Forgiveness

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. -- Ephesians 4: 32

It seems so simple and easy to do this. If we remember what God forgave us for, we will then have no problem forgiving others. We must renew our mind to this principle, but for many of us, this is very difficult to do. Why? I have been working this principle in my heart lately and I have come up with a solution to what may be a problem. First of all, it is not hard to forgive people for what they did. You can forgive someone in your heart without telling that person that you have forgiven them. Now, in many situations, if that person who did you wrong is suffering outwardly because of what they did, then you should approach them and tell them that you forgive them for what they did. Only by experience will you realize the great deliverance that you will feel if you carry this out.

Now, I would like to address a most difficult situation where a person did very much wrong to you. You don’t really want to see or fellowship with this person ever again and you don’t have to. However, you can still forgive them. You can tell God that you forgave them or someone else that is close to you. I found out that I could forgive someone who did very much wrong to me and hurt me badly. But I do not have to fellowship with them. You do not have to hang around with them, but you can even go out of your way to avoid them which is what you probably want to do. Have I made myself clear? There are two ways to forgive someone. One is with a direct approach to the person who hurt you. The other one is a private approach between you and God where you tell God that you forgave that person. But again, the difference here is that you are not going to approach that person, but you are going to continually avoid them, which is for the best overall.

Now we are all aware of how Jesus Christ forgave Judas for betraying him. This is a the most outstanding record in the Bible of forgiveness. Would we be capable to do such a thing? I doubt it very much, but always remember and as I said many times, do your best and God will do the rest. Now I don’t expect you to simply believe every word I am saying. But to know that the advice I give you is accurate, I want to discuss the principle that is mentioned in the previous paragraphs. This pertains to fellowship with darkness which is something you should not do, even though you forgive that person, it contradicts the Word of God.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? -- II Corinthians 6: 14

Now you see clearly what God says about fellowship with unbelievers. He tells you that you are not to be unequally yoked together with an evil unbeliever. What type of communion is there with light and darkness? None.

But you must remember one of the main points of this teaching and that is that you will feel much better if you forgive someone. You should never carry around with you negative resentments towards others. Everyone gets what they got coming to them and there is no escape. There is another trap that I want to mention to you so that you never fall into it. If you forgive people for what they did, you will be lighthearted and joyful. The following is a trap that I myself fell into at one time. You should absolutely take the following seriously, by this one statement: NEVER SEEK VENGEANCE.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. -- Romans 12: 19

I would like to tell you what turned my life around in this area. I never understood the word ‘wrath’. This can be a very good example of wrongfully dividing the Word of God. God’s Word must be rightly divided. My wife explained to me that the word ‘wrath’ was referring to the wrath of God. I was guessing that it meant the wrath of a person. So you can see now that God is saying, ‘Hey, get out of my way and don’t seek vengeance by yourself. Vengeance belongs to me and I will repay’. By seeking vengeance upon someone who has done you wrong, you become as bad as the person who did the wrong thing to you. Now we have laid a good foundation for forgiveness. You are to forgive people who did you wrong and another way to forgive is to do it silently with God. We have already gone over those two principles. Now, we just went over the subject of vengeance. You can never say that you forgave someone after you got even with them. As usual, I believe I have set a strong foundation so that you can begin to forgive people if you haven’t already done so. Now I’m going to do my best to find some more Scriptures that speak about forgiveness and forgiving others.

