Do you struggle to forgive those who have hurt you?
I’m just going to go straight to the truth here and not dance around this command…
Withholding forgiveness in your heart against anyone is sinning against God.
Forgiving others and releasing them is not a suggestion:
“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” -Matthew 6:14-15 (NLT)
We can’t dance around forgiveness. We can’t try to find a loophole and allow our feelings to override how the Word of God instructs us.
I’ve heard the statement and honestly used it myself as an excuse until the Holy Spirit corrected me…” Well, I’m not Jesus.”
I’ve heard many of my brothers and sisters, who are very sincere, say they are working on forgiving but struggling, then follow that statement with the list of accounts to justify why it’s been so hard in hopes someone will understand their pain.
Listen, Jesus understands your pain.
He truly does.
He also knows that harboring unforgiveness in the hearts of those He loves is the enemy’s playing field that will keep you far from God’s heart and your healing.
Withholding forgiveness keeps us in bondage to the past with an unhealed soul.
Unforgiveness creates a weakness in our walls and is a vantage point for the devil to keep us in bondage to old hurt, establishing strongholds of pride and bitterness.
Unforgiveness makes our hearts hard and bitter, and that bitterness leaks out to those around us.
When we are hardened or bitter inside, the Love that brings healing and transformation is blocked. From there, pride, criticism, insecurity, and shame are rooted in our hearts. The insecurity and shame grow when pride builds a barrier in our hearts. Pride blocks love and our healing. If we aren’t growing in love, we don’t feel the unconditional love from the Father, and from there, loving others like our Father loves us is hindered. This cycle becomes a negative ripple effect to a heavy and burdened life that is not in our design to bear, completely blocking what Jesus paid for.
Jesus bore our sins, and these sins got nailed to the Cross through Him. It wasn’t just for our forgiveness and salvation for ourselves; it was for us to live in complete freedom and freely give away what we’ve been given to those around us.
How can we further the kingdom of Heaven if we are harboring unforgiveness in our hearts toward anyone?
The short answer: we can’t!
Forgiveness is what our entire faith walk is built on. It is for this reason we are now in right standing with God and have been fused into His Kingdom. Forgiving others the way we have been forgiven is not a suggestion. Not only is forgiving one another a command from God, but when you have a revelation of what Jesus has done for you, and He is freely moving in your life, you have a stronger desire to forgive the way you’ve been forgiven rather than withholding it. Then, you will see people through God’s forgiveness, releasing them from their wrongs, releasing that those battles truly are not against flesh and blood. In the same way, the enemy was hurting you and using you as a pawn in his schemes because of your brokenness, is the same way he was using others’ brokenness to break you. When we forgive and allow Jesus to come into those broken places for our complete healing . . . broken people can no longer break us.
This enables us to see the sins of others through the blood of Jesus, and as we bring every hurt and pain that was caused by them to Him, He heals us completely.
The sting is completely gone.
As His love meets every crack and crevice of our hearts, love is released in us and then through us, even toward our perceived enemies. We actually no longer see them as enemies but as victims who are in bondage to the enemy.
The way God intends us to.
“These battles are not against flesh and blood.” (Eph. 6:12)
Forgiveness is our gift from God that heals us.
He is our Redeemer.
Not people.
Forgiveness is not forced or out of a painful duty this way. It is a supernatural exchange through His unconditional love.
“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 (NIV)
He has given us the Holy Spirit who equips and empowers us to live His rhythm of grace and mercy, releasing it to the world around us.
This is the rhythmic life of freedom that His One and only Son paid for.
I know some of this feels heavy and overwhelming, but God is so kind and gracious to take us by the hand in every area of our lives until we learn to walk in the fullness of all that He paid for. It’s His will and desire for us to live in the power, the glory, and the victory that was taken care of at the Cross.
Father, forgive me for not honoring you by releasing the people who have wronged me. I’m realizing I’ve been allowing what’s been done to me to have more power than what you’ve done for me. I’ve justified and reasoned my way into holding offense in my heart toward others and I’m finding myself in a bitter prison — I want out! I want to step into the fullness of life that Your Son paid for. Holy Spirit, give me eyes to see where I’ve held people hostage in my heart and made myself judge over them. Today, I’m releasing each one, both near and from afar. Help me see each one through the blood. In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.
