Forgiveness.

One of the most difficult yet one of the most important thing for a believer is, forgiveness. The reason why it is so important because it is the gateway to salvation. The Gospel tells the story of God's forgiveness to mankind and giving us salvation through Jesus. We have trespassed against God which, by definition means "to commit unlawful injury to the person, property, or rights of another, with actual or implied force or violence, especially to enter onto another's land wrongfully." which makes sense that us as humans cannot reach God's kingdom without first being forgiven of out sins.

"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass

against us." Matthew 6:12

SO as we think about forgiveness why is it soo difficult? Well for one we may think this person doesn't deserve our forgiveness which they probably don't but you do deserve freedom. Another way we can fall into unforgiveness is when we don't acknowledge that we have it. I call his "the in denial Christian". Don't worry it happens to the best of us. I think a lot of times we try to just say oh I forgive them just because we know it is the right thing to do, buuut we actually don't. The way I usually check my heart is thinking about if I would feel uncomfortable if I walked into the same room as them. Would I be fake towards them, would I still have some sort of resentment for what they did to me. Then I realized even if I hade something towards them and I am aware of it, how in the world do I get to a place of forgiveness?!

I realized it is a process for some people, not all the time, but sometimes it is and that's okay. The first step should always be to ask the Lord for help because sometimes only his strength can help overcome this. Next, it is important to acknowledge the extent of that hurt. Sometimes we can have feelings that are so deep that we don't even realize that they are there and that they exist. The reason is because if we don’t acknowledge the extend then we don’t understand how to or what extent you need to forgive. The more you investigate the more you'll find and the more you'll be aware of how that person affected you, I find that he best healing comes when I am honest with myself and God. I noticed especially when I got out of a toxic relationship I found more freedom in touching on the parts and acknowledging where they hurt me and when I came full circle and I realized how badly I was hurt I allowed myself to feel that pain and mourn over what happened and then once I felt led to I picked up the phone and forgave that person. I didn’t just forgive him once, in my heart I had to constantly forgive over and over again. When I felt that anger overbear inside of me I made sure to forgive until I knew that there was no bad blood between us and I don’t know what that may look like for many people, but for me I had to physically call, maybe that isn’t possible for you or maybe that isn’t something that they would even understand, but like I said I think the first step to forgiveness is acknowledging where that person has hurt you and why you are so hurt by it. I think that also when you get hurt in such a big way and lose something or someone you once thought was so close to you, you need to surround yourself with people that can hold you up and speak wisdom to you because in this time the enemy going to be prowling over you and looking to devour every piece of hope that you had. It can be very dangerous so I beg of you find someone you can talk to about this and allow them to give you wise counsel. Do not make the same mistake I made and let people who don’t follow the word of God speak into your life because that can cause you to lean on something or someone who isn’t going to help you get back into a state of health, but actually pull you deeper than you had wanted to go. Another thing that you should not do is isolate yourself from everyone even if that seems like the most comforting thing you can do because that allows for the enemy to attack your mind and turn you against people that did no harm to you. It’s good to lean on Christ in this time, but to also have Christ followers surrounding you. A lot of times when we are hurt we start to believe that people should know that we are hurt and that is not always the case. Sometimes you’ll have someone who checks up on you and you are lucky for that, but in reality people forget to do that because really a lot of people don’t remember to or it doesn’t occur to them that something is wrong. Therefore, a lot of times we need to seek that ourselves, but stepping out and let a TRUSTED person to know that you are hurting and believe me there is always going to be someone who wants to listen to you and help you out. I mean you wouldn't deny someone for sharing their feelings why do you think that they would. Sometimes you can literally just walk into a church, which is what I personally did in a time when I needed counsel, badly. Believe me when you re a child of God, he will give you the resources you need, you just have to go get them. Things won’t get easy right away, but in due time God will heal your heart and you will be able to share what God revealed to you and the healing process is such a beautiful thing because you always come out stronger than you were coming into the situation.

Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. Mark 11:35

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20

Prayer

Lord Jesus, Please give me revelation for the hurt that I have experienced that has festered in my spirit and allowed unforgiveness to reside unknowingly. I want to forgive every person that I have been hurt by knowing and unknowingly. Allow freedom to break out as a result of my forgiveness and reveal more of why it is so important forgive, thank you for the ultimate forgiveness that you gave to me through Jesus and allow that to be the driving force of my ability to forgive because you loved us that much and we are called to love people like that as well. Lord not by my own strength can I do this, but by your spirit and power, so give me all he wisdom that I need in order to have a heart that is similar to yours, Amen.