If you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you

threedog · Apr 12, 2013

thesunisout said:
God designed us to be in relationship to Him, and so we are not designed to be independent of God. What we try to do on our own will ultimately fail. He also doesn't ask us to do anything that we cannot do through Him. This capacity for love is possible for any Christian who is submitted to God. Check out this story:

Corrie Ten Boom Story on Forgiving

This supernatural power you speak of i just don't see anywhere in the world. I don't see miracles in any capacity as compared to what is in the Bible.
And that saddens me. I do know of one public exception of a Christian woman who instantly forgave a man who without repentance shot and paralyze her, but he didn't kill her or anyone she loved. Nevertheless, She also wanted the man to go free. Amazing! I would have thrown the Old Testament punishemt at him. So it is possible through God's love to do this in some capacity. I just don't understand why a person who wants to do great harm should be forgiven...and why that is such a crime...when God gave us the emotions that make us struggle with this battle. Some of us are going to lose this battle...is that so bad!

Think about all the devoted Christians who truly were dependent on God to heal there sick without going to a doctor. They believed in the miracles of God. They had the the faith of Abraham. When their Abraham moment came their precious kids died in there arms from a simple infection that man made antibiotics cure today quite routinely. I can't imagine the sorrow, dread and disappointment when reality set in! And God has his regrets also...after the fall of Adam...God speaks of his regret for creating man. So not all is perfect! We struggle to find our way even when God is holding our hand...so why the judgment...It's not necessary because by nature we are born losers and sinners. If you don't believe me...look up Genesis and reflect on God having regret for his creation and all the attempts to make it right. I'm just trying to see things for what they are..what promises are real and what promises are not. I'm not trying to prove anything about God...I can't. I appreciate your response...Take care...threedog

thesunisout · Apr 12, 2013

threedog said:
I'm just trying to see things for what they are..what promises are real and what promises are not. I'm not trying to prove anything about God...I can't. I appreciate your response...Take care...threedog

In the natural, when someone wrongs you and they're unrepentant of course you don't want to forgive them. In natural terms there is no reason why you should. But God calls us to be a people separated from the wisdom and ways of the world, and to live for Him and walk in His ways. Gods way, the way of the cross, is that you give up your rights and die to yourself so that Jesus can live through you. When you walk with Jesus, you lose your right to be angry and to hold grudges. Just as we did not deserve to be forgiven for our sins, we forgive others for their sins against us. We forgive sacrificially because God is interested in reconciliation and restoration and not retribution. We cannot do this on our own; it is His heart and His love which enable to forgive.

It is also very practical to forgive. Unforgiveness is a heavy burden, and all of the anger and bitterness is a spiritual weight on your shoulders. The resentment that comes from unforgiveness is like a cup full of poison you pour for someone else, but you drink it. You are the one suffering. Jesus wants to take those burdens away. I am getting the sense that there are things that happened to you that you are having trouble forgiving, and I want to tell you that Jesus wants to take those from you and carry them for you. When we forgive we are releasing that person to God for Him to judge; it doesn't mean that we approve of what happened, but it does mean that we recognize that God is the judge and that we are called to follow Jesus and forgive.

The supernatural power that you talked about is still operating today. I have personally witnessed miraculous healings and deliverances. There are many ministries out there operating in this power, such as Reinhard Bonnke's ministry in Africa:

Watch This Miracle! Regina Atta - YouTube

You asked which promises of God are true, and which are not. The answer is, they're all true. God is not a man that He should lie:

Psalms 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

I am wondering, since your faith identifies you as a seeker..are you trusting in Jesus for forgiveness of sins and eternal life? Who is Jesus to you?

threedog · Apr 13, 2013

thesunisout said:
In the natural, when someone wrongs you and they're unrepentant of course you don't want to forgive them. In natural terms there is no reason why you should. But God calls us to be a people separated from the wisdom and ways of the world, and to live for Him and walk in His ways. Gods way, the way of the cross, is that you give up your rights and die to yourself so that Jesus can live through you. When you walk with Jesus, you lose your right to be angry and to hold grudges. Just as we did not deserve to be forgiven for our sins, we forgive others for their sins against us. We forgive sacrificially because God is interested in reconciliation and restoration and not retribution. We cannot do this on our own; it is His heart and His love which enable to forgive.

