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Discussion Forum : Articles and Sermons : Unforgiveness & Forgiveness by Rodney W. Francis.

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Joyful_Heart
Member



Joined: 2009/12/8
Posts: 1795


 Unforgiveness & Forgiveness by Rodney W. Francis.


NOTE: If you ever talk to someone involved in Deliverance ministry
they will tell you that the most common cause of severe "demonic"
problems in a person's life is "UNFORGIVENESS". Clinging on to
bitterness or grudges is virtually the singlemost dangerous spiritual
thing that a person can do. It can even cause physical sickness.
And yet it is so common - even in the church! Below is a great
article on this topic by Rodney Francis:

UNFORGIVENESS - A CAUSE of MAJOR BONDAGE
-by Rodney W. Francis.

It has been said that the major cause of hindrances and bondages
in the lives of Christians is that of unforgiveness. Every one of us
will have experienced things in our lives, disagreements, criticisms,
accusations (both true and false) against us. We cannot avoid
these things happening. Even Jesus said that it was "impossible
but that offences would come" (Luke 17:1). Offences are "stumbling
blocks" which come against us ~ things said and done to us to put
us down, or to try and subject us to someone else's will, etc. So,
no matter how well we handle relationships, etc., we will all face
negative things being thrown at us. Some will "attack" us if for no
other reason but that they are jealous of us.

For the Christian we must accept that these things will happen in our lives.

· The big issue is how we deal with them!

It is very important to realize that once the offence has taken place,
that we cannot change that. What we can change is our response
to it, and how we allow it to affect us. The sooner we can take
these matters to the Lord and leave them with Him ~ and at the
same time practice forgiveness toward those who have offended us ~
the sooner we will be able to get on with our lives and continue to
be fruitful in His service. But if we allow those criticisms to get into
our emotions and cause us to re-act negatively and to start "bad
mouthing" that person who has offended (and hurt) us, then it will
quickly get into our spirit and lodge there. Once that happens, then
we become the loser in the situation ~ even if the accusations are
wrong! It is so important that we learn to keep short accounts with
God and with people; otherwise we will start on a downward
slippery slope that can cause us to finish up being hurt, angry,
resentful, "bitter and twisted", carrying a wounded spirit in the
process. None of us can afford to let that happen. Yet, in my
travels in numbers of countries, I am finding wounded Christians
that have to be set free...

It is sad, but true, that many who have a prophetic calling in God
have been "put down" or prevented from functioning. This has
caused many to be "shut down," be hurt and to go inwards, which
does not allow them to pursue and fulfil their calling. Tragically,
many Christian Leaders have been guilty of clamping down on
those who are trying to exercise their Spiritual Gifts. Regardless of
who caused the offence we all need to practice forgiveness. Let me
emphasize strongly to you: carrying unforgiveness in your heart is
not worth it! There is nothing good or justifiable in our carrying
unforgiveness. If you have any unforgiveness in your heart and life
right now, let me encourage you to make it a top priority to deal
with it, and to get rid of it. Take it to JESUS ~ give it to Him, as He
is the only One who can take it away from us. It is He that we are
called to please; and our carrying unforgiveness does not please
Him at all. In fact unforgiveness stops God from forgiving us of our
many offences against Him (Matthew 6:14-15)! Right now, come
before the Lord Jesus and give it all to Him.

-Please comment on this topic at the following website-

http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/

 2011/6/17 15:55Profile
Joyful_Heart
Member



Joined: 2009/12/8
Posts: 1795


 Re: Unforgiveness & Forgiveness by Rodney W. Francis.


This is so good and the article by David Wilkerson on the subject lately as well.

Personally I have been asking the Lord about forgiveness in my heart and to show me if there is any I am not aware of.

Ask and you shall receive! Glory to God!

I thought I had completely forgiven a person who had done hurt to myself and my children. That person came up on a mutual facebook page. This person had made a couple of mistakes and was frustrated. The compassion from the Lord came upon me for this person and I sent a message on how to fix it. And at that time I realized I had not fully forgiven that person, I only thought I had. So, I confessed and said that I completely forgive you and asked to be my friend on FB. If someone would have told me I would have had this person as a FB friend a couple of weeks ago, I would not have believed them.

But it happened, God heard my request and He helped me. Oh, what a Savior we have!

