A few days ago I received an email from Barna Group, which is an American faith and culture research organization. This email motivated me to write this text.
In the message, they released the results of a study on forgiveness and mercy that showed the following findings:
- One-quarter of practicing Christians says there is a person who they cannot forgive.
- Almost half of practicing Christians say mercy doesn’t influence their thoughts or actions or they haven’t thought about whether it does.
- One in five practicing Christians reports struggling to receive forgiveness for something they have personally done.
- Christians grapple with whether certain people deserve compassion or forgiveness, and they are not all that different from non-Christians when it comes to embodying merciful attitudes and actions.
It is even contradictory to think that christians, that is, people who were reached by grace and who understood that they were forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus, have difficulty in forgiving. But the data showed this sad reality. We also know that when someone hurts us, it really is not easy.
Forgiveness is something supernatural
As soon as Jesus rose from the dead and made his first visit to the disciples, he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and then spoke of forgiveness.
John 20:21-23 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
Forgiving for human strength is indeed very difficult. Forgiveness has to do with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is supernatural and has enormous liberating power in the spiritual realm.
Not forgiving has consequences
One text that speaks about the consequences of unforgiveness is “The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant” in Matthew 18:23-35. The parable begins with the King forgiving the debt of one of his servants who cried for mercy. After that this same servant, who was forgiven, mercilessly charged one of his fellow servants. The fellow servant likewise cried for mercy. But it was thrown in the prison by the pardoned servant until the debt was repaid. The King learned of this and was outraged.
The outcome of the story is narrated in Matthew 18: 32-35. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34. In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
I am reading the book “The Supernatural Ways of Royalty” and in it Bethel church pastor Kris Vallotton tells of situations in which people manifested evil spirits. When other church members tried to expel, he had the revelation of past situations that had happened to those people. And they had not been able to release forgiveness. The moment he touched these points and ministered to them to forgive themselves or a family member, they were set free. They were bound to torturers (evil spirits) for not forgiving.
Forgive and live free
While not forgiving imprisons us, when we forgive God forgives us and we are free.
Mark 11:25 – And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins.
Through the forgiveness of sins we have been redeemed and delivered.
Colossians 1:13-14 – For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The forgiveness of the Father frees us from condemnation. And when we forgive someone, we become free from the past and from hurts. Unforgiveness arouses sinful feelings in our hearts against those who have done something to us. When we forgive, we are free from these evil thoughts. With a free mind, it is easier to approach God and easier to approach people. Christ’s life and His forgiveness flows through our lives into the lives of those around us.
I recently attended a soul healing conference in my church where I wrote on a paper the names of all the people for whom I needed to release forgiveness. That day, in a prophetic act everyone present there put the paper with the names at the foot of a cross that was in the room. Then we pray that the Holy Spirit would help us in this process of forgiveness. I confess that I came out of there much lighter. I encourage you to do the same! Pray to God and put before Him whom you need to forgive. Take time for that. If necessary, ask your pastor or leader for help.
God bless! May we be set free in the name of Jesus!
See you in paradise
forgiving is hard because we operate first and foremost on an emotional level. That’s why we can be blatant sinners and still hold grudges against those who commit the same sins over us. We are just stupid that way.
Forgiving is a hard thing that doesn’t just happen overnight, it takes time and practice. We just have to remember who are we to judge and hold grudges when we serve a merciful God. Yes somethings may hurt more than others but it’s all part of the human experience and we have to learn to love and forgive more as Christians and children of God.
I bless the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that I’m able to read this epistle. A forgiven mind is a mind that is freed from all oppression. May God bless your ministry, amen.
Thank you for this lesson. I have been struggling with this for some time now. I know now what I must do in order to be truly forgiven.
Whenever I struggle with this emotion, I remember that these ones, who happen to not know the Lord and who are headed for an eternity in hell, and I realize that I would not want anyone to end up there so I immediately pray for their salvation. This pushes away that spirit of hate and replaced it with the spirit of compassion, Holy Spirit.
I forgive but don’t forget. Not because it’s out of pettiness. But because remembering is also a lesson kept under your belt. If the person you have forgiven doors wrong again, to me, it’s essential i raise a red flag to let the other person know it’s not the first time. We can forgive but it doesn’t mean we can be bullied.
Yes People are bound to torturers (evil spirits) for not forgiving.
WHEN you don’t forgive, don’t love, when you lie, are angry or jealous….
SO when you don’t obey GOD
The bible says: ” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James4:7
That’s what happen when you do that:
“The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.” Deutérome28:7
Praise the Lord Almighty
Very encouraging. God bless you
Something just led me to read this article about forgiveness. Someone close to our hearts had done us wrong when he was living with us. My husband was able to forgive me but I wasn’t. Even after my parents told us to forgive him, my husband did but I was still not ready to give in. I know that I needed to forgive him but it wasn’t anytime soon. After ready this, I can now say that I’m ready to forgive him. Thank you Jesus for loving us.
