Forgiveness  by Shannon Watts
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke 6:35-36 (NIV)

Forgiveness is one of the hardest things a person must do.  Everyone will have to forgive someone in his or her lifetime.  For some, this is one of the hardest things they may ever face.  Some wrongs are just harder to forgive, but all wrongs must be given forgiven.  I want to tell you about the freedom in giving forgiveness to someone who has done wrong to you.

I was a woman gripped with hurt, anger, fear, bitterness and unforgiveness. Someone had hurt me in the most horrible ways, and I was full of strongholds.  In fact, I was right where I thought I wanted to be.  You see, I had control at this place. I could control these feelings and the actions that went with them.  In truth, however, I was not in control but completely out of control.  I was being eaten up with unforgiveness, and it was killing the woman I needed to be. 

God started working on my heart about these feelings long before I even knew what was going on.  In fact, at the time I really was not completely living for Christ.  I knew Him and believed in Him.  I knew of His love and His power.  I even trusted in Him, but something was holding me back.  It was keeping me from the Lord.  I now know that “something” was unforgiveness.  This unforgiveness in my life was not even something I had done to someone.  I had to forgive someone who had violated me as a child.  Now, as an adult, I had to deal with all the ugliness that goes along with this type of hurt, and it was not a place I needed to be.  As a wife and a mother, these strongholds were keeping me from being the wife my husband needed and the mother my child needed.  God had a plan for my life though, and I could not do what He needed me to do until I had given complete forgiveness to the person I hated most. 

One day the opportunity came up for me to tell this person face to face these words, “ I want you to know that I forgive you for what you did to me!”  I will say that getting to this point was not easy.  I cried, I screamed, I did not talk, but I finally let God take over.  When I did, the ability and desire to forgive increased.  The moment I spoke the words, “I want you to know that I forgive you for what you did to me,” something changed.  I know now that it was the Spirit within me that was changed.  I was free!  From that point on, I have seen that God has been at work in my life.  He could not take me to the places He wanted me to go until I had all of the unforgiveness out.  I was now ready for the jobs He needed me to do.  I was finally FREE from the anger, the bitterness, the fear, and the unforgiveness that was holding me back from the King.  I am a Daughter of the King, and He desires His Daughters to have freedom from all of the hurts in our lives. 

What is keeping you from Freedom?  Who do you need to forgive?

What is holding you back from what God has for you? 

Do not let bitterness, anger, fear and unforgiveness hold you back any more.            Find your FREEDOM in forgiveness!!! 

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Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath,              
For it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.                           On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
      If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
   In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.                    
       "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

                                                                             Romans 12:19-21 (NIV)