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PROGRAM D-7690
I want to encourage you to make a Psalm a daily reading habit. Here’s the reason why, because a Psalm a day keeps the stress away. Could it be that you are stressed out over your past? Do you feel shame and regret because of what you’ve done? Maybe you are stressed because you wonder if God can really forgive you for your sins and mistakes.
Psalm 103 is for you. I urge you to read the entire Psalm. The first three verses will lift your spirit: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.
Did you hear that? The Lord will forgive all your iniquity. Do you really believe it? You know, you may have believed it once, but you’ve forgotten—you’ve forgotten all his benefits to you. Have you allowed the enemy of your soul to take you back to the shame and regret of your past and forgotten that the Lord has forgiven you?
I remember many years ago when I was remembering what I should have forgotten—I was remembering some of the things in my past which I regret, shameful things I wish had never happened. But, you see, those things had long since been confessed and forgiven, but silly me, I started reciting them again to the Lord, asking for his forgiveness. And honestly, what I heard the Holy Spirit saying to my spirit was, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” You see, God remembers no more our confessed and forsaken sins. David goes on in Psalm 103 to say, For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
Don’t live in the regrets and shame of your past. If God has forgiven you, then please, forgive yourself and take that stress out of your mind. Read Psalm 103 every day for a week—it will do wonders for you, I promise.