ICS Daily Devotions
Forgiving from the Heart
Matthew 18:35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his HEART, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”
To be a follower of Christ means we will follow His ways. Forgiveness is God’s way; His only way for saving us from the bondage of sin that leads to our destruction. Our faith will release God’s power when we choose to follow His way, and forgive those who have hurt us. Some of you may be saying that you cannot forgive because you’re not Jesus. But Jesus is talking about the forgiveness from your heart.
By putting our faith in Jesus, we are putting our faith in His forgiveness. As a Christian, we need to follow Jesus’ example if we are to truly follow Him. By holding back on forgiveness, we are showing God that we don’t understand what He has done for us and it also shows our lack of trust in Him.
When God’s power is unleashed, something amazing happens in us. By God’s power, the anger and bitterness that poisons our life and relationships is released. The devil loses his foothold in our life and we can break free to experience more of the incredible life Christ offers.
Forgiving someone is not an easy thing to do. This is not suggesting that we minimize the real pain and hurt that was experienced. Jesus went to the cross to forgive us. Because Jesus went to the cross, we can rest assured that He understands our pain. He also understands the power and joy of the resurrection; a resurrection you will experience when you choose to forgive.
Forgiveness is not a feeling. It is a choice, a difficult choice, but one that can be made with the power of the Holy Spirit who is in us. If we wait until we feel like forgiving, then we will be trapped forever because we will never feel like it. We must make a decision to act in faith as a follower of Christ because we believe His way is by far the best way.
Forgiveness feels like we are letting the person who hurt us off the hook and that is an injustice. But remember, we are not the judge. God is the Judge. When we forgive, we take ourselves off the hook. By forgiving, what we are really doing is releasing ourselves. Until we forgive, the things someone did in the past to hurt us will continue to haunt and hurt us in the present and future through anger, bitterness and or shame. Our unforgiveness hurts us, not them. Break the abuse by using God’s supernatural power of forgiveness.
The Bible teaches that forgiveness must come from the heart (Matthew 18:35). God will supernaturally heal us of those painful wounds when we reach down to that emotional level. This means that when we forgive we must get down to the emotions we’re feeling.
Authentic forgiveness needs to be specific. We can’t forgive in general, because we have been hurt by specific people and specific actions. So, when we forgive we need to identify: who are we forgiving; what specific action(s) did they do to hurt us; how that action made us feel angry, hurt, depressed, embarrassed, worthless, and so forth.
After we have identified those things, then we’re ready to pray. Here is a simple prayer that has been proven effective by countless thousands who have used it. For each item on your list (it may be a long list) pray:
“Lord, I forgive (person) for doing (specific action) and making me feel (feelings).”
Forgiveness does not mean forgetting! The soul will remember. We still have a memory, but what we will discover is that the “sting” of the memory is gone. When something triggers the memory, we will find that there is no longer any anger or shame associated with it. We’re free! And we are now free to react to that memory and whatever triggered it in healthy, positive ways.
Finally, first and foremost, we are forgiving the person before God. It is done through prayer. We may or may not tell the person that we’ve forgiven him or her. In fact, it is not recommended that we tell the person if we aren’t sure if he or she is looking for forgiveness. That could possibly make things worse. However, if we sense someone wants forgiveness, or if they have asked for it, then definitely tell them that we forgive them. By taking that step, we may even see God’s power work a miracle in their lives.
Sermon Series: Anger
