Forgiveness and forgiving such an important thing

The Holy Spirit has lain on my heart to do a discussion of forgiveness and forgiving especially when people have offended us. A person is never, ever happy when he holds a grudge against someone, refusing to forgive them of their transgression, holding it against the offender(s), even if the offender repents of the transgression they committed. Unforgiveness is like a very heavy burden to carry around all the time. Satan has control over anyone while there are in any state of unforgiveness (which is why he often torments people with transgressions of another, bringing them back to their minds, often over and over again, in the hopes that the person develops unforgiveness and the hardness which often comes with unforgiveness. This hardness will then often lead people out of a relationship with God.

I plan on using scripture to further discuss this.

            I will first touch on offenses and such, including temptation

(Matthew 18:7)  "Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!

Try not to be the cause of such

(Matthew 18:6)  but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Luke chapter 17 also hits the same point but goes further:

(Luke 17:1)  And he said to his disciples, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

(Luke 17:2)  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

(Luke 17:3)  Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,

(Luke 17:4)  and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him."

Yes, we are indeed allowed to, and should  rebuke and chastise those who offend us, with the idea of showing the offender their wrongdoing, ideally in the hopes that they apologize, repent and turn from doing it anymore, but must we must forgive the offender  if s/he repents by presumably apologizing for his/her actions or words. We should really forgive the offender even if they do not repent, to avoid the evil consequences of unforgiveness.

Matthew 18 also says similar things on this subject

(Matthew 18:15)  "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

(Matthew 18:16)  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

(Matthew 18:17)  If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

We ourselves are to make an effort to make amends if we know or find out if we offend against anyone as this following scripture states

(Matthew 5:23)  So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,

(Matthew 5:24)  leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Note the set procedure to follow if someone offends to you, three times are they to be approached, always seeking repentance of the offender. God values everyone.

Peter goes up and asks Jesus about how many times should someone offend/sin against us and we are to forgive him? Seven times?

(Matthew 18:21)  Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?"

(Matthew 18:22)  Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

No, we are not just to forgive an offense only seven times, but vastly more than seven times, but four hundred ninety at the least, and actually unlimited forgiveness is implied for who exactly is going to count out exactly seventy times seven or 490 transgressions against them ? I don’t think too many people would, and Jesus wants unlimited forgiveness to the offender anyway. It does not necessarily mean to hang out with them, but forgive them. Jesus then goes on to tell this parable:

(Matthew 18:23)  "Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.

(Matthew 18:24)  When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.

(Matthew 18:25)  And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

(Matthew 18:26)  So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'

(Matthew 18:27)  And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

(Matthew 18:28)  But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.'

(Matthew 18:29)  So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.'

(Matthew 18:30)  He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.

(Matthew 18:31)  When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.

(Matthew 18:32)  Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

(Matthew 18:33)  And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'

(Matthew 18:34)  And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.

(Matthew 18:35)  So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

            This is such a powerful parable. The one slave begs to be given mercy over a huge debt to his master (10,000 talents many millions of dollars nowadays) and is given reprieve and forgiven this massive debt. It is representative of our sin debt to God, something so big we cannot hope to pay it off ourselves(in all truth our sin debit to God would be far, far  greater then 10,000 talents but this is an illustration, no money of and by itself could ever, ever pay off our sin debt to God). Then this guy finds another slave who owes him much, much less, 100 denari, just a relative handful of dollars, yet he would NOT forgive him of the lesser debt!! This second story is representative of someone who refuses to forgive someone else of a transgression against him, but holds a grudge The first slave was reported to his master, who was told the whole story about what happened. The unforgiving slave was then cast into debtor’s prison until his debt could be paid (forgiveness of him by the master was revoked because of his unforgiveness towards his fellow slave. Indeed he is called a wicked servant. Jesus goes on to warn the same thing will happen to us if we fail to forgive anyone offending us.

Look at the Lord’s Prayer and what comes afterward

(Matthew 6:9)  Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

(Matthew 6:10)  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

(Matthew 6:11)  Give us this day our daily bread,

(Matthew 6:12)  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

(Matthew 6:13)  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

(Matthew 6:14)  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,

(Matthew 6:15)  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

It speaks us forgiving our debtors, those who transgress against us. Also the warning to forgive others is given again, for as the bible says if we forgive others our Heavenly Father will forgive us, but also if we fail to forgive others neither will our heavenly father forgive us.

