Forgiveness

Over the last 8 weeks, we have been watching the series 70 X7 Finding Peace By Forgiving Others and Yourself in jail.  This has been a very powerful series by Bruce Wilkinson with Teach Every Nation.  Bruce has done a brilliant job looking at all aspects of forgiveness.

I will point out a few things we learned, but I really want you to see these videos and the handbook that goes with the series for yourself.

YHVH forgives us for all our sins because of the blood Messiah shed for our atonement. To be like Him, He expects us to forgive others who have trespassed against us, as well as forgive ourselves for our sins, poor choices, and mistakes.

In the beginning, Bruce looks at the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35. In this parable, the king forgave an enormous debt, but the one who was forgiven was not willing to forgive the debt that someone else owed him. This parable compares our willingness to forgive others to how the Lord has freely forgiven us.

What did the king in the parable do when he heard the man he forgave refused to forgive someone else of a much smaller debt? He sent the unforgiving debtor to jail! The Greek term for “jailers” in verse 34 is basanistās, which means tormentor/torturer. Based on verse 35, Elohim causes us to be tormented until we choose to forgive. I had read this parable many times without fully realizing the meaning of jailer as torturer, but this time, the concept really hit home to me.

We have a place in our souls (hearts) that is like a jail. Each jail cell holds someone we need to forgive. We think keeping them in the jail of our soul punishes them. They don’t know they are there, and probably wouldn’t care too much about it. We are emotionally tortured by their presence there! When we don’t forgive their offenses, release them from the jail of our soul, and be reconciled with them, we are only hurting/torturing ourselves.

We need to remember that we have wounded many people either intentionally or unintentionally too. Since we would hope that those people would forgive us, we should show them some compassion and forgive those who wounded us.

When we don’t forgive others, our heart wounds remain, and we can’t find the inner healing that we’ve been talking about. Instead, our unforgiveness progresses through a nasty slide of anger, bitterness, slander, resentment, hatred, and a desire for vengeance. This can be directed at the person who offended or hurt us, OR if we are the one who screwed up, we can end up with those things directed at ourselves!

Please, make a list of those who have wounded you. Separate each person who hurt you from the wounds they committed against you. Forgive all the trespasses and release the trespassers from the prison of your heart. Then bless and do good to them. Rest in the fact that vengeance belongs to YHVH, and He will repay unless we ask for them to be spared. Then, once you have released all the prisoners from your soul, renounce all the stages of the slide of unforgiveness– unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, slander, resentment, hatred, and a desire for vengeance. Command any demons associated with those sins to leave you now and forever in the name of Yeshua. In the future, be diligent to quickly forgive those who trespass against you.

You may feel that people have committed unforgiveable sins against you, but Bruce shares some great stories that will make you think twice about that. Yield to the Holy Spirit who wants you to forgive others.

You don’t have to have the devotional handbook to benefit from the 70 X 7 video series, but it can help to solidify what you are learning. There is a playlist of these videos on YouTube, but if you have not been to jail or are not financially strapped, please purchase them and the handbook for your church or assembly to use. If you struggle with unforgiveness, Bruce utilizes a great visualization technique in his materials to forgive and release people from the jail of your soul and a validator to ensure you are done forgiving everyone you need to forgive.

Once you have released all the prisoners in your soul, you can find another level of peace and inner healing. You will be one step closer to waging effective warfare against our spiritual enemies who seek to keep you and others in bondage.