It is also very practical to forgive. Unforgiveness is a heavy burden, and all of the anger and bitterness is a spiritual weight on your shoulders. The resentment that comes from unforgiveness is like a cup full of poison you pour for someone else, but you drink it. You are the one suffering. Jesus wants to take those burdens away. I am getting the sense that there are things that happened to you that you are having trouble forgiving, and I want to tell you that Jesus wants to take those from you and carry them for you. When we forgive we are releasing that person to God for Him to judge; it doesn't mean that we approve of what happened, but it does mean that we recognize that God is the judge and that we are called to follow Jesus and forgive.

The supernatural power that you talked about is still operating today. I have personally witnessed miraculous healings and deliverances. There are many ministries out there operating in this power, such as Reinhard Bonnke's ministry in Africa:

Watch This Miracle! Regina Atta - YouTube

You asked which promises of God are true, and which are not. The answer is, they're all true. God is not a man that He should lie:

Psalms 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

I am wondering, since your faith identifies you as a seeker..are you trusting in Jesus for forgiveness of sins and eternal life? Who is Jesus to you?

I would not ever expect anyone to forgive me for my desire to do someone harm....I would understand, (because I'm human) that is an unreasonable expectation for some. There was a time when justice was defined by an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth. If I choose to forgive someone because it makes me feel better, well I will probably do that. If I choose not to forgive someone, my unforgiveness does not have any affect on their salvation or their standing with God. I have zero power over their salvation. So if I want to carry those feelings to my own benefit or detriment...I don't see the big deal. My feelings are one thing, my actions are far more powerful and dangerous. The only answer I see to managing these inbreed human emotions is God's desire to give us the Holy Spirit...a supernatural intervention...I see very little evidence of this phenomenon today...but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist...somewhere!

mandelduke · Apr 13, 2013

thesunisout said:
Well, what you said to me was that I am wrong about my interpretation of Matthew 6:14-15. So I am asking you, what is the correct interpretation? It says in plain language that if we don't forgive others God won't forgive us..what do you think that means?

I did not say that your interpretation of Matthew 6:14-15 was wrong, your interpretation is correct. Im saying the Sermon on the Mount was not telling us how to get to heaven, it was telling us why we could not get there.

thesunisout · Apr 21, 2013

threedog said:
I would not ever expect anyone to forgive me for my desire to do someone harm....I would understand, (because I'm human) that is an unreasonable expectation for some. There was a time when justice was defined by an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth. If I choose to forgive someone because it makes me feel better, well I will probably do that. If I choose not to forgive someone, my unforgiveness does not have any affect on their salvation or their standing with God. I have zero power over their salvation. So if I want to carry those feelings to my own benefit or detriment...I don't see the big deal. My feelings are one thing, my actions are far more powerful and dangerous. The only answer I see to managing these inbreed human emotions is God's desire to give us the Holy Spirit...a supernatural intervention...I see very little evidence of this phenomenon today...but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist...somewhere!

Threedog, the question of forgiveness is not about whether you expect anyone to forgive you or not, it is about what God expects of us. We are held to His standards; He isn't held to ours. He commands us to unconditionally forgive everyone, no matter what they've done to us. Since He has forgiven us for all of our sins, He expects us to forgive others all of their sins against us. You say you see no big deal, but disobeying God is a big deal. He says if we regard sin in our hearts, He won't hear our prayers. That is a big deal and it means that we have no fellowship with God when we do not obey Him.

God does give His Holy Spirit, and He gives it to everyone who receives Christ as Lord and Savior. This is what it means to be born again. When you receive the Holy Spirit, God transforms you on the inside and makes you a new person. It happened to me and it happens to Christians all over the world every day. Why do you think this isn't happening today?

thesunisout · Apr 22, 2013

mandelduke said:
I did not say that your interpretation of Matthew 6:14-15 was wrong, your interpretation is correct. Im saying the Sermon on the Mount was not telling us how to get to heaven, it was telling us why we could not get there.

His instructions were both to His disciples and the multitudes:

Mat 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
Mat 5:2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

His teaching in Matthew 6:14-15 was not to unsaved people, but to his disciples. The reason we know that is because the sins of unsaved people will not be forgiven by the Father regardless of whether they forgive others their trespasses or not. Therefore it is also applicable to us.

threedog · Apr 25, 2013

thesunisout said:
Threedog, the question of forgiveness is not about whether you expect anyone to forgive you or not, it is about what God expects of us. We are held to His standards; He isn't held to ours. He commands us to unconditionally forgive everyone, no matter what they've done to us. Since He has forgiven us for all of our sins, He expects us to forgive others all of their sins against us. You say you see no big deal, but disobeying God is a big deal. He says if we regard sin in our hearts, He won't hear our prayers. That is a big deal and it means that we have no fellowship with God when we do not obey Him.

