Welcome! 6-2-21
The importance in and the power of forgiveness.
Through out my life I have had what I considered good reason not to forgive.
However, in Gods Word He tells me although we have the option to forgive or not forgive, the choice not to leads to torment. It opens the door to the enemy and whatever he chooses to do. The enemy goes around like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour. not forgiving opens the door for the devourer to enter into our lives.
On the other hand, the choice to forgive leads to healing, peace and open doors, at least that is my personal experience.
Matthew 18:1-35 talks about the wicked servant who chose not to forgive debt after he was forgiven bigger debt. He was turned over to the tormenter, over to satan.
Mark 11:26 if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is inn heaven forgive you... We need to have our sins forgiven! We don't want the baggage (heaviness) that comes with un-forgiveness. Our attitudes change, we have no peace, we are not happy, others will not want to be around us! not forgiving turns us into ugly people on the inside and out for that matter. Sin IS ugly!
Matthew 6:14~15
14. For if you forgive men their trespasses your Father in heaven will forgive you
15. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses. -- (failings and short comings) amplified classic addition.
The enemy of our soul is looking for anyway possible to steal, kill, and destroy us, our home, family, and nation.
There is a situation in my life where a person is still mad about something that happened several years ago. This person turned into someone ugly inside, to the point that they are completely out of my life. The door has been closed and the bridge burned. I care for this person. Although I don't like them, I do pray for them. I see what not forgiving has done to them. And I know that they have to forgive if they want to be forgiven.
The enemy will take the pain he has caused, inject it with un-forgiveness, put a blanket of "friendship" over it, enhance it with the spirit of control, the spirit of no one is going to tell me what to do-I will speak my peace using what I know to be fact, twist it to speak my truth because no one is going to hurt me, use me, or not let me have my own way... Those my friend are all the lies of the enemy and how he will use every bad thing we allow ourselves to think about to destroy our lives and in some cases the lives around us.
The enemy will also cause us to play the victim. We will want to tell our story of how we were hurt or someone we know was hurt by someone. Or we will be too embarrassed to open our mouth but keep un-forgiveness in our heart to "protect" ourselves from any further offense. However, that un-forgiveness builds and builds creating a poison to our souls and bodies. Disease and sickness in some cases come from un-forgiveness.
If satan can keep us in un-forgiveness he can muffle or block the voice of God in our ears or stop the Blessing of God from manifesting in our lives. It will also keep the door open to him to torment us mentally and or physically.
He will cause things to happen to us through the open door into our lives through un-forgiveness, then blame God for what he did. A lot of people believe that lie!
In my own life there were people I knew the door was closing to the relationship I had with them. But I also knew I needed Gods help to close those doors, in certain cases. I do not have what I would consider a strong personality, however, in one case a person I thought was a friend does. When this person no longer had control over me, there whole attitude change towards me. The person who I thought was a friend and thought I could trust, I had eye opening conversations with letting me know it was ok for this person to speak her mind, but not for me. I knew I could not open up without the apprehension of being put down or her letting me know because I had not gone through what she had, and that I had no right to feel the way I did about what I had gone through. I should have known how this person was listening to how she would talk about others she did not agree with. Because she did the same thing happened to me. And to be honest, I could care less! I know who I am and what I have and have not done. I will let my life speak for itself! Unless she allows forgiveness in her heart, and I truly hope she does, she is only hurting herself, not me!
Years ago I had to forgive a person that in opinion of many, I assume, does not deserve to be forgiven, and I did not want to forgive. It took God some time to soften my heart to forgive him, but I did. I don't like this person and don't think about what happened, because if I do, that could allow a door to open to the enemy in my life that I do NOT want opened! Therefor, I do not allow my thought process to go there. When we forgive, we leave the situation or person in God's hands, which means we don't talk about it, or them. No matter how much we feel the need to plaster it all over to get sympathy or try to justify not forgiving. According to the Word of God, there is no justification for un-forgiveness! Jesus forgave us taking all of our sin upon Himself, becoming sin for us knowing every bad thing we would ever do before we did it. Yet, He forgave us! Therefor, we have no leg to stand on and no argument good enough to justify not forgiving someone!
The enemy, of our souls, satan, will bring up the past, what we have forgiven. If we begin to dwell on what he is reminding us of then talking about it, it takes what was a mole hill turning it into a mountain. Before we know it it's consuming us, stealing our time and energy. It will be exhausting and unhealthy. Our bodies are not created to carry the sin of un-forgiveness in them, it's like a deadly cancer, eating you from the inside out.
Forgiveness on the other hand keeps our ears to God open to hear His voice and allow the Blessing (Gods supernatural power) to flow in and through our lives.
Forgive, or not, it's our choice! I choose to forgive!
BLESSINGS
