FORGIVENESS

                                                                       FORGIVENESS

What does it mean to forgive?  In Matthew Chapter 18:21-22 it says, “Then Peter came up to Him (Jesus) and said, Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go?  (As many as) up to seven times?   Jesus answered him, I tell you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven!”  (Everyday Amp. Bible)

Then Jesus told them a parable:  Matthew 18:23-35

²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 

³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”  (NIV)

The servant was not merciful with his own fellow servant.  He received mercy but did not grant the same mercy to someone else. 

When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, Jesus said in Matthew 6:9-13 “Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.  ¹⁰ Your kingdom come.  Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.  ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.  ¹² And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.  ¹³ And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.  For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”  (NKJV)

 God the Father knew that it was so important, that He embedded it in the Our Father!

¹⁴ “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  Matthew 6:14-15 (NKJV) Why should God forgive us if we cannot even forgive someone else who has wronged us? 

When we do not forgive, we harbor resentment and it can actually make us sick.  Have you heard the old saying, “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to get sick.”  Resentment and bitterness can actually make us sick. 

Corrie ten Boom, who was a Christian in Germany during the Holocaust, was instrumental in protecting Jews and as a result went to a prison camp for a while.  In her own words she said, “My name is Corrie ten Boom and I am a murderer.”  She went on to say, “You see, when I was in prison camp I saw the same guard day in and day out.   He was the one who mocked and sneered at us when we were stripped naked and taken into the showers.  He spat on us in contempt, and I hated him.  I hated him with every fiber of my being.  And Jesus says when you hate someone you are guilty of Murder.”  (I John 3:15)

“When we were freed, I left Germany vowing never to return, but I was invited back there to speak.  I didn’t want to go but I felt the Lord nudging me to.  Very reluctantly I went.  My first talk was on forgiveness.  Suddenly as I was speaking. I saw to my horror, that same prison guard sitting in the audience.  There was no way that he would have recognized me.  But I could never forget his face, never.  It was clear to me from the radiant look on his face while I spoke, that he had been converted since I saw him last.  After I finished speaking he came up and said with a beaming smile, ‘Ah, dear sister Corrie, isn’t it wonderful how God forgives?’  And he extended his hand for me to shake.

“All I felt as I looked at him was hate.  I said to the Lord silently, “There is nothing in me that could ever love that man.  I hate him for what he did to me and to my family.  But you tell us that we are to love our enemies.  That’s impossible for me, but nothing is impossible for You.  So if You expect me to love this man it’s going to have to come from You, because all I feel is hate.”

She went on to say that at that moment she felt nudged to do only one thing: “Put out your hand, Corrie,” the Lord seemed to say.  Then she said, “It took all of the years that I had quietly obeyed God in obscurity to do the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  I put out my hand.  Then, she said something remarkable happened.  It was only after my simple act of obedience that I felt something almost like warm oil was being poured over me.  And with it came the unmistakable message: ‘Well done, Corrie.  That’s how my children behave.’  (Hope Has It’s Reasons/Julie Kemp)

How about the parable of the Prodigal Son?  The son thought he was not worthy of forgiveness but his father loved him unconditionally and forgave him. There are countless modern day examples of forgiveness such as John Paul II who was shot and almost killed and as a result suffered great agony until he died.  He went to visit the person who shot him in prison and publicly forgave him and prayed for him.  I’m sure there continue to be many others who have forgiven others for unspeakable things done to them.  It is really God, through the Holy Spirit, that is able to supernaturally forgive.  It is not by our power but God through the Holy Spirit giving us the strength to forgive.

Forgiveness is an action.  Corrie was obedient to the Lord’s leading and stretched out her hand to her enemy and as a result, she received healing from the hate that she had harbored in her heart for so many years.

A friend of mine, Fr. Jeff, told me that it was hard for him to forgive his father but when he thought about the hurt he would pray for him and that helped him to heal from the hurt.  Remember that Jesus said to pray for those who hurt us.

²⁷ “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. Luke 6:27-28 (NKJV)

How many of us have carried a burden of unforgiveness for too long?  It is time to come before the Lord if you have any unforgiveness in your heart towards anyone and lay it at the foot of the cross for Jesus to heal your wounded heart.  Let’s pray a prayer of forgiveness together.  When I pause, speak the name of the person/s.

