Yesterday, I heard
three different messages on the radio regarding forgiveness. Joyce Meyers said in her 30 years of
ministry, she has found that 80% of Christians she has come across are mad at
somebody. Many have said “But they did
this to me and they have done this to me.”
They say that they can’t help the way they feel. The reality is they can control what they do
and say, but they have a tendency to lash out.
To help you understand
grace, Hebrews 12:15 (NLT) says: Look after each other so that none of you
fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of
bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.
We have been taught to forgive our brothers and sisters, but
too often we are exposed to someone who has been offensive to us and we become
bitter and hurt resulting in un-forgiveness.
In that moment, that person “fails to receive God's grace” because grace
is not a license to sin. Do we sin more
that grace might abound more? NO! So, do you think we should continue sinning
so that God will give us even more grace? No! We died to our old sinful lives, so how
can we continue living with sin? Romans 6:1-2 (NCV)
So how does a person fail to receive God's grace? Some teach grace as a covering for sin. No, grace does not cover sin. Jesus died on the cross to cover sin. Grace makes it possible for us to repent now
because God has taught us right from wrong.
What grace does first, is teach us.
Grace makes it possible to recognize sin and repent for our servitude to
it.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by what? The Word of God. (So, then faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17 (NKJV). God’s divine influence on the human heart
comes through teaching, reading the Word, and the confirmation of the Holy
Spirit. So, when someone knows that they
should forgive yet they do not, they have fallen short of the glory of
God. They have failed because now grace
is not working since they forgot what it said. (Hebrews 12:15).
When someone forgets to be kind to you, and they reject you,
then that evil realm is trying to get you to repay evil with evil. You know the thoughts will come and will come
very quickly. “How dare they say that to
me? I am going to get even.” The record
of wrongs starting coming one right after another. The war of repaying evil with evil is futile
and you will lose. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what
is good both for yourselves and for all. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 (NKJV).
The root of bitterness starts to work in you. You feel it, you think it in your mind, you
feel it in your belly (physical), and the anger/harsh words/slander manifest in
and through you, Ephesians 4:31 (NLT)
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as
well as all types of evil behavior. We
must acknowledge bitterness as un-forgiveness.
When you have forgiven that person and you have been
forgiven by God for having un-forgiveness, that spirit of bitterness has been
removed from you. Can you still remember
what they said or did to you? Yes, you
can remember, because that is what your memory does, but you no longer feel
that high octane ping in your inner parts.
That means the sin that dwelt within is no longer teaching you. Your mind may remember, but it is okay
because the Word of God is strong in you now.
The law of God is there.
You are to forgive your brother how many times? Jesus
said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven
Matthew 18:22 (NKJV). Forgive them
and release them every minute of the day.
His teaching will help you forgive other people. This teaching will help you to forgive
yourself, because it was not you that did it or them that did it to you. It was the sin that lives within. Paul struggled with this very thing, the sin
within (15 I do not understand the
things I do. I do not do what I want to do, and I do the things I hate. 16 And if I do not want to do the hated
things I do, that means I agree that the law is good. 17 But I am not really the one who is doing
these hated things; it is sin living in me that does them.18 Yes, I know that
nothing good lives in me—I mean nothing good lives in the part of me that is
earthly and sinful. I want to do the things that are good, but I do not do
them. 19 I do not do the good things I
want to do, but I do the bad things I do not want to do. 20 So if I do things I do not want to do,
then I am not the one doing them. It is sin living in me that does those
things. 21 So I have learned this rule:
When I want to do good, evil is there with me.
22 In my mind, I am happy with God's law. 23 But I see another law working in my body,
which makes war against the law that my mind accepts. That other law working in
my body is the law of sin, and it makes me its prisoner. 24 What a miserable man I am! Who will save
me from this body that brings me death?
25 I thank God for saving me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So, in my mind I am a slave to God's law,
but in my sinful self I am a slave to the law of sin Romans 7:15-25 (NCV).
Paul understood his shortcomings. We must understand the shortcomings of
ourselves and others. We must separate
the person from the sin and understand what the enemy is trying to do within us.
Grace is not an excuse to sin. It is by His grace that we are saved. Grace
is a gift. As part of our salvation, we
have an obligation to read the Word of God so sanctification can be unto God. Jesus
had a lot to say about sanctification in the Book of John, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,” (John 17:16) and this is His request in
verse 17: “Sanctify them by Your truth.
Your Word is truth”. Sanctification is a state of separation unto God; all
believers enter into this state when they are born of God: “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from
God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” 1 Corinthians 1:30. This is a
once-for-ever separation, eternally unto God. It is an intricate part of our
salvation and our connection with Christ, By
that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:10.
What we say can be a blessing or a curse. Our verbal confession of forgiveness and our
verbal confession of love for those who have offended us is a blessing not only
for the person but for us. Shout out to
the Lord your confession of forgiveness and love for the person who has
offended you so that God will forgive you.
Father God, I forgive
_________ for all their offenses towards me and I ask you to forgive me for
having un-forgiveness towards ________.
Father God, I love ______ who you created in love.
“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 your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15.
And whenever you
stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your
Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25
God’s grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9 And He
said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in
weakness.” Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me). We
must bestow His grace on others by the way we treat them even when they offend
us. We can’t avoid them because that is
not what Jesus did to those who offended Him with their sin from the beginning
to His second coming. We must model
ourselves after Jesus who forgave others without reservation, helped those who
were hurting, was patient with those who were difficult, showed kindness to His
enemies, and cared (healed & delivered) for those who were lost.
I pray the love from our Heavenly Father helps you overcome
any un-forgiveness so that there is healing in your life.
Tony Sanchez 9-22-17
