October 8, 2012
The Intercessor and Forgiveness
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. -1 John 1:9
WWE Monday Night Raw was in Sacramento tonight. There is something about a major event being in this town that gives me a sense of temporary happiness. This city is far from being a major city and for some still is considered a cowtown. I don’t take pride in my hometown, but at the same time it is my hometown. I often wonder to my parents why they chose this city and they really didn’t choose, those who brought them over here chose for them. Some choices we make while others choose for us. Forgiveness as I have learned is a choice.
"For those who want to grow in intercession, there is a need for a clean heart. We must forgive everyone who has hurt or offended us. We need to know God's forgiveness of our own sin. But how can we forgive others? Can we really receive forgiveness from God and others? Is there a way to walk in freedom? Let's discover the power and freedom of forgiveness and see how we can choose to forgive those who have hurt us."
"We have been sent into the world to implement the rule of God on earth. Where there is discord we are to replace it with harmony. Where there is hatred we are to replace with agape. Where there is an offense simmering into a murderous conflict, we are to replace it with forgiveness. When we choose to forgive, we invade the realm of darkness and defeat those dark forces with the power of a resurrected life. - Dudley Hall. "The Toxic Choice"
Forgiveness is one of the most powerful, Christlike responses that we could ever have, yet the steps in forgiving others — or even receiving forgiveness — may be difficult. The love of Christ is the only way we can set free those who have deeply wounded us. The love of Christ gives us the only context we have for believing that God has forgiven us.
There is perhaps no greater gift you can offer God than a heart that knows the power of forgiveness and decides to set others free. Forgiving shows that the love, grace, and mercy of Jesus are operating in our lives. It is time to access this life-changing grace of forgiveness. Is there someone who has offended you? Are you able to release the person in forgiveness? God gives us divine power to forgive. We who have received the freedom of forgiveness have the power to set one another free. This is a power that truly sets the captive free and can affect the whole world. Forgiveness defeats darkness on a massive scale because it involves the resurrection power of Jesus. Nothing can defeat the greatness and glory there is in one act of forgiveness."
Forgiveness has not always been something I have paid much attention to. Actually, this chapter has really helped me see the power and value of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the essence of the Gospel and Christ’s death on the cross and His love demonstrated is the motivation and prime example of forgiveness. Forgiveness is not natural. We want to repay evil with evil. If someone hurts me I want to hurt them back. This is not operating under a Godly principle of replacing hate with love and evil with forgiveness. I have wondered sometimes why certain people learn how to fight and purchase massive amounts of firearms. I think it is sometimes an issue of relying on ourselves to carry out the justice we think is due. The agnostic without God has no sovereign to put trust in and I can even say sometimes I do not trust God enough to believe He will repay evil with what is right. Forgiveness is really hard. For years I could not forgive my girlfriend of nearly three years for leaving. She simply said “I don’t love you anymore”. I wonder so often, how do you stop loving someone as if love is some sitch you sometimes flip on and sometimes off. For years I felt hurt from the breakup which I did not initiate and I blame God for it. I blame God for letting me have the relationship. I blame God for allowing it to end. And then I wonder if God even cared. This would probably be the biggest and hardest situation to forgive.
"Would you like to see the Lord shatter the spiritual prisons in your life, the areas where you feel ttapped? Then forgive those who put you there, for surely the walls of your imprisonment are made of your own anger and unforgiveness toward others.1
Here are some basic steps toward extending and receiving forgiveness:
• Recognize and call sin what God calls it. Be specific and thorough. Remember that forgiveness is not excusing and approving of inappropriate behavior or saying that an offense isn't important. Be honest with yourself and recognize your emotional response. You may feel angry, sad, let down, or disappointed. It isn't wrong to have emotions. They are natural. It's what you do with your emotions that can be sinful. Make sure there is no offensive way in you (see Psalm 139:23-24).
Share with God honestly and let Him heal you. Tell God what happened to you and how you feel. Look at His evaluation of the situation. Focus on Him and His faithfulness. Spend time with Him, and let Him restore where sin has destroyed. Fotgiveness releases God's divine healing power. Remind yourself, "O Lord my God, I called to you fot help and you healed me" (Psalm 30:2). Set the offender free, understanding that it is a process. Declare forgiveness. Say, "I forgive [name the individual or group] for [name the offense]." Don't say, "I want to forgive." It takes time to go through the process of forgiveness. The hurt can come up at different times, and we must choose to forgive again. It doesn't mean we automatically forget the offense. Paul knew this: "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each othet, just as in Chtist God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Release the offender to God. Repent of yout desire to punish or take revenge. Let God deal with the offense. Focus on today rather than the past. Let the offendet off the hook. Declare God as judge over the person and the situation, as Paul reminds us to do: "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is wtitten: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19).
Bless the offender. Apply God's forgiveness. Trust and reconcile when possible, but realize that forgiveness does not always mean we have to relate to the petson in the future. In some cases, this is not possible. Know God's protection and justice. Paul tells us, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not cutse" (Romans 12:14)."
