Forgiveness

By Stephen Piersall 

Deliverance Personal Ministry, Central NY                                                                     

Years ago my oldest son got involved with drugs/alcohol and a life of crime. I hated what he was doing but my love for him never wavered. The same can be said about God who loves us deeply, but hates the sin we do in our daily lives. Forgiveness and reconciliation is the most important part of the gospel and without forgiveness of our sins, we will face greater consequences from God. When we die, we ALL go before Him and have our life reviewed before our eyes. If you have already accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, you will enter Heaven and for those who have rejected God they will be sent to Hell a place where there is no relief from the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15).

Now when a person sins against us, Satan loves it when we place a wall up against that person. Our way of loving that person as Christ loved us is through forgiveness. Jesus died to tear down the roadblocks caused by our sin between God, and us and we are required to do the same to those who wrong us (Matthew 6:15)”But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions”. There may be times when we need to try to restore a broken relationship with another person. Jesus told us to love one another as Christ has loved us, and sometimes this may involve going to the person and telling them that you regret what you have done. (Matthew 5:23-24) ”Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering”.

It is a lot easier to forgive somebody when they come to us and confess their wicked deed. When you go to somebody and ask him or her for their forgiveness, what you are doing is also helping them to break down the roadblock that Satan may have put in their way of loving you as Christ loved them. I am not saying that we must go back to everybody we have wronged and apologize for everything we have ever done wrong. What I am saying is that there may be times when you may have damaged a relationship with somebody, and it is important to restore it but you just cannot remember every single instance in your past life. Pray and listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance, you may have wronged someone ten years ago you dated and now that person is happily married and has children and you trying to contact them could do more damage than good to that person.

 (1 John 1:9-10) “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us”. In order for us to receive forgiveness, first we must recognize that we have sinned, confess our sins, and then put our faith in Jesus after all He died on the cross so that we might be forgiven. (Matthew 26:28). Repentance includes turning from our sins, and not continuing to do them and know Satan knows this weakness and may and will tempt you. If you seem to struggle with compulsive sinful habits, you may need to be free from a demonic influence. It may be necessary to renounce your sins aloud, and command them to leave.

I know for myself that forgiving “ME” is the hardest thing to do. It is often harder to forgive ourselves then to forgive others. However, what we must focus on is when God has forgiven us; we are CLEAN. (Psalms 103:12) “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us“. Sometimes we blame ourselves for not being good enough, and we must accept the fact that our sins have been forgiven. (1 John 1:9) “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. The Devil is notorious for putting guilt on people, and is the accuser of the brethren. (Revelation 12:10) “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night”. Guilt can serve two purposes, it can show us the problem so that we might repent and receive forgiveness, or it can rub our mistake in our faces and make us feel hopeless. How can you tell the difference between condemnation (bad for us) and conviction (good for us)?

Start asking yourself, "Why am I feeling guilty? What is the purpose of this guilt?" You are feeling guilty because you have probably done something wrong, but there is a reason why you are feeling guilty. There is a source of your guilt; it could be God or it could be the Devil. God uses guilt to convict us (conviction) of our sins so that we make changes and make things better (receive forgiveness), while Satan uses guilt to burden us to feel hopeless about what we have done. When God convicts us, it is so that we might recognize the problem, and work on fixing it. Therefore, ask yourself "Is this guilt trying to bring me to repentance, or is it trying to tell me what a failure I am?" God does not tell us what a failure we are, His desire is reasonably that we may be reconciled with Him and receive forgiveness from our sins. If you have sins that you have not repented from, then by all means, repent and turn from your wicked ways. Do not try to blame your guilt on Satan or someone else if you know you are guilty and you have not repented of your sins.

If your sins are forgiven (1 John 1:9) “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Then Satan is burdening you down with guilt, you may have to renounce the spirit of guilt, and command it to leave. In addition, resist the Devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7) “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you“. It is God's aspiration for us to believe in His Son Jesus for the dwindling of our sins, and to have a clear sense of right and wrong that has been cut off from our past guilt (Hebrews 9:14, Hebrews 10:2, Hebrews 10:22). He wants to forgive us of our sins for HIS sake (1 John 2:12) and He even chooses not to remember our sins (Isaiah 43:25). What a loving God we have to show us the way to walk the straight and narrow.

I Was ... Wrong

By Bridgette O'Hare

I was wrong.  Deep down I knew I was wrong...but I did it anyway.  And this wasn’t the first time...I’ve done it before. 

Justifications swirled around in my mind, muffling the little voice that was trying to remind me to do the right thing. Man, those self-righteous justifications sure are loud...aren’t they? 

Have you ever wondered why the voice of reason - the voice of truth - never seems as loud as those arrogant, sanctimonious voices that often drown it out?  Have you ever wondered where that subtle voice comes from and why it doesn’t just shout at you:

“Hey...dummy...yeah, you... STOP THAT!” 

Why does that voice speak so quietly when so many other voices are barking loudly around you?  I have asked that question - many times. Always after the fact, I hate to say.  The catch is, if I listen to the right voice I don’t have to ask myself that question afterwards.  Yet somehow I find myself asking it time and again.

Have you ever done something that you were pretty sure was wrong, but you justified your actions to yourself?  Hard to drown your own voice out, right?  I know you have.  We all have.  It goes with the territory of being human.  We make mistakes.  Sometimes big ones.  Sometimes we do things that we feel like God couldn’t possibly forgive us for.  But He will, He does, He has.  If we have truly gone before God in prayer and confessed our sins, asked Him to forgive them truly from the heart, then we are fully forgiven....no questions asked!!! 

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Don’t you wish it were that easy with people?

I know from personal experience that sometimes it doesn’t seem so simple to us.  We wrestle with those voices in our head that say God couldn’t possibly forgive us for something so horrible.  Those voices are liars!  Those voices are Satan-sent and want nothing more than to see you suffer and not TRUST GOD.  It’s this point that I personally would like to say:

“Hey...dummy...yeah, you... STOP THAT!”   

(ok...I really don’t think you’re a dummy...just trying to make a point)

No matter what you have done, no matter how horrid you think it is, no matter how repulsive it truly is...God has already forgiven it if you’ve already sincerely asked.  What you are dealing with now is guilt.  Guilt is a powerful weapon in Satan’s arsenal.  I should know...I’ve been attacked with it over and over.  But God’s forgiveness trumps any weapon Satan has - every time.  You only need to have faith in God’s forgiveness.

If you aren’t sure how to come humbly, yet boldly before God to ask for His forgiving grace...keep reading.  As always, He has already given us the instructions.

“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

God wants us to approach His throne with boldness...boldness He bestowed in us when we became His children.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Guilt is nothing more than heavy chains Satan wants to keep draping around your neck as he pushes you closer and closer to the edge, hoping to push you over and watch you drown as they anchor you beneath the dark waters. Matthew 11:28 tells us that God doesn’t want us to carry that weight around.  He wants our burden to be light.  He wants us to give that burden to Him.  Hand over the chains...they don’t belong to you anymore.

“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.” (Psalm 55:22)

Jesus has already shouldered the sin, He has already paid the price of forgiveness, He has already bore your guilt as His own...He has done all of this through the blood that He shed for all of us on Calvary.

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

We still have to make amends for our wrongs, we will still have to face the consequences of whatever our actions bring, but that doesn’t mean God will never bless us again.  It does mean we are forgiven and we can go on knowing that by His blood, we are forgiven, we are healed of our transgressions, we are new in the eyes of Christ, all of our sins are passed away and our slate is wiped clean.  

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14)