The power of forgiveness released
Many Christians are living with a lot of personal problems. They experience (inner) pain, grief, setbacks, depressions, financial problems etc. Many don’t know how to deal with these problems. They pray to God and ask Him to help them, but nothing seems to happen. Through the years I’ve seen a lot of people dealing with very heavy burdens. I also saw a lot of Gods people who tried to help these people to deal with these problems. In only a few cases there were a few little breakthroughs. But WHY? This is what the Lord says:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…
Hosea 4:6
In this study we will deal with the biblical principles of forgiveness and with the consequences of unforgiveness. We all experience situations where people are hurting us one way or the other. We all find ourselves at a crossroad then where we have only two options: to forgive, or not no… Before we go further, let’s start with one of the most known parts of the bible: the Lords prayer:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Matthew 6:9-13
The first and most important part of this prayer is that Gods will be done in our lives and in all the situations we face. But Jesus also specifically mentions “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” or “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us”. The fact that Jesus is mentioning this in “the” example prayer for us as Christians, tells us that this is of high value for Him. But that’s not all He tells us about forgiveness. Let’s look further.
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 6:14-15
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Matthew 18:21-35
As you can see, God will always look if you forgive the people who have sinned against you, before He decides to forgive you. If you didn’t forgive someone, God will not forgive you and will hold you accountable. But that’s not all, because there happens a lot more. He will deliver you in the hand of the tormentors. Those are demonic powers who then have the right to mess up your life. And trust me, they will! How? That can be different in every situation, but in most of the cases it is sickness, but it can also be (inner) pain, grief, setbacks, depressions, financial problems etc. That is what happens when God delivers you to these demonic powers. Now why would He do that? Why does He make such an issue of forgiveness? Because Jesus Christ came to this world to save all! That means that the person you hate is included and loved by God as well.
Many times I hear Christians say: “But you don’t know what they did to me”. And indeed I don’t know. However I do know that there are very serious things that can happen to people, such as murder, rape/sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse and many other things. Does the Lord requires us to forgive the people who did such things to us as well? The answer is yes. Does He mean that we have to approve everything that happened to us? No! What He wants is that you give the right to judge to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The burden of unforgiveness is to heavy for you. God knows that. He knows that the memories are chasing you and that you are in pain. He is fully aware of that. He knows that these memories and the pain are destroying your life! By holding on to the past and by holding on the right to judge, the past will destroy your future. Without forgiveness you’re not able to let go of the past and to experience the freedom that Jesus Christ paid for you. Then the past will always influence the choices you make for the future. In that way you allow the person(s) who destroyed your past to destroy your future as well. That is why Jesus tells us to forgive and to let go. He wants you to be free and to be happy. He wants only the best for His children. He is holding out His hand and asking you to hand over your burden to Him and to give Him your right to judge. He wants to set you free of your past.
Many people are not able to forgive those who have sinned against them. And I can understand that because you are in pain about what happened. You can’t do this on your own. The only thing that God wants to hear from you is that you make a decision with your will. That is something you can do. Your will is not an emotion, but a choice. If you can say “I will do this or do that” you can also say “I forgive…”. At the moment you do that, God will deal with you emotions and with your pain. The Holy Spirit will come and comfort you. He will do the work in you so in time you will be able to forgive with your heart as well. He will set you free from your past at the moment that He sees your will to forgive. He will always answer to your choices which are according to His will. Then you will experience that the burden will be taken away from you and that you are really free! Can you imagine that the pain and the memories are gone? It is what will happen at the moment you are going to obey His word.
What is forgiveness
Forgiveness has three phases. It starts with a choice of your will (not by emotion). With your mind you make the choice to obey God and to forgive those who’ve sinned against you. This you always do by proclaiming it with your mouth. In other words, you have to speak it, not just by a prayer in your thoughts. Satan can give you thoughts, but what he can’t do is read your thoughts. That is something only God can do. By proclaiming that you forgive, both God and satan will hear that and satan will loose his charge against you so that you can be set free by the blood of Jesus Christ. From that moment on, the Holy Spirit will start to heal you and to work in you so that you will be able to forgive these people with your heart as well. That is the second phase of forgiveness. Once the Holy Spirit has done that in you, God will start to share His heart for that person with you. Then you will be able to come at the final phase where you’ll be able to pray for that person, just as Jesus did when He hang on the cross… “Father, please forgive them… They do not know…”.
