Forgiveness means letting go of your right to punish another and choosing through the power of God’s love to hold onto people rather than their offenses. In the process of forgiving, the first barrier you have to remove is within yourself. You have to decide to let go of the offense along with your desire to punish the offender. When you hold onto unforgiveness it hurts you and not those you hold anger and unforgiveness against. Some people are so toxic that they do not need to be in our lives, and we can let them go and not hold onto their junk.
It is through God’s Love and power that we have the ability as believers to forgive some of the offenses and evil that may have come against us and the people who perpetrated them. It is God who heals our wounds.
Unforgiveness turns into anger and bitterness.
There have been offenses and evil against me worthy of anger. But only God’s righteous anger and it was never my ‘right’ to hold unforgiveness in my heart. It didn’t take much time before my unforgiveness turned into anger and bitterness. Bitterness is a dangerous thing to hold in our hearts. Bitterness begins to burn into every aspect of our lives, effecting all the beauty that God has for us in this world. The world became ugly to me when the bitterness seeped in. It happens very slowly and then consumes your every moment. IT IS UGLY. I had great loving friends around me who pointed it out. Though God had already pointed it out to me.
I didn’t know how to let go of my unforgiveness and bitterness any more. I remember sitting in my car one day and telling the Lord, “God I do not KNOW how to let this go, please help me to let the bitterness go.”
It did not happen that moment, but because I sought God and HIS truths, He was doing a work in my heart. CHOOSING to look to HIM and not our own revenge is a choice. It was only about two weeks after asking God for His help that I woke up feeling healed. The bitterness and anger were gone. ~Thank You LORD for your faithfulness.
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”. Matthew 6:14-15
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.Ephesians 4:31-32
So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 5The apostles said to the LORD, “Increase our faith!” 6He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. 7″Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Luke 17:3-7
Colossians 3:13. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any…
Matthew 6:14-15. 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you,…
God loves you so much, He is not willing that you should walk in unforgiveness.
SCRIPTURES ON FORGIVENESS
EPHESIANS 1:7
We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.
LUKE 6:37
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.
ROMANS 4:7
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered .
EPHESIANS 4:32
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
COLOSSIANS 2:14-15
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.
JAMES 5:14-15
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
1 JOHN 2:12
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
MATTHEW 6:14-15
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
MATTHEW 9:6
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
MATTHEW 18:21-22
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
MARK 11:24-25
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
LUKE 17:3-4
Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
1 JOHN 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
http://www.cswmi.net connie@cswmi.net 720-308-4333
Connie Schlepp Weiskopf - CSWMI 