JESUS OUR TRUE IDENTITY PART 6

Our Lord Who Forgives

 

In our last blog, we discovered because our Lord Jesus Christ lives within us we can do the impossible, such as loving our enemies. We can love those who despitefully use us, say evil against us, abuse us, and reject us. The only hindrance to His life flowing through us is, by saying no and not allowing Him to have His perfect will and way in our lives. We also discovered He forgave those who said: “Crucify Him!” ‘Forgiveness’ is a characteristic of our True Identity.

 

Romans 4:7 (Amplified) “Blessed and happy and favored are those whose lawless acts have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered up and completely buried.

 

John 2:12 (Amplified) I am writing to you, little children (believers, dear ones) because your sins have been forgiven for His name’s sake [you have been pardoned and released from spiritual debt through His name because you have confessed His name, believing in Him as Savior].

 

 Here are two beautiful scriptures which remind us of our Father’s and Savior’s love for us before we were ever born. Over 2000 years ago before we ever arrived on planet earth, our God saw through the corridors of time every sin we would ever commit, every evil thought we would ever conjure up, and every vicious, selfish act we would ever carry out and forgave them and covered them forever with the blood of Jesus Christ. We must remember when we try to apply Old Testament scriptures to our lives, the Gentiles were never allowed in the temple so they had no way of getting rid of their sins. In the Old Testament, only the Jews could bring spotless unblemished goats, lambs, and bulls to the priest to be sacrificed for their sins once a year. Their sins were never totally removed, only covered until the next year. The poor Gentiles (like most of us were) had to carry their guilt and shame throughout their lives, never finding relief. Can you imagine, always feeling dirty, ashamed, guilty, depressed, and overwhelmed as we do because of sin? See how precious the blood of Jesus really is! We are allowed to be washed in it every moment of the day, every day of the year when we bring our stained and dirty souls to Him to be cleansed. Yes, He freed us from the guilt and shame of our sins, but if we do sin, we can go to the same fountain of His Life, thanking Him for what He has done and then let go of whatever sin or issue which entangles us. ALL GONE! YES, ALL GONE! With a Lord so loving and kind, we don’t want to sin and hurt Him, because we KNOW just how precious we really are to Him and how precious He is to us. Those who belong to Christ don’t HAVE to sin, we can CHOOSE to or not!

 

Ephesians 4:32 (Amplified) Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.

 

 

In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 32, it reminds us of who we are IN CHRIST, His FORGIVEN CHILDREN! Just as our Father and Lord has FORGIVEN US, they exhort us to do the same. ‘Forgiveness’ is a CHOICE we make with our WILL. We can say yes or no. When I was a psychotherapist, I introduced forgiveness to unbelievers who did not have Christ living within them and they had the power to make the same CHOICE to forgive or not forgive. ‘Forgiveness’ is not just a GRACE for believers but for all of the human race. Many souls were healed from their past abuse, neglect, rejection, and depression because they made a choice to forgive others who hurt them and caused them pain. We can choose to harbor anger, hurt, and vengeful feelings, and imprison ourselves to the pain of the incident rather than forgiving. What happens with unforgiveness; it festers like a sore and begins to eat away at our souls. We become mean, bitter, anxious, fearful, depressed, touchy, and the flesh began to rule us more than the spirit of Christ. Medical research shows unforgiveness affects our health; people develop ulcers, stomach issues, headaches, cancer, obesity, and other mental illnesses because we weren’t created to live with the toxic mire of unforgiveness in our hearts and souls. ‘Forgiveness’ isn’t about who was right or wrong nor is it about becoming ‘buddy buddy’ with those who may have violated our trust or hurt us. What’s most important is to allow the love and grace of God to cleanse us and wash away the toxic stains of our souls where we have been hurt or deeply wounded. He came to set us FREE from the pain of our yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

 

If you want to be cleansed and made whole again from the pain of your past, here is a little exercise I want you to do. Ask Jesus, since He lives in your heart, to unlock the doors of your soul where you have been hurt and where unforgiveness and bitterness live. When He brings a person to your mind, here is what you do. (Remember, the voice of the flesh and the enemy want to keep you imprisoned to them. They don’t want you to be free to allow Christ to live freely in your life.)

 

 Step 1 – Draw a line down the center of a page. On one side make the Heading “Events that Hurt Me Deeply” along with the person’s name. On the other side make the Heading “How it Made Me Feel”

 Step 2 -Trust the Lord to hold you and keep you during this process of remembering. There may be things too painful to look at right now. Get someone you can trust to walk and talk with about them.

 Step 3 – From your list, write letters to each person and discuss the events that hurt you and how they changed you and made you feel. It doesn’t matter if they are deceased, their pain is still left behind in your heart and soul. It is as real as it happened today.

 Step 4 – At the end of the letter when you are all done, here is where your WILL moves you from the pain to the Arms of Christ. Write “I FORGIVE YOU AND I RELEASE YOU INTO THE HANDS OF MY LORD. I TRUST HIM TO HEAL ME AND LOVE ME. IF HE ALLOWS YOU TO HURT ME AGAIN, I CHOOSE TO FORGIVE AGAIN. HE IS MY LORD AND WILL HEAL EVERY WOUND AND SCAR I BRING TO HIM BECAUSE HE LOVES ME FOREVER.” AMEN

Step 5 – Write the date you did the exercise at the top of the pages, then TEAR THEM UP, piece by piece. The date is important for your mind to affix a date and milestone when you forgave and allowed Jesus to come into the rooms of your heart where pain and unforgiveness had you bound. Whenever the enemy brings those painful events back to you, say, “No I forgave them and gave them to the Lord on _________ (the date you forgave them).”

 Important note: You may not FEEL any changes at first. The Will is the leader of the soul, the Emotions were created to follow its lead; Emotions will catch up eventually.

 

Remember, the exercise is not about who was right or wrong. When we have been sexually or emotionally abused by someone, those incidents were wrong. But, remember, Jesus is the judge of the universe, He saw the whole incident and He has the final say.

 

 If you are angry with God, write Him a letter. He understands our anger and He can handle our pain. This exercise is to bring healing and restoration to your souls in order for Jesus to live completely and fully through your souls. Many times we are stuck in our relationship with our Lord because we have refused to open up the doors of our hearts so He can fully and completely inhabit it. Trust Christ to do in you what you can’t or not willing to do yet. Let Him know, “Jesus I don’t want to forgive this person, BUT will you do it through me.”

 

 Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for the powerful gift you left to us, your children, and to the whole world, the gift of ‘Forgiveness.’ It is the toilet for our souls, to cleanse and flush away the stinking debris which sticks to us and keeps us isolated from Your Love and Grace. Amen