A PRAYER FOR FORGIVING:

Father, thank You for Your mercy and grace toward me, and for forgiving my sins through Your Son’s death on the cross.  Thank You that You forgive me over and over, for repeated sins and for new sins, big or small.  I am so grateful for Your grace.  Lord, I need to forgive ____________, who has wronged me, hurt me, betrayed me, offended me, and sinned against me.  It is hard for me to do this—I am still hurt, angry, confused.  So I come asking You for the power to forgive _________.  Fill me with Your Spirit and remind me of Your love and mercy to me---and to ____________.  By Your Spirit, I choose to forgive ______________.  I choose to extend grace and mercy to him/her, even as You have done for me.  I choose, as You enable me, to live at peace with this person.  I ask that You bless_____ in Your love.  Please may we be reconciled and our relationship healed.  And if that does not happen, may I continue to love and forgive.  Thank you that this is possible in the power of the Your Spirit.  In Jesus’ name.” (A Prayer for Forgiving/Judy Douglass)

 

 

 

 

 

FORGIVENESS PART 1

FORGIVENESS  PART 1

I John 1:9 “If we admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Ephesians 4:32 “And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another (readily and freely), as God in Christ forgave you.”

Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive people their trespasses (their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment), your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” But if you do not forgive others their trespasses (their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment), neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses.” 

 

We know that Jesus died on the cross to forgive us of our sins.  He died in our place.  He saved us from the jaws of death of eternal damnation.  Just as we accept God’s forgiveness, so we too must forgive others for their offenses against us. 

Forgiveness is so important that when the Apostles asked Jesus to show them how to pray, He prayed the “Our Father” which has “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

In the parable of the two debtors in Luke Chapter 7, Jesus said that a lender had two debtors, one owed him a great amount of money and the other much less.  When the lender realized that they did not have any means to pay him back, he forgave them both.  Then Jesus asked Peter which one of them will love him more?  Peter then answered that the one with the greatest debt.  Jesus told this parable because of a reaction from a Pharisee of a woman, a well-known sinner, who had anointed Jesus with expensive perfume. 

At another time, Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother as many as seven times and Jesus answered him as many as seventy times seven!

Jesus then spoke a parable about an ungrateful servant who had a huge debt and could not pay his master back so the master ordered him to be sold as well as his wife and children and everything he possessed and payment to be made.  When the servant heard this he begged his master for pity and filled with compassion, the master released him and forgave him cancelling his debt.  But when this servant found out that his fellow servant owed him money and could not pay, he had him put in prison till the debt was paid.  When his fellow servants found out about this, they told their master and the master became angry  and told him that he forgave and cancelled all his debt and that he should have had mercy on his fellow servant and then turned him over to the jailers till he paid all of his debt back.  Matthew 18:35, “So also My heavenly Father will deal with every one of you, if you do not freely forgive your brother from your heart his offenses.” 

How many of us have carried around unforgiveness for a certain person or persons?  You have heard the old adage that unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to get sick?  Actually it is the person who has an unforgiving heart that can become sick, this is based on fact.  Unforgiveness can actually block our prayers for healing and other prayers because we are not in harmony with God.  We need to be in harmony with God and His Word if we expect our prayers to be answered.  

There is no other way to say it, but Jesus Himself said that if we do not forgive, then God will not forgive us.  It is very simple.  If this seems harsh, God is a just God.  There is a story of an African pastor who died in a car accident and was taken to hell by an angel.  He saw many people suffering in hell.  He saw people who had been Christians but had unconfessed sin in their lives like a pastor that had secretly stolen money from the Church.  The angel told him that this is where he would be because he had not forgiven his wife before he died.  He was shocked because he told the angel that he was a pastor preaching the Gospel.  Miraculously, he was resurrected from the dead and now lives to tell the story of the reality of hell and the lot for those who will not forgive.

Corrie ten Boom once said, “My name is Corrie ten Boom and I am a murderer.”  She went on to say that a certain prison guard in a concentration camp had mocked her and spit on her and others.  She hated him and she went on to say Jesus says when you hate someone you are guilty of murder.”  I John 3:15 “Anyone who hates (abominates, detests) his brother (in Christ) is (at heart) a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding (persevering) within him.”

As she continued with her speech about forgiveness, she noticed that that same prison guard was in the audience and it appeared that he had converted since the last time she had seen him.  After she spoke, he came up to her and said, “‘Ah, dear sister Corrie, isn’t it wonderful how God forgives?”  He then extended his hand towards her to shake it.  

