Vital signs- Thursday, June 13th, 2023
The Biblical purpose of forgiveness is to bring you personal freedom and release you from bondage. Forgiveness is a powerful spiritual weapon when you do it with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. By asking God to bring you emotional healing, you begin to dismantle the strongholds that hold you captive and regain the freedom that is yours by what Jesus did for you at the cross!
Forgiveness is releasing your offender to God and trusting God to administer His justice, in His way, and in His timing. It is giving up the right to punish, get even, judge, or condemn the person for what they have done. God commands you to forgive those who wrong you and do so quickly. You are acknowledging the offense to God, expressing to Him how it made you feel, and making the deliberate decision to forgive, based on what Jesus did for you on the cross.
Remember, to forgive is not waiting to feel warm toward your offender. You are making a deliberate decision to obey God and you are allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life so that you can reclaim that which is yours in Christ!
Sometimes you are not at the place to forgive, but you can ask the Holy Spirit to change your desire to be willing to forgive and not allow bitterness to take root within you.
Even after you have made the choice to forgive, the emotions may still linger. Forgiveness is not the means to alleviate your emotions. Once you have chosen to forgive someone for their offense, you then ask God to walk you through the process of healing your emotions.
You invite the Holy Spirit to help you through this painful emotional process, because He is your Comforter and your Strength. He was there at the time of injury and He knows what you need to heal. Accept the person who needs your forgiveness as he or she is, and release your expectations to God. Your emotions will eventually reflect God‘s heart as you continue to renew your mind with Truth and reaffirm your decision to forgive.
Do you have someone that you need to forgive?
Have you forgiven someone, but the emotions are still there?
How can you allow the Holy Spirit to help you forgive someone that has harmed you?
“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”
Colossians 3:12-14 NKJV
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