Also the Lord’s prayer in Luke :

(Luke 11:2)  And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.

(Luke 11:3)  Give us each day our daily bread,

(Luke 11:4)  and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation."

Note how it also speaks how important for us to forgive all who are not indebted to us. Look at these two verses in the book of Luke

(Luke 6:36)  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

(Luke 6:37)  "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

We are not to judge or condemn, as unforgivness can be both of them but to forgive so we are forgiven ourselves.

The warning to forgive others is also given in Mark:

(Mark 11:25)  And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

(Mark 11:26)  [But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]

Again it states we must forgive others so God, the Heavenly Father can forgive us our transgressions. This warning is given in the epistle of Colossians

(Colossians 3:13)  bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

This to the Ephesians

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you

In summary the bible commands us repeatedly to be forgiving of one another when we offend each other. Our salvation will depend on it, for our Heavenly Father really cannot justly forgive us our sins if we go hold grudges and unforgiveness against others. It is pure hypocrisy for us to want forgiveness from God for our transgressions yet not forgive others of their transgressions against us. In truth our transgressions to God are so much more than anything people can ever do to us. Look at how Jesus was on the cross and how forgiving he was then:

(Luke 23:34)  And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Look at how he forgives those for crucifying him, a most horrible and protracted death! Before he was hung on the cross, He was flogged, beaten and otherwise shamefully handled yet He forgave ALL his tormentors their offenses and willfully. Almost always offenses that people refuse to forgive each other for are MUCH, much less than what happened to Jesus, even though the might seem to the offended to be as bad or worse at the time.

            If you are caught in unforgiveness please pray to God for grace and mercy to help you deal with any unforgivness against anyone- such a feeling is of Satan, who wants to keep you that way. He is the one who torments you with past offenses by calling them to mind over and over again, reminding you how terrible the offense was and the offender was. Fight against him, and read the scriptures to resist this in the Name of Jesus

(James 4:7)  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

(James 4:8)  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Resist Satan’s unforgiveness and all- it is from him. I also suggest if it is necessary to be humble and to get the help of others to pray for you and with you too on this issue of unforgiveness :

(James 5:16)  Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

(Matthew 18:18)  Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

(Matthew 18:19)  Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

(Matthew 18:20)  For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

Please do all you can to forgive others for whatever they might have done to you in the past, no matter how grievous and severe the offense(s) might have been. It will bring you peace and clarity of mind, and save you from many troubles for those who carry grudges hurt themselves, are much more subject to sickness, disease and other things. And remember, as Jesus warned many times in scripture God the Father cannot justly forgive you of your sins without you forgiving all of the others. It is something to remember. I have struggled a little in the past, but I know God has helped me forgive all my offenders (people who teased me, my parents, all others). It is NOT worth it to carry ANY grudges, trust me. I have my peace now because I have made a conscious decision to forgive all those who may have offended me and to rebuke Satan for continuously bringing up and tormenting me with all these offenses, which he has done to me. Most of the time these were insignificant and meaningless yet they can be so magnified in our minds.

Also please pray this prayer with me to help you with this:

Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you that you love me so much. Help me to love myself the way you want me to. I forgive myself for the things I have done that have hurt you or anyone else at all. My desire is to forgive all those who have hurt or offended me. Please help me to forgive them. Help me to love them as you love them. I pull down all strongholds in my mind that are keeping me from forgiving in the Name of Jesus. I cast down every imagination, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and I bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Now Lord Jesus, as the Captain of my salvation these thoughts are your prisoners, please take them away. I thank you that you are faithful to take them away and not let them return. Father, help me to forgive people the way Jesus forgave them. He forgave me before I even committed the sin. So, help me to be like Jesus, willing to forgive ahead of time. Help me to come to the place in my Christian walk where I let things go when people hurt me, offend me, or do anything against me. Help me not to allow unforgiveness to gain any kind of hold on my mind or heart. Help me to keep my thoughts only on good things, NEVER on evil or fleshly things. I rebuke all of those negative thoughts in the Name of Jesus, commanding that they depart my brain NOW. I apply the blood of Jesus to my mind and to every thought that I have. Help me to cleanse my mind, from all the things that lead to death, so that I may serve you. I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen

God bless you and yours