Just the other day as I was enjoying a walk on a warm December, yes December day in Houston, a sudden onslaught of hurtful thoughts came flooding to my mind ..out of no where I was painstakingly reminded of the betrayal I had suffered that ended in divorce.. the enemy was bringing up all the old facts and taunting me with them..
Then suddenly I recognized the bullying for what it was and immediately resisted the enemy at his onset .. James 4:7 and then as the scripture instructs I submitted myself to God. I asked God to once again help me to forgive my ex and his girlfriend and then even harder .. I asked God to bless them.
I am not writing about this to try to remotely acknowledge that it is as easy as that.. It's contrarily by far one of the hardest things God asks us to do. Living for God and doing His will is most often the road less traveled because it's not the easiest fork in the road of choices. It's the more ambiguous road that beseeches us to live and act as Jesus himself would and follow closely and in the mirror image of Him.
Our realization of what we need to do is most often in complete opposition of what we ( in our flesh) want to do. We must grasp the understanding that we by forgiving, become the living benefactor of blessings and this life changing wisdom comes straight from the words of Christ Himself when He was asked how many times we should forgive...
Matthew 18:21-22
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven.
70x7... Wow.. Christ is lovingly notifying us in this Scripture that He knows forgiveness is extremely hard. He's also stating that if it was as simple as merely saying "I forgive them," one time we would not need our loving Father beckoning us to keep forgiving over and over again. God realizes that the need for continual forgiveness is a process that with diligence and fortitude will bring with it a divine healing of the soul.
One very important key I feel to be a total necessity to moving forward in complete forgivness is that Forgiveness does NOT excuse the behavior of those who have hurt you.. you forgiving them is absolutey for you! God will judge them for their behavior and bring justice upon them for their deeds. We are not to be concerned or distracted by the punishment God has planned for the godless..
Job 36:17
But you are obsessed with whether the godless will be judged. Don't worry, judgment and justice will be upheld.
Forgiveness however; is to benefit ourselves, the ones who have been hurt. IT IS FOR US! It's hard to believe that on top of being hurt and betrayed by someone that we could continue to hurt ourselves by not forgiving them and by not letting go; but there is nothing more true...we simply MUST forgive!
Wholeheartedly forgiving those who have hurt us will actually set us free from the binding chains of hurt, anger, bitterness, pain,angst and turmoil that can take over our entire mind, body, and soul and paralyze our spiritual growth locking us down on the burdensome road of heaviness and despair and simultaneously blocking our own blessings by drowning out our peace and our ability to experience joy.
The Lord's blessings continually flow down to us, He never stops blessing us, NEVER! Through bitterness and unforgiveness however we are in a sense choking off the flow of our own blessings by not letting go of the past hurts.
The enemy knows if he can continually stir up our past pain and cause us to always remain looking in the rearview mirror with hatred and contempt over those who have hurt us; then he will successfully block us from being blessed and simultaneously from moving forward in the glorious victory that God has in store for us!
We must let it go, it's time to forgive, it's time to let the Divine Blood shed of Jesus Christ cover our hurts and our pains as we forgive one more time! We must lay it all down down at the foot of the cross thereby resisting the enemies lies at the onset!
Lord we seek your strength as we forgive those who have hurt us in the same manor in which you have so preciously forgiven us, we ask for your peace and joy as you lovingly heal our souls bringing forth victory and a glorious testimony as to the truth of your Word and how you diligently watch over your Word to perform it! Amen!
