“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:31-32
LEARN
When I was younger, I made decisions that profoundly affected my future. During those years, I was abused in many ways, and it shattered my heart into tiny little pieces. When I stopped running from God and turned back towards Him, there was much work that needed to be done. I not only had to learn how to live a different kind of life without my normal coping skills, but I had to heal from the inside out. During this time God took me through a journey of forgiveness towards myself and others. This was hard because many people had wronged me so deeply that I didn’t think I could trust anyone ever again. However, in the Bible, it says “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” Matthew 6:14. And I knew I had A LOT that needed to be forgiven. So, I started walking through the process of forgiving those who had abused me, lied to me, stole from me, rejected me, etc.
What I learned is – forgiving someone is not saying that what they did was okay. It simply releases you from the burden of the hurt. What I found is as I released these people and these memories to God, the sting was taken away. As I forgave, I was able to now tell the stories without resentment or hurt in my heart. It was as if God was taking a magic eraser and erasing all the hurt that came with each painful experience. The more I forgave people, the freer I felt. I was being lifted from the burdens of resentment, bitterness, and pain as well as being forgiven myself for the wrongs I had committed along the way.
KNOW
Think of it like this – each time a painful experience happens, and you hold a grudge or choose not to forgive that person, your heart hardens. When our heart hardens, this causes us to not be able to love ourselves or others at our full capacity. It puts walls up around our hearts and causes us not to let people in. This can lead to a very miserable life. We were created for relationship with each other and when we have hardened our hearts, it makes it hard to have a close relationship with anyone, including God. And it’s a Biblical principle. In Hebrews 3:8, it tells us not to harden our hearts. This does not mean though that a person should just stay in an abusive relationship and keep forgiving the abuse. There are times when a relationship is toxic and/or abusive and it calls for a separation. Forgiveness of the events would come later in the healing process.
Forgiveness heals your heart so your heart can be whole again to receive God’s love, and the love of others, and allows you to be able to love others well.
DO
Here are some practical questions you can ask yourself to start processing any hurt you have from your past.
1. Ask God to show you anyone from your past that you need to forgive.
2. Ask Him where he was during that moment.
3. Ask Him if there is anything else you need to know about the memory.
4. Ask Him to heal your heart and help you to release this burden.
5. Pray this prayer, “Father, I choose to forgive _________ for _________. Help me
to release this burden once and for all. I realize this is not saying what ________
did to me was okay, but it says in your word that I must forgive so you can forgive
me. So, I forgive ___________ now in the name of Jesus.”
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