Forgiveness Nuggets 11
We must check what is in our heart and with the Lord’s help, deal with our issues of unforgiveness at their root – through short, immediate, “flash prayers.” This does not mean we should deny our feelings or suppress them. Rather, we should seek to understand why we feel the way we do, put our feelings in perspective to see how unbridled emotions can hurt us and others, and seek the Lord’s help in coming into real forgiveness. This will have to be done momentarily, every day, as a lifestyle of prayer and forgiveness.
In reality, suppression of feelings avoids dealing with them and creates a false sense of being a forgiving person.
Flash prayers allow us to admit our feelings, repent of our sinful responses, submit ourselves to God’s ability to accomplish forgiveness in us, and move on to live in the freedom and refreshment of God’s grace.
1Pet 5:6-7 (NIV)
6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1Thess 5:16-18 (NIV)
16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Heb 12:15 (NIV)
15See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Bitter roots can cause a heart of stone.
Ez 36:26 (NIV)
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
Our bitter root structure can be so deep and so hidden that we are not even aware of its presence.
To the degree that each of us is subject to Jesus Christ, the Lord enables us to relate to each other in mutual love and respect.
Matt 16:24 (NIV)
24Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Luke 14:26 (NIV)
26"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.
When we are born anew in Christ, we must cut free from all the old ways of relating so that we can be formed anew solely by the Holy Spirit in Christ.
To have reverence for Christ means to allow Him access within us to accomplish effectively everything for which He died on the cross.
Gal 5:24 (NIV)
24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
The Holy Spirit brings turmoil as He convicts us of sin. Peace comes as we learn to repent, submit ourselves to God’s will, and thus begin to manifest fruits of the Spirit.
Consider what it does to us if we reduce those who wrong us to the role of unforgivable monsters. Viewing someone as a monster gives that person the power to condemn us to live with the hurting memory of our painful past. We give them the power to keep on hurting us and to stay in control of our lives. This is not to say that forgiveness should mean looking the other way as if hurts and injustices had not happened.
When we forgive evil, we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it. We look evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it.
We need to be honest by confessing to God our anger against Him and against others whom we perceive have wronged us. God is not guilty of anything and certainly does not need our forgiveness. Our anger and unforgiveness are our own and grow out of our need to be in control. However, God can use every circumstance of life to bring blessing to us and to write wisdom in our hearts if we respond according to His will.
Rom 8:28 (NIV)
28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[a] who[b] have been called according to his purpose.
Prayer:
Father, I ask that you help me to quick on the draw to forgive moment by moment so that no bitter root rises up in me. I confess my anger to you concerning certain people I have chosen not to forgive in the past. I release that to you and ask you to do a work of cleansing in my heart. Forgive me for my bitterness and anger. Amen!
(make this prayer personalized; inserting the names of people you have held grudges and bitterness against. Let it all out to the Lord and He will help you through this.)
Lorilie Nelson
Choosing Forgiveness
John & Paula Sandford and Norm Bowman
Copyright © 1996
Clear Stream, Inc. Publishing
Box 122128, Arlington, Texas 76012
Total Forgiveness
R.T. Kendall
Copyright © 2002
Published by Charisma House
A Strang Company
600 Rinehart Road
Lake Mary, Florida 32746
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