FORGIVING OURSELVES
Love is the first principle that I taught and forgiveness is the 2nd principle that we will be talking about in the following two segments - both are equally important to living the life desired. In this teaching, we are addressing forgiving others, and receiving God's forgiveness. These, working together with the "Love of God" will help you gain understanding, which produces freedom. Freedom is being free from sin, and in this session, we will be coming into truth about our own heart condition.
The heart was made to love, nothing else. When we forgive, we ARE loving. Love IS forgiveness. Jesus showed us the ultimate love of dying on the cross for us, and did it to bring us forgiveness. The first part of Matthew 22:38-40 was described when I spoke of the Love of God. As we read on in Matthew 22:38-40 it says, "…and the second one is like unto it, we are to love others as we love ourselves." Simply put, as we get to "know" God and how much He loves us and is able to receive that love for us personally, we are to do the same with others! We are to get to "know" people, so that a trust will build and that love begins flowing freely and honestly between each other. We need to forgive each other (including ourselves) and receive forgiveness (from God).
In order to love others though, we need to love ourselves. How do we do that? While on your love quest with God, His love begins to take root into your life. Then you are able to love yourself, in spite of yourself because it's His love in you loving you. As you "receive" God's love more and more, more of the impurities surface. Your sins are being exposed so you can confess them. When you confess them, God purges you and brings you even closer to Him. When you finally get that going with God, then loving others is a piece of cake! (John 4:19).
We get stuck though at the loving ourselves part! It's because we know ourselves all too well, all the hidden junk, all the past mistakes, etc., that we don't even want to make friends in fear they'll find all this stuff out. But the truth is, God already knows it anyway. We might as well come clean before Him, let Him sort things out from then on. When we isolate ourselves from people, we are living in fear. We are not being made perfect in love because we put our focus more on what others may think than what God thinks.
I have discovered something that rings true for every life who is having difficulty with what I've been talking about so far. And that is, we are not living IN forgiveness. What I mean is that we are not applying the forgiveness Jesus came to give us every single day of our lives. When we make a mistake (sin), we get mad at ourselves. We think we have to "pay" for them in some way, stay miserable for a few days, etc. But, if we truly believed we are forgiven, we would boldly go to the Lord the the minute we sinned, thereby staying free FROM sin, as Jesus promised. It's not that there won't be sin any longer, it's that when we do sin, we will recognize it, and apply the forgiveness of sins to our lives immediately.
I don't believe people are doing this. If they were, no one would be offended, hurt, angry, etc. We are only offended, hurt or angry when we "think" someone has done us wrong and we've taken it and did not forgive them for what we "think" they have done to us. But we wouldn't take it if we understood what forgiveness truly meant. I heard something the other day at church, "A humble man cannot be offended." As I thought about that, it is very true. A humble person understands God's love and has applied forgiveness to their lives, thereby, exercising compassion and love to others. I think that's a pretty good place to be.
David said in Psalm 51, "Only against YOU Lord have I sinned." He knew that any time we sin against anyone, it's really sinning against God. Matthew 25:40 says that whatever you do (or not do) to others, including forgiveness, you do it unto Him!
Your job as a believer is to believe, right? Then begin to believe you are forgiven, for all past sins, current sins, and future sins. And begin to receive God's love, so you can love yourself, so you can forgive others.
This is the foundation I speak of. Everything, and I mean everything, has to start here if you want to see change in your life.
So what about all those people who caused you hurt, people you think you have forgiven or those you just don't want to forgive? The Bible is clear when it says, "If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive you." (Mark 11:26). And we all know that forgiveness from God is the only way we can have fellowship with Him. He demands holiness. And when we take what Jesus has given us, we are made righteous and holy! So therefore, we can have sweet fellowship with God. If you have difficulty hearing from God, it's because you are blocking the reception. God is talking, it's our "receiving" that has problems - again, because of our thinking. But when all our "junk" is out in the open and transparent and we receive the forgiveness He sent to give us, THEN you relationship with God will greatly improve! Yes, even with all your junk you just confessed!
