Do you ever wish

[Colleen1]

Thank you so much sister. I really needed that.

Your welcome. I'm glad it was helpful. I didn't intend it to be so long though. Take care and I don't mind listening.

 

[kimmiemae]

Forgiveness is not forgetting. People who try to forget all that was done to them find they cannot do it. God says He will remember our sins no more (see Hebrews 10:17), but God, being omniscient, cannot forget. Remember our sins no more means that God will never use the past against us (see Psalm 103:12). He is saying that He will not use the past against us. Forgetting is a long-term by-product of forgiveness, but it is never a means toward it. Don’t put off forgiving those who have hurt you, hoping the pain will go away. Once you choose to forgive someone, then Christ will heal your wounds. We don’t heal in order to forgive; we forgive in order to be healed. When we bring up the past against others, we are saying we haven’t forgiven them.

 

[kimmiemae]

· Forgiveness is a choice, a decision of the will. Since God requires you to forgive, it is something you can do. Some people hold on to their anger as a means of protecting themselves against further abuse; others desire revenge. However, forgiveness is difficult for us because it pulls against our concept of justice. We are told never to take our own revenge. The Bible teaches vengeances is the Lord’s (see Romans 12:19). Let God deal with the person. You say, “Why should I let them off the hook?” That is precisely the problem. You are still hooked to them, still bound by your past. You will let them off your hook, but they are never off God’s. He will deal with them fairly—something we cannot do.
You say, “You don’t understand how much this person hurt me!” No person can really know another person’s pain, but Jesus does, and He instructed us to forgive others for our own sake, not for the sake of the one who hurt us. Don’t you see, by choosing not to forgive them, they are still hurting you! How do you stop the pain? Nobody can fix the past, but you can be free from its torments. What you gain byforgiving is freedom from your past and those who have abused you. Your need to forgive is not an issue between you and the offender; it is an issue between you and God.

 

[kimmiemae]

Forgiveness is agreeing to live with the consequences of another person’s sin. Forgiveness is costly. You pay the price of the evil you forgive. You’re going to live with those consequences whether you want to or not; your only choice is whether you will do so in the bondage of bitterness or the freedom of forgiveness. Jesus took the consequences of your sin upon Himself. All true forgiveness is substitutionary because no one really forgives without bearing the consequences of the other person’s sin. God the Father “made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21, NASB). Where is the justice? It’s the cross that makes forgiveness legally and morally right: “For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all” (Romans 6:10, NASB). We are to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. Do not wait for the other person to ask for forgiveness. Remember, Jesus did not wait to for those who were crucifying Him to apologize before He forgave them. Even while they mocked and jeered at Him, He prayed, “Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

 

[kimmiemae]

Forgive from your heart. So often people engage their mouth in prayer while their heart in disengaged. True forgiveness is an issue that flows up from the heart not from a person’s words. Allow God to bring up to the surface the pain associated with those memories of your hurt, then acknowledge to God how you feel toward those who have hurt you. A feeling is neither right or wrong, it is a fact, this is how I feel. No one should ever tell another person, “it’s wrong to feel that way,” or “you shouldn’t feel that way.” The truth is you do feel that way, the issue is what are we going to do about the way we feel. We need to lift our true feelings up before the Lord and those that are damaged and hurt we need to ask Him to heal. If our forgiveness does not touch the emotional core of our life, it will be incomplete. Too often we’re afraid of thepain, so we bury our damaged emotions deep down inside us. Let God bring them to the surface, so He can begin to heal those damaged emotions. · Forgiveness is choosing not to hold someone’s sin against them anymore. It’s common for bitter people to bring up past offences with those who have hurt them. They want them to feel as bad as they do, it is a form of revenge. But we must let go of the past and choose to reject any thought of revenge or getting even. Decide that you will bear the burdens of their offenses by not using that information against them in the future. This doesn’t mean that you to continue to put up with abuse. God does not tolerate sin and neither should you. You must set up scriptural boundaries to prevent future abuse. Some may be required to testify for the sake of justice but not for the purpose of seeking revenge from a bitter heart. If you need help setting boundaries to protect yourself from further abuse, talk to a trusted friend, counselor or pastor.
· Don’t wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving. You will never get there. Make the hard choice to forgive, even if you don’t feel like it. Once you choose to forgive, Satan will loose his hold on you, and God will begin to heal your damaged emotions. Allow the peace of Christ to rule in your heart instead of resentment, bitterness and hatred.
· Ask the Lord to reveal to your mind every person you need to forgive from your past. Make a list of the names as God speaks to your mind. Don’t argue with God about a name that pops up – write it down. God may bring to your mind some other names as you are praying through your list. Just write them down as well. Sometimes it is easier to start at the bottom of the list and work up, because the harder ones to choose to forgive are often those we put down first, so some like starting with the easier ones.
· Now make the hard choice to forgive. For every painful memory that God reveals for each person on your list pray aloud:
Father, I choose to forgive [name the person] for [what he or she did or failed to do] because it made me feel [express to God the painful feelings].

Father, I take back the ground I surrendered in the area of unforgiveness towards [the person’s name], I ask you to tear down the strongholds built by the enemy on this ground and to sweep away all of the debris. I ask you to cover this ground in the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, taking back ownership of what you have purchased and rightly own. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray. Amen

By the authority I have in the true and living Lord Jesus Christ, I command any evil spirits or evil entities attached to this ground I just reclaimed or stronghold just destroyed, to leave me now and go, escorted by God’s holy angels, to the place where the Lord Jesus Christ would send you.

 

[Colleen1]

Sin can destroy lives and rip our hearts and lives apart. God cares about our pain. Despite our experiences, pain, mistakes or hurts I think the most important thing to remember is that we have the best Father and our Father God truly & deeply loves us. His motives are pure.