Forgiveness

Healing of The Heart

Phillips Craig and Dean – Your Grace Still Amazes Me

Forgiveness is just plan radical! It can’t be explained…it’s just Jesus.
Forgiveness changes us AND the ones we are bitter against. It breaks the
chains of our bondage and opens the door to other person’s freedom. It is
powerful! We know biblically, that we are to forgive, because Christ first forgave us.
And not just once, but time after time, after time, after time…

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:32

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew 18:22

That’s 490 times. Hey, I stop at less than 10! It’s too hard and I’m too mad.

Forgiving is virtually impossible - the pain much too great, the wound way too deep.

Carelessly, we advise the wounded, “you need to forgive them" or “here is a beautiful recipe of forgiveness for you to follow.” Try telling that to a spouse that has been betrayed, a parent who has unjustly lost a child, a person who has been falsely accused or had money stolen or someone who's been sexually molested. Our well-meaning words and our step-by-step instructions for forgiveness just don't work. And the reason they don't work is that it's man's efforts. Our ability to forgive is humanly impossible!! Nothing anybody could say, nothing anybody could do, no self-will, no book, class, pastor or speaker will ever bring us to forgiveness. It only comes from Jesus Christ, His righteousness, His love and mercy. It is Jesus in our pain, His Love in our wounds, and His heart manifesting in our heart. His Holy Spirit pouring into our hearts, so we can pour that love and mercy to others. We receive undeserved love and righteousness from Jesus so that we are capable of giving that which is undeserved. There is no other way to forgive, but through Jesus.

TRIALS TEACH US TO FORGIVE
I firmly believe that God uses trials and tribulations to help us learn forgiveness. How can we become like Jesus if we have not tasted suffering at the hands of others and been tested? When someone takes something precious from us or has wounded us, that’s the real test. Will we grow bitter or learn how to forgive? I am still overwhelmed how He was able to forgive those who unjustly sent Him to the cross and those who beat Him beyond human recognition. Will we remain in our injured state with hearts full of revenge, hatred, bitterness, resentment, accusations and criticalness or allow Jesus to help us die to our flesh? So that one day, we would be able to forgive as He forgave us.

THE TEACHER AND MERCY

The Teacher desires His saints to overcome the dragon and His followers must learn one of the biggest lessons in overcoming and that is forgiveness…because WE have been forgiven.

This is what the Teacher has helped me overcome and continues to do so:

Our firstborn son was repeatedly overdosed by doctors, which eventually caused his death. They can’t do drug studies on infants so drug dosing is by weight and he was a big boy. His body could not handle the quantity of medication so he ended up being overdosed to death.

People criticized our efforts in trying to keep him alive with false accusations.

A few years later, we loaned and invested large sums of money to trusted individuals for business and investments. These were people we had known for a long time and believed they would honor their word and contract. “The money flew away.”

Another investor ran off to Canada with our nest egg and we suffered huge financial loses. We had to sell our home and material possessions. Our fortune gone.

A leader in the church and his wife broke confidentiality regarding my marriage struggles. There were, also, loss of church positions.

My name torn down and criticized.

A broken marriage trying to survive from years of loss, death and destruction.

My Dad, who beat my siblings and my mother, left his 5 daughters and his only son and moved to another state to marry his mistress. He was plagued with alcoholism, blamed others and refused to own his own sin, while proclaiming his love for Jesus.

One day driving in the desert, I got out of my car and cried out to the LORD, “What is the answer to all this chaos?” He said loud and clear, “MERCY!”

Day after day, I fell to my knees in brokenness full of bitterness, hatred and anger crying out, “I can’t forgive God, it’s not in me to forgive and extend mercy. There’s too many deep wounds.” He said gently, ”Just give me your wounds. Each day lay them at my feet and give me your inability to forgive. I will help you.”

Through all of these trials, my heart was a broken mess and didn’t look anything like Jesus. It was full of sin from the injustice of others; repulsed at the thought of even forgiving them. But His wisdom began to teach me that I TOO had a part to play in all this mess. They weren’t responsible for the condition of my heart…I was. They were responsible for their sin, but I could not change them. I could only let Jesus change me and ask Him to forgive me of my sin.

