Colossians 3:13--" 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another,
if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so
you also must do."
When we do not forgive others we are sinning against God. We need to forgive
others the same way that Christ forgave us. We also need to cancel out the
record of debt that we are keeping against them for how they have sinned
against us, and nail it to the cross. This is how God dealt with us sinning
against Himself, and that is what he commands us to do when people sin
against us.
Colossians 2:[13-14]--"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having
forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of
requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken
it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
I believe if we would seek to remind ourselves of how much we have been
forgiven and live our lives at the foot of the cross we would choose to
forgive others.
"I say to the glory of God and in utter humility that whenever I see myself
before God and realize even something of what my blessed Lord has done for
me, I am ready to forgive anybody anything."--D. Martyn Lloyd Jones
Serving Our Lord Together,
Michelle Harrison
-----Original Message-----
From: Renee Singletary [mailto:lp_fanatic_8@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 2:07 PM
To: catalyst@accentradio.com
Subject: [Catalyst] Forgiveness
Hello Everyone.I haven't sent anything out in a while, but I read this book
called "Choosing Forgiveness" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and I wanted to share
some things that I've highlighted throughout the book while reading it.
These are the things that just jumped out and spoke to me. I don't know if
anyone else will get anything from it, I just wanted to send this out to let
you guys know what I've been studying.
. Sympathy can provide temporary relief, but nothing short of
forgiveness
can procure lasting release.
. Forgiveness is not a method to be learned as much as a truth to be
lived.
. Whatever sin has been committed against you, the choice not to
forgive is
itself a serious sin.
. We can't talk about forgiveness without acknowledging the reality of
pain.
If we were never hurt, there would be no need for forgiveness.
. God-sized wounds need God-sized answers.
. The outcome of our lives is not determined by what happens to us but
by
how we respond to what happens to us.
. Our only hope lies in realizing that we do have a choice about how
we
respond to life's circumstances.
. We can be free---if we choose to be.
. The first natural response to hurt is to become a debt collecter.
But the
problem is that being a "debt collector" does more than keep our offender in
debtors' prison; it puts us in prison.
. When we refuse to forgive, we set ourselves up to be turned over to
"tormentors."
. When we refuse to forgive, we cannot experience God's love and
forgiveness.
. When we refuse to forgive others, we give Satan an advantage in our
lives.
. The Devil always wins when we fail to forgive.
. When we shut the door on forgiveness, we open it for Satan to have
an
inroad into our life, giving him just the weapon he needs to get an
advantage over us.
. Bitterness grows in us when we fail to see the trouble and pain in
our
lives from God's point of view, and when our expectations of what life
should be diverge from the reality of what life really is.
. Grace is there, because He is there.
. Bitterness may feel like a birthright. It can become your safety
zone. You
may feel incapable of any other response. But it is a fall-back position
doomed to failure. Not only is it sin; it is senseless.
. Forgiveness is a promise. It is a deliberate decision to deal with
another's sin by doing away with it, pressing the delete button, wiping it
off our slate.
. When we extend to others the forgiveness that Christ extended jto us
on
the cross, we reflect the mercy and grace of God to a world that desperately
needs to be forgiven.
. When it comes to forgiveness, our Lord would not command us to do
something that he would not enable us to do.
. "To be a Christian, " C.S. Lewis said, "means to forgive the
inexcusable,
because God has forgiven the inexcusable in us."
. "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God,
for
it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord." Romans
12:19
. When we try to keep someone "on the hook," we're assuming a role
that
belongs to God alone. It's our way of keeping the prison keys in our own
hands, of wanting to be in charge of how justice is administered.
. Judgment before God is not ours to accelerate.
. Even when you can't see the results of forgiveness, you can still
know
you've done what God requires of you.
. Any offender who is restored by God's grace is not simply returned
to
where he was before it all took place. Through the Lord's great mercy,
guilty sinners can be declared guilt-free and restored to lives of greater
fruitfulness than they ever dreamed possible.
. "Forgiveness is the divine the miracle of grace. It is something
only God
can do"
. Forgiveness is too big a miracle to expect of ourselves. To rely on
it is
to wish for something can never be.
