Choose to Forgive
Are you feeling miserable, isolated, and alone? Do you feel your prayers are not being heard? Are you fighting anger and resentment to others?
“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25)
Has God been speaking to you about forgiveness? If you’re not spending time with Him, it’ll be almost impossible to truly forgive someone who has hurt or offended you.
Do we have to forgive? Absolutely! It’s a must! Friends, there are no exceptions. We must learn from the life of Jesus and forgive others, even “when they don’t know what they’re doing.”
We don’t forgive in order to get a positive reply. You might choose to forgive someone, but they might not forgive you. What’s important is that we clear our hearts of unforgiveness and forgive. We can leave the rest to God. He’ll take care of us and the situation! Sometimes we forgive selfishly, “I’ll forgive you, if you’ll forgive me” or “I’ll forgive you, but….” Sadly, we’re just spinning our wheels and wasting our time. Forgiveness has to come from a heart of love. Why? God is love! Love covers our sins and helps us forgive others. As we spend time with Him in worship, prayer and thanksgiving, our hearts become tender and pliable allowing us to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit encouraging us to forgive others. Is it easy? Not always, but it’s definitely rewarding. When we truly forgive others, we become free from the heavy prison weights of unforgiveness.
Several years ago, I made the decision to live in freedom and forgiveness toward others. Now do I still get offended and hurt? Yes, It happens, but I know I have a choice to make. I can choose to forgive or not! If I desire to live in blessings, I need to live in forgiveness and love. It’s a choice.
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13)
If you’ve been deeply hurt from a relationship, choose to forgive. No, you don’t have to go back to the relationship, but you can forgive the person for the hurt, etc. so you can move forward. If not, there’ll always be chains holding you down from experiencing true happiness.
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15)
Let’s choose to live our life like Jesus. He never held a grudge or any unforgiveness toward anyone. People lied about Him, they mistreated and physically abused Him, and ultimately killed Him. Yet, He chose to forgive.
Let’s also choose to forgive.
Prayer changes everything!
Jesus is the answer! Jesus is your answer!
