A Write-up from Esther Nsahlai on Forgiveness. Goodday, I watched a documentary on Nelson Mandela and I was so touched by his story. What so moved me was the spirit of forgiveness which is this man personified. To have been so humiliated, dehumanized, imprisoned, never had the opportunity to bury his son and eventually lost his wife just because the whites in power wanted to keep the inhuman policy of apartheid alive. Yet Nelson Mandela preached and lived by forgiveness. He even visited widows of the strongmen of apartheid when he was released from prison and he was worried about the future of the white minority!!! The reason Mandela is celebrated today is because he lived in forgiveness .Had Mandela been released from prison, became president and began persecuting white people, he would not have been a reference today. More so the story of South Africa today would have been different. Lack of forgiveness has made great men beggars today. I can never forgive her because she was the cause of my father’s death, he maltreated me, my husband cheated on me, am so bitter because my parents did not love me, he cheated me out of my money, sold the house without my consent, my story is so sad because of him/her ,etc. You know most times the act that lead to our unforgiveness probably took a very short space of time(someone you sacrificed for insulted you, your wife or husband cheated on you, you were cheated out of your inheritance, etc) yet you spend a life time in unforgiveness.That feelings haunts you, controls your life. You spend your life and energy planning revenge, avoiding the person, Making decisions which have consequences on your destiny based on that singular act. When you live in unforgiveness you give the person you do not want to forgive power over you. You cannot go to certain places because you cant stand their sight, you act in anger and hate. Your life is controlled by these bad feelings. At that moment the devil is so glad because he has got you where he wants and he will use those feelings to destroy you. Jesus came to earth and was tortured for our sake yet on the cross he asked the father to forgive them (those who were torturing him) . Most people who hurt us are controlled by the devil and they hurt us. Now the devil uses the spirit of unforgiveness as our reaction towards these acts of wickedness to cage us. Let hate and unforgiveness for someone not be strong enough to make us miss heaven or our blessings. When you do not forgive you are in prison. The prison of unforgiveness.Your guards are hate, vengeance, bitterness, and anger.These emotions will control you and convince you to do everything to ensure you stay in that prison till they destroy your life. A free man is a man not controlled by his emotions but controlled by the living word of God. Can we imagine how much we hurt God everyday and yet he forgives us .However we find it so difficult to forgive our brother singular or less frequent acts of wickedness. Can you imagine Joseph (in the book of Genesis) who was betrayed by his brothers. He was sold to slavery by his own brothers for twenty pieces of silver yet he forgave them. Joseph did not stain his relationship with God by unforgiveness.Because of the state of his heart God took him from a prisoner to a prime minister in a foreign land.As you decide to forgive today God will turn around your story as he did for Joseph. Remember Jesus taught us to pray Math 6 :12 “…….forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us…………..” Jesus also taught Mathew 6:15 “ If you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your father in heaven forgive your trespasses” Is that unforgiveness we are nursing more important that our father’s forgiveness of our sins? is it more important than living in peace with ourselves and others? is it more important than making heaven? If the answer is NO I invite you to do this prayer with me Father I admit I have sinned against you by my unforgiveness.You showed me the perfect example of forgiveness. Father have mercy on me today and forgive me. Lord grant me the grace to forgive (call the person or people names) today. Today I declare that I come out of the prison of unforgiveness.I am free in Jesus name. Amen My brothers and sisters there should be no one on this earth you cannot like. God bless Courtesy of Esther N.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 07:15:32 +0000