How to Forgive

 

Forgive in light of What Christ forgave you of

 

Grace cost the Cross

GRACE cost the CROSS

God’s

Righteousness

At

Christ’s

Expense

The Fruit of Godly Sorrow

Taking time to be real with yourself and God hurts and shows you where you’ve been selfish. But, the end result is repentance, forgiveness, and restoration. Praise God, Hallelujah!

Forgivness O How Sweet! It is the Gift, the Grace of God to Me

There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.

William Cowper

Forgive as Christ FORGAVE

Forgive as Christ FORGAVE

     As Christians, we are clearly commanded by Christ to forgive (Matt. 6:14-15), but many times, those who claim to follow Christ hold on to grudges. We simply cannot do this. For one, we cannot follow Christ if we will not forgive. Jesus Christ died to forgive all OUR sins and EVERBODY ELSE’S too. He died for the murder just like He died for the prideful person. He died for the homosexual just as much as He died for the liar. If our hearts have truly been changed by Christ, why do we so often let them grow cold and calloused toward others? We need to forgive as Christ FORGAVE.

     For many of you, the Holy Spirit is convicting your heart right now. Take a moment and confess your sin to the Lord; ask others to forgive you that you need to; and ask the Lord to help you truly live a life keeping with repentance from this moment forward: a changed life with an attitude of forgiveness—working through feelings of anger, hatred, and unforgiveness so that you can pray for the blessing, salvation, and a personal relationship with the Lord for your offender.

An Introduction to Purity: Forgiving Yourself and Others

An Introduction to Purity: Forgiving Yourself and Others

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Ephesians 5:3-21 (KJV)

 

When does forgiveness take place after a disagreement?

    We do need to fight to keep ourselves pure and the source of your strength must come from an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, or else we will fall. However, we must realize and come to grips with the fact in our heart that our future spouse may not have a pure past. We need to fight for purity, be a voice for purity and stand against sin, but we also must be forgiving and merciful when someone truly repents.

       Repentance starts with brokenness where you cry out to the Lord and admit that you have transgressed the law of God. After that, the Lord, transforms our heart and empowers us by His Spirit to walk in His path in the power of the Spirit. In short, real repentance is evidenced by a changed life over time. We no longer habitually walk in sin.

       Our future spouses must be committed to purity before we commit to marry them. However, they may have only been committed for two to three years, even though they’ve had a decade plus of sin in the past. We must forgive like the Lord does. I am not saying that we should not be cautious and discerning about whether someone has truly repented—we need to test their fruit (STOP AND READ: 2 Corinthians 13:5, 1 John 4:1, Matthew 7:15-20)! Yet, we must extent God’s forgiveness and not nag them about their past when upset with them. We all sin, and we must forgive as we have been forgiven or else we have no part in the Lord Jesus Christ:

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

 

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:14-15 (KJV)

 

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Colossians 3:12-13 (KJV)

 

     If you have compromised, you can regain the ground that you have yielded by submitting to the Lord. Seeking forgivness is not about changing your consciousness level in regard to your guilt (as my college counseling course said). No, seeking forgivness is about laying your sin at the cross, let Jesus pay for it and accept His sacrifice that He paid with HIS LIFE for your purity.You may have lost your virginity, but God can purify your heart and transform your life. You don’t have to keep living the way that you have been. There’s hope. How do I know? Well, for one, Scripture says that Christ forgives us and creates us into a new creation. But second, because I gave my heart away countless times as you’ll see in the next chapter.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

Today, I want to share with you some concepts that I found in a book I was reading before bed one night. These are principles that we can apply to our own lives a ministers of a covenant of reconciliation as well.

 

Christ initiated reconciliation with mankind.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

2 Cor 5:17-19 (KJV)

 

Christ humbled Himself.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Phil 2:5-8 (KJV)

 

Christ destroyed the walls of separation though His Love and Truth.

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 1:11-14 (KJV)

 

Christ made restitution.

 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot

1 Peter 1:18-19 (KJV)

 

Christ anguished over our reconciliation.

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Luke 22:44 (KJV)

 

Christ demonstrated unconditional love and complete forgiveness over our sin.

We love him, because he first loved us.

1 John 4:19 (KJV)

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Eph 4:8 (KJV)

 

Christ strengthens fellowship through the Body of Christ.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ

Eph 4:13 (KJV)

 

 

Other verses to consider

It is of the Lord'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lam 3:22-23 (KJV)

 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

1 Tim 2:5-6 (KJV)

 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end

Isaiah 9:6-7 (KJV)

 

Thought 268: Extreme Delivery from Ryan's devotional book Thoughts

Thought 268

Extreme Delivery

      Do you struggle with the guilt of sins tormenting your mind? (I think we all have at times) If you do remember this: upon salvation Christ has “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).” We need to do some extreme mailing and cast those condemnations from the devil away from us to the cross and recall that Christ’s blood to covers it all.

Thought 255: A Royal Priesthood, a holy People from Ryan's devotional book series Thoughts

Thought 255

A Royal Priesthood, a holy People

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:12-15 KJV

Thought 194: The past.... from Ryan's devotional book series Thoughts

Thought 194

The past….

I write to you, little children,
Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

1 John 2:12 NKJV

  Your past had a purpose. God allowed you to go through “stuff” for a reason. You are redeemed, forgiven, and a new creation now, but don’t think that your past doesn’t have power when you share it as a testimony. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) shared his testimony many times in his writings. He recounted how Christ had miraculously saved him. The pains of the past are really a blessing. Even though God forgets our sins that we remember many of them, we can remember where we came from and where we are going and can influence others to come with us.

Thought 191: Forgiving & for giving from Ryan's devotional book Thoughts

Thought 191

 Forgiving & for giving

  Do you truly forgive and forget like Christ does? I struggle at times with forgiving, but it is the right thing to do. The only thing I know that works each time you repeatedly pray it is, “God I know that I need to forgive this person, please help me to forgive, I want to want to forgive ________,” and then continue to pray for blessings on their life that you would want like a closer relationship with the Lord, a joyful marriage, wisdom in finances, anything! You cannot pray blessings on someone and stay mad at them for long.

For giving is to give to people, ministries, or a cause. I would caution any Christian that is giving to a charity that is not Christian own or run. The Church is supposed to take care of widows and orphans, but today many secular groups are also doing this because we have not been faithful. Should we support the world or should we support the ones that God gave that responsibility to?

We’ve looked at two different meanings of the forgiving—one is forgiveness and the other is for giving—which impacted you the most and why? Is the Holy Spirit tugging on your heart about anything in regards to what you’ve read?

Forgive, don't hold onto your debt--you can't pay it!

Thought 171

Forgive, don’t hold onto your debt – you can’t pay it!

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” Matthew 18:31-35 (NIV1984)

Daily Devotion from Ryan's devotional series, Thoughts

Thought 158

There is Forgiveness—an “Undone” Button

    If you have said something you wish you hadn’t you can never change it, but you can humble yourself and ask forgiveness. Ask the person(s) for forgiveness, and then ask God for forgiveness. If you have asked for forgiveness long ago, but are still struggling with guilt and condemnation, reflect on the cross and the resurrection. Jesus suffered a long time and paid the price and when He rose from the dead He conquered the power of sin in our life. So why not use this moment for God instead of dwelling on guild? Stop and thank Jesus for what He has done for you.