Forgiveness

A very good morning/afternoon/evening/night to all of you my sisters and brothers, friends and family, SHALOM!!! Today is such a blessed day to me and I will like to share a message and topic on "FORGIVENESS". It will be on how to forgive others or to ask for forgiveness from others and most importantly what attitude we should adopt when we OURSELVES ask for forgiveness from God almighty :)

First I will split this topic on 3 parts,
1 Forgiving people
2 Asking for forgiveness from people
3 Asking for forgiveness from God

But before I start the topic I will like to share the importance and the value of this message by reading to you Matthew 5:23-24

²³"Therefore if you are ^AF)">(AF)presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,

²⁴leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be ^AG)">(AG)reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

We see the fact that God Himself wants us to BE RECONCILED before offering and worshiping Him. Also if you have hate or grudges in your heart it really affects your worship to God, so remember to settle everything first THEN present yourself to Him :)

OK! Lets begin

Situation 1] Forgiving Others

I notice one thing, no matter in whatever organization or place even if your the NICEST person on the planet there is BOUND to be people who don't like you or hate you for no apparent reason and these people sometimes will try to mess with you, spread bad rumors about you or whatever malicious threats to you. Or there is bound to be conflicts with others but in this case I will like to talk about the situation WHERE it is YOU WHO IS RIGHT and that someone has offended you.

I personally feel that in this position you can really feel how God feel. That is when people offend you and your in the "superior" position and your in the "right". I will like to share verses from Matthew 6:14-15

¹⁴"^S)">(S)For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

¹⁵"But ^T)">(T)if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

Forgive as the Father forgives you :) Also I think it will be a good test for you to check if you have the fruits of the Spirit.

ONE more thing!!! I have analyse the side of the "enemy" too , that is the person who offends you. in Psalms 32:10

¹⁰Many are the ^A)">(A)sorrows of the wicked,
But ^B)">(B)he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.

We can see that the "bad" guy always has a bad end BUT we should not be happy but pray for them and you will find that you'll be even more BLESSED!!! In my own experiance there was a time where I shared there was a crazy guy who keep prank calling me scolding me vulgarities and I just forgave and prayed in the end I head the guy had a tough time and job and was unhappy and depressed all the time. I know revenge is not mine but in the bible it says revenge is the Lord's, what I can do now is just to FORGIVE!!! Like how the Father forgives me and I am just blessed and embraced by the Father's love.

Situation2 and 3] Situation 2 and 3 is actually linked to each other! I was reading the bible one day and I found this weird passage in proverbs 6:2-5

²If you have been snared with the words of your mouth,
Have been caught with the words of your mouth,
³Do this then, my son, and deliver yourself;
Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor,
Go, humble yourself, and importune your neighbor.
⁴Give no ^A)">(A)sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids;
⁵Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand
And like a ^B)">(B)bird from the hand of the fowler.

I noticed this passage and it was about if you promise someone something that you CANNOT deliver or can't do then use this method to DELIVER yourself. I noticed the key word is HUMBLE YOURSELF!!! I believe it can be used to seek forgiveness from others and from God.

The first step is to humble yourself and pray! , "Give no sleep to your eyes......" is more on "looks". There are often times where you KNOW if a person is confident or not by looking on his/her face. This verse tells us to humble ourselves mentally and PHYSICALLY!!!

Then go!!! GO!!! GO!! Deliver yourself, ask for forgiveness. I want you to notice something. In Psalms 30:5 it tells the nature of God :)

⁵For ^A)">(A)His anger is but for a moment,
His ^B)">(B)favor is for a lifetime;
Weeping may ^C)">(C)last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

Also this in Proverbs 16:7

⁷When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD,
He ^A)">(A)makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

AMEN hallelujah!!! WHO WANTS THAT!!!!

Even your enemies are at peace with you!!!

And inso I will like to end my message and I hope that all of you will be blessed by it :)

In Jesus's name amen!!!