Forgive to Be Forgiven

Jul 29

Set Yourself Free by Freeing Others of Their Sin and Allow God to Forgive You

Psalm 6:16-19 CSB

“The Lord hates six things; in fact, seven are detestable to him: arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that plots wicked schemes, feet that are eager to run to evil, a lying witness who gives false testimony, and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.”

Psalm 142:1-3, 6 CSB

“I cry aloud to the Lord; I plead to the Lord for mercy. I pour out my complaint before him; I reveal my trouble to him. Although my spirit is weak within me, you know my way. Listen to my cry for I am weak”

Born Again & Prayerless?

For most of us life is a series of habits. Repeated conduct becomes habit. Most of it is deeply ingrained and undefined. It is just what we do. Our habits have become “natural”, good or bad. The truth is that having any desire to live life differently requires breaking certain habits. If you are in the habit of avoiding prayer you should consider these verses:

2 Corinthians 10:4,5 CSB “… since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but are powerful for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” And secondly; from Luke 18:1 CSB “Now, he told them, a parable on the need to pray always, and not give up.” This from Christ’s own mouth.

Prayer is not optional.

A stronghold is an area of sin that has become part of our lifestyle, habits if you will. That stronghold is anything that interferes with our willingness to obey God. It can be an attitude, a health destroying lifestyle, infidelity; and a lack of prayer is included. Everything on that list is a sin.

Our responsibility as Christians is to tear down any stronghold that has become a part of our lives. There is only one weapon - the sword of the Spirit. We must fight these lies/strongholds through Spirit-filled prayers.

How? Use God’s word. Use the truths therein to fuel/inspire your prayers. Learn a new habit and change your life in ways that are beyond description. Paul, writing to the Colossians 4:2 CSB “Devote yourself to prayer, stay alert in it with thanksgiving.” and then in 1 Thess 5:16 CSB he adds this; “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ.”

Whom do you claim to love that you will not communicate with, your God and Creator? Why? Consider this from Romans 8:34 CSB “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intersession for us.” If we fail to pray and ignore what we have just read here we sin. How amazing is it that Christ prays for you to his Father? And how dare we ignore prayer? There are over 400 prayers in Scripture. That alone should inform us of its importance.

It continues in Romans 8:26-27 CSB “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed with words.” That is ongoing, moment to moment. God, Christ and the Holy Spirit want to hear from you now. Recommit, pray today and then, again, every day.

Seeking God requires that you study Scripture and be in prayer for understanding and discerment.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR

Are you drawn here to investigate? Do you wonder about God and Jesus and all that “mumbo-jumbo?" Is there something missing that you are searching for? Perhaps you want to know why you are living or just why are those people so insistent that you make a choice? There are answers to all of this and so much more that you can learn about in Scripture.

It is a thick book with little letters and perhaps you have looked at it and come away confused. I was that way once. Yet I was compelled to read it and try to understand. It seemed like an outside force kept interrupting my day. And I resisted as much as I could. It was so hard sometimes. When I finally yielded to the promptings of what I came to know was the Holy Spirit, I fell at the feet of Jesus, confessed my sins and became changed. Not perfect, just so much different and still I am changing.

I invite you, no I dare you, to ask God to reveal himself to you. Go to the header of this page and click on the button that says, “Get Saved.” Rebels don’t need shortcut buttons. It won’t hurt you to take a second to just take a peek. Be the rebel you claim to be and stand before God and resist him. Read what we offer on that page and noodle around on the rest of our posts. You are welcome to stay.

I cannot save you. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. I know that logic and reason will not bring you into the fold. In fact, you may go away right now, offended that I speak to you this way even though we’re not together. But this is your invite to check out God and His sinless Son. Do it, as the carpenter says. Look behind that button; go on.

“Yes, Jesus loves me,

yes, Jesus loves me,

yes, Jesus loves me

the Bible tells me so …”

YES, FORGIVE OTHERS OF THEIR SINS

I can clearly remember 17 years ago when I read this for about the twentieth time: Jesus is speaking; “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you.” Matthew 6:14-15. NKJV If you bind them in their sin you make yourself a prison guard. You have judged that they owe you a debt. And often it is a debt you will not accept payment for. I did not understand that.

