{"id":343122,"date":"2024-09-24T17:40:17","date_gmt":"2024-09-24T21:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/?p=343122"},"modified":"2024-09-24T17:48:15","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T21:48:15","slug":"i-ask-for-your-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/post\/i-ask-for-your-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I Ask For Your Forgiveness&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-343274 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/ASKING-FOR-YOUR-FORGIVENESS2.jpg\" alt=\"ASKING FOR YOUR FORGIVENESS My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray; they have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place. Jeremiah 50:6 As I meditated on this verse, the Holy Spirit touched my heart deeply about the mistakes that pastors and churches have committed. We were called to bring the Word of God to the lost, to heal the sick, to give hope to those who were hopeless in this life. But many times, while trying to do the right thing, pastors and churches have done what was wrong, leading others to do wrong as well. I recognize that I, myself, have been guilty of this. Poorly worded conversations, rude or pushy manners of speech, decisions that have caused you pain or loss\u2026 These are just a few ways that can cause people to turn away from God\u2019s path, even if it wasn\u2019t our intention. I know that good intentions aren\u2019t enough. And that\u2019s why I\u2019m here, asking for your forgiveness. That\u2019s right. Whether I, or any other pastor or church has disappointed you, caused you to have grudges, a coldness towards God, or for you to backslide in your faith, I ask for your forgiveness. I never, ever want to be a stumbling block to anyone. My greatest desire for over 60 years, has been to lead people to know the Lord Jesus. I have always taught that we should look only to Him, so that we\u2019ll never be deceived by others and lose our salvation. Maybe some of you have wandered away from God because you were disappointed in pastors or the church. Maybe you\u2019ve been searching for rest in all the wrong places. People have let you down, but it doesn\u2019t mean that God has let you down, or that it\u2019s too late to turn back to Him. People are imperfect, but God will never fail you. Return to Him today. The verse above speaks of how the wrongdoings of the shepherds caused many to go so far astray that they forgot where their \u201cresting place\u201d is. This place is the House of God. If even one of you returns to the House of God after reading this letter, it will make me incredibly happy, but not as happy as heaven will be: In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven\u2019t strayed away! Luke 15:7 God bless you all abundantly, Bishop Edir Macedo The Universal Church \" width=\"835\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/ASKING-FOR-YOUR-FORGIVENESS2.jpg 835w, https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/ASKING-FOR-YOUR-FORGIVENESS2-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/ASKING-FOR-YOUR-FORGIVENESS2-792x1024.jpg 792w, https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/ASKING-FOR-YOUR-FORGIVENESS2-768x993.jpg 768w, https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/ASKING-FOR-YOUR-FORGIVENESS2-318x411.jpg 318w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 835px) 100vw, 835px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":343286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[323,6221],"tags":[6184],"site":[],"class_list":["post-343122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-school-of-faith","category-news","tag-forgiveness"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343122"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343287,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343122\/revisions\/343287"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343122"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=343122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}