The Power of Forgiveness (2) - Hilary Walker

FORGIVENESS is the Christian’s WEAPON to destroy the plans and works of satan in our life. Walking in FORGIVENESS is a major key to overcome the evil in this world, rather than coming under its power. God forgives and forgets our sins, when we repent, for He does not remember our sins any more (Isaiah 43:25, Jer 31:34, Heb 8:12,10:17), for He casts them into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19), where they can't be retrieved. So, we need to do the same by forgiving others and forgetting their sins, when they repent. We need to dump, delete and destroy our unforgiveness (our remembrance of their sins), just as God totally blots out our sins, when we confess them to Him (Psalm 51:1,9, Isaiah 43:25, 44:22, Acts 3:19). We must FORGIVE one another from our HEART (our will). That is, we must make a DECISION to FORGIVE (Matthew 18:35), and we should affirm it by SPEAKING it out loud (Matthew 12:34). Even if they are unrepentant, we should still FORGIVE them and give them to God (for our own sake). However, their lack of repentance means we cannot FORGET their sin. It may mean that we modify our view of them, and our behaviour toward them, because we cannot trust them as much now, as we did before. When we forgive them and pray that they receive God’s forgiveness and blessing (Luke 23:34), we free them to receive the love of the Lord. FORGIVENESS is NOT a FEELING, but a QUALITY DECISION - an act of our WILL, with the help of the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of us. Forgiveness is NOT pretending that what they did was acceptable. Forgiveness says: “God has forgiven me so much more than this sin that I need to forgive. So, I will obey His command to forgive others.” Jesus said: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Ephesians 4:30-32: “Do not GRIEVE the HOLY SPIRIT of God... let all bitterness, wrath, anger, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice... FORGIVING one another, even as God in Christ FORGAVE you.” Unforgiveness is like taking poison, hoping it will kill the other person! Having bitterness in your heart will make you physically & mentally sick. Walking in unforgiveness will separate you from intimate communion with your loving Heavenly Father: “if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15, 18:35, Mark 11:26). When we refuse to forgive, we are not hurting the other person, but ourselves, for we are hardening our heart toward God, which cuts us off from His grace and leads to many negative consequences. We must remember that God's PRIMARY concern is our HEART ATTITUDE. If we have a wise and willing heart, enthusiastic for God's will and we refuse to take offence, and persist in forgiving, then the devil's plans for our destruction (John 10:10) will be destroyed, as nothing now can stop us from being filled by God and used by God. Stephen is a classic example of forgiveness, even though his enemies were stoning him to death (Acts 7:54-60). He FORGAVE them all, including the future apostle Paul, and asked God to FORGIVE them. God used Stephen’s PRAYER for their FORGIVENESS to help bring about Paul's conversion. This is the POWER of FORGIVENESS. Although Saul was involved in his murder, Stephen FORGA VE Saul and PRAYED God’s blessing upon him, releasing him to become the man God intended him to be. In answer to his prayer, Paul received FORGIVENESS from God, and on that basis, he was also able to FORGIVE HIMSELF. Knowing that God is satisfied with the Blood of Jesus as the full payment for our sins, we should trust in God’s promise of forgiveness, and on that basis, we can also forgive ourselves. Our forgiveness can open the door of their heart to the Lord, allowing Him to change and bless them. Let us remember the price our Lord Jesus paid for our FORGIVENESS. He prayed for all those, whose sin took Him to the Cross (including us): “Father, FORGIVE them.” His prayer for our forgiveness was effectual. Likewise, Stephen's prayer for his persecutors was effectual, as proved by Paul’s conversion. Hilary gives another example of the POWER of FORGIVENESS working through a woman, who forgave the man who killed her son. Her love and forgiveness were effectual in transforming that man.