Forgiveness

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"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that Your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will Your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses."     Mark 11:25 - 26 NKJV

These are very strong and powerful words. God says that as we confess our sins to Him, He will forgive us, but only if we forgive other people that have sinned against us. If we don't, we will not be forgiven either. God also says in Jeremiah 31:34, 'For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.' Now that is amazing but makes it doubly difficult for us to carry out. Let me explain:

Some person comes along and for one reason or another, wounds us deeply. This may be over a period of time, a situation where they betray us all of a sudden. We are expected to forgive them - not harbour a grudge. It's our choice but from the scripture above, we know we really have no choice at all.We're either a Christian who believes and lives the Word, or not. However, we agree to forgive them, whether they've asked for this or not. But if we don't deal with this internally, it can begin to fester whenever we see them or think about them. It can get so bad that we can hope that they pay for what they've done to us. It becomes on a par with hatred.

When we're living in such a way, the hurt of what someone has done to us can completely take over our lives and it begins to affect our health and our attitudes towards people who still talk and like the person who has offended us deeply. We may even begin to gossip about them, telling whoever will listen, how hurt you have been by this person; what they have done and how they appear to have gotten away with their 'crime' against us.

As it gets this far, we really need to stop and look at ourselves. How can the Holy Spirit dwell within us - a vessel that is acting in such a way towards a brother or sister in the Lord. The Holy Spirit will never leaves us, but as we offend and hurt Him, it's almost like the anointing lifts off us and we start floundering around, moaning, groaning and feeling so sorry for ourselves. 'Well you don't know what he or she did to me?' That's very true, but I do know what God's Word says, and He tells us to forgive. He also tells us, 'Vengeance is mine. I will repay.' (Roman 12:19). When someone has done wrong to us, we forgive them, hand it over to Jesus and it becomes His problem. He will handle it in His way and in His time. Forget about it.

I know it's easer said than done to 'forgive and forget.' However, it really is the only way to go if we want to walk with Jesus. The people did so many bad things to Him, but He handled it all. "Yes, but He was God." Yes, that is true, but He was also a human being, that bled the way we do, at the time. He knows how hurtful things can be and He knows how much you have been hurt too. Why not spend a little time with Him today and let Him wipe your tears, smooth out the wrinkles of your heart and build you up again. It'll be like a spa day as He refreshes every part of your body and mind and makes you feel brand new again.

Why not drop me an email.     dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com