FORGIVENESS

People must forgive all who need forgiveness.

For if you forgive other people when they sin against you,

your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (Mathew 6:14)

If the first person to forgive is yourself, you need to say, "God, before You, I forgive myself. Whatever I have done, I accept Your forgiveness, and I forgive me." That's a very simple but profound statement, because as long as we feel that we are under condemnation, we will never have faith to see miracles. "If our heart does not condemn us," the Bible says, "we have confidence toward God" (1John 3;21). Obviously, we cannot have continuing sin in our lives and expect forgiveness. We have to be free from ongoing conscious sin and rebellion against God. But if we are walking in the light, and walking in forgiveness, then the blood of Jesus Christ is continuously cleansing us from all sin (1John 1:7). The second person we have to "forgive," if we have bitterness, is God Himself. There are people who blame God because a child died, because a husband ran away, because they have been sick, because they have not had enough money. Consciously or unconsciously they think all of these things are God's fault. There is deep-seated resentment; yet you cannot be resentful toward God and experience miracles. You have to rid yourself of any bitterness toward God. That may take some soul-searching. You must ask yourself, Am I blaming God for my situation ? The third person you may have to forgive is a member of your family. You have to get rid of resentment, especially toward those closest to you. The husbands, the wives, the children, and the parents - all must be forgiven when slights and resentments have built up in family situations. Many people say, "Well, I didn't think that counted. I thought that was just a family matter." All lack of forgiveness has to be eliminated, especially toward every family member. Finally, there has to be forgiveness for anybody else who has ever done anything against you. It may be that your resentment is justified. The person may have done a very evil, terrible thing to you. You may have every legal and intellectual right to hold a grudge and to hate that person. But if you want to see miracles in your life, it is absolutely imperative that you forgive. Forgive them to the point where you actually feel yourself cleansed of resentment and bitterness and are actually praying for them. If you do not, the lack of forgiveness will make it impossible for God to forgive you. Every miracle depends 100 percent on your relationship to God the Father. That relationship is built strictly on the strength of His forgiveness of your sin.