Forgiveness-Part Six, Application

Introduction

To give forgiveness can be very hard or it can be easy. It would seem that giving forgiveness should be easy in some situations, but at times what would seem to be easy is hard. Every situation is different. But if we learn some principles regarding the giving of forgiveness, if we learn some practical applications regarding forgiveness it may not be as hard to forgive as we think it would be to forgive.

The most important factor is drawing upon the grace of God to us give the desire and the ability to forgive. His Grace is Sufficient.
2 Corinthians 12:9 NASB
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Lean Upon the Godhead

We do not try to forgive based upon our emotions, feelings, our own strength. If forgiveness is only based upon emotions, feelings, there will be many times we will not want to forgive and thus any forgiveness we offer will come and go, we will not offer true forgiveness, only convenient forgiveness. If we wait till we have the strength to forgive, we may never forgive. We need to acknowledge that we are weak without Christ and trust in His empowerment to forgive.

“Jesus I need your help to forgive…” “Heavenly Father, I know I am supposed to forgive so I am asking for your Holy Spirit to empower me to forgive.”

Desire to Forgive

If we do not desire to forgive we will not forgive. Until forgiveness becomes a lifestyle most of the time we probably will not have a desire to forgive. We need to remind ourselves over and over again that to truly follow Jesus we must be a person that forgives. If needed meditate on an ongoing basis the Bible verses on forgiveness so that we can come to a point that unforgiveness is not an option.

“Lord God Almighty put a holy desire to walk in forgiveness and to offer forgiveness to all whom I may need to forgive.” “Lord remind me that I need forgiveness, I desire to be forgiven by You and others, so give me the desire to do what I want others to do to me, to forgive.”

Offenses

Be aware we will have multitudes of opportunities to be offended and to offend. It cannot be avoided. What we do with those offences is what matters. If we understand we are going to offend others at times, even if not intentional, others are going to offend us at times not intentionally. We want mercy and grace, we should desire to give mercy and grace. Make the decision to not make mountains out of mole hills. Make the decision to not be a person that gets easily offended. Make the decision to have thick skin but a soft heart.
Luke 17:1 AKJV
Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

Separate the Person from Their Sin

There is no way we can fully cover this concept in this post. But here is a summary. We need to learn how to separate people from their sinful actions. This in no way means that people are not responsible for their actions, or to not hold them accountable. Far from it. But it is to understand the ultimate author of sin is Satan, that Satan influences all of us at times. All of us cooperate with him at times. We sin, knowingly or unknowingly. We can allow emotions to take over and do things we would never do otherwise. We are all broken individuals who fall short of the glory. We all have baggage. Because of our brokenness we may not even be aware of some of the things that we are offensive, harmful, damaging, etc.

Taking all of this into consideration, knowing the above applies to ALL of us, knowing many times, if not most of the time, we wish we were different (99% of us are not sociopaths with no conscious), knowing we have blinders to some of our behavior, we will need to be forgiven multitudes of times. Thus others will need to be forgiven multitudes of times. Guess what, God forgives us multitudes of times because He understands our fallen nature.

Again, it is very hard to speak on the topic of Separation in a small amount words. Here is a link to several articles on this topic. Blog articles on Separation

For now ask God to give you the grace and wisdom of how to separate a person from their actions/behavior so that you may be able to forgive them, while not enabling them. It is a fine balance.

Stop Playing the Tapes

It will be almost impossible to be able to forgive if we keep playing the tapes of the offense, the abuse, the harm done to us. It is time to be honest. What benefit, what help, what good comes from repeating in our mind over and over again the evil we have experienced. That is what Satan wants us to do, it is not what God wants us to do. It is what we want to do to justify our anger, our desire for revenge, our desire to make someone suffer. The problem is we have let the person and their actions to consume us and our mind. We have let them take residence in our life. Think about how dysfunctional that is. STOP PLAYING THE TAPES.

Get Real-We Made Bad Choices

If you want to a person that walks in forgiveness you need to learn how to be humble. Sometimes we are wrong. Sometimes we are reading into things. Sometimes we are becoming offended over something we should not be offended by. Sometimes we are receiving what comes our way when we are jerks or unloving people. Sometimes we have knowingly made poor choices that lead to poor consequences. That does not excuse evil done to us, or the person that has done the evil. But we can learn from the experience so that we do not repeat the poor decisions and be at a place to ask God to help us not make the same wrong choices. In the midst of all this, we can hold people accountable for their actions, take ownership of our part, and be able to forgive the person, forgive ourselves, and ‘forgive’ God for allowing the circumstances to come our way.

Give What We Want

All of us want mercy. All of us want grace. All of us want to be forgiven unless we are very dysfunctional. We are very self-centered if we want others to forgive us but we refuse to forgive. We need to give what we want others to give. If I live a lifestyle of forgiveness, I will live a life where much forgiveness comes my way. What a great transaction, I give forgiveness, I receive forgiveness.

Forgiving Ourselves

One of the hardest things we can do at times is to forgive ourselves, We hate ourselves because of the things we have done, the way we have lived, the way we have hurt those we love. We are convinced we should not be forgiven. Yet God forgives us if we ask for forgiveness. If God is willing to forgive before we trusted in Christ, how much more does He forgive us now that we are born again. Who are we to tell God we do not deserve forgiveness??? Do we think we know better than Him?????

Forgive Forgive Forgive

More than anything else forgive, forgive, forgive. We are not saying if you apply all the principles it will suddenly be easy to forgive. It may still hard. It may be that you think you have fully forgiven but you have not. Forgive again. It may be that you are doing well and a thought of bitterness comes into your mind. Forgive again. It may be that you find out more details about the wickedness of the person who done evil. Forgive again. There can be layers of forgiveness. Forgive again.

Summary

Living a life of forgiveness is possible if we will apply the principles shared and have the mindset of living a life of forgiveness. Let’s make sure we lean upon Jesus, not on our own strength. Let’s ask God to give us the desire to forgive. Let’s be aware it is easy to get offended and choose to have thick skin that offenses bounce off of us. Let’s learn how to separate people from their sin. Let’s stop play the tapes that do not need to be played and when Satan plays the videos, turn them off. Let’s take ownership for our foolish poor choices, learn from them, and forgive others and ourselves. Let’s not be hypocrites, let’s do what we want others to do to us-forgive. Let’s be merciful and gracious to ourselves. FORGIVE FORGIVE FORGIVE

#forgiveness #cancelculture #thereishope #thereishoperadio #PreacherRichD

Forgiveness-Part Six-Application Podcast

Forgiveness Podcast Series
Forgiveness-Introduction
Forgiveness-Part One, Bible Verses
Forgiveness-Part Two, Freedom and Peace
Forgiveness-Part Three, Testimonies
Forgiveness-Part Four, What is True Forgiveness?
Forgiveness-Part Five, Cancel Culture
Forgiveness-Part Six, Application
Forgiveness-Part Seven, Prayer

Moving Beyond the Past Series-Forgiveness Videos
Moving Beyond the Past-Lesson 6, Forgiveness: Part One
Moving Beyond the Past-Lesson 6, Forgiveness: Part Two
Moving Beyond the Past-Lesson 6, Forgiveness: Part Three
Moving Beyond the Past-Lesson 6, Forgiveness: Part Four
Moving Beyond the Past-Lesson 6, Forgiveness: Part Five