Category Archives: Forgiveness

Have you Been Offended?

Posted on by

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

Connecting with people is sometimes very difficult. It is heartbreaking when, for whatever reason, we can’t connect even with those who are closest to us.  If you have been hurt in a relationship, you may be guarding your heart and fearful of being hurt again.

It is very hard, even impossible to connect when you can’t lay your guard down. If you find it hard to connect with others, you may have a wounded heart that needs to be healed from the past. When we have been wounded by someone’s actions, a stone is formed in our heart from the unforgiveness. A stony heart makes it almost impossible to connect because we are guarded and easily offended. Healing begins when we identify the hurt and ask God to heal our wounded heart. The prayer of faith shall heal the sick and the prayer of faith shall heal the heart.

Pray this simple prayer right now and by faith begin receiving your healing:

Father God, I have been hurt by ________________ and now I am guarded when I am around them. Lord, I ask You to heal my broken heart and bind up my wounds. I choose to forgive ___________ for ___________. Heal my heart so I can open my heart and trust again.

In Jesus’ Name,
Amen

How to Discover Your Spiritual Identity

Featured

Posted on by

“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.  Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” Galatians 4: 6-7

God has a place and a purpose for each of us in His kingdom.  In order for you to know where your place is, you must discover your identity.  Your spiritual identity is not based on worldly criteria, social status, or education.  You may be very successful in a profession, but still feel something is missing if you have not discovered your spiritual identity.

Healing is essential in discovering our identity.  Pain and scars from the past keep us connected to the past and distort the way we perceive ourselves and who we are to God.  God speaks to our hearts, telling us who we are, but we can’t clearly hear Him until we are healed.  Pain blocks and distorts our spiritual hearing.  Through the healing process we experience restoration, being restored into favor and fellowship with God.  Sin separates us; healing restores us!

In the past several years, I noticed a block in hearing the Lord, especially through dreams.  At the time, I could not understand why I wasn’t hearing Him or why I felt somewhat separated from Him.  But as I continue down the path of my healing, I am able to hear God speaking to my heart, speaking to me through dreams, and I feel a stronger connection to Him now than I ever have before.  It was because of my sin and pain that I was disconnected from God.  Communing with the Father is opening my eyes to how He sees me and showing me who I really am.

In Jeremiah 1:5, we read that God knew Jeremiah before he was in his mother’s womb.  God knows you and He is waiting on you to know yourself.  He wants you to know yourself as He knows you.  The prodigal son is an example of a spiritual son who finally discovered who he was.  He didn’t fully embrace his position and inheritance until he went astray and was restored to his family.  He had to go through the death of who he thought he was so he could experience life; and the same is true for us today.  The prodigal had a ring on his finger and a robe on his back as he sat at the banquet table that was prepared for him.  He heard his father say, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” Luke 15:2

“Thy Kingdom come they will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Matthew 6:10

Rend Your Heart

Posted on by

Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord.
    “Should you not tremble in my presence?
I made the sand a boundary for the sea,
    an everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail;
    they may roar, but they cannot cross it.
But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
    they have turned aside and gone away.
They do not say to themselves,
    ‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
who gives autumn and spring rains in season,
    who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
Your wrongdoings have kept these away;
    your sins have deprived you of good.
– Jeremiah 5:22-25

In September, the piercing truth of those verses above were devastating to my soul.  All of the first 20 or so chapters of Jeremiah were that way for me.  The back and forth between the Lord and Israel, and the prayers and pleas of Jeremiah were intense and raw.  The reality and how close these situations hit home in my heart was overwhelming.  Yet there was so much truth in this book of Jeremiah that I continued reading chapter upon chapter non-stop for a few days while the Lord deeply rebuked, convicted and comforted me during that time.

My emotions have been all over the place since then.  I would have periods of dropping into the depths of shame and despair, end up wailing on the floor and in my spirit with major outward expressions of grief and repentance, only to have the Lord lift me up and cradle me in His arms in greater comfort and peace.  We would wrestle for a while many times before I would ultimately accept what He was pouring out over me.  His incessant amazing love continues to prevail – far beyond my finite understanding… and I am so thankful!