The Bible also instructs us that what we do to others, we do unto Him. So if we don't forgive our brother, we are causing a breach with our Father. Remember, Jeremiah 5:25 says that we withhold good things from us. When we don't forgive, we block all blessings! Isaiah 59:1-2 says, God can heal us, but our sins and iniquities prevent Him from choosing to do so. He cannot move against our will nor does He move against His own words. The Bible is filled with condition - the condition is always about love and forgiveness! So what are our sins here? Our sins are unforgiveness and not receiving God's love. Yes, not receiving God's love is also sin.
So how do you forgive from your heart? Not just with lip service, because when we truly forgive, it's as though it never happened and you don't keep remembering what that person did to you the last time. In the love chapter in Corinthians, it says that love doesn't keep a record of wrongs done. So how big is your basket of "wrongs done" that you are carrying around? We need to forgive as God forgives us and casts that sin out completely, as though it never happened!
Here is a way you can know for sure if you have forgiven someone or not. If you feel a pain of any kind, sadness, discomfort, and a ping inside of you when you think of them, then you haven't truly forgiven. All pain in you is a result of unforgiveness! It is YOU that is keeping good things from happening to you.
See, if you truly applied the law of forgiveness to your life immediately to those who hurt you those many years ago or when you made a mistake, you would be a completely different person today and in a completely different place! And over the years the memory grows and grows which begins manifesting in our relationships with others. We start living through those painful filters. Let's say you were betrayed by someone or they lied about you. So you are now on your guard with others and being suspicious of just about everybody - and you many not even know why you have a hard time trusting. It's not anything they have done, it's because you are still filtering through those past hurts. It's just that the junk is rooted deep and more junk has been added on top of that junk that you can't see it any more. We are a BIG stinky onion! Layers and layers of pain!
Every pain in your life is a result of unforgiveness. Either you did not receive the forgiveness immediately from God, or you didn't forgive someone else.
It's that simple!
Every pain in your life is what is causing you to reap what you are living today. Be it physical (your body or circumstances), spiritual or emotional.
The heart was made to love, nothing else. When we forgive, we ARE loving. Love IS forgiveness. Jesus showed us the ultimate love of dying on the cross for us, and did it to bring us forgiveness. The first part of Matthew 22:38-40 was described when I spoke of the Love of God. As we read on in Matthew 22:38-40 it says, "…and the second one is like unto it, we are to love others as we love ourselves." Simply put, as we get to "know" God and how much He loves us and is able to receive that love for us personally, we are to do the same with others! We are to get to "know" people, so that a trust will build and that love begins flowing freely and honestly between each other. We need to forgive each other (including ourselves) and receive forgiveness (from God).
In order to love others though, we need to love ourselves. How do we do that? While on your love quest with God, His love begins to take root into your life. Then you are able to love yourself, in spite of yourself because it's His love in you loving you. As you "receive" God's love more and more, more of the impurities surface. Your sins are being exposed so you can confess them. When you confess them, God purges you and brings you even closer to Him. When you finally get that going with God, then loving others is a piece of cake! (John 4:19).
We get stuck though at the loving ourselves part! It's because we know ourselves all too well, all the hidden junk, all the past mistakes, etc., that we don't even want to make friends in fear they'll find all this stuff out. But the truth is, God already knows it anyway. We might as well come clean before Him, let Him sort things out from then on. When we isolate ourselves from people, we are living in fear. We are not being made perfect in love because we put our focus more on what others may think than what God thinks.
I have discovered something that rings true for every life who is having difficulty with what I've been talking about so far. And that is, we are not living IN forgiveness. What I mean is that we are not applying the forgiveness Jesus came to give us every single day of our lives. When we make a mistake (sin), we get mad at ourselves. We think we have to "pay" for them in some way, stay miserable for a few days, etc. But, if we truly believed we are forgiven, we would boldly go to the Lord the the minute we sinned, thereby staying free FROM sin, as Jesus promised. It's not that there won't be sin any longer, it's that when we do sin, we will recognize it, and apply the forgiveness of sins to our lives immediately.
