Forgiving From The Heart

"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

Forgiveness is a thing not to be taken for granted! I hope everyone who confesses Jesus as their Lord genuinely feels undeserving of it. We see in this parable a man in desperate need of forgiveness but unwilling to give it to someone else when it was needed for them. The consequences were pretty rough, this man was handed over to his tormentors. Why does God require us to forgive others as He has forgiven us?

Offense is Satan's number one tactic to get us at each other's throats. Before I go on I definitely recommend the book "The Bait of Satan" by John Bevere, it is truly an eye opening book!

I think the reason we are unwilling to forgive others is a deeper issue within us that too often goes overlooked. Some of us say we forgive yet we treat the people that hurt us with contempt, therefore making forgiveness more of religious obligatory lip service rather than from Christ's love within us. It is a very dangerous thing according to the Word of God, in fact, God will not forgive you if you do not forgive others. An unwillingness to forgive blocks everything in a believers life. Show me someone who is stunted spiritually and I will show you someone who has forgiveness issues. When you are unwilling to forgive you are essentially saying with your actions that you deserved forgiveness, and from God's perspective that is pride and remember He resists the prideful. If we truly recognized how grotesque we were in light of God's holiness I think we would be more quick to forgive. I truly believe the ability to forgive is one of the truest marks of maturity for a Saint. In fact, I think it is the main indicator of true spiritual growth because it shows that they have the most realistic view of themselves in light of them being forgiven. But again, when I say forgiveness I mean it in the truest sense...from the HEART! We will talk about that below.

I believe pardoning something someone has done and actually forgiving them from the heart are two different things. For instance, say you owe me $500 dollars. Well you keep giving me excuses on why you are not paying me and I get fed up and say "Fine, keep the money! I just never want to see you again!" I technically forgave the debt did I not? You no longer owe me $500, however I asked you never to approach me again as well which leads one to believe I have not forgiven from my heart. So then we have forgiveness FROM THE HEART, as Jesus stated. This forgiveness is able to invite someone in your home who has really hurt you. It is the type of forgiveness God has granted to us and expects us to grant to others if it is to be well with our souls. But how is this achieved?

In the book "The Bait of Satan", a pastor by the name of John Bevere has been severely hurt by someone in the church. He wanted to run but God told Him he needed to stay and not to run from tests. God instructed John to begin to pray for this man. John Bevere says that this was not easy at first, in fact, I believe he said the first 3 days it was forced. After he continued to obey God (sowing to the Spirit) John actually began developing a love for this man. He said he would see him in the hall at church and just say "I love you brother!" John Bevere said it actually got to a point where he genuinely (from the heart) wanted this man that had hurt him to be blessed! Now why did this happen like this? Because John Bevere was obeying the reaping and sowing "spiritual law". John was "drawing nigh to God (aka obeying God) so that he was reaping God drawing nigh to him (aka receiving the actual feelings from his step of faith in obedience). I am not saying it is easy but it is crucial to hearing the words "Well done thou good and faithful servant!"

The pros far outweigh the cons of forgiving others. Remember how the "lord" of this man in the parable had him handed over to "the tormentors"? Do you know what tormentors are? DEMONS! You are choosing to give Satan a foothold by willfully violating this principle! So now it all makes sense! This is why people are stunted spiritually, because they have allowed a demonic foothold in their life which is stunting them from receiving what God has for them! This person becomes a religious person at best and ceases from the true intimacy with God. Please hear me borthers and sisters, GOD WILL NOT ALLOW US TO MOVE ON UNTIL WE HAVE OBEYED THIS FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE! I am not saying you will not be able to memorize the Bible, I am not saying you will still not pray but I am saying the anointed power behind these actions could very possibly cease, hence the reason for becoming more religious than truly growing spiritually.

Finally, I do understand that people do things that really hurt us and we feel that they need to pay somehow!! But listen, what if God forgave your trespasses but didn't forgive you from His heart? What if He allowed some people to come to Him but looked at you and said, "You have hurt me too badly, you are not welcome in my presence". Not only would we be very afraid, we would be very hurt! Remember our loving Savior on the cross saying "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."? This is one of the many reasons prayer is so crucial. I have said it before and I will say it again, if your prayer life is suffering you are falling to sin. Prayer is the only way we can realign ourselves to God's motives again. Why? Because prayer gets us in the Spirit! And what does getting in the Spirit mean? Feeling the way God feels towards situations. This forgiveness issue is so serious that I have read accounts of people casting demons off of someone and the demons not breaking until the person chose to forgive. This is a serious issue brothers and sisters, please, let's not take it lightly!

Sincerely,
Chris Goff