Hope you are doing fine. This week I would like to share something the Lord has been teaching me. Whether we like to admit it or not, it is something we all need. It is about the Power of Forgiveness. All of us go through different difficult things in life at various points in our life. One of them is we deal with people who may hurt us ,misunderstand us, speak bad about us or even betray our trust. This can be very painful and though we know the right thing to do is "Forgive" yet its easier said than done! However, these are the Last Days and the Lord has been teaching me how we need to understand to tackle this better lest the enemy take advantage of us.
First of all, Forgiveness is not immediately forgetting everything. Its never as simple as turning a switch on and off. True forgiveness can never be running back to the person who hurt you and acting as if nothing happened. Whatever happened, happened for a reason and the pain was real. Some lessons were learnt and some boundaries need to be drawn. In some cases, Forgiveness may take time. It can not happen at once. It is a process. It is a decision of the heart. The main thing to remember though is that nothing happens in the life of a child of God without the Lord’s permission. So no matter what we go through , we can rest assured that He is teaching us something through it and that He will see us through. Sharing below 10 guidelines that the Lord has taught me and I share it with you praying it may bless you too! :
1)Allow yourself to feel the emotion - “Be angry [at sin—at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], yet do not sin; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down.” Eph 4:26 - This means that the emotion of anger in itself is not wrong but allowing it to fester is where it becomes sin. We see in Mathew 21:12,13 that even Jesus ,the Perfect, sinless Son of God got angry when he saw how the people had defiled the House of God and made it into a den of thieves. So the lesson here is that we need to process our anger in His Presence, talk to Him about the hurt, the injustice, the unfairness or anything else going on in your mind and heart and He will give us the grace to overcome.
9) It is impossible to please all the people all of the time. Even Jesus never tried to do that, then why should we fall into that trap? Infact , James 4:4 calls such people pleasers as “Unfaithful” and continues…. “Don’t you know that to be the world's friend means to be God's enemy? If you want to be the world's friend, you make yourself God's enemy.” There are a few people God has called us to influence and bless their lives with our lives and be blessed by them too. We need to focus on loving those people and ensure that we do as much as is possible to live at peace with the rest of the world. There ends our responsibility.
10) Give the person to GOD.
Just now the Lord put in my mind the word FORGIVE – FOR I GIVE this person to You Lord. You are teaching me something through this situation. Though its painful and I cannot understand, yet Lord, I trust in YOUR infinite wisdom and Goodness. You are my Master, My Shepherd and I rest at Your feet trusting You Lord.
Your Word says in Romans 8:28 “ And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.”
I’d like to conclude this post by reminding you that Nothing is ever wasted in the Kingdom of God. We see in the life of Joseph that though for a while nothing made sense to him; there was a Divine Orchestration in it all from the Pit to the Prison and then the Palace. Trust that as long as you are One who loves God, tries your best and forgives from your heart, God can turn around any situation into an advantage and we can say like Joseph says in Gen 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”
So today let’s take the decision to take a step and forgive even when its difficult. The Lord will be pleased with us & will reward us in His perfect timing. “ So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.” Gal 6:9-10
Sharing a
song on Forgiveness by Matthew West : This Song beautifully captures the diffrent aspects of all the emotions we come across when we choose to FORGIVE. Do take a few minutes to listen, it may change your life!
https://youtu.be/oIbCpy0CQEo?si=ukf2B3zaZaGfNlSU
Love and prayers,
Have a blessed week!
Sparky
laurie