Then a person, out of the blue, got angry at me and began angrily yelling at me and truly frightened me. I thought that person should ask me to forgive them. So, I waited but nothing. So, when having my time with the Lord it came upon me to email and let the person know that if I offended them in any way, please forgive me. They wrote back and said, I did nothing it was him who lost his cool and he needed my forgiveness. Well, glory to God I do and I have nothing but the love of the Lord for him and pray all of God's best for him.

Now I have the love of God in me and I thank our Savior so very much because I dont have it in me to do anything good. It is only because He is so willing to help us put Him on the Throne of our hearts can we do anything good. I am not alone in my walk with Him. He is there always as I ask Him to help me. All glory and praise to our Lord Jesus.

 2011/6/17 16:08Profile









 Re: Unforgiveness & Forgiveness by Rodney W. Francis.

Thank you for this post Joyful Heart; one can never hear this enough. It is not always easy to know if one has a grudge against another. I know it is hard for me to distinguish and sort out feelings, and it takes a great deal of Time. Like King David, I want justice for something done for no justifiable cause whatsoever. So for me the question is, is it possible to forgive (not taking vengeance on my own) but still call on God for His justice and vengeance?

 2011/6/17 18:08









 Re:

Rom 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
Rom 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Rom 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Rom 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Rom 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Luk 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Luk 6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
Luk 6:29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.
Luk 6:30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
Luk 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
Luk 6:32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
Luk 6:33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
Luk 6:34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
Luk 6:35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Luk 6:36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
Luk 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven


I just can't see "calling on GOD for His 'vengeance'" after reading these and others like them.

Praying for them to see The Light / Jesus - yes!
Mainly desiring with all of our hearts to see the person 'make it to Heaven' and dying to self seems to be what we're to do.

This one gets me - Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, *lest thou also be tempted.*

There's no telling what any of us will do tomorrow to someone else or what temptation may hit us.
Better to pray for what seems impossible - that we actually begin to 'love' the person and what they've done to us rolls off of our backs like water on a duck.

Thinking of Stephen here - as he was being stoned - asking The LORD to not hold it against them. Or Corrie Ten Boom, after praying about it, holding her hand out to shake the hand of the prison guard that was responsible for her sister's death. Now that one is heavy. I don't have as much problem forgiving personal attacks but when someone does something to someone else - well - that I'm still praying hard over and asked a dear long-time friend to pray for me in that area earlier today. I trust He'll finish the work that 'He' began and that's all I can do now, is just lean on Him to produce that type forgiveness.
If Corrie could do it within seconds of that X-guard holding his hand out to her - well, I have to believe that He does answer prayer quicker than I may think.

I think the bigger miracle is us forgiving than seeing Him dish out the 'vengeance' for us. I don't even believe that He enjoys that part but prefers repentence on everyone's side.
It's times like those that I'd like to think that it's the goodness of GOD that will lead to repentence, like those verses from the sermon on the Mount state.

Glad you brought this up as well, Joyful Heart. Unforgiveness kills, that's all I know.

 2011/6/18 0:16
Joyful_Heart
Member



Joined: 2009/12/8
Posts: 1795


 Re:


Dear Cyan,

I want justice for something done for no justifiable cause whatsoever. So for me the question is, is it possible to forgive (not taking vengeance on my own) but still call on God for His justice and vengeance?

I can say, YES!

But I can only forgive with God's help. I remember being on my knees crying out to God to help me forgive because I hated. I hated the person who hurt my children.. But I also hated the feeling of hatred in me. It was like a foreign object in me. All I could do is pray God would take it away. And I wanted vengeance. But I kept quoting the Scripture, vengeance is mine says the Lord. And if I ever tried, no matter how little, it never worked. Glory to God.

I found out no one can do it like Him. And when I put it in His hands I had peace that He would take care of it in His time and His way. That is hard sometimes because we may never see how or when He does it. But His promises are true.

And like I said, I have been asking the Holy Spirit to show me areas that are not completely forgiven so I can have a clean heart. And He does not beat us up but is so merciful to show and help. He has so much compassion on us.One took longer than another but it did happen and I can just praise and thank our God for it.

I will pray for you too. I dont think anyone was praying for me then but you have a lot of lovely people here who will pray for your healing.

You are loved!!!

J_H

 2011/6/19 21:14Profile





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