BIBLICAL WISDOM ABOUT FORGIVENESS....

Bible Verses Regarding Forgiveness:

Matthew 6:14-15
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

-When we hold onto unforgiveness the enemy gets us to “think” that we are proving a point to that person that we hold unforgivness to. Remember the enemy is the Father of Lies. We can see that when we CHOOSE to forgive people, we are actually doing ourselves a favor and giving them over to God. We no longer hold that person, we release them to God and now it is up to God to deal with.
**** We must follow Gods Commands because if we truly say we are disciples of Christ then we need to act like it. We need to lead by example and we must keep our “communication flow” open between us and God.*****

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

-This verse deals with when we hold onto unforgiveness dealing with ourselves. So many people cannot forgive themselves for their past or with choices they have made. The enemy would love to keep throwing your past in your face and people in your path to bring up your past. He wants you to look in the mirror and see the same old person you were and that you have not changed!! **** Put this scripture on your mirror *** When you are saved you are IN Christ, and as you can see in the scripture it says YOU ARE A NEW CREATION!!! ****

Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. "
-When we pray we have to make sure that we repent from anything we have done that day. We need to ask for forgiveness from God and we need to forgive others. (See the Prayer Handout that we gave a few weeks ago)

Luke 6:37
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven
- God is the ONLY righteous judge, so let us leave it up to him. When we hold ourselves as a “judge” we are putting ourselves BEFORE God and we are then a false idol. If we want to be forgiven we MUST forgive others!!

Luke 23:34
Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting lots
-This is Jesus speaking here and he is forgiving the sinners (which is US) So many times we think we are fully aware of our actions and words and the truth is that once you study the Word of God you know that there are battles in the Heavenly Realms. Since we know where the REAL battle is then we know that when someone hurts us or is evil to us that they are not in their right mind and there heart is hardened. We must take the words that Jesus said and apply them to our Everyday Lives!! ** Next time someone causes you pain say this: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”