Being able to forgive requires grace that only can be delivered by the holy spirit. I pray that the holy spirit can lead me to true and total forgiveness
Very encouraging and right on time. I have been dealing with some issues personally and the thought of the hurt and extent of the betrayal brought about great anger & bitterness so I just put it in the back of my head & tried to forget about it instead of dealing with it because it hurt. I prayed about it and I forgave them just the other day. I honestly felt so much lighter. I thank God for that. Regardless of what I went through, I know that I chose that path & all that particular hurt could’ve been avoided had I followed the path God set for me instead of my own. Thank you for this. I was just reading these exact verses the other day about forgiveness, they were also of perfect timing.
I thank God for His faithfulness in your life. It is inspiring to read txt like this.
Unforgiveness is a bait of Satan.
The Father’s Love is unfathomable, so much so that He gave His only Son that through His blood on the cross we are set free from ALL our inequities, therefore we are reconciled to the Father. Thus I believe the circle of Love is sealed.
If we choose to hang on to our rights of being offended, because I agree it is not easy to forgive, then just maybe, unknowingly took the bait.
One day i was asking Jesus to take the pain, the hurt, the feeling of betrayal away, because although i made a decision to forgive this someone, my actions shows the opposite. So I asked the Holy Spirit to wash me, purify my heart, and as I pour my heart out to Him, I was overwhelmed by this emotion , Its as if I am watching myself from above, so I asked what is going on here? Gently the Holy Spirit whispered “I was Betrayed too” as I look around to check who was speaking but found myself alone in this room, the thoughts of all those sins, the little lies, gossips, hatred, etc came flooding,
after that He Supernaturally allow me to feel His Love for this someone. His Love is sooooo good, no words could described, I am secured, in that few moments I experienced , that nothing else matters, I am content in that Love, Amidst all that there is no condemnation.. its all Love. Now I understand why we say God is Love.
When I came out of that room, I realised, am no different to that someone I detest, I will not forget He said” as much as I love you , I love her Too!!!!”
I believe one of the great gift to humanity is free will , so let us choose to love, let us choose to forgive. Let that circle of Love not be broken in us.
Love one another as I love you.
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. (Mark11:25)
Be Bless!
When we have to much self it make it difficutt to forgive , that why we need Jesus in the center of everything i can say good extortation bless u
Excellent text. So encouraging and so necessary. It highlighted my own need to release people in order to be released
Loved the text
Test
This is the second time in two days I’m reading about forgiveness, God bless you for the write up. Its unbelievable how we call ourselves followers of christ and we can’t forgive, that being said it’s not easy to forgive especially when those who wrong us never agreed they are wrong or saying sorry. Grace is all we need to forgive and move on, it doesn’t worth it to miss heaven because of forgiveness.
Indeed missing heaven due to unforgivennes is needless
To Joyce…the thoughts are there for awhile,unless God chooses to take them away completely. Husband betrayl hurts. .bad.i know. It’s only when the sting comes out of the thoughts and though broken heartedness may be felt…it doesnt stick or last long like it use to,it becomes information only..pray that.that the betrayl would either be supernaturally forgotten or only information to you when u think of it.
It takes the Holy Spirit to rid the deep want
For your husband to constantly owe yoy for your pain and his betrayl. I did that for a long time. I always had in the back of my mind that hed better do right or go over n beyind for me bc be owes me due to the paim.id always expect him to peove his love from then on.to show me he was sorry.i feel like this is helping you and others. I was so damaged and tormented years ago from my husbands betraly (s) that it was only God who walked me THROUGH the process of agape deep unconditional love with naturally allows u to forgive them and allow forgiveness for yourself for mistakes involving mess also. God bless u. Keep fighting the good fight of faith. God will show u.its a process usually. He knows how much we can or cannot handle. When God says go,go. When God says stay,stay. When God shows you the good write it down when God shows you the bad write it down.
Thanks for your article, I also have a problem forgiving someone who has hurt my family by taking advantage of my father’s death, but I believe that no matter hard it is for me to do so, through my prayers I’ll be able to move on. Your article has given me strength. Hopefully soon I’ll forget of it.
Thank you. I needed to read this today. Be blessed
Great piece. Thank you. Please pray for me.
Wonderful message, although I urge you to look into the doctrine that kris vollatin is teaching. A little leaven leaves the whole lump. I’m not trying to be divisive or talk down on a fellow believer, and I truly do believe in forgiveness and mercy, but kris and Bethel church are not preaching the true gospel. I have learned the hard way recommending certain teachers and preachers without first checking them out. Deception in the church is one of the most obvious signs we are in the last days. JESUS bless you!!
