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| Let It Go... Remember when you were a little kid, and you use to make wishes on dandelions and you would blow real hard to make all the little petals blow away? Release the hurt and pain and let it go. Give it to over to God. Forgive. |
Forgiveness - We
are called to walk in it. It is not a
choice it is a command. The truth is that in order to receive forgiveness from
God, we need to forgive. You can’t move
forward in your life if you are stuck on what someone else “did or didn’t do”
to you, and in not walking in forgiveness, the only one who remains hurt by it
and stagnated by it ultimately is – you.
You won’t be able to get past it.
You won’t be able to move forward – forgive. The peace that floods your soul is well worth
it.
It is easier
said than done. One of the hardest
things to do; is to forgive. Or even to
ask for forgiveness. But God commands us
to do so. The Bible says:
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and
clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32)
We need to stop pointing the finger at someone else and take a good,
hard look at ourselves. “He did this to
me! She did this to me! They said this! They did this!” What did you do? Examine your own heart. Stop pointing the finger at someone else and
take a good hard look at your own self.
From the beginning of time, beginning with Adam and Eve, people have
blamed someone else for their own sins instead of taking responsibility for
their own actions. We feel ashamed when
we go against God and therefore look to alleviate the blame and guilt by
blaming someone else.
Why didn’t Adam dispute what the serpent said to Eve? Why didn’t he protect her? He was there.
He knew that what the snake had said was totally opposite to what God
had told him. He not only allowed her to
listen and eat of the fruit, but also ate some himself. Eve was quick to blame the serpent and Adam
was quick to blame Eve. They chose not
to take responsibility for their own actions.
“They
(Adam and Eve) heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man
and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the
garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who
told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded
you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave
me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is
this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:8-13)
This is something that many of us still
do today. Instead of taking responsibility for the hurt and pain we have
inflicted on someone else – we blame the individual, instead of taking
responsibility for our own actions. It
is the same thing that Adam and Eve did.
“If
we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful
and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and
his word is not in us.”
(1 John 1:8-10)
“Do
not judge, or you too will be judged.
For in the
same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it
will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s
eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How
can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all
the time there is a plank in your own eye? You
hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see
clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
(Matthew 7:1-5)
It
is easy to see the wrong that someone else does, without first examining our
own hearts to see what wrong we have done.
It has been the course throughout history.
The
best thing we can do is pray. Ask the
Lord to check our own hearts to see if there is anything we need to correct
within our hearts and trust that if we have given our lives over to Him, He
will help us to change whatever needs changing if we ask for His assistance.
It’s
not easy to forgive someone for hurting you.
It may take time; it may take a lot of prayer or even fasting to get
through it. Be honest with God, let Him
know that you are struggling with this.
Ask for His help. There are some
things we can’t do in our strength; we need to ask Him for His. In forgiving someone it releases the “sting”
of the pain of whatever the situation is and allows you to move forward resting
in the knowledge that just as God has forgiven you, you have forgiven them,
even if you have to start out by just faithfully saying what you are not yet
feeling in your heart. As you verbalize
it over and over again it will eventually happen to be a reality, in God’s
time.
“Lord, I’m hurting. I’m angry, I don’t feel forgiveness in my heart for
this situation I feel deceived. I ask
you to help me forgive _____________________ (name of individual(s)) as you
have forgiven me for my sins. I ask you to help me to release (her/him/them)
from the pain they have caused me. I
willingly forgive (her/him/them). Help
me to let walk in that forgiveness and make the words of my mouth be the truth
in my heart. I plead the precious blood
of Jesus over this pain and ask that you make my forgiveness a reality so that
I can let go and move forward. I pray
that (her/him/they) would come to know You as Lord and Savior so that they too
can experience the forgiveness I have experienced in personally knowing you as
my Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ precious
name I pray. AMEN.
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