God does give His Holy Spirit, and He gives it to everyone who receives Christ as Lord and Savior. This is what it means to be born again. When you receive the Holy Spirit, God transforms you on the inside and makes you a new person. It happened to me and it happens to Christians all over the world every day. Why do you think this isn't happening today?

I understand fully all the standard Christian points you are making. It just doesn't make any sense to me...and God did give me a brain as well as a heart and soul.

mottie · Apr 26, 2013

thesunisout said:
Threedog, the question of forgiveness is not about whether you expect anyone to forgive you or not, it is about what God expects of us. We are held to His standards; He isn't held to ours. He commands us to unconditionally forgive everyone, no matter what they've done to us. Since He has forgiven us for all of our sins, He expects us to forgive others all of their sins against us. You say you see no big deal, but disobeying God is a big deal. He says if we regard sin in our hearts, He won't hear our prayers. That is a big deal and it means that we have no fellowship with God when we do not obey Him.

God does give His Holy Spirit, and He gives it to everyone who receives Christ as Lord and Savior. This is what it means to be born again. When you receive the Holy Spirit, God transforms you on the inside and makes you a new person. It happened to me and it happens to Christians all over the world every day. Why do you think this isn't happening today?

I hear what you are saying but we need to keep in mind that we arent God, we are not sinless, sadly we find it very hard in certain situations to forgive and I mean to truly forgive from the heart.

thesunisout · Apr 26, 2013

threedog said:
I understand fully all the standard Christian points you are making. It just doesn't make any sense to me...and God did give me a brain as well as a heart and soul.

God explains it in the parable of the unmerciful servant:

Matthew 18:21-35 NIV - The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant - Bible Gateway

The servant had a huge debt, in the millions of dollars, but the Master mercifully forgave him even though he didn't deserve it and could never repay it. The servant then goes out and finds one of his fellow servants to collect on a debt and refuses to forgive his tiny debt against him, even though he begs for mercy. The Master hears about this and throws his ungrateful servant in jail to be tormented until he repays everything.

This is just how it is with us. God mercifully forgave our massive sin debt against Him and therefore He expects us to forgive others sin debts against us. If we refuse, we open ourselves up to torment and our fellowship with God is broken. If you want a good reason why you should forgive all that have sinned against you, it's that you're paying for it whether you know it or not. When you have unforgiveness in your life, God isn't hearing your prayers. Your fellowship with Him is broken until you forgive. The reason why, ultimately, is because He told us to do it.

This is not something we can do on our own strength. We have to ask God to come to the unforgiveness and move through it, and give us the strength to forgive.

thesunisout · Apr 26, 2013

mottie said:
I hear what you are saying but we need to keep in mind that we arent God, we are not sinless, sadly we find it very hard in certain situations to forgive and I mean to truly forgive from the heart.

Yes, and there is a danger of superficial forgiveness. Often times I have had to ask God to help me forgive someone many times before it was truly from the heart. The thing to remember is this: God never told us to do anything that He won't empower us to do. All we need to do is decide that we want to obey Him and then if we turn over the problem to Him, He will help us do it. Sometimes it takes a lot of work to get there, but the Holy Spirit is there with us every step of the way to help us do it.

A New Day · Apr 26, 2013

threedog said:
...and God did give me a brain as well as a heart and soul.

I am sorry, I was not present but what you said caught my attention someone once said the following:
A believer that was about to drown prayed to God that he saves him, and God sent a ship but he refused that help and he said: I am waiting for the help of God. But that was the help of God for him.

A lot of times God can work in and through other people but I can choose to refuse that.

threedog God is love and he can work in you too, he can plant the seed in you to help you to grow in the faith, and with that everything becomes possible for a christian, he may already planted that seed that you are seeking him now too.

threedog · Apr 28, 2013

thesunisout said:
God explains it in the parable of the unmerciful servant:

Matthew 18:21-35 NIV - The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant - Bible Gateway

The servant had a huge debt, in the millions of dollars, but the Master mercifully forgave him even though he didn't deserve it and could never repay it. The servant then goes out and finds one of his fellow servants to collect on a debt and refuses to forgive his tiny debt against him, even though he begs for mercy. The Master hears about this and throws his ungrateful servant in jail to be tormented until he repays everything.

