Unforgiveness?

Someone once said that unforgiveness is like taking poison in hopes the other person will die. Problem is unforgiving is so subtle that most of us don't realize we are. That we are unforgiving. Unforgiving? What does that mean for most of us? Since we don't realize we are not forgiving when we are unforgiving.

For most of us it's when we don't like to be around a certain person anymore. For others it's when we feel uncomfortable when that certain person walks in the room. But, sometimes we justify it. We just aren't going to forget.

Unforgiveness!

Webster says forgiving is to cease to FEEL resentment against an offender. It doesn't stop there, it goes on say that forgiveness is to pardon. Further, it says forgiveness is to GIVE UP RESENTMENT for an offense or wrong that has been done to you, to cease to claim exaction for the debt owed you.

So UNFORGIVENESS would be to hold on to feelings of resentment, to refuse to pardon the offender and not to give up the resentment against the one who has offended you. Worst of all, you intend to make that person pay until you are satisfied.

UNFORGIVENESS. By the way, the word 'unforgiveness' wasn't even in the dictionary I used.

To many, perhaps most, unforgiveness is not a big deal, it's a way of life.

Unforgiveness.

So what! Just get on with life. Life? No, life stops as long as unforgiveness rules our hearts. It's so subtle. That person owes us! We have a right to exact SOMETHING for our pain, grief or trouble, right?

Problem is we get more than we bargain for when we refuse to forgive. We take the poison but the offender lives and we die. We die a slow miserable death. Infection. Everything in our life soon becomes infected, sour and bitter.

The biggest problem is that we can't put our finger on the root cause as time slowly rolls on. Everything gets so confusing that we lose track of what went wrong and when.

Unforgiveness stops life. Then we just exist.

That's why Jesus taught us to pray, "and forgive those who owe you a debt, so your heavenly Father can forgive you the debts you owe Him." If we hold on to our unforgiveness in any way, we hold our own sins within and slowly die a bitter death.

On the other hand, it’s like the famous rescuer of Jews during World War 2, Corrie Ten Boon, when she came face to face with her sisters executioner. She saw him come down the isle in a church 40 years later, she recognized him and said, “God I can NOT forgive that man” . Then she heard Jesus in her spirit say to her, "No, you can not, but I can - will you let me forgive that man through you?" Corrie said yes and was set free to be all she was meant to be without the resentment and pain. Her forgiveness for his offenses set HER free.

What's deceived you and me into holding on to our UNFORGIVENESS? Lets let go and let Jesus forgive THROUGH us and find the life He came to give us. Without forgiving we can not be forgiven by God Himself. He said so.

So...

THINK ABOUT IT!

Prayer Does NOT Change Things!

She was very nice and I needed to talk to someone at the mixer. I came with my wife but she was busy talking to everyone but me. The nice lady seemed friendly and so we began talking. Just then my wife came up and said to another lady, "he belongs to me" referring to me. At that my confidence bolstered. The nice lady and I kept talking about our kids.

She knew my son and was impressed with how he had turned out. She was very concerned about her oldest boy as he was now 17 and being recruited to a strange cultish belief system by his boss at work. The pressure to please the boss, while at the same time curious about the claims the boss was making disturbed this mom.

I assured her that since she had already planted the Word of God in him since he was a young boy that she should trust in God's promise. That promise is that HIS Word will not return void.

That simply means that God watches over every seed of His Word when it is planted in good ground. Good ground being a heart that is honest and open to obey God. A mom can pray, trust and hope: but, ultimately it's always God who gives the increase and brings the harvest He wants when He wants it. Of course we have a part to play, but God has a way of making each person He's dealing with willing when He wants them to be willing. After all, Jesus promised that NO ONE can pluck the sheep His Father gives Him out of His hand.

In our conversation, she made the statement that PRAYER CHANGES THINGS. To that my response was: NO, prayer doesn't change things - GOD CHANGES THINGS. Lots of people pray but nothing changes. The Bible teaches that God only does things according to His Own will not our will or our neat little prayers.

What if two people with two completely different desires pray to the one and only God asking for the same thing? What if two mothers during the civil war, one from the South and one from the North, both prayed - sincerely prayed: God make my son's army win this civil war!

Well, both sides can't win a civil war, and God is going to have His will triumph in the end. So how DOES prayer work anyway? Jesus gave us some clues. Since He is the only man who ever had ALL His prayers answered by God, let's take a look at some of His secrets.

They're really not secrets at all because Jesus own words, along with many other scripture quotes tell us exactly how to see prayers answered by God. Remember, PRAYER DOES NOT CHANGE THINGS - GOD DOES!