In a way, back in September was probably one of the first real times that I began to actively “fear God” and those deep seeds were beginning to be sown into my spirit.  The first part of a prayer from Jeremiah in chapter 10 was something I felt very strongly connected to and it became a prayer of my own:

I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own;
it is not for man to direct his steps.
Correct me, Lord, but only with justice—
not in your anger,
lest you reduce me to nothing.
– Jeremiah 10:23-24

If there is one thing that I now can comprehend more deeply than I have previously… it is that the Lord is still and always faithful.  He answered my prayer and has not corrected me in His anger, but with justice… He has not reduced me to nothing, though the correction and discipline is still very painful.

I’ve been in a season of rending since September.  It’s also a time of correction and discipline from my Father, but rending has been my response to it (that is, after the initial stubborn resistance).  I couldn’t fully describe what kind of season it’s been until last week when I read the book of Joel.  I’m not sure if I’ve ever paid attention to the word “rend” before – but I immediately noticed and began to digest it.

“Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
– Joel 2:12-13

To me, this goes along with Jeremiah and all that the Lord has been bringing me through.  It is only by His grace that He’s brought me to this place and it’s incredible!  This is definitely not a place I would ever be able to conjure up for myself.

When I was in rebellion, not truly fearing Him but had elevated MAN and people above Him by literally fearing THEM and letting others’ dictate my life instead of His Kingship… I was bitter, resentful, and in constant chaos.  Yet those were just the effects of my disobedience – the deeper sin and issue.  I was blinded by so many things though, and in the Lord’s faithfulness, He opened my heart and eyes to more of His truth.

Rend means to “tear”.

I’ve used the term “fillet” in regards to the heart before, and it’s along those same lines… filleting the heart open before the Lord is necessary for the relationship.  But I’m really liking the “rending” term too!  Filleting is a cutting process that often uses a sharp utensil of some kind.  So in a sense it’s a more sophisticated method… while tearing is using your hands and a much more crude method.  It’s using what you already have access to – something raw and natural.  The process is unrefined and desperate… more human.  Maybe that doesn’t really make sense and I’m putting more thoughtfulness into that than is necessary.  But I tend to observe things that way though and process more allegorically so it feels important to me.

From my limited understanding, the culture of the Jewish people and many other Eastern cultures of Biblical times was to tear their garments when upset or in mourning.  Just remembering from off the top of my head (I’d have to do further investigating to be totally sure), I believe plenty of prophets and other people mentioned in the Bible tore their clothes when hearing devastating or upsetting news or in repentance of their sins, etc.  This was a surface expression of how upset they were – an outward show of their deeper emotions.

Anyone can tear their garments and put on an outward show though, even without the deeper things going on… if you pay closer attention the verse in Joel, it is so clear in requesting a rending (tearing) of the heart and NOT the garments.  In other words and how I take that, tear things deeper and not just superficially or on the surface.

Each of us has the capacity to deceive ourselves… we can go about our lives with an outward superficial show of repentance or appear as if we are fearing the Lord, when in reality and in the deeper parts of our souls – we are not.  When we’re being disobedient or deceptive in the deeper parts of our hearts, we might can successfully fool everyone around us, but we can’t fool the One who created us and who has everything laid out wide open before Him.  That’s why we have to trust God, and not our own selves.

We all need a time of heart rending before the Lord… if we’re opposed to it and satisfied to just carry on with our superficial lives, not trembling in His presence, being stubborn and rebellious, not returning to Him with our whole hearts… we will bring the Lord and ourselves more grief.  The Lord knows what is best and good for us… that’s why He’s gracious and compassionate, abounding in love and slow to anger!  But He is also JUST and that’s why correction and rebuke is necessary and good.

