Ps 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Have you heard these words before: “How can you go to God now after what you’ve done?”  “You will not hear Jesus if you sin!!” or even “You have to repent of all of your sin before you enter the Lord’s presence.”   Who do you think is the author of these quotes!!!

Let me give you a hint, he is the Father of Lies (John 8:44), the Accuser of the Brethren (Revelation 12:10) or better known as the Devil.  It is yet another of his many tricks to keep us from tapping into the power that is inside of all of us.  If he can constantly remind us of our sin, we will focus on it and never look to Jesus, who died on the cross for the forgiveness of all of our (your & mine) sin; once and for all.    Don’t believe me?? Check out the Word……

1. 1.      Gen 3:9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”  10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 
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2. 2.      Gen 4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”  He said,”I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.

Take a quick look; Adam and Eve sinned and they immediately knew they were naked, so look at God’s response…The Lord came looking for them.  What about Cain and Abel?  Right after Cain killed his brother, who showed up?  Our Lord, yep yours and mine.  Jesus never turns His back on us, He never leaves us or forsakes us (Heb 13:5).  Why!!!  He Loves us!! His love is amazing and He is always looking for us.  It is our presence that He is after, when we really love someone we enjoy spending time with them and Jesus loves spending time with us.  So much so that when we are in His presence He gives us “the path of life,” “fullness of joy” & “pleasures forevermore.”

Too often we let sin cause us to look everywhere but Jesus; look at what Adam and Cain focused on, Adam feared (I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself) and Cain lied (He said,”I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?)…When our focus is on our sin…we fear our King and lie to ourselves.  We neglect the Lord’s presence and miss out on His abundant joy and wondrous blessings, forgetting that we can never leave His presence.  What then are we left with…guilt, sorrow, broken hearts; we become captives of our own despair.  But we must look to Jesus the “Author and Finisher of our Faith (Heb 12:2);” after all He came to save us and redeem us….  Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”