This is just how it is with us. God mercifully forgave our massive sin debt against Him and therefore He expects us to forgive others sin debts against us. If we refuse, we open ourselves up to torment and our fellowship with God is broken. If you want a good reason why you should forgive all that have sinned against you, it's that you're paying for it whether you know it or not. When you have unforgiveness in your life, God isn't hearing your prayers. Your fellowship with Him is broken until you forgive. The reason why, ultimately, is because He told us to do it.

This is not something we can do on our own strength. We have to ask God to come to the unforgiveness and move through it, and give us the strength to forgive.

You did a wonderful job making the case why we should forgive. I appreciate the time you took to enlighten all of us. I have the capacity to forgive to a point. There are some things I can't do it if I tried. If God works a miracle in my heart then It is not really me forgiving the person is it? So God has to give me the heart capacity to do it or won't happen in special sorrowful situations. You said this forgiveness is not anything we can do ourselves. We need a supernatural intervention...Well I'm all for that!

A New Day · Apr 29, 2013

threedog said:
You did a wonderful job making the case why we should forgive. I appreciate the time you took to enlighten all of us. I have the capacity to forgive to a point. There are some things I can't do it if I tried. If God works a miracle in my heart then It is not really me forgiving the person is it? So God has to give me the heart capacity to do it or won't happen in special sorrowful situations. You said this forgiveness is not anything we can do ourselves. We need a supernatural intervention...Well I'm all for that!

for that I must be humble to the will of the Lord in my life, did you know that sometimes God helps us on several small situations of repentance? it is the same as what the vaccine does.

thegoodgirl101 · Apr 29, 2013

Interesting post, thank you brother. I have not forgiven some others, it is very hard but I will try...

beggarsall · Apr 29, 2013

thesunisout said:
I'm not sure. If it is something that you knowingly keep doing and refuse to confess, it is possible. If it is something like..say you had lied about something to someone and then got hit by a bus before you confessed it. I don't think that would keep you out of Heaven.

Hey Guys! This is an interesting question that I actually have an answer for.

Fortunately, nobody is going to Heaven with any sin that hasn't been confessed. All of your sinful works will be burned at the Judgement Seat of Christ before you ever get to Heaven.

The whole process is explained in 1Corinthians:

1Corinthians3:10-15

"10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."

thesunisout · Apr 30, 2013

threedog said:
You did a wonderful job making the case why we should forgive. I appreciate the time you took to enlighten all of us. I have the capacity to forgive to a point. There are some things I can't do it if I tried. If God works a miracle in my heart then It is not really me forgiving the person is it? So God has to give me the heart capacity to do it or won't happen in special sorrowful situations. You said this forgiveness is not anything we can do ourselves. We need a supernatural intervention...Well I'm all for that!

Praise the Lord! That's what God is looking for, which is the desire in our hearts to obey His will. When we submit the problem to Him, admitting our weakness and inability to forgive, He promises to empower us so that we can do it. We need His love and His strength to be able to forgive, so ask Him for these things. Ask Him to help you see the people you are having trouble with the way He sees them, for they are also made in His image and they are those for whom His Son died to save. If you are all for it, then God is all for it too and He will give you the ability to forgive. Persist in prayer about it asking Him to help you with this. I'm glad I could help. God bless you.

thesunisout · Apr 30, 2013

thegoodgirl101 said:
Interesting post, thank you brother. I have not forgiven some others, it is very hard but I will try...

You're welcome sister. Read the last post I gave to threedog..often even when we want to forgive we don't have the strength to do it. We need Gods love flowing through us to be able to forgive from the heart. That comes by submitting the problem to Him and asking Him to empower you to forgive. Prayer is an important component of that. God bless you.

threedog · May 2, 2013

thesunisout said:
Praise the Lord! That's what God is looking for, which is the desire in our hearts to obey His will. When we submit the problem to Him, admitting our weakness and inability to forgive, He promises to empower us so that we can do it. We need His love and His strength to be able to forgive, so ask Him for these things. Ask Him to help you see the people you are having trouble with the way He sees them, for they are also made in His image and they are those for whom His Son died to save. If you are all for it, then God is all for it too and He will give you the ability to forgive. Persist in prayer about it asking Him to help you with this. I'm glad I could help. God bless you.

And may God bless you too. Theedog

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