DELIVERANCE THROUGH THE WORD

As saints, must accept regardless of what someone has done we are to forgive. We can wrestle with whether or not we are going to allow forgiveness, prolong it, but one thing is certain, God is not about to change His Word or His method simply because we have been offended. Saints do not have the right to rest comfortably with unforgiveness in their hearts towards an offender. Yet, so many of us do.

Mark 11:25-26

25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

I asked myself a question. When I think back on my negative experiences, what am I doing that keeps me from being able to let the past go, forgive my offenders and go on in God. Why do I choose to wallow in self-pity? Why do I continue to use situations of the past as a crutch for my lack of happiness and success in present day circumstances and relationships? I really wanted to be free in my emotions to love people and to serve God, so I sought the answer diligently. I found that my biggest problem was with my thinking. Surely, wrong thinking is the root of all sin. For years I allowed my own thoughts to keep me bound in unforgiveness and iniquity. Saints, God is not going to take our memory from us. Therefore, we must submit our memory to the power of the Holy Ghost. Our thoughts have creative power. When we think back on our past negative experiences and do not season those thoughts with grace, then our negative thinking only strengthens our unforgiveness. Let’s take a person who has been verbally abused and they cannot seem to forgive the offender. They have not allowed themselves to forgive because they keep rehearsing the offense in a negative manner. Yes, this person has hurt you and has caused you a great deal of pain. However, God is bigger than your hurt and is able to wipe away the negative effect of the memory of abuse. But you must let Him do it, and it must start with your thinking.

St. Luke 4:18

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

If we are ever going to walk in a lifestyle of forgiveness and find happiness and peace inside our relationships, then we must begin to think on our offenders from God’s perspective. As I said before, let’s take a person who has been verbally abused all of their life, male or female, (because men are abused the same as women.) The victim of such abuse must first begin to see the offender as a soul. The victim must also realize that their first obligation is to God and to do things His way and must accept that this person hurt them because they did not know God or were off course with God at the time. When you think back on the offense, look for the goodness of God. Some might say, “What good is there in someone abusing me?” Yes, the experience itself may have been bad, and devastating to the flesh. However, God in His infinite wisdom is able to take a negative situation and turn it around and use it for His good. What do I mean by this? Remember that God deals with the heart of an individual. Therefore, He can cause the victim to look past the pain, hurt and disappointment and see that it was the devil that influenced the person to hurt you.

If you begin to see the abuser as a soul you will be moved with compassion to forgive them. You will begin to see that they are ignorant -- out of the way. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” God is an expert at taking what the devil meant for evil, and turning it around to bring glory to Him. That’s why He can tell the prostitute, the drug addict, the alcoholic and the abuser to come as they are. He uses our past and present experiences to teach us how to love the way He does. When you begin to look at your past experiences, however painful, ask God, how can I use the memory of this negative situation to glorify you? Begin to look at the experience from God’s perspective. Look for the good and the righteousness of God. For one, God loves you, you’re alive and full of the Holy Ghost.

Secondly, you have the power through the Holy Ghost to forgive your offenders and point them to Christ. You just have to decide what is more important to you: wallowing in self-pity or standing up and staying true to your commitment to God and His purpose for your life. You must also consider the fact that God told us in His Word that offenses shall come. Offenses are a part of our making and there is no way to get around this. However, God will take those same negative experiences the devil meant for evil and use it not only for our good but also for the good of others. As long as we think negatively about our negative experiences, we will never forgive and keep that secret hope alive that something bad will happen to our offenders. The unrenewed fleshy mind will drive a person to do evil things, especially to someone who has hurt them. You’ll long for something bad to happen to your offenders, and you will never want to see them prospering in life. The fleshy mind wants retribution and will devise a way to get it. If it cannot make the offender pay, it will demand retribution from others. Therefore, a person harbouring unforgiveness will never experience the joy of having righteous and pure relationships with others.

St. John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

The key to your deliverance is vulnerability. You must be willing to become vulnerable again to the people in your life. You must learn to trust the hand of God. Stop blaming God for your negative experiences and accept His deliverance. The power of His love will heal you. He is a God of the eternal and His purpose is eternal. Keep purpose before you, which is to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, for it is greater and far more rewarding than pain. Everything that we will ever experience here on this earth is not worthy to even be compared with what God has prepared for us throughout eternity. Make your relationship with God the most important thing in your life. Begin to consider His purpose, your offenders and those in your territorial sphere of influence. Refuse to let you become too important. It takes humility to do this. I heard someone say that “true humility is not to consider yourself at all.” God demands that we love openly, but He also knows you may get hurt in the process. Therefore, He installed in the act of love, the ability to heal oneself. Don’t be afraid to love freely again. Stop pushing your loved ones away with your hurts and unforgiveness. You need their love and they need yours. Refuse to live any longer in a world of hate, confusion and despair. Break free of the memory of negative experiences and begin to consider the ones who love you.