We each need to wake up and be sensitive to pay attention to His heart, because it’s typically after a good rebuking and responsive rending that our hearts can be changed since we’ve become open, broken, and soft enough to listen to Him… I feel like the Lord begins to reveal Himself more clearly in that time and it’s all in preparation for the Day of His return.  A great, dreadful, amazing day that will be!  We need to be ready for it and not grow cold, weary, or lose heart.

“Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the Lord Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.”
– Malachi 4:1-2

I don’t know about you but I want to fear God, take His correction, be obedient and rend my heart… returning to the Lord, revering His name, so I can be with Him in eternity and see that amazing day of Jesus’ return.  I don’t want anything of this world, my flesh and sin nature, Satan’s schemes or whatever to detour me from obtaining the prize of Jesus and being with Him forever.  Holy Spirit, start revival!

How to Find Perfect Love

Posted on by

“Perfect love casts out all fear, for fear hath torment.  And he that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:18

perfect loveWe are created in the image of God and designed to have intimate relationships bound in love.   I guess it would be safe to say we are created with a “need” to love, and be loved.

As an infant, the first time we are touched and held by our parent, our initial experience with physical love is activated.  But, only for a moment.  At the stage of infancy, the ability to hold-on to love has not been fully established.  The ability to hold-on when someone says they are holding you is what we label as trust.  Just as a baby will continue to cry until he/she learns how to trust, we as adults will continue to whine and complain until we mature and learn to trust God completely.

We first learn to trust through loving, nurturing parents.  Since they are our first source of nurturing, we begin to trust them as a source of comfort and “love”.  We trust them to return, even when they are away for a day.  Once trust has been established, they can be away for longer periods of time and we still feel secure and loved.  Their continual flow of love keeps our hearts soft and open to trusting.

Unfortunately, some people never fully experience that sense of trust.  A lack of love due to neglect, rejection or abuse is painful and causes emotions to shut down and their heart begins to harden.  Each time pain is felt, a stone is formed in the heart.    After a period of time, the stones form a wall around the heart for protection against further pain.  A person with a stony heart has a difficult time receiving love from God or others – and also have a tough time offering love to others.  Relationships are difficult, and unfortunately, the very thing that is needed to heal the pain is blocked out.

We all have areas of our heart that are stony due to the fact that we all have been hurt when love did not flow properly from early relationships in our lives.   Sometimes parents are unable to provide the relationship and unconditional love that helps build a soft, trusting heart.  Perhaps their own struggles caused them to have a hardened heart – and unable to love properly.

The fact is, as adults we need to understand that our example of love is Jesus Christ.  Through him our hearts can be softened in order to love others.  Regardless of hurts or lack of trust from early relationships, by opening our hearts to Christ we can love through hurts and disappointments.

Ask God for His perfect love to fill you; for God is the only one who has perfect love, (I John 4:18).

Imperfect love hurts; perfect love heals.

Rise Up!

Posted on by

“Fear Not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” 
Isaiah 41:10  NKJV

Many people have been hurt by rejection.  If you have ever experienced rejection, you can probably relate to that downward spiraling effect that rejection gives you.  It has a progressively negative effect; at first it affects your opinion of yourself, your emotional well-being, and if not dealt with rejection will continue to affect interpersonal relationships through-out your life.

Rejection is so painful and devastating that we can all agree it is one of Satan’s most successful tactics that he uses to separate and destroy homes, families, and relationships.  Once you are healed from rejection, you can breathe freely without the fear of rejection taking you down into that black hole of despair.

Rise up!  Receive your healing through the Truth of God’s unchangeable, unexplainable, and unconditional love and acceptance.

How to Overcome the Enemy

Posted on by

For it was not an enemy who reproached and taunts me, then I might bear it… Psalm 55:12-13

Words are powerful, destructive, and so very painful.  And the enemy uses those who are closest to us to speak out hurtful words because he wants to get a “close up” shot, one that will do some damage.  He uses their knowledge of the past and words that are connected to that painful event.  So, every painful event that has not been healed is his target.  A profound truth on how to overcome the enemy is you must work through all the wounded areas of your heart and remove all access points by grieving the losses.

