18 Days of Fasting (Day 6) - Forgiveness is Our Freedom

This is the 6th day of 18 Days of Fasting. In Christ, we are forgiven for our sinful ways and set free by the richness of His grace. We are forgiven and let us also forgive others.

Forgiveness is the key to our freedom. It is the centre of Christianity. It is so powerful that Jesus mentioned the word “forgive” in His sermons and the Lord’s prayer.

The disciples asked Jesus how to pray and He included these lines into the prayer, “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.” – Matthew 6:12

In Eighteen Benedictions or The Amidah prayers, it echoes what Jesus taught.

“Forgive us, O our Father, for we have sinned;
Pardon us, O our King, for we have transgressed; for you pardon and forgive.
Blessed are you, O Lord, who is merciful and always ready to forgive.”
The Amidah – 18 Benedictions – Prayer 6

Forgiveness Should Be a Part of Our Lives

The Lord is showing us that forgiveness should be a part of our lives. We live in a very broken world and we can meet some people who will control, manipulate us. We do not need to go far to look for those people. They can be our family members.

Maybe in your right, you think you are doing well to yourself not forgiving them. But you are not helping yourself but destroying. That unforgiveness should be dealt with. I know, it could be difficult but if you do not face it now, the same issue will chase you until you come to the conclusion, it is not worth it.

Unforgiveness Destroys Us from Within

As I said before, unforgiveness destroys from within. The seed of unforgiveness has to die. If we do not deal with unforgiveness, we allow the seed to grow and sooner or later we will find ourselves in the situation when we are not able to control ourselves, our emotions.

Unforgiveness has got a nasty smell. If something smells bad, unless you wash it in water, it will not go away. Expensive perfumes, the outdoor spray will not make the smell disappear. On the contrary, it will get worse. Wherever you try to put on the top of unforgiveness, it will still stink.

That’s why Jesus taught people about this bitter root, unforgiveness. We can try to justify ourselves, but honestly, it’s better to let it go than to hold on to that. Do not allow yourself to be controlled by people your whole life. If you decide not to let go, that controlling spirit, bitterness is going to follow you all the days of your life, until you put an end to it.

Have you found yourself in situations when you left a job because of a person who ruined your reputation and did it with malice? Then you found another job, and what? You found yourself in the same situation. You need to break that.

Break the Spirit of Unforgiveness

I am encouraging you today, come to the Lord and do three things:

Forgive (include names)
Release the person into God’s hands
Bless the person

Do those three things with all your heart as you are doing it for your best friend. After that prayer, you will be relieved. And you know what, those kinds of people stop chasing you because you’ve dealt with the issue.

Will it be easy? For many of you – no, but it’s not to them you are doing a favour, but to yourself. You are releasing that anger, bitterness. That will create a change, change in your soul and change in your body.

If you want a change, that’s the way to go.

Forgive those who hurt you
Forgive yourself

Some of you may need to forgive yourselves too.

You are Forgiven and Redeemed in Christ

Revive Me Daily Prophetic Word Forgiveness is Our Freedom

God is always ready to forgive. And you know what? He has forgiven you. We all deserved death, but because of God’s mercy, we are forgiven and redeemed in Christ Jesus.

God’s love is not based on people’s perfection. People are choosy. We choose who we want to love and who we don’t but not with God. He loves all, even those who are bitter, angry, resentful or hateful because He is Love.

I like how The Amidah prayers are put in lovely order. The same as The Lord’s Prayer. First, the prayer focuses on God, on His Mighty deeds and then on us. The Lord is encouraging us, exhorting us and then showing us some roots we need to deal with.

This is the year to be liberated of all bitterness and unforgiveness. Let us leave the old behind, and let us move together into the new things of God. If you decide to forgive, it will bring LIFE into your bones, your marrow. You will be like a new person, whose focus only on God but not on the smelly past hurtful mistakes somebody made towards us or we made towards ourselves or someone else.

Great Quotes About Forgiveness

Here are two quotes about forgiveness that I like:

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” – Martin Luther King, Jr

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” – Lewis B. Smedes

Let us not be the prisoners of unforgiveness but let us forgive, set ourselves free from that prison and discover more about ourselves and what we are here for.