This is a really solid list of things to do and it all centers around being honest with God and recognizing that forgiveness does not happen over night. When in situations of a close relationship ending, this can often take years. Recently, a guest pastor preached three messages on forgiveness and so I have really been hit hard with this importance of forgiveness. His first sermon was taken from Matthew 18 and with the unmerciful servant. God forgave us of an enormous debt and whatever someone does to us is small in comparison
"We are God's called-out people, who know who we are in Christ and walk in love with God and one another. We become partakers of His resurrected life. Forgiveness is essential if we want to walk in personal and corporate revival.
God will give us the gtace to fully set everyone free. May we be like Jesus, who was the first one to love. When God forgives us, He gives us the power to forgive. May the river of God's life flow through us in that we bless everyone we meet. May we remind people of how much they are loved by God. As we give our lives away in love and forgiveness, we become free ourselves."
“We see forgiveness demonstrated in the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis. He is a tremendous example of choosing to forgive family members who had deeply hurt him. Through Joseph's act of forgiveness, God used him to bring about a great deliverance in the lives of his family. Joseph had every reason to be bitter. He lived in prison for years because his brothers had sold him into slavery. When he rose to a position of power in a strange land, he could have lorded it over his unknowing brothers and exacted the ultimate in revenge. However, he chose to forgive and be reconciled to his family. He had no bitterness or sense of revenge when he forgave them. He was so full of forgiveness that he begged his brothers to forgive themselves: "Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. . . . But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance" (Genesis 45:5,7). Joseph saw how God used the past, even though painful, fot His highest glory and his family's greatest good."
Joseph is always the prime example of forgiveness. What strikes me this time is not tjust that Joseph was able to forgive his brothers after what they did to him although that too is powerful. What strikes me this time is how Joseph saw the big picture. He saw God’s hands in the whole thing. He saw how God was glorified and how the situation would benefit his family as well as nations. It is really hard to have that kind of perspective especially when going through something hard.
"Let's beware of the following hindrances that can keep us from choosing to forgive:
• Lack of understanding of God's judgment and righteousness. We think we must take the matter into our own hands. If we don't think others are being punished properly, we try to help God. We must trust Him to be judge and get out of the middle of things.
• Pride in our lives. We want to be right. We don't think others deserve forgiveness. We may think that there is no need to forgive. We forget that we, ourselves, have already experienced the rich, undeserved forgiveness of God through Jesus' sacrifice. Now we are called to extend that grace toward others.
• An unwillingness to face the pain of the offense. We must know that we can bring the pain of any offense to Jesus. Jesus bore all sin: "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).
• Bitterness in our hearts. We may hold revenge and want to punish. Bitterness and unforgiveness bind us to the offender. We must cut the rope and be set free.
• Not regarding sin seriously enough. Sin is serious business. We cannot rationalize nor try to explain away a sinful response on our part. Unforgiveness puts a barrier between the Lord and us."
"We need God's help to forgive. Jesus knows the pain of betrayal. He understands humiliation, misunderstanding, shame, and hurt. Jesus is the greatest example of one who forgave others freely and fully. Our Father God develops and shows His character in and through us by allowing us to experience difficult situations, His grace enabling us to react in a Chtistlike way that gives Him honor. The choice to forgive opens the prison doors so that we are able to walk in a new freedom. As a result, we can walk in righteousness, peace, and joy, demonstrating the life of Jesus here on earth."
I can say firsthand how bitterness and captivity can take hold of a man who cannot forgive. Forgiveness brings freedom. Forgiveness brings healing but the difficult part is letting go of what happened. Not excusing it, but letting it go can be really difficult. We learn from this passage that forgiveness honors God and Jesus went through hurt and betrayal. He understands. It is not like Jesus does not know what we are going through,. He got betrayed by His own disciple who spent three years with him. He experienced Peter who denied Him three times. Jesus knows hurt. That is one thing that really touches me is the humanity of Jesus.
"If we want to grow in intercession, we must walk in holiness and purity. It is absolutely necessary that there is no sin blocking our relationship to God, for anyone who wants to come to God must have clean hands and a pure heart. Learning to repent quickly when we fall is key to a successful prayer life. I once heard that you could tell how mature a Christian was by the distance of time it took between sinning and asking God for forgiveness. Walking in daily holiness and confessing all known sin must be one of our greatest ambitions. It is one of our greatest weapons in intercession.
Forgiveness is the very spirit of heaven removing the hiding places of demonic activity from the caverns of the human soul. It is every wrong made right and every evil made void. The power released in forgiveness is actually a mighty weapon in the war to save our cities. - Francis Frangipane, "Forgiveness and the Future of Your City"
Prayer:
Father, a powerful prayer warrior is someone who walks in holiness and purity and having clean hands and a pure heart. Bitterness and unforgiveness block our communication with You. I know I don’t have a pure heart and have a hard time letting go sometimes with both small and big issues. I want to walk in the freedom of forgiveness and a clean heart. I want also to see things with an eternal purpose just like Joseph. I know I can’t do this on my own but need the Holy Spirit.
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