Corrie said, that all she could feel was hate in her heart.  She silently told the Lord that there was nothing in her that could ever love that man. I hate him for what he did to me and my family.  But you tell us that we are to love our enemies.  This is impossible for me but nothing is impossible for you.  So if you expect me to love this man it’s going to have to come from you, because all I feel is hate.  

Corrie felt the Lord telling her to put out her hand to the man and as she put out her hand, she said, “It was only after my simple act of obedience that I felt something almost like warm oil was being poured over me.  And with it came the unmistakable message: Well done, Corrie.  That’s how my children behave. And the hate in my heart was absorbed and gone.  And so one murderer embraced another murderer, but in the love of Christ.”  (“Hope Has It’s Reasons,” Rebecca Manley Pippert)

So what about you?  Where do you need to extend forgiveness today?  Just like Corrie ten Boom said and quoted scripture that said that if we hate someone it is the same as murder because of what is in your heart.  I know it is very hard to forgive sometimes but the first step is to ask God to give you the strength to forgive and then say it even if it is out loud.  Just take the first step just like Corrie did.  I don’t believe that God expects you to forget but He will give you the strength once you take the first step to heal from that hurt or hurts that you have experienced.

This is the first part of a two program series about forgiveness.  Tune in next week for some of the prayers for healing the wounds in your life as well as prayers of forgiveness.

ARE WE LISTENING?

                                                           ARE WE LISTENING?

What does it mean to listen?  Webster’s Dictionary defines listen as, “To try to hear something; to pay attention.”  In other words, listening is an action and it is not passive.  We can hear something but not necessarily listen to what we hear.  The following are Bible verses that are about listening:

In Matthew 13:13, Jesus said, “Though seeing they do not see; though hearing they do not hear or understand.” (NIV)

 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.  Romans 10:17 (NIV)

Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.  Isaiah 28:23 (NIV)

Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.  Psalm 116:2 (NIV)

Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”  John 8: (NIV)

He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.  Luke 11:28 (NIV)

They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.  1 John 4:5 (NIV)

What are we listening to?  Are we listening to what the world is telling us---which is mainly doom and gloom, or are we listening to what God is telling us?  We need to listen to God.  We need to guard our ear gate (our ears) and also our eye gate (our eyes) in what we hear and what we watch.  How do we do this?  We do this by reading the Word of God.   Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.”  (NLT)  We also need to come before the Lord in prayer.  This is very important because it is during this time especially that God, through the Holy Spirit, speaks to our hearts.  We also must listen to His voice during the day.  It is still difficult for me at times to decipher what is from me, the evil one, or God but I believe that the more we spend time with Him, the more we will recognize His voice.  Also, listen to Christian music, especially praise and worship, to get into the presence of the Lord.

We are bombarded every second of the day with media, in whatever form.  It is important to keep up with the news to a certain extent but we need to fall back on what God is telling us.  God’s message is a message of hope.  God created us to live with Him eternally.  He has a special plan for our lives.  When we surrender our lives to God, He comes in and shapes and molds us.  We are who God says that we are, not what the world says.  In Ephesians Chapter 1 Paul says that we are chosen, we are blessed; we have redemption through the blood of Jesus and forgiveness of sins; we have been given wisdom and understanding.

In Matthew chapter 13:4-13, Jesus spoke a parable about a sower who went out to sow seed: “As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”  ¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.   ¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.   ¹⁵For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their yes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ ¹⁶But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. ¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

In other words, I believe that you can hear something but maybe you are not listening because as the seed that fell to the ground, it is how it was received and activated or ignored or not comprehended.  There are also those who, because of persecution or the worries of life and the accumulation of wealth, reject the Word.  We must ask the Holy Spirit, Who is the Counselor, to give us discernment, especially at this time when there is so much deception (lies) that are being heard as truth.  We need to be alert and watchful and guard what we hear and also what we see.

There is a cartoon that we have on our refrigerator that has a person with a cell phone walking from the city out into the country and the further she gets, the less signal she is receiving until it is completely gone and the caption reads:  “Sometimes you have to lose the signal to get the message.”  (“Rose Is Rose”)

So let’s tune into to God and tune out the voices, noises, in the world that are keeping us from receiving the message, the truth, which is in God so we can live the life that God has ordained for us and follow the path that He is leading us on and not let the world be the loudest voice that we hear!