Hi Michelle! Thank you so much for your comment. =)
“Supernatural Ways of Royalty” is a book that I am reading and I’m really enjoying it. I especially liked this chapter that talks about forgiveness. Recently I was able to read some Bethel books. When we read a book, we won’t always agree on everything, but I try to take advantage of the good parts that make sense in light of God’s Word. But thanks for your advice. It really matters what you said.
God bless,
Gabi
So good. Thank you so much. Thanks to our wonderful Savior for forgiving us and empowering us to live forgiveness.
My mom already dead and my dad just pass away kast december. The sibling if my dad are treated us badly including some cousins. They are catholics and I am christian so what I do is I remain silent and never communicate with them if they will pass my way, i immidiately go out. According to what I read Never equally yoke with unbelievers . I REMAIN SILENT even though theres a lot of things I already heard frim them. All are bad things saying about me and my sister. 1 thing also my brother is not good also to me and my sister including his spouse. I have a join account with my dad qnd my sister inlaw widraw it . She fool me accoring to her I need to sign so that my account will activated. I cannot forgive my sister in law to what she made to me. I hope God will punish them beacause they are bad to us. We are so very poor we eat a little only beacause we need to budget our money. We canmot fix the house beacause we dont have money.
Dexter, I pray you will be able to forgive. You may be the only witness of Jesus to your Catholic family. Being unequally yoked usually refers to being married or the friends that you fellowship with. I have several friends that are not saved, and I try to reflect Jesus to them and have a Christian attitude. When they start drinking and partying, I leave that atmosphere. If you have a joint account with your dad, change it where no one else can take the money. Your family needs to see Jesus in you.
To forgive is Devine and it takes only the Grace of God to forgive and forget. May God help us
Thank God for Jesus!! He forgave us even though we were undeserving. Your msg gave me something to think about and she’d light on a darkness in my life. I will surrender all hurts from my past and present and forgive those Who have hurt me. May God bless and keep you. Amen.
This is a word in season. Short and powerful. God bless you
Thanks for sharing! Something to practice, indeed!
Great teachings! Great revelations.
My girlfriend has forgiving problems although she is Christian. She went through tough familiar problems when she was a kid. Her parents were divorced and did not get along well. Many other situations influenced her personality. However, God has been treating her. We need to be patient, although I agree 100% (and a little bit more) with this text, we also need to understand that some forgiveness doesn’t come instantly, some needs time and when it happens, we must not rush them but pray, otherwise, they may not truly forgive.
Thanks, God bless you!
Awesome, I do believe that forgiveness is an act of supernatural force.However, as humans we need to find LOVE, then forgiveness will flow natural. Thank you for your story very inspiring.
I’m inspired to do better… With time, change and the holy spirit I will be delivered from the Spirit of unforgiveness.
May God bless you, and may we all be set free in Jesus’ most mighty and precious name 😊
Thank you Jesus Christ of Nazareth Praise the Lord
Because if you are a Christian you must always forgive
Thanks for the inspiring message
God bless you
Very inspiring and thought provoking. May God continued to guide you and bless you in both your spiritual and natural walk of life.
Thanks for this wonderful piece of the word of exhortation may The Name of God be praised in your life and me in Jesus name
I have an easier time forgiving others than forgiving myself for my own selfishness. I am still struggling for hurting people in my past. I am praying for this healing. Thank you.
May the Holy Spirit giveme grace to forgive my husband for the wrongs he has done me. I will write my pain down and take it to the Alter this sunday and pray the Holy Spirit help me. Thanks for this, i really needed it. Hopefully with this i would feel much lighter and forget all the hurt.
I personally believe that forgiveness is the only way to a healthy, stress free and peaceful life
Ameen
If people just relise the importance of fogivness , put the pride aside. So my fellow brother and sisters forgive and forget and God will do the rest Amen…..
Very encouraged by the post Thanks
Thank you very much, forgiveness is a key to mental & spiritual freedom.
Constant
May God bless you for this wonderful and teaching message for us all 🙏
Very well written and Praise God for the anointing you have.
Forgiveness is everything for a true Christian.
I would like to keep in contact with you. Please write to me.
Blessings
Christu
Yes I struggle to forgive myself and many others but when we ask God to help us to forgive others the Almighty will help us heal and forgive it can be done only through his strength and help only and we ought to ask the saviour everyday coz the devil is lurking around and puts so many thoughts and people around asking so many unwanted questions doubts in our feeble mind
Many thanks for the word. Good God bless you and the readers.
How can I learn to forgive myself?
Thank you for the insight. I have forgotten how important the act of forgiving is.