Forgiveness and Freedom

One thing we did in Swazi, was do this thing called Awakening. At Awakening, three squads met up for around four days, and we were able to just pour into each other. We had lots of teachings from AIM staff, as well as doing a 24 hour fast. One day we learned about Forgiveness, and the freedom that comes with it. So let’s talk about it.

     Forgiveness is a subject the church kinda sleeps under the rug, in my opinion at least. A lot of people say forgive and forget, and leave it at that. There is so much more that goes into it. If you just kinda sweep your hurt under the rug, like forgive and forget is asking you to do, then it actually causes more problems than if you took the time to sit, work through it with God, and then Forgive. This is because you probably aren’t actually forgiving that person if you just sweep it under the rug, instead you’re providing a space for bitterness and fear to grow. Like if you stuck a piece of cheese in some random places and left it alone. It would get pretty gross after a while and you would need to clean it up, or the mold it would grow would make you sick right?

     Well, in the same way as the cheese analogy, if you sweep a hurt under the rug, or if you refuse to forgive someone, then you’re allowing fear and bitterness to grow like mold. And what does mold do? It makes you sick. So, in the same way Bitterness and Fear will make you sick. It might not be mentally sick, but maybe mentally. Example, I had a hurt happen to me when I was little, and, instead of taking proper care of it, I swept it under the rug to never think about again. Well, I had to think about it again, because when I discovered the problem, it was “covered in mold”. Bitterness and Fear had grown under that rug, and left me with a lot of mental problems that have taken a lot of intentional time with the Lord to deal with.

      Another example the Lord showed me this past week, looking at some things in my family’s life, I can see a stronghold of unforgiveness, causing them to have a bitterness towards certain people, and a fear of things happening. I can see how it has affected their relationship with the Lord, causing them to view him as more distant. When in reality the Lord is close at all times. It has changed their perspective of how much God loves them, or will listen to them.

     Now where does the freedom part come in? Well, when you forgive someone truly, you are able to rejoice when they rejoice, and mourn when they mourn. When you can do that, you are no longer holding onto bitterness and fear. You’ve let go of all of the things that hold you captive. You are now able to walk free of fear, and walk into a life where bitterness is not something you know. Then, that can pour out onto others, because by your example, people can discover how much Grace God has to offer. Because if you can make this little decision, how much greater if God’s grace for us? Walking in freedom is something we are called to do in this realm. To live like it’s heaven on earth already, not caring for the slights the devil uses the world to throw against us.

•      Now, I have a challenge for you. Take 5 minutes, right where you are in this moment, and pray. Ask God who he wants you to forgive. Ask Him where you’re holding onto unforgiveness, fear, and bitterness in your heart. Ask him how he wants you to get rid of it. Let God into the dark places of your heart, and you’ll find out how much better it is to in God’s light instead of the darkness. Sure it’s hard at first, but once you let him in, it feels so much better.