I recently attended the Love of Christ conference in Jacksonville FL.
I was amazed and practically speechless as teacher after teacher took me into the life of my savior. It became so evident to me that God was working mightily in the hearts of these men and women to communicate His heart to me.
I received deliverance in two categories that I will share with you. Before the conference I was ministered to by this wonderful woman who looked me straight in the eye and asked if I had a grudge or issue with anyone and had not forgiven them. In fact, I did. “Is this person a Christian”, she asked? I replied, “Yes”. “Well, Christ has paid for their sin and God forgives them”, she replied. “What about if it happens almost daily?, I asked. She responded, “You forgive them as they are doing it to you.” This is something that had been occupying my thought life daily, dragging me down. Now just telling me I need to do something doesn’t necessarily bring about a change though! But it planted a seed. Then when I heard the teaching at the conference on “Forgiveness in Real Time” I realized how Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross after being tortured for 40 hours and was looking at the men who had done these things to him and said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”, WHILE they were continuing to mock and rail on him. They weren’t believers and they weren’t asking for forgiveness, and yet Christ asked the Father to forgive them – that did it for me! At that moment I forgave that person. What a weight was lifted!
The second area of deliverance is in the area of boldness. Now I am not a shy person. In fact my wife is often amazed by my boldness! But we are talking about taking it to a whole new level here. Jesus Christ opened his public ministry by going into the synagogue that he had grown up in – thirty years of people thinking he was Joseph’s “bastard” son. He read the prophecy concerning himself, looked at the people and basically said, “I AM the Messiah.” WOW!! That’s how he started, and then he followed up with proof. What confidence he had in who he really was and what boldness he had to be able to claim it so emphatically. This is the boldness we can have as sons of God. We can live and love just like Jesus Christ.
Thanks to all the folks who put their love into this weekend. Not just another event… life-changing!
– Buddy Pressler
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