It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.   Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.   The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.   Ecclesiastes 7:2-4

You can be very strong in the Lord until it comes to a place where you have experienced losses.  It is in these times of loss that we get hurt and even angry at God because we can’t understand why things happen the way they do. We can even begin to doubt His love and protection with questions like:  why did it have to happen to me?  Why didn’t God stop it?  Why was I the one that had to suffer this way?

All these questions must be wrestled with and resolved as you go through the process of grieving the losses and releasing the pain. Grieving Losses is necessary for your heart to heal through His Word and be restored by His Love.

The Way of Peace

Posted on by

“The way of peace we have not known…”   Isaiah 59:8

The way of PeaceIsaiah was concerned about God’s people who did not know the way of peace. They were out somewhere, wandering in the darkness and didn’t know how to get to peace.  Isaiah knew they didn’t have a flashlight or a cell phone.  All they had was the “still small voice” and they weren’t listening or obeying this voice.

Do you know the way of peace?  Do you know how to get there and dwell there?  I woke up one morning and realized that I lived in a constant state of worry.  If I didn’t have something to worry about, I would think of something.  But that day, like the prodigal son, I woke up and came to my senses.  I am a Child of God! Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has saved me from all this! I don’t have to live here anymore.

So, I asked Jesus to show me the way out of this state of worry.  He said, “Ok, here we go, listen to me, pay attention, I am going to show you the way out.”   I listened as I drove down the road.  When I heard the news report, I heard Him say, “Fear Not.”  I obeyed and didn’t turn down the familiar street called fear.  It was hard, but I didn’t give in.  Instead, I turned the opposite way called faith.  At that moment I was at peace, by simply obeying His voice when He said, “Fear not.”

As I continued traveling down the road, I came to a four way stop.  There were four different people wanting their own way.  He said, “Stop, let them go on.” Again I obeyed, and continued on my way in peace.

In the last part of my journey, I found myself in a heated conversation.  I felt angry and hurt, and then I heard His voice say, “Forgive”.  I stopped, obeyed, and soon the “red light” inside of me turned green and I continued down the road in peace.  I found the way to peace that day.  As I obeyed the voice of the Lord, I was at peace.

Your Refreshing Comes Daily

Posted on by

“And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred.”   Matthew 24:10 Amp.

As you spend time daily, God washes your spirit from the trials and troubles of the previous day so you enter into the new day fresh.  Refreshing comes daily. When we take the troubles of the previous day into the next day, we have failed to cast our burden on the Lord.

Jesus said that in the last days many would become overwhelmed with the cares of the world.  When we become overwhelmed, it is so easy to become offended at others.  If you are looking at someone through their previous mistakes; after a week or so, it all adds up to a huge offense.  If you have been offended, you will find that all your thoughts are clouded and dictated by the offense.  The amplified Bible calls offenses, “snares and traps.”  So being offended is like stepping into a big trap that has been set up by the enemy.

Once you step into the trap of offense all your actions are dictated by the offense.  This is why Jesus warned His disciples in Mathew 24:10, “Many shall be offended and they shall betray one another and shall hate one another.”

I have stepped into this horrible trap before, and I know how hard it is to get out. But, Jesus made a way of escape out of the trap.  The way of escape is to forgive.

Today, forgive those who have offended or hurt you.  Begin fresh each new day.

Learning to Trust Again

Posted on by

“He heals the brokenhearted and bindeth up their wounds.”  Psalms 147:3

Learning to Trust AgainGod has made full provision for healing the pain of past so you can trust again.

Have you ever trusted someone to love you that did not know how to love? Or have you ever loved someone that did not know how to receive your love? In both cases you will experience rejection. This type of rejection is very painful especially when it comes from someone whom you really trust. The pain from being hurt by someone you trust is much greater than being hurt by a casual friend. It takes years to build trust, but it only takes a moment of rejection to tear down trust. This is because when you trust someone, you open your heart up to them. When they reject you, the natural tendency is to close your heart to them in order to avoid being hurt again. The pain that comes from rejection creates a big wound that must be healed in order to be able to trust that person again.