I stopped and read it again and suddenly had what some would call an epiphany, a Christian may call it a revelation; that I had some work to do. It was as clear as anything I had ever come to understand and I was in trouble. I understood that I had to let go of their sin.

I turned immediately to Mark 11:25 NKJV “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, 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.” Ouch! I was boxed in. And I remembered part of a prayer I had uttered so many times” “…and forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us …”

What had I done? It only took a few moments for clarity to come into my head. I had chosen to give lip service to this clearly distinct command with a threat attached. I happily yammered on when saying the Lord’s Prayer, ignoring the words about forgiveness. If I ignored them perhaps; I could avoid the duty. It was an unexpressed secret that I even tried to keep from myself; I wanted those who had hurt me in chains. I was ignoring God’s definition of forgiveness

My rational for that was familiar I am sure, “I won’t, you have no idea what they did to me! They did this …. (insert the violation here). It was so hurtful I still suffer. I will never forgive them.” Deep inside me I wanted retribution. And at the same time, I wanted (perhaps demanded) the forgiveness God said I could have because I believed in Christ. I wanted to be free of my own chains. I was foolhardy at best.

Let’s review the parable of the king and the unforgiving servant in Luke 18:23-35 NKJV This is a long story told by Jesus; forgive me for giving you a short version. A king wants to settle accounts with his servants. He called them together and spoke with one who owed him an enormous amount of money. The servant faced financial ruin and loss of all of his family through auction. He pled for mercy. The gracious king forgave the debt and sent the man home.

The servant went out and found someone who owed him money and choked him trying to get his money back. The fellow pled for mercy, but the servant put the man into jail; he lacked compassion. The king found out. Christ ends the story this way in verses 33-35 quoting the king; “Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So, My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” We must forgive others it is not optional if we seek forgiveness.

What could I do? I had to sincerely forgive people who had wronged me throughout my life. I could not find the scripture that said I could think about it or just ignore it. I can assure you that without the Holy Spirit I could not have done it. And today I have to immediately forgive those who wrong me in the here and now. If I may, let me share with you some steps that will help you: We must start with sincere prayer for God’s help via the Holy Spirit. Lean into that strength. He will come along side you and be there as you deal with the anger, the disappointment, the hurt. and your recovery.

5 Things to Help You Forgive

Start with identifying and working through your feelings. Acknowledge and express them to God them through prayer.
If you have been hurt, you very probably have anger/hate. It is not wrong to hate, in fact we are to hate the same things God hates, abuse of any kind is hated by God. Pray to God that He help you through the Holy Spirit to heal and avoid depression, frustration and misdirected/transferred anger.
Refusing to forgive creates a false since of power. You will have to relinquish what you may think is control. Trying to hold out for retribution will make you a prisoner of your abuser. Cancel this debt like God does with yours. Turn away from this need to punish. Move on to the rest of your life.
Live in the day, for yesterday is truly gone and no one is promised another day. Turn this over to God for any punishment. And know that if those who may have hurt you turn to God they will be forgiven as you are. God wants you to emulate His Son.
Embrace the process of forgiveness. Your forgiving of another person is an event. Finding and embracing relief, is a cure from your own pain. Lay down the burden of seeking retribution.
This will take time. It is hard to swallow; often hard to accomplish because it is against our nature. Our flesh wants retribution. It is against our flesh that we must work. Our spirit struggles to overcome sin. Yet there is sin that we cling to and unforgiveness is often that one we hold on to strongly. We should let all of it go.
This process is manageable with the Holy Spirit helping you as you open your heart to God. Pray and pray again for help via the Holy Spirit. Let God the Physician heal you. Forgive and be forgiven. Do yourself a kindness and go to the Book of Revelation 22 1:8 and read how one day in heaven we will all be unchained and healed!

YOU SHOULD GET PREPARED NOW

“… whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for me and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:34b-36 CSB

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Romans 8:35, 37 KJV

Who among us would say that we are not facing this list of troubles as the world around us descends into madness? It is time for us to wrap ourselves in our belief in Jesus and live more like Christ than we ever have! Pray as earnestly as you can for relief, strength, patience and understanding as this world eagerly embraces sin. Prepare yourself in God.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

“But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love, for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.” Psalm59:16

“For the Lord is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” Deuteronomy 20:4

The battle is God’s, but our living as Christians in fervent prayer is part of that also. Stand and be counted with the faithful!