Someone once told me, “Never pray God makes you a good forgiver. He’ll bless you with a ton of practice opportunities!”
And you know what? They were right.
Forgiveness isn’t for cowards. It’s for those who want to be like Christ.
I’m a fast forgiver, but (confession time), I’m also a fast pick-up-the-offenser!
How do you let it go?
By practicing. You need to keep letting it go whenever you “accidentally” pick it up. The voice of offense comes from the evil one, the “accuser”. The minute you hear it, you declare, “No! I choose to forgive as Christ forgives me!”
Pray for strength. “Don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.” “Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” Matthew 6:13,12
How do you know you’ve forgiven someone?
When you’re able to resist the urge to tell them or someone else how they wronged you.
When you can pray for them and hope things turn out for their best.
When regret and blaming cease.
This is what separates the men from the boys, or in this case, the Christians from the world: LOVE. Choosing to bless and not curse yanks the devil’s plans into reverse!
Forgiveness is a beautiful word
although it’s truth is most absurd.
It’s like choice seed dropped by a bird
whose grace-filled song can then be heard.
Forgiveness is costly, but it’s worth it. Just ask Christ.
Have you forgiven someone and felt a special kind of peace? We’d love to hear about it.
Thank you for this post, this is a great reminder.
A dear friend of mine always used to say the same thing…
“Don’t ask God to make you a good forgiver, as He will give you lots of practice!”
Thank You,
Jeff
http://www.godsurfer.com/
Thank you for this – to Christ all the Glory for the biggest forgiveness of all times- it is only through Him that we can truly forgive and experience His peace afterwards….
True forgiveness is hard, but when we think about how much Jesus forgives us, it should remind us to do the same for others. And, as you say, it does bring peace. Thank you for sharing, and for your beautiful poetry, Cheryl!
I’m pleased to share the reminder, Jeff. You’re absolutely right, Magda! I love how you say it too. “To Christ all the Glory for the biggest forgiveness of all times.” I’m glad you enjoyed my poetry, Connie! Indeed, Christ is the perfect model for forgiveness! He gives us strength to do what’s right. Thanks for your comments! Blessings to all!
The scripture declares, ” i can do all things through Christ that strengthens me”. Forgiveness or to choose to forgive is a Christ nature. Only when we choose to be obedient children of God and desire to please him can we truly be able to forgive. People will hurt us in one way or the other in the course of our everyday lives. They may not even apologise. We will be faced with these two choices – the human nature that wants to fight back and not forgive and the Christ nature that says forgive. Until we have surrendered to Christ can the grace of god be made available. It takes grace to forgive. God gives grace to the humble. He resists the proud. We have to pray for the people that hurt us. The burden of carrying the weight of unforgiveness and hurt is too much for us to bear. It seeks to choke the joy and happiness out of our lives. Only when we pour our hearts out to God concerning such can he bear our burdens and lift us up emotionally. We need to be freed from these trap of the enemy. The enemy seeks to keep us down but we will be lifted up in Jesus name. Amen! Consider little children. One minute they are playing with each other, the next minute they may be fighting. Very quickly they are together again AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED!. Lets be like these ones.
Remain blessed!
AKIN
http://www.hopeagainsthope.org.uk
Great article!! Holding on to resentments hurts the resenter much more than the resenter and is a big factor in unhappiness!
I really appreciate the emphasis on our hearts, and on blessing instead of cursing….along with the poems that are so authentic, so genuine, so filled with graciousness….revealing the fragile nature of our hearts and life in a fallen world.
I have found that forgiveness begins with healing I receive from Christ, so that His spirit of peace is the foundation or source of my ability to forgive someone else. As I allow Christ to reveal all the hurt, anger, pain, rejection ect. I can receive His healing.
For me, forgiveness is not so much something that I “do,” as it is something I receive from Christ, so it is “Christ IN me, the hope of glory,” (Col. 1:27).
He came to “heal the broken hearted.” So the key is learning how to trust Him more, at the deeper levels of my heart… and the best way I know for trust to grow between my wounded heart and the heart of my “Wounded Healer” is to see how Christ came to suffer for me, choosing to include being abused physically, emotionally, verbally etc…choosing to be betrayed, feeling completely forsaken by His own Father…. Jesus did this so He could be made perfect through suffering…. (Heb. 2:9, 10, 17, 18; 4:14-16).
As I know more and more how His story connects with my story, and that He went through everything I’ve gone through, “yet without sin,” my heart’s ability to trust Him, to be vulnerable with Him grows.. Jesus went through so much suffering so that I would know that HE knows what I’ve gone through. And as my heart realizes that He identifies with me, the Holy Spirit has more room to work in my heart, because my trust level has gone up.
As I allow the Holy Spirit to “search my heart and try my thoughts,” Christ can release my anger or pain… and then replace it with His peace, His Spirit of forgiveness so it is truly “Christ in me, the hope of glory,” (Co. 1:27). Then I am “forgiving as Christ forgave,” (Col. 3:13), relying on God’s power the same way Jesus chose to forgive others as He relied on His Father’s power.
Then I am free to bless instead of curse, because I’ve RECEIVED the blessing of Christ’s supernatural peace that passes understanding.
I have a prayer ministry, Straight 2 the Heart, based on the foundation of Jesus connecting His story with our story, as an integral part of HIS plan of salvation..based on Jesus’ words, Isaiah’s words, the words or the gospel writers, the apostle Paul and the writer of Hebrews etc.. including suffering in the plan of salvation…
Dear Lord Jesus, thank YOU for choosing to suffer in YOUR soul, the deepest part of YOUR being, (Isaiah 53:11)….being betrayed and abused, as part of YOUR plan of salvation, so YOU could suffer for me, as me, embracing all my anger and pain from the ways I’ve been betrayed (etc.), taking all of this to death on Calvary so YOU could heal my broken heart and set me to receive YOUR resurrection power….YOUR spirit of forgiveness in this room of my heart.”
This is my first visit to this website and I’m going to be using “A Friend In the Storm” as a spiritual resource to support the healing work of Christ…based on His suffering, death and resurrection.
With thanks for your ministry from the heart, revealing Christ’s heart for those who are hurting.
Paul Coneff
Hi Paul,
Thanks for taking the time to write such a thoughtful response.
I couldn’t agree more ~ forgiveness is not something we “do,” but something Jesus does in and through us. He is the example. “Lord forgive them they don’t know what they are doing.” And He gave us His Spirit to provide the power we need.
I also like how you talk about Christ’s story connecting with ours. That’s what I do in “A Friend in the Storm.” Christ connects His pain with ours, showing He understands. Christ’s pain has redemptive purposes; so does ours ~ when we put it (along with our lives) in His hands.
Blessings,
Cheryl
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