Today’s thought: Forgiveness is not that big of a deal

With Bishop Ronald K. Powell

No, we don’t come out and say it, but in our minds, I believe many people allow unresolved conflict and bitter feelings to remain in them, without realizing how much it robs us of the life God wants us to enjoy.

Forgiveness is the gateway to so much of God’s blessing in our lives, just as unforgiveness is a gateway into so much negative in our lives.

An unforgiving heart is poison to your spirit, soul and body. Hebrews 12:15 says that a root of bitterness springs up and defiles many.  It doesn’t just defile many other people, but it defiles MANY OTHER AREAS OF OUR LIFE.

The thought that forgiveness is optional or that we can get around to it when we get a chance has to be eliminated from our mindsets.

Let’s do so today!

1.      Faith works through forgiveness— One of the most important verses about faith is in Mark 11:24 which says, “All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted.”  But notice what it says next…

2.      Mark 11:25 says, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him…” So you see, forgiveness is the gateway to answered prayer.

3.      Deal with it today.  Ephesians 4:29 says, “don’t let the sun go down on your anger.”   There’s a reason that we need to forgive and be forgiven BEFORE the sun goes down. Our hearts are not designed to carry grudges longer than a day.  This is why so many people are weighed down with stress, anger and depression. A relationship is unresolved.  A heart is hardened.  A bitter feeling is being carried into our tomorrow.

4.      Accept the fact that you were forgiven BECAUSE of the blood of Jesus.  Therefore, forgive others for the same reason—not because they deserved it. Forgiveness is a gift.

5.      Forgiveness is the gateway to our inheritance. (Acts 26:17)  As we realize we are forgiven, we experience His blessing and inheritance in our lives.  As we forgive others, we empower them to experience it too.

6.      YOU HAVE THE POWER TO FORGIVE. God gave us the Holy Spirit, so that we could forgive as He did. In John 20:22-23 it says, “He breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. Whoever sins you forgive are forgiven, and whoever sins you retain are retained.” This is as much a part of the great commission as preaching the gospel—it’s the very act of forgiving people.  When you forgive, cancel someone’s sins, and then you shine light of God’s grace upon their darkened heart, enabling them to see that God really IS good; that He loves them; that He wants to share His life with them.

THINK IT & SAY IT:

My faith works because I refuse to hold anything against anyone.  When I pray, I choose to forgive because forgiveness is the gateway to answered prayer.

I refuse to let the poison of unforgiveness defile me and others around me.  I will not let a day go by where I hold bitter feelings in my heart toward anyone.

God loves me, and wants me to pour out my heart toward Him.  I can confess it all to Him, and be cleansed from unforgiveness and resentment.

I accept the blood of Jesus as the only way to be forgiven, and I extend forgiveness to others through that same blood. I have the power to forgive and cancel someone’s sin, through the Holy Spirit in me. I release, this day, every person who I have ever held anything against.  I am free and so are they!  In Jesus’ Name.