. No sin can create a stain too great for God to erase.
. Christ's sacrifice at Calvary is sufficient to forgive every sin,
even
yours. Forgiveness isn't something you can give yourself. It is something He
has purchased for you. Receive it by faith and be free.
. Our faith is made alive and appealing only when our nouns turn into
verbs.
. Forgiveness does not mean pretending that the offense never
happened.
. As a starting place in the pathway of forgiveness, (1) Identify the
people
who have wronged you and the way(s) they have sinned against you. (2) Make
sure your conscience is clear toward each of the individuals on your list.
(3) Choose to fully forgive every person who has sinned against you.
. Ultimately, forgiveness is not an emotion. It is an act of your
will---an
act of faith.
. I have come to believe that, at one level, all bitterness is
ultimately
directed toward God. It may be cloaked in anger toward a particular person
or group of people who have wronged us, but it actually extends far beyond
them, far above them.
. In His inscrutable wisdom and love, He is able to use even the most
agonizing circumstances that touch your life in this fallen world to refine
and purify you, to make you fruitful, and to magnify His grace and glory
through your life.
. In all your suffering, He suffers.
. Our anger toward God will inevitably become a poison that spreads
far
beyond our own hearts, just as it did with Naomi. What seems so intensely
personal becomes impossible to keep to ourselves. Believe me, it shows.
. It comes down to a choice: Blame God and rail against Him for His
capricious cruelty, complaining and insisting on getting our way. Or trust
that He knows what He's doing, that He is working in a us to both purify and
prepare us for lives of greater service and usefulness, and that He is
employing one of His greatest teachers-time-in order to enlarge our hearts
and expand our vision.
. The longer I live under God's providence, the more readily I can
trust him
when it comes to life's unsolved mysteries.
. He knows your heart. He has not left you alone.
. "Christianity does not make light of sin.. On the contrary it takes
the
sins against us so seriously that, to make them right, God gave His own son
to suffer more than we could ever make anyone suffer for what they have done
to us." - John Piper
. Your unwillingness to trust and obey God in this matter-even if it's
more
from exhaustion and self-preservation than from rank hardness of heart-will
keep the atmosphere of your life contaminated with the poison of bitterness.
You may not be conscious of its noxious effects every day, but it will cut
off the flow of God's grace into your life. Satan will use it as a foothold
to gain advantage over you, to point his finger of blame as evidence that
you're not all you profess to be-and that God is not as strong and loving
toward you as you'd like to think He is.
. There is simply no comfort in unforgiveness.
. Forgiveness can't be proven by our feelings, any more than it can be
motivated or empowered by them. Forgiveness is a choice. And feelings often
aren't.
. If we could totally forget, we would too easily become self-absorbed
and
useless. And deep down, we know it.
. Although we do indeed make progress in forgiveness, it is not a
process
that has to be worked up to. It happens-then it grows on us.
. Our problem is, we tend to confront the sins we should overlook, and
overlook the sins we should confront!
. Exercising forbearance in minor matters is important extending
forgiveness
in the bigger issues.
. No, we cannot begin to fathom God's purposes, even when they're
happening
right around us. But we can know that He has one and that His desire to use
us as part of its generations-long fulfillment. If we will trust His heart.
If we will forgive.
. "Forgiveness unleashes joy. It brings peace. It washes the slate
clean. It
sets all the highest values of love in motion. In a sense, forgiveness is
Christianity at its highest level." - John MacArthur
. See your debtor as someone in need-because he is.
. You can't hate someone you're praying for, someone you're asking God
to
bless and restore to a right relationship with Him.
. We are not the only ones who are set free when we choose to forgive
and
bless those who have sinned against us.
. Forgiveness is a mighty tool in the hand of an all-powerful God to
bring
healing all around, to every conceivable type of situation and
relationship-past or present.
. The ultimate goal of forgiveness, just as the ultimate goal of our
whole
lives should be, is to bring glory and honor to God.
Thanks for letting me share...
Renee
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