First of all Jesus told us that He only said what He heard the father say. So when He prayed He only prayed the Father's will. He NEVER initiated one thing on His own - He only said (prayed) the things He heard His Father say to Him. He even taught his followers to pray, "Thy Will Be Done..." That would be a major breakthrough for most folks if they only prayed the Father's will because that's what they heard the Father say.

At the dead man's grave, just before Jesus raised him back to life, He said to His Father: "Father, I thank you that you ALWAYS hear me." What confidence. Jesus only says what He hears the Father say (the Father's will) and because of THIS the Father ALWAYS hears Him.

Should it be different for the followers of Jesus? Jesus said His followers were the sons of God too - born again! Born from above. Children of God through Jesus Christ. He said that they would do even greater things then He did! So then, why aren't all our prayers answered?

The Bible teaches us that if we ask ANYTHING according to the Father's will - we will have our prayer answered. Now some like to water that statement down by saying, "of course your prayer was answered - it was either yes, no or not now." BUNK!

That religious cop-out wasn't what Jesus taught. He said, "WHAT-SO-EVER you desire when you pray, believe you have the things you SAY and you will SHALL have those things you say." WOW! That's too bold, we better water that one down with some religion just to cover ourselves, just in case...

NO WAY! Let's just admit that we pray our will most of the time because we don't take the time to learn HOW to hear the Father speaking to us. Want proof? OK, how many of your prayers are answered with RESULTS? Forget the yes, no and not now excuses. Just RESULTS! How many?

How do you know that the lady dying from a car wreak last week isn't supposed to die? Your will or God's will? Perhaps she is reaping as a result of a bad turn or the result of speeding. What if she is perishing because of a lack of knowledge about God's Word (same as God's Will)? What if her accident has caused her whole family to turn to God from a life of sin and rebellion?

What if she was careless about her words? What if she didn't know that the angel of the Lord encamps round about those who fear the Lord? What if she didn't even know what the fear of the Lord was about? What if she didn't know that the fear of the Lord has to do with keeping our lips from deceit and our tongues from speaking lies? What if she was a person who caused a lack of peace everywhere she went?

If she didn't understand the importance of walking in the fear of the Lord, then the angel of the Lord wasn't guaranteed to protect her according to scriptures. Now, God watches over lots of ignorant folks - or most of us wouldn't be here to even read this today! His mercy endures forever and His kindness to all generations. But Jesus said to ask largely so our joy would be full. Prayers answered with RESULTS brings joy where I come from - how about you?

But this thing about prayer changing things just isn't accurate. What if we all had to admit that God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a lot bigger than our religion? God wants prayer to be accurate! The Bible teaches that the fervent and effective prayer of a righteous man avails much. What does that mean? Hey, I want my prayers to avail much with God - or why pray at all?

First, fervent prayer alone won't avail MUCH. Maybe a little, but when it comes to prayer, we want the MUCH. So what about this word EFFECTIVE? That's where the nice lady at the mixer lost her confidence about her son's future. She just didn't feel confident. She knew it and so did I.

Let's look at more teachings from Jesus: the man Who had EVERY prayer answered because He knew the Father's will. The Bible says if we ask anything according to His will and we KNOW He hears us - then we HAVE the petition we ask of Him. Pretty easy. Just know He hears you. Know you have heard Him and get your effective, fervent prayer availing much EVERY TIME. Hearing HIM is hearing the will of God, praying it back to HIM is the prayer that avails MUCH!

Jesus actually said He would build His entire church on this principal of REVEALED knowledge from the Father to the sons (children) of God. Are you a child of God? Do you know HIS voice? Jesus said if you know His voice - YOU ARE HIS SHEEP, YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD.

Here's our challenge. Stop making excuses for our unanswered prayers (no results). Dare to listen to the Good Shepard's voice and then ONLY pray what we hear Him say and watch the non-religious answers come. God's not religious and never has been. That's how Jesus did it. He didn't pray for every dead person or even every sick person. Want proof? Look at the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. The Bible says MANY sick and impotent folk were there, but He heard the Father's voice send him to JUST ONE MAN at that pool of Bethesda.

We're way too religious! We need to be relational with our heavenly Father and base our relationship on His Word, which is His WILL! As we dare to get off the religious merry go round somebody placed us on and dare to follow the real Jesus we too will hear the Father's voice. He's still speaking and showing us the Father's will. Jesus never said have faith in prayer. NO. He said have faith in God! It's about God not prayer. Yes, He said men ought to pray and not faint... but we must never forget prayer is TALKING TO GOD!

THINK ABOUT IT!