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; -- Psalms 103: 3

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. This Scripture is from way back in the Old Testament, but it still applies today. God forgives all of our shortcomings and he heals all of our diseases. Does he heal only some of them? No. He will heal every disease that you can think of. Do you believe this? Most people today do not believe that God is such a healer. They depend on their doctor and they take other means and put them before God. This, as you should know, is idolatry and it is an abomination to God. At times, I will admit, that you need to have a lot of patience when you go to God for healing. I myself, experienced this problem often. Now I’m going to say something that is going to be controversial. Doctors and anyone in the medical profession never really heal a person. God works within that medical professional and guides them as to what to do pertaining healing. I am not talking about spiritual healing that is done by a person who was possessed and controlled by Satan. But when you look at the first part of the above verse, the first thing that is mentioned as forgiveness. Forgiveness is a quality that is greatly overlooked in this present evil world in which we live. When you forgive someone, you yourself receive a great deliverance in the innermost part of your being. God honors forgiveness and we are to imitate God Almighty. Let’s go back to something we discussed before. If you have a problem forgiving somebody because they are evil in many ways, listen to what God says about the subject.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. -- Galatians 6: 7

I recently had a person do a rather terrible thing to me and I turned him in to the CEO of his company. Remember, self-defense is a biblical concept. Before I was able to even realize it, a person from that company had called me up. Two days later another person from that company called me. These people and the person who did me wrong work for the same company. So I know damn well that they’re going to give this man a slap on the wrist. But because of Galatians 6: 7, I know that that man will get back what he gave out to me. That’s a promise in the Word of God. That person needs to be disciplined and actually terminated from his job. But do you really think that these people who work with this man are going to do such a thing? They called me only to try to appease me and make me feel like they were actually doing something about the situation. That is their problem and not mine. I know that God will take care of this person and he will receive back in return for the harm and wrong that he did to me. This is the world and we are in the second heaven and earth. Right now the devil is the god of this world. I should not have to tell you this, but if you are uncertain, take a look at II Corinthians 4: 4.

If you are having a problem with the subject of forgiveness, I want you to take a look at another Scripture where God is telling us not to be unforgiving. Because if you are, you would disobey the Word of God and you will receive back in return what you are giving out. It’s called the renewed mind and it’s our key to power. We have free will to renew our mind to God’s Word or not. In the latter case we are going to receive back in our lives great consequences.

Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: -- Hebrews 3: 8

This is speaking of a time when many of God’s people were very bitter in many ways. Their hearts became hardened and they found it difficult to forgive others. But the first part of the verse should speak loudly to you. Do not harden your heart. With bitterness, you can easily put walls around your heart. When I first got into some serious study with biblical principles, I told my Branch Leader that I seemed to be thinking with a part of my brain that I never knew was there. She said to me that the walls around my heart were coming down. The more Word of God that you know, study and apply, the less walls you will have around your heart. This means that you will be able to forgive others for anything that they have done to you. What is the profit in this? You will receive deliverance from whatever may be bothering you concerning that situation.

You should remember that this again, does not mean that you have to hang out or have fellowship with that person who has hurt you. This is a situation where you forgive that person with God. You tell God that you forgive this person, but for the second time, I am going to show you another Scripture where God does not want you to fellowship with that person if they hurt you badly.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. -- Ephesians 5:11

Not only does God say this in II Corinthians 6: 14, but here again in the book of Ephesians, God talks about having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. You should know by now that when God states something twice, that establishes it. There are no exceptions to God’s principal when He says something twice.

If you continue to carry around negative feelings and emotions toward others, you will never be able to experience the blessings of being truly delivered from all the powers of darkness. It is never God’s fault – we hinder God by our believing. We must think positively about everything and everybody as much as is possible. This blesses God and in turn He will bless us. In conclusion:

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. -- Romans 12: 21

This is God’s overwhelming wisdom. It relates to so many different areas that I will mention one that I taught you once before. If a person is doing something to aggravate you, never seek revenge. If you do you become as evil as the person who is harassing you. Believe it or not, the best way to handle situations and people like that is simply to not react. If an evil person sees that they cannot get to you, eventually they will stop trying. If someone who hurt you on purpose knows that you are still hurt, they may be evil enough to take pleasure in that situation. But if you walk up to them and you say to them that you forgive them for what they did, that lets all their air out. They realize that they cannot hurt you anymore so they quit trying. It may take some time for you to see this, but it is a principle in God’s Word that you should strive to apply. Remember God is there even right now and He will take care of whatever situation you have IF you believe.

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