A Walk to Forgiveness…
Unforgiveness holds you captive
It keeps you rigid and unbending
Makes you bitter and cynical
You expect doom and gloom and the "bottom" to fall out - or all to go awry.
““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 NKJV
Matthew 18:15-35 ... ““Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 18:18 NKJV
The parable of the unforgiving servant v21-35
How do you move beyond carrying unnecessary weights to freedom?
1. Surrender “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”” James 4:6 NKJV
2. Giving up your right to be right. “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? James 4:1-5 NKJV
3. Willingness to move forward. “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 . “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14 NIV
4. Worship allows for God to become bigger and greater than your unforgiveness “Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.” Psalms 29:2 NKJV
5. Forgive yourself - for some people it's easy to forgive others because you take the blame yourself - "I should have seen it". I should have known" I was stupid and I should have never been that trusting" - these thoughts are self-destructive and will only bring death to you slowly.
“Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.”
Psalms 40:4 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/psa.40.4.nkjv
Forgiveness involves understanding and receiving the love of God. It was love that drove Jesus to the cross to die for our sins and pay the ultimate price.. He died free! He died empowered! This same power, He gave to us.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”l
Hebrews 12:1-3 NKJV
Unforgiveness strips you of power and puts you in a box that the devil wants you to believe you can never get out of.
Psalm 51:5-6 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”
Psalms 51:5-6 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/psa.51.5-6.nkjv
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.”
Psalms 51:7-13 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/psa.51.7-13.nkjv
I John 3:1-17. "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?”
I John 3:1-17 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/1jn.3.1-17.nkjv