Forgiveness
© Kerry Lord 2020
Our minds hold sad memories as well as pleasant ones and it's the same CREATOR that can heal those wounds some of which are very very deep, dark, and disheartening. Counselors can help but only GOD can heal. So we bring the hurt to HIM and lay it all out on the altar keeping in mind GOD knows what it's like to be betrayed, to be abused, to be publicly shamed in front of hundreds of people (maybe thousands). HE knows what it is like to hurt but HE still chose to forgive. The first step in true healing is the decision to forgive.
Many hold unforgiveness in their hearts & it affects, effects, & infects their body, soul, & spirit.
I have found that forgiveness is a choice where we tell our broken heart, “Here's what's up. I decree that my Will - will forgive even though my heart isn't in a place to forgive!” I put forth here that there are steps involved in gut-wrenching hurt...
If we don't forgive then GOD can't forgive us.
Counselors can help but only GOD can heal. So ask CREATOR for healing.
“Forgive and forget” is NOT Biblical. Deep hurt can not be forgotten but we can bathe it with GOD's Living Water. Just ask HIM.
Forgiveness is a one-way street so don't place expectations on the offender to confess their wrong and seek forgiveness. GOD will make all things right eventually, pay-day some-day but we MUST release control.
Forgiveness is a choice not a feeling. We choose to forgive the wrong every time we think about the wrong. We may have to choose hourly reminding ourselves that we have forgiven the wrong. The deeper the wound the more times we have to tell our hearts to fall in line. In time we will overcome the pain.
JESUS tells a parable about forgiveness and during a time of deep hurt I studied this passage repeatedly until my spirit, soul, and heart connected with the truth found in Matthew Chapter 18, Verse 21...
Later Peter approached JESUS and said, “How many times do I have to forgive my fellow Believer who keeps offending me? Seven times?” JESUS answered, “Not seven times, Peter, but seventy times seven times! The lessons of forgiveness in Heaven’s Kingdom realm can be illustrated like this: “There once was a king who had servants who had borrowed money from the royal treasury. He decided to settle accounts with each of them. As he began the process, it came to his attention that one of his servants owed him one billion dollars. So he summoned the servant before him and said to him, ‘Pay me what you owe me.’ When his servant was unable to repay his debt, the king ordered that he be sold as a slave along with his wife and children and every possession they owned as payment toward his debt. The servant threw himself face down at his master’s feet and begged for mercy. ‘Please be patient with me. Just give me more time and I will repay you all that I owe.’ Upon hearing his pleas, the king had compassion on his servant, and released him, and forgave his entire debt.
“No sooner had the servant left when he met one of his fellow servants, who owed him twenty thousand dollars He seized him by the throat and began to choke him, saying, ‘You’d better pay me right now everything you owe me!’ His fellow servant threw himself face down at his feet and begged, ‘Please be patient with me. If you’ll just give me time, I will repay you all that is owed.’ But the one who had his debt forgiven stubbornly refused to forgive what was owed him. He had his fellow servant thrown into prison and demanded he remain there until he repaid the debt in full.
“When his associates saw what was going on, they were outraged and went to the king and told him the whole story. The king said to him, ‘You scoundrel! Is this the way you respond to my mercy? Because you begged me, I forgave you the massive debt that you owed me. Why didn’t you show the same mercy to your fellow servant that I showed to you?’ In a fury of anger, the king turned him over to the prison guards to be tortured until all his debt was repaid. In this same way, my heavenly Father will deal with any of you if you do not release forgiveness from your heart toward your fellow believer.”
I asked myself how much is one billion dollars? I had no concept like so many. So I tried to visualize it by taking the example of one billion pennies. I took a handful of pennies and stacked them on top of each other and then measured with a ruler. I found that it took 16 pennies stack to equal one inch. Then I divided 1billion by 16 to get 62.5 million inches! I still had no concept how high that was. I thought how many feet is that? So divided by 12 to get 5.2 million feet. Again I had no clue as to how large that was. Finally I decided to find how many miles and so I divided the above figure of feet by 5280 (the number of feet in a mile) and got a figure of over 986 miles! Now I had a concept. That's like driving from Maine to South Carolina! I imaged a mountain of debt that high to GOD! Then I imagined my offender's debt of $20,000 pennies which amounts to less than 1/10 of a mile! I pondered that for days and finally was able to get it into my spirit and heart. What right do I have to be grieved when compared to my offense against GOD! If you don't think this is a fair comparison then you're probably right, because our offense against GOD is most likely greater than 1 Billion!
LORD I choose this day not to feed my offender's victory by allowing my mind, body, soul, and spirit to go another minute with forgiveness. I can't do this on my own. I need YOUR help JESUS. For YOU forgave those who beat YOU unmercifully and YOU endured the Cross for their shame and for mine! Help me to move on in victory with the Cross of Forgiveness. Not that I have to forget or trust that person again but I will be free from this attachment of evil called unforgiveness. I ask in JESUS Name. So be it!