Late last evening I received a call from a dear woman in Munich. Recognizing what is going on in America, she wanted to encourage me to keep my eyes on Jesus Christ. She shared with me several Scriptures, thoughts from a priest in her prayer group, and the need to forgive people and also God. Then she said, “Let’s worship…
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…
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…
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…
Traumas often leave negative pictures in our minds, often tormenting us for many years. Perhaps the neurons of the brain get stuck at the point of shock, and our brains won’t let us move on. Or perhaps a demonic spirit fastened itself to us in the moment of the trauma. Either way, Jesus Christ offers us His blood as a…
We need to understand the power of the blood so we can fully benefit from the blessings it offers. Here’s the spiritual reality: the life is in the blood. God established this truth with Noah, and told Moses how to use it in order to resolve the sin issue between people and God. To Noah, he said: “You shall not…
More than 2000 years ago, God provided us with the greatest tool of power ever given to humanity—forgiveness. Through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, forgiveness was made possible. The sacrificial blood of Christ was given in payment for all our failures. Forgiveness alone has the power to set you free from debilitating guilt, simmering resentments, and chronic…
Since ancient times, blood was used as a ritual sacrament. It was seen as the carrier of the spirit of life and character that lived in a person. Blood has been symbolic of the seat of the soul and the life force within a person. In our culture, we use the term “blood” in symbolic ways, employing idiomatic expressions like:…
When someone offends you, deliberately or ignorantly, what do you do? How do you balance the scales of justice, when you feel like you just got whacked? How do you get the debt created by someone’s sin or transgression paid down? Here are three ways many of us try. 1. Sweep it under the rug method? We sweep the offense…