Some years ago I realized I was holding unforgiveness against my mother. Her sin? Failing to call me by my name and see me as an individual, separate from her. Most of the time she’d call me by my younger sister’s name. This bothered me, even though I also do it to my children. A few hours before she died,…
What is Bitterness? Something that is bitter leaves a bitter taste in our mouths, producing a biting disagreeable sensation in the tongue. In a figurative sense, emotions such as extreme enmity, grudge, hatred produce a bitterness in the heart of man which is manifested through the words spoken―bitterness of anger, sharpness, severity of temper. The Bible warns us about not…
In making peace with our past, we need to forgive from our heart everyone who has ever hurt us. We need to forgive our father and mother and all other family or friends for what they did or did not do for us in our life. And we must become aware of our need to forgive our self. We cannot…
Jesus Christ teaches us to forgive all others—those who owe us, those who wronged us, those who failed us—if we want to be forgiven by our Heavenly Father. And He tells us that forgiveness must take place in our heart, so we won’t be turned over to the torturers. Yet many of us find it difficult to do what Jesus…
We need to make peace in our heart with everyone who has ever hurt us and get that cleared up before God. We need to forgive our father and mother and all other family or friends for what they did or did not do for us in our life. And we must become aware of our need to forgive our…
In heart-based forgiveness, some type of spiritual event usually takes place in the heart of the wounded person that empowers them to release an offender from their debt. We will know when we have truly released someone from their trespass when we think of it and feel only a rush of joy and love. Blog #22 listed 14 aspects of…
To forgive our offenders their debt, usually requires some type of groundwork must take place. Our negative emotions (resentment, anger, revenge) must become available to us. These destructive feelings do us great harm, actually holding us in bondage to the past. Negative emotions will continue to rob us of our God-given creative energy that enables us to live life more…
Forgiveness is key to experiencing more peace and joy in our lives. The parable of the unforgiving servant helps us to more fully understand the process of forgiveness (see Matt. 18:21-35). I suggest you read this parable in its entirety. Jesus tells about a king’s slave who was forgiven his substantial debt by the king, but refused to forgive another…
Many people have the mistaken idea that forgiveness is the same as reconciliation. This is far from the truth. Forgiveness and reconciliation are two very separate actions. Forgiveness has to do with the removal or release of a debt; reconciliation has to do with restoring friendship or harmony between two people, i.e., repairing a broken relationship. Thoughts by professional counselors…
Christians hold many commonly held misconceptions about forgiveness. Here are ten “nots” about forgiveness: 1. Forgiveness does not depend upon the offender Forgiveness does not depend upon your offender wanting or asking for it. It does not depend upon whether they are sorry or not. It involves only our cutting off the debt (Gr. aphiemi) that their offense created. If…