Forgiveness

Forgiveness. It can be an uncomfortable topic. It can make you squirm in your seat. It can bring up anger, resentment, frustration at the drop of a hat. But we usually talk about forgiveness in the context of Christ’s forgiveness, how He forgave us. 

Not as often do we talk about the need for us to forgive others. The fact that we can’t accept Christ’s forgiveness, unless we forgive others. The fact that unforgiveness is like a festering wound, infected and agitating and relentless, until you confront it and decide to heal it. Forgiveness can be so hard for us that we often push it so far down that we have no conscious awareness of it anymore. We push it so far down that we can forget it ever existed, and we think we move on with our life. And when it creeps up, we are able to disguise it as something else to avoid it again. 

But as followers of Christ, forgiveness should be one of the easiest things for us to do. Even the deep wounds, from those closest to us, pail in comparison to the sacrifice Christ made for us on the cross. Pail in comparison to Him taking on our nasty sin, while we were still sinners. You see, if we truly rest in His grace, if we constantly are aware of His grace and His perfect blood washing us clean, and are continually asking Him to cleanse us, then we stay in a healthy place. We have a healthy heart. We walk in grace, therefore we can extend unending grace to those around us. We can be the witness we are called to be. We can set ourselves aside, our motives and desires, and love those around us despite the cold world we are living in. 

Forgiveness is such a big deal, ladies. It is the foundation of our faith, our forgiveness of sins through Christ’s death and resurrection! How dare we attempt to accept His forgiveness, while avoiding the unforgiveness in our own hearts. We cannot do that anymore. We must sit down, ask the Lord to search us, give Him permission to search your heart, so He can reveal any unforgiveness in our hearts. And then when He reveals it, we must surrender it to Him, we must ask for His power to help us walk through the process of truly forgiving, of truly letting go, and choosing to love that person or group again. 

These deep festering wounds, these hurtful experiences, when they go deep & are super hurtful, we need His power to work through it. We need His presence to transform us, to give us the strength to get through the situation. His presence brings the supernatural . So if you are thinking, ‘yeah she has no idea what he/she did, that is unforgivable’. I’m sorry, but it’s not. Nothing is impossible for God. And actually, what a beautiful opportunity to grow in intimacy with the Lord, and grow in your character and carrying His heart to those around you! In the cold world we are living in, what a beautiful testimony forgiveness and grace is of the love of God in our lives!

I do my best to love hard situations. Sometimes i can moan and complain a bit when going through it, but James 1:2-4 are some of my favorite verses that i quote regularly, especially when I am in a valley. Read these verses:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Sit in that for a moment… Don’t let the familiarity take away the depth.

Now for the hard part, do you live these verses out? When that person hurt you, was your response joy because you now had an opportunity to persevere through a hard situation, to lean on Jesus, and to extend His grace to that person? Or did you allow the hurt to penetrate your heart, not guarding your heart, and then maybe go gossip about it?

Ladies, it is so hard to walk the walk! If you are guilty of this, just like me, its ok. The worst thing to do is to condemn yourself and allow the enemy to seep lies in about who you are, so stop that. But change your ways! Repent, sit with the Lord, and ask Him to replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh and to hold your hand and walk you through the forgiveness process.

Is it easy? Absolutely not. But its a narrow gate, ladies. If it would be easy it would be a wide open gate and we would not need the love, grace & power of God in our lives. But thank the Lord He knows exactly what we need! And He has given us everything we need to live a godly life, a righteous life. A life worthy of the call. 

So, let’s do it. Get in the secret place, prioritize your quiet time with the Lord, and get vulnerable. And get forgiving!