense to me.  When I became an adult they still made no sense.  When I gave my life to Jesus they started to make sense.

Matthew 5

1  And seeing the multitudes, He went up
on a mountain, and when He was seated
His disciples came to Him. 2  Then He
opened His mouth and taught them,
saying:

(Jesus’ words)                                          
(How I interpret them, not necessarily accurately)

3    “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy are those who have no confidence in their own goodness,
Because Jesus came for them.

4    Blessed are those who mourn,
    For they shall be comforted.
Happy are those who sorrow over their heart that is bent toward evil,
Because Jesus will give them a new heart bent toward God.

5    Blessed are the meek,
    For they shall inherit the earth.
Happy are those whose strength is under control,
For God will put the earth under their control.

6    Blessed are those who hunger
    and thirst for righteousness,
    For they shall be filled.
Happy are those who desperately want their souls to be clean,
For Jesus will clean them as white as snow.

7    Blessed are the merciful,
    For they shall obtain mercy.
Happy are those who cancel the debts of others that the others’ cannot pay themselves,
For Jesus will cancel their debt to God that they cannot pay themselves.
8    Blessed are the pure in heart,
    For they shall see God.
Happy are those who have no evil desires,
For they will be able to see God working everywhere.

9    Blessed are the peacemakers,
    For they shall be called sons of God.
Happy are those who help brothers and sisters to find common ground, creative synergistic solutions and critical understanding of each other and of themselves,
For they will be named after the Most High.

10    Blessed are those who are 
    persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy are those who are rejected for the purity of, and love in, their heart,
For Jesus is theirs.

11  “Blessed are you when they revile 
and persecute you, and say all kinds 
of evil against you falsely for My sake. 
12  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, 
for great is your reward in heaven, 
for so they persecuted the prophets 
who were before you.
Happy are you when others hate you because you follow Jesus
and your godly character publicly exposes their own evil,
Jump for joy because a prophet’s reward is waiting for you in heaven.

Psalm 51 NIV84

1 For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
…
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.
14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

I love Psalm 51:17.  I mess up regularly.  And when I have messed up bad, and the excuses don’t mean a thing, I have this cry of David to give me the comfort I am desperately looking for.  If I “own” my evil action, and wish I had never done it, and I am committed to never doing it again, Our Father in Heaven will “blot out my transgressions”.  Why would He do that?  Because of all the good things I’ve done? or all the good things I promise to do?

No.

He forgives me because He is my Father and He loves me.  (And He loves you just as much).  And He has the right to forgive us because He suffered and died to pay the price for our sins.

But what does Our Father do when I have been forgiven and commit the exact same sin again, and again, and again?!  Matthew records Jesus:

Then Peter came to [Jesus] and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Matthew 18:21-22 NKJV

If God tells us to forgive others that many times, how will He treat us?  Our Father has limitless compassion on us His children.  If He endured torture and death for us when we were His enemies, what will He withhold now that we are His friends?  Or, as the Apostle Paul wrote:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Romans 5:8-11 NKJV

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 

Romans 8:28 NKJV

In my case, my consequence of mental illness has given me insight and credibility to help others who are experiencing mental illness and/or to help their loved ones understand what mental illness is like.  Whatever mistakes you have made, if you turn from it, God can use it for good.  And He can make using that mistake an opportunity to help others… And a joy!

Why don’t you ask Him to do that for you right now?