Leaving the Pain Behind
"Love...is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of
the evil done to it pays no attention to a suffered wrong."
-- (1 Corinthians 13:5, The Amplified Bible)
Have you ever tried to forgive someone and found you simply couldn't do
it? You've cried about it and prayed about it and asked God to help you,
but those old feelings of resentment just failed to go away.
Put an end to those kinds of failures in the future by basing your
forgiveness on faith rather than feelings. True forgiveness doesn't have
anything at all to do with how you feel. It's an act of the will. It is
based on obedience to God and on faith in Him.
That means once you've forgiven a person, you need to consider him
permanently forgiven! When old feelings rise up within you and Satan
tries to convince you that you haven't really forgiven, resist him. Say,
"No, I've already forgiven that person by faith. I refuse to dwell on
those old feelings."
Then, according to 1 John 1:9, believe that you receive forgiveness and
cleansing from the sin of unforgiveness and from all unrighteousness
associated with it including any remembrance of having been wronged!
Have you ever heard anyone say, "I may forgive, but I'll never forget!"
That's a second-rate kind of forgiveness that you, as a believer, are
never supposed to settle for. You're to forgive supernaturally "even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32).
You're to forgive as God forgives. To release that person from guilt
permanently and unconditionally and to operate as if nothing bad ever
happened between you. You're to purposely forget as well as forgive.
As you do that, something supernatural will happen within you. The pain
once caused by that incident will disappear. The power of God will wash
away the effects of it and you'll be able to leave it behind you once
and for all.
Don't become an emotional bookkeeper, keeping careful accounts of the
wrongs you have suffered. Learn to forgive and forget. It will open a
whole new world of blessing for you.
SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 6:27-37
"Love...is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of
the evil done to it pays no attention to a suffered wrong."
-- (1 Corinthians 13:5, The Amplified Bible)
Have you ever tried to forgive someone and found you simply couldn't do
it? You've cried about it and prayed about it and asked God to help you,
but those old feelings of resentment just failed to go away.
Put an end to those kinds of failures in the future by basing your
forgiveness on faith rather than feelings. True forgiveness doesn't have
anything at all to do with how you feel. It's an act of the will. It is
based on obedience to God and on faith in Him.
That means once you've forgiven a person, you need to consider him
permanently forgiven! When old feelings rise up within you and Satan
tries to convince you that you haven't really forgiven, resist him. Say,
"No, I've already forgiven that person by faith. I refuse to dwell on
those old feelings."
Then, according to 1 John 1:9, believe that you receive forgiveness and
cleansing from the sin of unforgiveness and from all unrighteousness
associated with it including any remembrance of having been wronged!
Have you ever heard anyone say, "I may forgive, but I'll never forget!"
That's a second-rate kind of forgiveness that you, as a believer, are
never supposed to settle for. You're to forgive supernaturally "even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32).
You're to forgive as God forgives. To release that person from guilt
permanently and unconditionally and to operate as if nothing bad ever
happened between you. You're to purposely forget as well as forgive.
As you do that, something supernatural will happen within you. The pain
once caused by that incident will disappear. The power of God will wash
away the effects of it and you'll be able to leave it behind you once
and for all.
Don't become an emotional bookkeeper, keeping careful accounts of the
wrongs you have suffered. Learn to forgive and forget. It will open a
whole new world of blessing for you.
SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 6:27-37
