Move In Forgiveness God’s And Yours
In order to enjoy the freedom, wholeness, and true success God has for you, forgiveness has to flow like liquid in your heart. If you harbor unforgiveness, it stops up the flow of the Spirit in you. It can even keep your prayers from being answered (Psalm 66:18).
We are supposed to turn our unforgiveness into forgiveness before we even pray. Jesus said, “Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25). God will withhold His forgiveness from us as long as we withhold our forgiveness from anyone else.
This is serious business.
If we do not forgive, not only will we have unforgiveness in us eating away at our mind and body, but we will not enjoy complete forgiveness from God, which in itself will be a major strain on our conscience. We will lose all peace. It is not worth it just to hang on to a few moments of inner revenge.
If we don’t forgive, the only one being hurt is us. I’ve said this before, but it is worth repeating here: Forgiveness doesn’t make the other person right, it makes you free. And in order to have wholeness and true success, we have to be free. Forgiveness enables us to move on with our life.
Receive God’s Forgiveness
One of the best ways to become a forgiving person is for you to understand and receive God’s forgiveness. Forgiveness is what God has chosen to give to you, and He wants you to choose to give it to others. Jesus said, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). It can’t get any clearer than that.
Don’t become confused about God’s forgiveness. When you receive Jesus, you are completely forgiven of all past sins. The slate is clean. The reason I had to go back and confess certain sins of the past in Mary Anne’s office after I had become a believer was because those sins still had a tormenting hold on me. I still had unforgiveness toward my mother. And while I had stopped all my occult practices, I still had many books on the occult sitting in my house. Also, I had not specifically confessed the two abortions I’d had before I became a believer, and even though God had forgiven me of all that when I received Jesus, I still couldn’t forgive myself. Confessing those sins helped me receive the forgiveness God had already extended to me, and it also broke the consequences of sin I had allowed to pervade my life.
Remember, God has given you a way to receive His full forgiveness, and that is to confess the sin and repent of it. You say, “I did this, Lord, and I ask You to forgive me. I hate what I have done and am so deeply sorry about it that I intend to never do it again.” However, if we want God to forgive us of everything, we also have to forgive.
The only way to receive God’s forgiveness for our unforgiveness is to forgive others completely.
Refuse To Get Stuck In Unforgiveness
Not forgiving others is one of those self-torturing sins. It may feel good for a moment, but soon it will begin to destroy you. Don’t allow yourself to do it. Instead, obey God by letting people off the hook. Give them a chance to change and be different than what they were. That doesn’t mean you have to set yourself up to be hurt again. It means you release them into God’s hands and you get on with your
life.
Whenever you forgive someone, you gain greater freedom, wholeness, and true success. That’s because when you forgive, you are stepping into the river of life, where you are refreshed and cleansed. When you forgive, you become more like the Lord. When you don’t forgive, unforgiveness takes over your life. While unforgiveness doesn’t take away your salvation, it does limit what God can do in you and through you. It keeps you from becoming all you can be.
Ask God to show you anyone you need to forgive. Believe me, when you pray this way, God will bring that person quickly to mind. It may be from your distant past or as recently as yesterday. It may be someone you didn’t realize you needed to forgive, but when that person comes to your mind, you will know why. Whoever or whatever it is that needs your forgiveness, confess it before God and ask Him to help you forgive completely. Refuse to hold anyone to yourself by not forgiving him (her). Release that person to God and ask Him to work complete forgiveness in your heart. I have found that turning people over to God in prayer and asking Him to work in their lives to bring them into right alignment with Him is better than revenge. God will answer that prayer and you will be released in the process.
Forgiveness doesn’t always happen overnight. Often it’s a process— especially for deep and damaging hurts. If you have forgiven someone and the next day you feel the same unforgiveness, hurt, anger, and bitterness against him (her), don’t be discouraged or think nothing has changed. Sometimes it takes layers of forgiveness to strip away the layers of unforgiveness that have accumulated over time. Continue to pray and ask God to help you forgive completely.
Be especially diligent to forgive both your parents and your spouse. Carrying unforgiveness toward any one of them will bring misery and grief into your life. Ask God to show you if you have any resentment in that area. Even with the best of people in the best of circumstances, there can still come times when we need to forgive.
I have found that if you pray often for the person you need to forgive, it softens your heart toward him (her). The truth is that you always grow to love the person you pray for. And that’s because you develop God’s heart of love for him or her in the process.
If you need to ask for forgiveness from someone, ask God for guidance about how to approach him or her and the timing of it. Cover it in prayer first. Then proceed as you feel led by the Holy Spirit. Whether or not that person will forgive you is something you cannot control. Just know that you have done the right thing and can now move on.
The willingness to forgive is something we must keep ready in our hearts every day. That doesn’t mean we allow people to be hurtful or destructive toward us. Enabling them to do evil is not right either. It means that we have decided we are not going to harbor unforgiveness and allow it to turn into bitterness. We have the power to make a decision to not live with unforgiveness in our heart.
When we confess our unforgiveness, that clears the air between us and God. The Bible says, “If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:21-22). That is more than enough promise for me. Having a clear conscience and a confident mind allows us to stand before God, knowing we are obeying Him and are pleasing in His sight. And then we know He will hear our prayers and answer them. That is incentive enough to keep my heart and mind fully forgiving all the time. What about you?
Step out of the pit of unforgiveness and step into the cleansing stream of forgiveness—God’s and yours.
Prayer Power
Lord, I thank You for forgiving me and not even remembering my sins anymore (Hebrews 8:12). Show me anything I need to confess to You today so that I can bring it before You and be set free. Convict my heart any time I stray from Your laws and commandments.
I especially ask that You would reveal any place in my heart where I have not forgiven someone. I don’t want to harbor anything within me that will keep my prayers from being heard. I don’t want to live in unforgiveness anymore, for any reason. Help me to be a forgiving person in the same way You are forgiving toward me. Help me to always forgive quickly and not wait for the other person to say or do what I think they should.
Show me any way I need to ask someone to forgive me so that we both can be healed and set free. If I have hurt someone without realizing it and there is unforgiveness in his (her) heart, reveal that to me so I can make amends. If I have been selfish with anyone, and that has diminished the way that person feels about himself (herself), enable me to clear the air between us.
Lord, take away anything of anger, bitterness, or resentment in my heart. Pour out Your Spirit upon me and cleanse me of all that is not of You. Enable me to be a person who lives in the forgiveness You have given me so I can extend forgiveness freely toward others (Ephesians 4:32).
In Jesus’ name I pray.
Word Power
Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Luke 6:37
He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 1 John 2:10-11
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your
gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Matthew 5:23-24
If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14-15
