Forgiveness

WOW! Is all I can say. Jesus blessed me so much today at the Ladies' Day Away at church. Jackie Kendall was the guest speaker, and I was overwhelmed in many ways. I just wanted to write the things that God revealed to me through her witness. I am blown away with the freedom that awaits us all in forgiving everyone for every single offense we've ever kept record of or experienced. Truly meditating on the fact that Jesus, as He hung on the cross, experiencing separation in His Spirit from the Father, STILL resisted the temptation to hold it against any of His mockers and murderers. He not only forgave them, but interceded on their behalf, asking the Father to forgive the, for they didn't know what they were doing. Amazing! Only the Son of the Living, Holy God could ever do something as radical as forgive His murderers before He died, while they mocked him, laughed at Him and tortured Him. If Jesus can forgive my evil, twisted, selfish sin, then how much more should I forgive those that do me wrong. I have no right to keep any record of wrongs nor hold any grudge. We should be forgiving immediately, over and over and over again. If we don't, we fall into sin because our hearts become filled with self-pity, self-righteousness, anger, bitterness, resentment, hatred and our love grows cold. When we offer forgiveness, we are truly reflecting the image of Christ. But the most radical thing is that God not only wants us to forgive each other, but He wants us to speak blessings over others, even if they never ask for our forgiveness. She shared a story of her friend who discovered that her husband was cheating on her with her best friend. As the transgressed woman sat in her car full of anger, heartbreak and brokenness, she was obedient to Jesus. She forgave him, and spoke a blessing over him that he would be reconciled to his estranged son. Immediately, she felt a heavy weight fall off her back, and she was set free! Even though we forgive someone, we will still have the memories of them hurting us, so every single time we remember the offense, we need to forgive them and pray a blessing over them. The greater the offense, the deeper the hurt, the more times we have to forgive until it is finally out of our spirits and we have God's love in it's place for the one that wronged us. I am so amazed at God and how precious He is. He loves us too much to leave us where we're at, often in our own self-made hells.