A lack of peace and joy in our life is often the symptom of unforgiveness. We are holding a grudge against our self or someone else.
Bitterness rises from woundedness deep within our soul, and can be rooted
years back into our past. Pride is one lie that guards the secrets of our past.
We do not want to admit to our self, nor to anyone else, the crimes that
others did to us. We block these memories from our conscious mind, and we build
a wall of pride and sometimes anger all around them.
We falsely believe that these strong, negative emotions will protect us
from any past, present and future hurt. What these negative emotions actually
do, however, is to block our soul - our thoughts, emotions and choices - from
receiving the fullness of the love that God wants to shower us with now.
Until we forgive our self and others, Satan gains the advantage over us. If
we refuse to forgive, we give Satan permission to control that part of our
soul, and to inflict his demons on our body and spirit as well.
The devil holds us captive and
the fruit of the Holy Spirit cannot manifest in that area of our soul (2
Corinthians 2:10-11; Hebrews 12:16). The Bible never
commands us to like someone. God only requires that we allow Him to love the
person through us.
Forgiveness is the road to freedom (Colossians 3:13). God encourages us to
have patience with each other and to forgive all grievances that we hold
against one another, just as He forgives us our trespasses against Him (Mathew
6:12).
As long as we do not allow Satan to deceive us with his lies and lead us to
hold a grudge, we will liberally enjoy God's enduring peace and joy (Isaiah
26:3, 30:15).
Prayer:
Father God, help us to forgive our self and others and to release them to You.
We have no need to extract vengeance on our own. Vengeance is Yours, and You
promise to repay each one according to his own deeds (Romans 12:19).
We do not need anger, unforgiveness and pride to protect us when we have You
as our mighty stronghold and fortress (Psalm 18:2). As we put our trust in You,
we live in abiding peace and joy, not only in our spirit, but also deep within
our soul.
Thought for the Day:
When we look at past, current and possible future hurts from God's perspective,
we realize that there is a seed for a miracle in every negative circumstance; God
promises to work out all things, even the bad things, for our good. - Romans 8:28
