Forgiveness

A couple of months ago I was praying and God gave me this verse:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” –Mark 11:25

You know, God is a gentleman. He is most certainly gentle with us about things. He’s not the type to ask us to change completely over night after we receive Him into our hearts. He walks and talks with us and is beside us with each step that we take. He says, “Now give me this, it’s okay.”

When He knows that we can handle the next step, He places it in front of us. God will never give you anything that you can’t handle. And the good news is that with Him you can handle anything. Cool huh?

I like to think of it this way: To climb a set of stairs you have to develop muscle mass and muscle memory. (You see where I’m goin’ with this?) We spend our whole lives taking baby steps, but of course with the learning comes mistakes. We mess up, we try again. You fall off, you get back up. Until we’re crawling. Then we’re walking. Then we’re running. Then we’re jumping. Then we’re dancing.

You see? It’s God who gives us the strength to take the next steps in our faith.

Well, for me, it was forgiveness. I had always thought that I had forgiven those who have hurt me but God knows my heart better than I do and what He says goes. I said, “Okay, then who do I need to forgive Lord?” Slowly but surely He brought someone to mind from years back. The argument was dumb and I hadn’t thought of it since, but it meant something to the other person involved. So I got in contact with that person and told them I was sorry. They were surprised that I remembered and forgave me joyfully! It felt great. It felt like release. From chains that I didn’t even know I had.

Throughout the same day and the next few passing days He continued to bring things up to me. I did the same thing and now I feel weightless. It was awesome.

I found myself wondering, “How can I possibly expect God to forgive me when I haven’t forgiven other anointed children of God?” “Who am I to withhold forgiveness from someone when I am the one who needs to be forgiven?”

I came to the harsh realization that I can’t. I

If you are standing to pray today and you have some unforgiveness in your life, mend that. I want to encourage you to ask God to heal your heart from that situation. And if need be, contact that person and tell them that you forgive them.

God is a big God who can do big things. He can heal your heart so much that you don’t even remember the bad in that person. He can put so much joy in your heart that you wonder if you’ve ever actually been hurt in the first place.

With God all things are possible.