Power of Forgiveness

Key Scripture: “In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part.  Matthew 6:14,15, The Message

Power Point:

I do not understand how we can ignore the blessing we have in being forgiven.  I can remember when I first asked Jesus to forgive me and live in me and take out the old and fill me with the “new”, I could barely understand how that could happen.  I would remember something I had done before I knew Him and Jesus would remind that I had been forgiven of that. Even that? Yes. Even that. As I began to realize the magnitude of that gift it changed my whole life. Then, as I would do a new “something old”, I would say, is that forgiven?
Yes. Even that. I knew about “that” then too.

The glorious freedom that forgiveness brings us is one of the greatest gifts we have isn’t it? It is amazing to receive that gift but it is even more amazing to offer someone else the gift of your forgiveness. When we realize how forgiveness frees us of the heavy burden of living a life tied down in unforgiveness it seems silly not to do it doesn’t it?  If you can, picture a beautiful hot air balloon tethered to the ground. You are on board with the pilot. You’ve prepared a wonderful picnic to eat while you are soaring in the sky and you are so ready to “take off”.  But something is wrong.  The ground crew for some reason cannot release you from the tethers and even though you’re in the perfect position to fly you remain on the ground. Choosing not to forgive does the same thing to our spirits. We want to fly but we are held back by the niggling thoughts about that other person.

When we, as an act of faith and obedience, offer them the gift of our forgiveness, we untie ourselves from all that heaviness. We move back into our place of intimacy with our Father who has already offered us the gift of His forgiveness. Beloved, scripture tell us that if we don’t forgive others, our heavenly Father will not forgive us. You don’t want to live apart from Him do you? You don’t want to be tied down when you could be flying with Him right now do you? The truth is you are probably more bound by that unforgivenss than the other person is. When you give them that gift, you will receiving an even larger gift for yourself.

There’s no point in being tied down when you can soar to new heights just as you are meant to do.

Power Thought:

Here’s a simple prayer:  Father, I offer to ­­­­­­­­­­­_______________, the gift of my forgiveness. I release them and I release myself  from any more anger, criticism, bitterness or any other ties to unforgiving life. I choose to forgive because You have shown me Your forgiveness. I am living proof that it is a blessing. I choose to bless ____________and ask that You intervene in their lives to show them how to live blessed as well. From this point on we are both free.Thank You Jesus.