Forgiveness

[Kit Sober]

From Kenneth Copeland (who I love) this morning 12/2/13:

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any. - Mark 11:25

Few people realize just how closely connected faith and forgiveness are. Jesus taught about that connection in His sermon on mountain-moving faith that's recorded in Mark 11:22-26.

He said, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive."

Jesus backed those two sentences up together on purpose. He wanted us to know that releasing those who have wronged us is fundamental to receiving from God. He wanted to impress on our hearts the fact that we cannot have our prayers answered and hold grudges in our hearts at the same time.

Unforgiveness clogs the faith channel and keeps you powerless against the mountains in your life!

If you've been praying for something and you just can't seem to get an answer, check your heart for unforgiveness. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring any grudge that's hidden there to light. Unclog the channel of faith and you will soon see things you've been praying for come to pass.

By Kenneth Copeland

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 3/19/2013 at 11:45 AM, chockfull said:

I love how TWI chews people up, spits them out, then labels them as "bitter".

That's right on up there with a pedophile abusing children, then bullying, ridiculing, and ostracizing them when the are grown for developing personality disorders to cope with the abuse.

Chock, or calling them "possessed."  What Hog Wash!

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 3/25/2013 at 8:03 PM, Twinky said:

I think now that I mostly feel sorry, pity, for the head honchos of TWI. Sorry for them that they have never learned, really, what love is, how to walk kindly before God, how to serve as Jesus did. They have missed so much in life. Their eyes are blinded. They have become so wrapped up in their egos or their organisation that they can't see what's clearly before them. Such small people. Small inside.

Compassion has to come into true forgiveness. Compassion because the offender was weak, failed, abused. Did wrong, knowingly or unknowingly. As do we all.

Only the self-righteous have no need for compassion. No empathy for offenders. And therefore no need to forgive.

On another aspect of this thread: "forgive and forget" doesn't occur as a phrase in the Bible. When God forgives, he casts our sins far away. Jesus in his dying breath sought forgiveness for those killing him ... Romans and Jews.

But many times, in fact, people are charged to remember, especially bad things that have happened. So that they can appreciate what they have now. Passover, and all that encompasses, is a ritual that ensures that forgetting doesn't happen.

Paul, in Philippians, writes that he is forgetting those things which are behind, and" reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

But he also writes to Timothy: "Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works: Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words." A clearer "Don't forget! Remember his evil!" warning you couldn't get. (We don't know whether Alexander was ultimately forgiven by Paul.) If this is the same Alexander of 1 Tim 1, then he was an apostate and a false teacher - "whom I have delivered unto Satan, that [he] may learn not to blaspheme."

It's not "bitter" at all to warn against those that teach wrongly, that hurt others, that mock the grace of God.

Twinky, I think you said in a few sentences the purpose of the GSC. "...to warn against those that teach wrongly, that hurt others, that mock the grace of God.". I think the TWI teaches wrongly, hurts others, and mocks God's Grace.  

[Grace Valerie Claire]

On 3/27/2013 at 9:27 AM, newlife said:

Forgiveness....something each person defines and processes and does or does not do based on how they believe and perceive it. In my life, I was eaten up with anger about TWI, about other things and people (family) in my life. And I'm sure it came out in ways I didn't even know how I affected others. I entered into "Recovery"....and there I was taught some freeing, life giving principles that I applied and I received the freedom from my anger and all of my resentments. Forgiveness for me, just didn't happen because someone said to do it. I didn't know how that was possible. I first had to see that my anger and resentment had me in my own prison. The people that I was angry with and resentful didn't have a clue I was carrying all that around with me. And in fact, totally they didn't have me on their mind AT ALL. They continued to live whatever life they were living without a thought of me. That's when I saw that my anger and resentment was hurting me and not them. Kind of like I was saying, well, I'll show you, I'll with hold my forgiveness, I'll hurt you ...I will never forgive you for what you did but they really could of cared less about it. Kind of like me drinking the poison and hoping they would die. When I really thought about that I saw what I was doing to myself, when in fact, I wanted to be doing it to them, but that was not the truth of what was going on. So, I was instructed to pray for those people on my "List" that they would have everything that I wanted to have in my life. Happiness, wholeness, health, recovery of their lives, prosperity, a freedom, good things, forgiveness....and I tell you the truth, I DID NOT want to do that. It was the last thing I wanted to do believe me. But I trusted the instruction of the persons that told me to do it and then I saw it in the bible, pray for your enemies. So I did that even though I didn't want to...and amazingly the anger started decreasing and the resentments started fading away. Even to the point that I just didn't wish them hurt of any kind. After awhile, I realized I was free of what was holding me prisoner, my own thoughts of anger and resentment. I was free to move on with my life. To me, that process was a miracle. Never did I think I would be rid of those feelings and resentments I had toward TWI, toward family members, toward friends. All I know is that it worked for me and then I really could move on cause somewhere in that process I forgave them. I still apply that process with any resentment or anger that I acquire today. I've just describe what I found to work in my life, my own personal experience. I certainly do not know what another person needs to do in their life, I can only speak for me. I'm just sharing it with you.

NL, thanks for a great post! I think forgiving others is extremely hard for me to do.  I was angry at some of the men in my family for abusing me years ago.  However, I am receiving Professional help for my anger, and I am much less angry than I used to me.  Sometimes you can get rid of the anger on your own, but sometimes some of us need to have Professional Help to rid ourselves of the anger; whatever works for the individual.