On the 3rd of April 1903 at 11:59 pm on a rainy night, I discovered you had been shaking my hands and greeting me like an old friend, all the while conniving with my enemies of progress against me.
Forgiveness. A very long, heavy and scary word for most people. I sometimes wonder if we should replace this English word with something shorter like shavaq in Aramaic and maybe then many of us would embrace it.
The queen’s language delineates forgiveness as the act of pardoning the wrongdoer. In the Bible, forgiveness literally means releasing, letting go of resentment and thoughts of revenge.
Jesus defined forgiveness very well in Matthew 18:23-35 under the parable of the unmerciful servant. That parable baffles me. Riddle me this, Mr. Lender forgives Mr. Borrower after he begs for mercy but the same Mr. Borrower-Forgiven goes on to throw a tantrum, choke and imprison someone else who owed him money. Interesting how justice catches up with Mr. Borrower when his walls come tumbling down and is sent to merciless prison for refusing to pardon just like he had been pardoned.
Why is forgiveness so hard for most people?
- Acting the fool syndrome: I refuse and renounce the famous and shameful non-existent medal called Fool of the year for forgiving you.
- Marking my territory syndrome: I will not help you feel better about yourself by forgiving you Jezebel Nebuchadnezzar.
- Suffer you mighty offender syndrome: May hailstones and stinging nettle from Muranga County in Kenya locate your skin.
- That grudge is mine syndrome: I have forgiven you- almost. I will not talk to you. I do not want to see a strand of your hair or hear your nettlesome voice child of all deviltry.
Why do we need to forgive?
A couple of months ago, I had an encounter with God in regard to forgiveness. I was in a hot mess with most of my projects failing miserably. I thought that demon called near success syndrome had located me and forcefully camped at my door!
After numerous hilarious jumps, binding, losing and casting out imaginary stagnation spirits- please don’t give me that look. If you haven’t gone on a panic-driven crazy mess and wrong teaching of rebuking Satan and his agents before seeking God for revelation, I praise God for your wisdom.
After seeing the foolishness and ignorance I was exuding, God gave me a vision of the root cause to my problems- Grudges and unforgiveness. By God’s help, I stopped panicking and the paranoia that comes with it. Manumission and Freedom. The beauty of listening to God.
Does forgiveness mean spending time with my enemies?
Well, the million dollar question should be, What is God saying?
When to Stay: David by God’s grace and protection stayed and conquered Saul with love by playing him the lyre albeit King Saul tried to kill him.
When to run: Joseph had to run away from Potiphar’s wife. By God’s grace, he used her stones to build a monument- he killed her with success and buried her with a smile and greatness. God asked David to run and hide from Saul when Saul was determined to kill him.
God always speaks. Stay, hide, run, avoid- he guards you in all ways if you’re a serious Christian.
Benefits of forgiveness:
We need to forgive in order to:
- Thrive and prosper.
Proverbs 28:13: Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
- To avoid bitterness, grudges and resentment.
Hebrews 12:15: See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it, many become defiled.
- Obey God. Forgiveness is at the very core of the gospel.
Luke 11:4: Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is in debt to us.
- Forgiveness is a commandment.
Matthew 6:15: If we do not forgive others, our Father in Heaven will not forgive us.
Keys to Forgiveness:
The act that hurt you might linger but forgiveness will most certainly lessen its grasp on you and set you free and unchained from the control of the person who harmed you. Forgiveness leads to feelings of empathy and compassion for the one who hurt you. The following are keys to forgiveness.
- Prayer
- Thinking through things
- Self-Evaluation
- Forgiveness
- Releasing and Enjoying God’s peace and prosperity.
Would You Like to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Click here https://thelovetablet.com/2022/04/12/prayer-of-salvation/
Thanks for this. Truly inspirational.
Thank you. Keep engaging and sharing with your network.
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a little bit, but other than that, this is excellent blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a author for your site. You have some really great posts and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d love to write some material for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please shoot me an email if interested. Cheers!