So not long ago I had been thinking about, working through and studying forgiveness. I had posted a bunch of verses about forgiveness here. Then I went into what it means here. Of course then in our Bible study on Wednesday we come Your Hurts.
In my Wednesday morning woman’s Bible study we are reading FerVent by Priscilla Shirer. It is an amazing book. It helps you look at ten different strategies that are common places that the devil attacks in our life. She teaches you how to use the Bible and verses and how to get into fervently praying.
At the end of each chapter (or strategy) I try and write a summary of what it was about. Below is what I wrote for this past week.
Hi Everyone,
Yesterday we talked about Strategy 9, Your Hurts. I was so shocked to hear how many of us take simple things and turn them into bitterness and place a hold on forgiveness.
This chapter was a hard pill to swallow for me. I always think I have forgiven someone or something and all is great. Then I
get around that person and I feel myself getting tense and angry all over again.
Or another problem I have is I actually do forgive a person for something that was done and then they do a new thing. I have to start all over again and it just makes me so mad. Then I question why does this keep on happening over and over!
I have been doing a serious study for myself about forgiveness. There is a lot in my life that I have to forgive and there is a lot I have done in my past that I have needed to forgive. It isn’t easy, it takes time, it takes effort and it really takes some determination on your part to continually go to God with it all.
I have been doing this study because God has been urging me and I am so tired of feeling that anger, hurt and bitterness. There are just some things in life we have to accept are not going to be the way we want them to be. We don’t control other people, their thoughts or their actions. When we let go of the control and when we let go of how we feel they should be acting, it opens a whole new door to forgiveness and acceptance.
I have always heard my whole life, “If only we were given an instruction manual.” We have had one our whole life. It may not hold the answers we want to hear but it does hold the answers. We are told to forgive others, when they repent. We are also told to forgive others so we can be forgiven.
Just like she talks about in the book, we are told we are forgiven so that we are forgiven but with God’s grace our sins are already gone and we are forgiven. So forgiveness really is for us. We need to forgive so that we can have a close, personal and beautiful relationship with God.
There is a time and place for anger. You have a right to get mad, be upset and then to forgive and move on. There is also a time and a place for not putting yourself back into a situation. In order to really know the difference, you have to be able to hear God (when it isn’t screaming at you with a red flashing light).
That is really where having to forgive comes in. Here, on earth, I know when I am really upset and angry about something it affects more relationships than with just the person I am upset with. So if that happens here, what happens with God? If I am harboring any kind of anger, if I am refusing to forgive, I am not able to truly lay it all down at the cross and go to Him.
I have to be honest with God. I have to ask for His help when I can’t forgive on my own. It is possible to be free. It is possible to enjoy life. But to truly get there, you can’t sweep things under the rug and not deal with them, for yourself.
I read a quote the other day that reminded me about what Dawn said. When she has forgiven and the thought comes into
her mind she shuts it down. The quote was talking about how when you are dealing with negative thoughts, write them down and toss them out physically. It has a psychological affect on you. So maybe what we need to do is write down our angers, hurts and bitterness – give them all to God and physically toss them out!
Physically release them to God, they are no longer yours. It is a process, it does take time but God can and does work miracles. He can help you release all of those feelings that hurt your relationship with Him!
Next week is our last chapter. We will be reading Strategy 10, Your Relationships!
See you on Wednesday!
Amy
Do you have anything you are holding against someone? Do you have something you are holding against yourself? It dosn’t have to be a huge thing, it can be the tiniest things. Sometimes we have to do some serious soul searching to find out what is holding us up. It is possible you don’t even know at this point what or where your hurts are coming from that are causing a block.
Praying that if you have some past hurts you have caused or if you have some past hurts you need to forgive that you find a way in your heart to move forward.
I would love to hear a success story about forgiveness and where it has taken you!
If you need some help working on your prayer life, I highly encourage you to purchase the book FerVent. It has made a radical change in my prayer life and it has helped me move forward in places I didn’t know it was possible!
Life Synergy 