Steps to Forgiveness

Releasing Hurts for Deliverance Today’s Focus: The Power of Forgiveness in Deliverance Part 3: Steps to Forgiveness Scripture: Hebrews 12:14; John 20:22,23; Matthew 18:21,22; 5:9 Greetings Sons of God: Why do we seek forgiveness? Well of course we desire to be forgiven by the Lord so yes we must forgive also but why and what does it produce? Hebrews 12:14: Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord Now I do not know about you but I desire to see the Lord but in order to see the Lord you must follow peace with all men and holiness. When we forgive we make peace with man. And as a son of God it is our divine character and mission to follow peace. Matthew 5:9: Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God So pursuing peace is our goal in forgiveness because in our past message we see that unforgiveness give the enemy legal right to torment us and there is no peace between the parties until forgiveness takes place. Now let’s look at the steps to forgiveness: 1. One Must Choose to Forgive John 20:22,23: And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. What is Jesus saying? He has given us power and authority in the name of Jesus to forgive sins and we also have the choice to retain sins. Now understand when you retain the sin and not forgive the person, you can now be tormented and held back from forgiveness yourself from the Lord. We must all make the choice to forgive and when we choose not to forgive the Lord is not obligated to forgive us because we are not forgiving. The Spirit of the Lord is forgiveness and if we are in the image and likeness, we must forgive and forget. 2. Be Specific in your Forgiveness When you are denouncing soul ties or even trying to release a person through forgiveness be specific in your request to the Lord. Deal with each situation and release the person through forgiveness 3. Pray until God Restores Love This is where a lot of people miss the forgiveness principle. So many people ust want to say “I have forgiven them but yet they still remember and when they see the person they still dislike them. If that is the case then they were never forgiven to begin with. Forgiveness replaces hatred with love. In other words, when you have truly forgiven someone you forget the situation that separated you in the first pace and you love them as your brother and sister in Christ. Matthew 18:21,22: Then came Peter to him ,and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say, not unto thee until seven times; but, until seventy times seven. Jesus was stressing the fact that we must have the heart of forgiveness to a point where we forgive unto we love again. No matter how many times it takes, we must get back to the point where we love them unconditionally and when we see them we are not reminded of the past situation but love them in the present. Peace, Love and Grace, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.