How Christians Should Forgive Is One Of The Most Misunderstood Elements Of Faith 

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If We Don’t Follow God’s Forgiveness, We Can’t
Experience One Important Blessing From God…

God’s Love is the first commandment of the New Testament.  This means that in order to know how to forgive, we need to know how to love God and how to follow what He does based upon His Word.  So first, let’s look at how we’re told to love God.

Mark 12:30-31  30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

We’ve got to give our whole being over to God.  We must put God first by loving Him with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength.  Then we’re also to love our neighbors as ourselves.  If we love God that much and love our neighbors as ourselves, then we won’t want to commit sin in our lives or against others.

We’re empowered by the blood of Jesus Christ to overcome temptations to sin because of Jesus’ work on the cross.  So we don’t have to hold back harmful desires by willpower or suppression which don’t work . we are able to walk in the empowerment we have in Christ to always be a victor!

How Christians Should Forgive Is Based Upon God’s Forgiveness

If you want God’s forgiveness, you must learn to forgive others as well, but you have to do it God’s way. To say that you forgive but you can’t forget, is not God’s way to let go of a wrong done to us or to forget our own mistakes.

Learn to forgive God’s way so that you’ll become empowered in Christ to be free of what unforegiveness causes each of us internally that eventually causes outward sin, depression, failure, sickness or disease. First, learn to ask God to forgive you and receive.  An important part of God’s forgiveness is receiving it! If you don’t, you won’t be able to feel empowered to forgive others.

1. Forgive To Receive Forgiveness From God

Christ died on the cross for our sins, yet many Christians live with guilt and worse, unforgiveness for themselves. I’m sure Christ must wonder why we continue to live in misery when we’re purified of sin by His shed blood. We can be FREE of sin, sickness, and spiritual death if we choose to accept or believe that God has forgiven us immediately when we ask.

Isaiah 43:25  25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

We need to ask God to forgive our sins in Christ so that we can be free of sin and free of guilt.  God needs us guilt free in order to work in us for continued inner growth and to assist Him in helping others. We need to feel confident before God to pray and expect to receive.  Guilt will always keep someone from believing they’re good enough for God to answer.

2. Understand How Christians Should Forgive Others and Themselves!

Once we understand that God forgives us, we use that same forgiveness for others and ourselves.  If we accept that God forgives us, but we can’t forgive ourselves, we’re missing an important element of God’s forgiveness for us.  We have to forgive as God does us as He says in Isaiah 43:25.  We need to forgive and forget even ourselves or we can’t receive anything from God.

Another problem with unforgiveness is that it causes us to harbor self-loathing, bitterness, anger, and hatred. All these emotions lead to illness, depression, meanness, selfishness and perhaps premature death.  Unforgiveness zaps us of our compassion, creativity and the loving nature of Christ we’re to enjoy and extent to others.

Many times people say, “I will never forgive that person.” But what they’re really saying is that they don’t want to live their lives to the fullest. I say this because we don’t hurt the person we should forgive, we hurt ourselves. Yet this isn’t the first reason to let go of the hurt and pain others have caused us. We forgive first because God tells us to do so, and because He always forgives us when we ask.

And what does God say if we don’t forgive others?  That He won’t forgive us according to Mark 11:25-26.

Mark 11:25-26  25. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.  26. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

If you don’t want to forgive anyone, including yourself, that decision will prevent you from receiving answered prayer.  Mark 11:25 says to stand before God in forgiveness of all. This also includes yourself.

So when you can’t forgive you’re actually allowing the person who hurt you to continue to hurt you for the rest of your life or you’re causing your past sins to continually keep you bound.  You’ll keep punishing yourself even though God is willing to forgive you forever. Knowing that God forgives all, you can do the same for yourself and for others.

God tells us what to do to have success in life, but it’s up to us to obey. However, what happens is that Christians usually blame God for not coming through for them when they only have themselves to blame.  If we obey God’s Word as we learn it, then we’ll reap the rewards of what living the Word brings.

3. Are You Unforgiving?

Take these easy steps toward God’s forgiveness based upon scripture, and you’ll become the complete person in Christ God created you to be.

1. Understand forgiveness from God’s point of view. He tells us that He blotts out sin as if it never were. This means that when He forgives us, He never remembers what we did again. So we should do the same.

2. There’s no forgiving day by day. It’s a complete transaction immediately. When you are angry with someone or yourself, forgive immediately.  You can do this in Christ.

3. If you forgive someone you don’t or can’t trust, stay away from them! You forgivein obedience to God, but you’re not required to be harmed over and over again by the same people you forgive.

4. Whenever you find yourself thinking about something bad someone has done to you that you have already forgiven, immediately shift your thinking away from the negative thought and pray for that person to be blessed. Doing this will bless them and you as well. If you haven’t forgiven someone, do it immediately!

4. Understand How Christians Should Forgive and Act Upon It

Make God’s forgiveness a habit and you’ll develop great respect for yourself by taking on the person of Christ. This is a process made available by the blood of Jesus Christ and God’s grace. Knowing how Christians should forgive and acting upon it will keep you from bitterness, anger, mean-spiritedness and other negative emotions to insure that you remain close to God, you have the peace of Jesus Christ, you receive answered prayer and you remain in good health.

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