Jesus made complete provision for our physical and emotional healing. But many people are stuck, “locked in time” desperately needing to be set free from the pain of the past. One way many people try to get rid of pain is to just forget what happened and forget about the person who hurt them. You can tear that person out of your address book and for a while you will be able to forget what happened but if healing did not occur the pain is still there. The pain that lingers from the past keeps you tied to the past. Isaiah, the prophet, said in Isaiah 1:4-6 that those people who have not been healed will go backwards. Like taking one step forward and then two steps backward, you aren’t getting anywhere.

Another way many people deal with pain is to run from it or pretend it really isn’t there. Pain is like a shadow you look around and it is still there no matter how fast you run. That is why so many people are walking around with the shadow of the past still on them. Pain must be faced and dealt with in order for it to be put away. Instead of running from pain, stop, turn around and face it. Pain must be faced to be healed. You may be one who has received some healing, but the pain still remains. Jeremiah 6:14 also says that when a person has only been healed slightly, they say peace, peace, but when there is no peace. The amount of peace you are having can be a good indicator of how much healing you have received. Once you are healed and the pain is gone you will be ale to hold your heart open again and trust. Healing produces trust in you. If the person that hurt you has proven over and over to not be trustworthy, suggest they also receive healing. Healing produces trustworthiness in them. Then wait on the Lord to give you peace.

The following steps can be taken to work through healing. These steps will need to be repeated out loud or written down several times during the healing process. You will experience the peace of the Lord as you go through this process. Now is the time for healing!

1. Step one for healing is to face it.

Who hurt you? _________

Who left you? __________

Who did not receive you? __________

Who refused to love you? ___________

 

2. Step two for healing is to face what you lost.

Did you loose a good friend?

Did you loose a husband?

Did you loose a wife?

Fill in the blank, I lost _________.

 

3. Step three for healing is to accept that the thing you lost is gone.

Make a list and write down all that you have lost.

I accept the fact that ____________is gone.

 

4. Step four for healing is to acknowledge to the Lord that you have been hurt and angry.

Lord, I have been angry at __________ for ___________.

I ask you to forgive me, and cleanse my heart of this anger.

 

5. Step five for healing is to release what you have lost.

Lord, I ask for your help to be set free from this pain. Lord by myself I can not accept the losses. I ask for your help to accept what I have lost. I accept the reality that _________ is gone; and I release (person or thing).

6. Step six for healing is to forgive the person.

Lord, I choose to forgive __________ for hurting me. They owe me nothing.

 

7. Step seven for healing.

My hope is in You, Lord. I know You are the one that gives life. Not the person or the things I have lost.

 

8. Step eight for healing is to choose life.

Lord, I choose Life; help me to continue looking forward towards the life you have given me.

 

Search My Heart

Posted on by

 “Search me Lord and know my heart, try me and know my ways and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).

All through Scripture we are encouraged by the Lord to examine our heart. In Psalms 139, David prays and asks the Lord to Search his heart.

David said, “any wicked way,” this would be any wicked way of thinking, feeling or acting.  The thoughts of our heart are sometimes hidden from view, but can be clearly seen by our actions and our responses. Psalm 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” You can have the right intentions and want to respond correctly, but find it very difficult if you have been hurt or offended.  That is why the prayer that David prayed in Psalm 139 is so important for us to pray today.

The thoughts of our heart determine our decisions, actions and how we respond to others. We need to examine the condition of our heart, especially after we have been hurt or wounded by someone and know we are offended.  I believe that taking up offenses is one of the greatest traps of the enemy today.

When you ask, the Holy Spirit will reveal the condition of your heart. Ask Him to reveal every area that is not at peace. Therefore, when you ask the Lord to search your heart, don’t be surprised when the Holy Spirit brings to your attention a relationship conflict that still needs to be resolved. The level of peace clearly indicates how much we have resolved heart issues so that, we are no longer controlled our circumstances. Peace is the inward witness of the presence God, as He leads us through every situation we face.