Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Forgiveness is His Graceful Gift

Forgiveness is perhaps one of our greatest challenges. Our very nature rebels against it. We are less than honest even in our prayers. For us to truly forgive others requires a supernatural intercession of the Holy Spirit that rewires our thoughts and emotions. I am very eager to receive HIS forgiveness, but stingy with giving forgiveness to others. There will be people in our lives that will hurt us time and time again. It is just part of the human condition. We cannot change the choices of others, but when we pray for them and forgive them, then we release them for God to move in the circumstances.

It seems as though heartache and abuse have followed me through much of my life. It is a difficult thing to let go of pain that pierces into the very depths of your soul. Our human reaction is to wrap up that pain and use it as a shield that protects us from another assault. But reality is that it only makes us more susceptible to further injury. If we have an unhealed physical injury, we all know that it is more tender then the healthy parts of our body. The same is true with our souls, when I hang on to the past pain in my life, then I am more likely to be hurt, because there is an open wound on my heart.

When Jesus gave us the Lord's Prayer, He said "to forgive, as we are forgiven." To me, that means divine forgiveness. When I finally take the offense off of "rewind and replay" mode and lay in down at the foot of His Cross, then the cleansing begins to heal my wounds. Left to my own devices, I will chew on that offense until I develop a soul that is calloused with bitterness. This bitterness taints my perspective of everything, including my ability to follow Him. He is so quick to forgive me of my multitude of sins. He separates them as far as the East is from the West. Why is it so difficult for me to allow Him to separate me from the burden of my own unforgiveness ? I simply cannot do that on my own and He is so willing to help me, but only after I have surrendered it to Him.

Bitterness will creep up on me and become a permanent fixture, if I do not daily allow God to examine my heart. One of the hardest aspects of forgiveness for me is that my forgiving others is not based on their behavior, nor is their behavior really any of my concern. We simply cannot wait for others to do the right thing and then respond according. Some people may never change, their sin does not give me a free license to sin by harboring unforgiveness.  These experiences can teach us how to exhibit His love and not allow our anger to become a weapon that we use against others.

From a practical standpoint, there are several ways of praying that have helped me immensely. First, I had to come to understand, that this is not a one time deliverance, but a lifestyle. I am relearning how to respond to pain and anger, and I am so very thankful for the Lord's patience with me. Carrying around a lifetime of pain was burdening me spiritually, mentally and physically. So I am learning to pray that He will help me to see people the way that He sees them; this gives me insight and compassion for others. Now, when I am hurt by someone, I try to immediately pray that God will not allow that offense to take root in my heart. By releasing it quickly, I do not begin to mull it over and over in my mind. It is amazing to me how very faithful He is in response to this prayer. The thoughts are literally removed from my memory bank. It is a wonderful thing.

Many years of my life, I have lived in the bondage of bitterness. I always told myself that there were wounds on my heart that would only be healed completely in eternity. That is a lie from the pits of hell. Christ did not save me so that I could live in chains; He died to set me free from sin. Not just my own sins, and they are many; but also from the sins of others that have hurt me. He wants to replace that deep seeded stress with His Perfect Peace.  We simply cannot do this on our own. It takes His healing touch, and though I am and always will be a work in progress; I am living proof that He is always faithful.

2 Comments:

At November 13, 2012 at 8:39 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

Thank you for pouring your heart out this way, in this post. You helped me today. Thinking of you.
With Love,
Kim

 
At November 15, 2012 at 2:09 PM , Blogger Ruth LaQuey Allen said...

Thank you for your encouragement, Kim. Miss seeing you, hope that you &your sweet family are doing well.
Love & blessings
Ruthie

 

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