FREEDOM IN CHRIST: FORGIVENESS AND BITTERNESS

Hello 👋 friends, we hope you have been enjoying our post.. We are still discussing our FREEDOM IN CHRIST.

NUMBER THREE: FORGIVENESS AND BITTERNESS 

The devil is an architect of holding advantage of Christians when they fail to render forgiveness and the Bible instructs Christians to get rid of bitterness. Let the Holy Spirit remind you those you need to forgive as God have forgiven you in Christ Jesus. 

CONFESSION: Lord Jesus, I thank You for the riches of Your kindness, forbearance and patience toward me, knowing that Your kindness has led me to repentance. I confess that I have not shown that same kindness and patience toward those who have hurt me. Instead, I have held on to my anger, bitterness and resentment toward them. Please bring to my mind all the people I need to forgive in order that I may do so now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Write down those names that you remembered and sometimes you might be holding grudges against yourself for the poor choices you have made in the past, thereby punishing yourself, so your name must be included because you must forgive yourself first. Including yourself means accepting the truth that God have forgiven you in Christ and in so doing, you can forgive yourself too. If you harbors any negative thoughts against God, maybe when you wanted Him to show up, He didn’t, those feelings of anger/resentment towards God can be a partition between you and God, so you must kill those feelings.

Remember forgiveness does not mean forgetfulness and once you choose to forgive those who intentionally hurt, use or despise you, the Holy Spirit will begin His healing process in your life though the pain won’t go away the same time but surely your journey to your freedom has begun. Though forgiveness is a choice or decision and you might find it difficult to forgive because of what you have suffered and naturally most people will prefer revenge but since God wants us to forgive one another, you have no choice rather than obeying God’s instructions. Romans 12:19 (never take revenge, my friends, but instead let God’s anger do it. For the scripture says, I will take revenge, I will payback says the Lord). Allow God to deal with anyone that hurt you intentionally and by forgiven them, you have let them off you hook but they are not off God’s hook. Remember He is God of justice and definitely everyone will receive their reward fairly and justified. Christ knows the damages they have caused you but He asked you to forgive, though you can’t turn back the hands of time but you can definitely be free from it and the only way to your freedom is through FORGIVENESS.

Remember forgiveness is an obedience to God and it simply means agreeing to live with the consequences of another person’s sin. Though whether you forgive or not, you will still live with the consequences but the choice is yours if you will do so in the bondage of bitterness or in the freedom of forgiveness. It might be unfair but no one truly forgives without accepting and suffering the pain of another person’s sin and the justice can be found on the Cross of Calvary, which makes forgiveness legally and normally right. On the Cross, Jesus took the consequences of sins upon Himself. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made Him share our sin in other that in union with Him we might share the righteousness of God). As Christians, you might be temporarily suffering the consequences of other people sin which is simply a harsh reality of life, but you have to face it. Remember Jesus Himself forgives those who crucified Him as an account even when they are mocking and jeering Him, Luke 23:34 (forgive them, Father! They don’t know what they are doing).

Let go of the bitterness and let God begin to heal the damaged emotions. Remember forgiveness means choosing not to hold someone’s sin against them anymore and you must let go of the past and choose to reject any thoughts of revenge. Once you choose to forgive, Satan will have lost his power over you in that area and God’s healing touch will be free to move. THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU WILL CONTINUE TO PUT UP WITH THE FUTURE SINS OF OTHERS. GOD DOES NOT TOLERATE SIN NEITHER SHOULD YOU, DO NOT CONTINUE TO ALLOW YOURSELF TO ABUSED BY OTHERS. 

Take a stand against sin while continuing to exercise grace and forgiveness toward those who intentionally hurt you. You may need help in setting wise limits and boundaries to protect yourself from further abuse. 

Freedom is what you will gain right now, not necessarily an immediate change in feelings. Now that you are ready to begin the forgiveness journey, you have to start with the first person on your list, make the choice to forgive him/her of every painful memory and focus on the individual until you are sure you have dealt with all the recalled pains. As you are forgiving them, you might remember painful memories, that you might have forgotten and it might hurt you the more but the more it hurts the more free you becomes. As you continue through your list, keep say, Lord, I choose to forgive..

For every painful memory you have for each person on your list, pray aloud:

“Lord, today I choose to forgive ____(name the person)___ for __(say what they did to hurt you)_ even though it made me feel ____(share the painful feelings)____.

After you have forgiven each person for all the offenses that come to your mind and after you have honestly expressed how you felt, conclude your forgiveness of that person by praying aloud:

Lord, from today I choose not to hold any of these things against ___(name)____ any longer. I thank You for setting me free from the bondage of my bitterness toward __(name)___. I now ask You to bless ___(name)_____ in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

The process might be a tough challenge but believe me, it really worth it and your FREEDOM is not negotiable. We will be discussing NUMBER FOUR in our next post, please subscribe, comment and share this post to educate others, thanks 🙏.

Peace ☮️ out.