Does it really work? Does the pain really go away when you do so? From my own experience I can say yes. I also experienced some “situations” in my life where I had to forgive the people that had sinned against me. I made the decision with my will and proclaimed that I forgave them. A few months later, I met one of these persons. Then I suddenly realized that I no longer had anything against this man and that I felt the love of God for him. There was no sign of hate or pain left. God made all things new in me.
I will also never forget the moment that one of my best friends started to tell me about the fact that his brother sexually abused him. The pain and the hate were all over his face when he told me about it. He told me what happened and how it ruined his life. Then he told me that he hated his brother for it. His wife sat beside him and told me that she hated him also for what he did to her husband. What I saw were two destroyed lives with faces full of hate and grief. The moment that they told me this, the Holy Spirit started to take over in me. Immediately I started to experience His power and His compassion about these precious people. His presence was so heavily upon me that I started to shake over my whole body. Then I felt the grief of God for these people and how He longed to help them to be released of this hurt. So I started to share about the power of forgiveness and that it is Gods will that we forgive those who have sinned against us. I explained to them what happens to those who are not willing to forgive and I showed them the biblical truth about it. For a few moments I saw a huge struggle inside of them. They couldn’t believe that God would ask something like that from them. But then the Holy Spirit started to convince them about this truth. Then he said: “I don’t know how I can forgive him”. That moment I explained to them that they couldn’t forgive him in their own power, and I told them that it is a decision of the will in the first place and that God would help them to forgive him with their heart. I also told them that forgiveness isn’t some kind of approval for the things that happened, but that it is giving your right to judge to Jesus Christ so that you can be released of your pain. Once they understood this, they told me that they were ready to make that decision. That night we were standing together in prayer and both of them made the decision to forgive this person for what he did to my friend. After they did that, I prayed for them and asked the Holy Spirit to heal their hearts. I also broke every demonic power, that entered their lives because of their unforgiveness, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. At the same moment they felt that Jesus had released them from a huge burden and I saw the light of Jesus Christ coming up in their eyes! They told me that it felt like a backpack with stones that fell of their backs. In fact that was exactly what happened in a spiritual way. Short time after that the Lord helped them to also forgive that man with their hearts. They’ve never experienced the feelings of hatred or grief about this situation again, the Holy Spirit completely healed their souls. Every situation is unique, and there are a lot of cases where you don’t have to face the person who’ve hurt you again. However, it is also possible that relationships are being restored. In this case the Lord restored the relation between my friend and his brother again.
How do I forgive?
Today is the day that you can be set free of your past. You don’t have to live with your pain and grief any longer. If this message is for you, you’ll know it right away. In that case there are one or more names that the Holy Spirit puts in your thoughts at this moment. Names of people that you should forgive in order to be free. If that is the case with you, you know exactly what I mean right now. Don’t wait until you think you’ll ready for it, because I can tell you that you will never be ready to do so. If the Lord speaks to your heart right now, then please listen to His voice and obey it. Remember that He only wants the best for you. I know that it might seem like you’re standing for an enormous mountain, but the thing I want to get through your mind is the place where you will be after you’ve climbed that mountain. The place of freedom and healing.
Because I know it can be very hard to do this all, I will help you with an example prayer. If you are willing to forgive, please pray the prayer below and fill in the names of the persons that you have to forgive. It is worth it, it really pays to do so. Once you’ve done this prayer, don’t be attempted to do the same over and over again. Once decision is enough. Just remind satan to this moment, he knows exactly what you’re talking about and he has to let go of you. Before you start to do this prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to help you with this. He is more then willing to support you.
Dear Father,
I come to you with my burdens. You know about all of my pain and my grief. You know how I struggle in life. You’ve seen it all. You’ve also seen the fact that I didn’t forgave all of the people I should forgive. I ask you to forgive me for that, for the fact that I didn’t obey your word. Wash me clean with the blood of Jesus Christ.
You know how hard it is to do this Lord, but I want to do it anyway because I want Your will to be done in my life. So now I choose to forgive ……… I give my right to judge him/her to you Lord Jesus and I trust Your judgment on this. I choose to let go so that I can be released. This all I proclaim in the mighty name of my Lord and my Saviour Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.
Now please heal me Holy Spirit. You know in how much pain and grief I am. Please help me because I cannot do this on my own, but with you I can. Thank you for all You’ve done and for everything that You are going to do in my life. Amen.
Have you made the decision? Have you prayed the prayer? Wow, then you’re life will be changed! God is so proud of you. He will never let go of you. From now on your life will change. I pray that the healing power of the Holy Spirit will come over you and in you and that you will be healed in every single way. May the Lord bless you richly. You have found the key to your freedom: Jesus Christ.