I don't believe people are doing this. If they were, no one would be offended, hurt, angry, etc. We are only offended, hurt or angry when we "think" someone has done us wrong and we've taken it and did not forgive them for what we "think" they have done to us. But we wouldn't take it if we understood what forgiveness truly meant. I heard something the other day at church, "A humble man cannot be offended." As I thought about that, it is very true. A humble person understands God's love and has applied forgiveness to their lives, thereby, exercising compassion and love to others. I think that's a pretty good place to be.
David said in Psalm 51, "Only against YOU Lord have I sinned." He knew that any time we sin against anyone, it's really sinning against God. Matthew 25:40 says that whatever you do (or not do) to others, including forgiveness, you do it unto Him!
Your job as a believer is to believe, right? Then begin to believe you are forgiven, for all past sins, current sins, and future sins. And begin to receive God's love, so you can love yourself, so you can forgive others.
This is the foundation I speak of. Everything, and I mean everything, has to start here if you want to see change in your life.
So what about all those people who caused you hurt, people you think you have forgiven or those you just don't want to forgive? The Bible is clear when it says, "If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive you." (Mark 11:26). And we all know that forgiveness from God is the only way we can have fellowship with Him. He demands holiness. And when we take what Jesus has given us, we are made righteous and holy! So therefore, we can have sweet fellowship with God. If you have difficulty hearing from God, it's because you are blocking the reception. God is talking, it's our "receiving" that has problems - again, because of our thinking. But when all our "junk" is out in the open and transparent and we receive the forgiveness He sent to give us, THEN you relationship with God will greatly improve! Yes, even with all your junk you just confessed!
The Bible also instructs us that what we do to others, we do unto Him. So if we don't forgive our brother, we are causing a breach with our Father. Remember, Jeremiah 5:25 says that we withhold good things from us. When we don't forgive, we block all blessings! Isaiah 59:1-2 says, God can heal us, but our sins and iniquities prevent Him from choosing to do so. He cannot move against our will nor does He move against His own words. The Bible is filled with condition - the condition is always about love and forgiveness! So what are our sins here? Our sins are unforgiveness and not receiving God's love. Yes, not receiving God's love is also sin.
So how do you forgive from your heart? Not just with lip service, because when we truly forgive, it's as though it never happened and you don't keep remembering what that person did to you the last time. In the love chapter in Corinthians, it says that love doesn't keep a record of wrongs done. So how big is your basket of "wrongs done" that you are carrying around? We need to forgive as God forgives us and casts that sin out completely, as though it never happened!
Here is a way you can know for sure if you have forgiven someone or not. If you feel a pain of any kind, sadness, discomfort, and a ping inside of you when you think of them, then you haven't truly forgiven. All pain in you is a result of unforgiveness! It is YOU that is keeping good things from happening to you.
See, if you truly applied the law of forgiveness to your life immediately to those who hurt you those many years ago or when you made a mistake, you would be a completely different person today and in a completely different place! And over the years the memory grows and grows which begins manifesting in our relationships with others. We start living through those painful filters. Let's say you were betrayed by someone or they lied about you. So you are now on your guard with others and being suspicious of just about everybody - and you many not even know why you have a hard time trusting. It's not anything they have done, it's because you are still filtering through those past hurts. It's just that the junk is rooted deep and more junk has been added on top of that junk that you can't see it any more. We are a BIG stinky onion! Layers and layers of pain!
Every pain in your life is a result of unforgiveness. Either you did not receive the forgiveness immediately from God, or you didn't forgive someone else.
It's that simple!
Every pain in your life is what is causing you to reap what you are living today. Be it physical (your body or circumstances), spiritual or emotional.