The Teacher REALLY wanted me to understand the necessity of forgiveness and that He is the only way to mercy, so that I could overcome.

There was no recipe He gave for forgiving, it was only, “Beth, keep giving Me your hatred, keep giving Me your inability to want to pray for them, your anger, criticalness and revenge. Repent of your sin! Through my Righteousness, you will overcome and begin to see your own heart, your own sin, not their’s. And that is were you will find mercy, when you discover that you are no less guilty of sin then they. I gave you mercy during your sin and now I am asking you to give mercy – a love that can only come through me.”

And through His grace, He took it all, gave me a new heart and I was free.

During those years, this verse would continually come to mind.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

THE WORD
To refer to Jesus is to also refer to the Word of God, because He is the Word made flesh. In all of my pain, the Word saved me as it kept leading me to Jesus and revealing the sin I possessed deep in my own heart. My un-forgiveness was really me accusing them of sin, and then the Holy Spirit said, “But Beth what about you? You are no less guilty of sin then they. Your heart accusing them of wrongdoing, while your own eyes are blind to your own wickedness.” And the Word continues to show me my heart.

CONFESSING IN PRAYER IS A SHEILD ABOUT US
I can’t forgive and don't want to - tell Jesus!
I don't even want to pray for them - tell Jesus!
I hate them so much - tell Jesus!
I want to hurt them - tell Jesus!
They don't deserve forgiveness - tell Jesus!
I want vengeance - tell Jesus!
I need justice and I need peace - tell Jesus!
Crying out for Jesus and telling Him our wounds and weaknesses, keeps us coming humbly before Him with all of the muck. He takes all of it and replaces it with Himself and one day we are able to wake up and amazingly say, "I can forgive.” Praise Jesus!! He loves a humble, meek and contrite heart before Him and He speaks loving words to us, “My child, I know in your own strength and the depth of your pain, it is impossible for you to forgive, but I, the great I AM will be your forgiveness. For I alone will make you righteous.”

THE HOLY SPIRIT
I frequently need reminding, how in the world, Jesus was able to forgive Judas, the people who rejected Him, beat Him beyond human recognition, pulled out His beard, mocked, and nailed Him to the cross? How was David able to have mercy upon King Saul and Absalom, David’s
firstborn son, when both of them tried to kill him? The countrymen who betrayed David and quite possibly Jonathan, his best friend, who may have been the one who broke covenant with David. (My opinion.)

But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God.

Psalm 55:13-14

How were Jesus and David capable of forgiving with such mercy. The answer is always the same…the power of the Holy Spirit.

I HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN MUCH
When dealing with people, I forget this…I have been forgiven much. Mercy which I have been given from God, is what I need to extend to others.
That’s forgiveness!

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Luke 12:48b

Oh LORD, please forgive me of my un-forgiveness, my lack of mercy. Help me to never forget and remember what you have forgiven me from. Remembering what He has done is so powerful, as it immediately puts me in my place, a humble position before the Almighty cures the
mercilessness. Remember the parable about the man whose debt was mercifully forgiven and then he turned around and refused to forgive someone of a small payment which was owed to him? Well this has been me, over and over! I have been forgiven of sexual immorality, pornography, rebellion, anger, thievery, a lying tongue, adultery (before marriage), witchcraft, seeking mediums and the dead, lust, covetousness, malice, suicidal thoughts,
bitterness, resentfulness, hatred, criticalness, slander, disrespect to my husband, foolishness, pride, self righteousness, addiction, selfish ambition, being wise in my own eyes, and financial stupidity, debt and the list goes on.
So why do I not easily return the grace? Because I forget!! I forget God’s mercy to me, I forget that I still struggle with these sins and my heart is in desperate need of His righteousness and grace. Through Him, for Him, and by Him is man able to do the impossible – forgive! Because our hearts have been turned upside down, inside out, from hardness to…mercy!
And life is never the same – joy abounding joy.

Link: Confession

Link: Children