The word forgiveness has taken on a whole new meaning for me. I used to throw this word around like candy not fully grasping the depth at which it should penetrate our souls. I have come to realize that to be fully enveloped with healing between two people you must experience authentic forgiveness. The second thing I have recently learned about this sacred word is that forgiveness must be simultaneously given and received. It might be hard to be the one forgiving some one for the affliction that consumes your insides, but I now know that it is not a cakewalk for the one being forgiven. That person is plagued with the action and words of their past faults; they might even be haunted by them. In essence they are chained or bound just as a slave is chained and bound to his master. My biggest demon came from keeping that someone chained to the harm they had afflicted upon me. The wounded heart inside of me was rotting. It is bad enough that it had altered my heart, but like cancer left untreated it manifests throughout your body or in this case your life. I tried to cover up the gapping wound. Thinking that if I could just conceal it then it did not exist. I had always been told in psychology that your mind could literally forget that which it does not want to remember. I can attest for this being true. We hide these things way down deep thinking that those are safe places for them to be kept. We keep them there in hopes they will never resurface. Guess we learned a thing or two from Adam and Eve. They too tried to hide something from God, but God was not fooled. He knew what they had done even at their best efforts to disguise themselves from his presence. However, God did not leave them hidden. He brought their shame into the light where they would have to deal with it. God brings dead things to life. He smells the stench of rotting flesh and does something about it. He reaches down, touches us, and makes us a new creation. I have been soaking up the very personal God we serve over the past few weeks. He knew the pain I felt inside. I even believe He held my tears. Satan will try and use every weapon possible for his gain, but our God, He has power. He saw little old me decaying away and chose to make me a vessel of life. I declare that instead of allowing satan the win that it is now time to take back even the oppressor. We fight for the Hitlers of this world. We fight for the people in our lives that have said mean things to us, or done things to us that should never have been done. We fight for our worst enemies and our best friends. We are all alike in our sinfulness. No one is better than the next. Lets not give satan the upper hand.
Now it is time to take back even the oppressor.
“FOR I AM CONVINCED THAT NEITHER DEATH, NOR LIFE, NOR ANGELS, NOR PRINCIPALITIES, NOR THING PRESENT, NOR THINGS TO COME, NOR POWERS, NOR HEIGHT, NOR DEPTH, NOR ANY OTHER CREATED THING WILL BE ABLE TO SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD, WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.” –ROMANS 8:39
One last thing-A very wonderful women (Mama Marcy) told me this the other day about forgiveness and I had to include it so here it goes:
Faith moves God but forgiveness releases His power. Forgiveness repels the enemy. It repels offense. It repels bitterness. It protects. It covers. It stops torment. It gets rid of demonic oppression. It heals.
