Deciding to Forgive

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.(Ephesians 4:32)

To forgive is not always easy, but it is an extremely important act. It does not matter what someone has done to us, we are commanded to forgive them. That may seem like a very difficult commandment, but God has given it to us for our good, as unforgiveness only hurts the one holding it in their heart – it does not hurt the one against whom it is held.

Failure to forgive will hinder our faith, and it will rob us of our peace and joy. It will cause the offense to stay alive in our heart and mind, continuing to torment us. So although it is not always easy to forgive when we or someone we love has been treated wrongly, it is still a commandment, and a very necessary thing to do if we are to be free of the hold the offense committed will have on us.

Forgiving is a decision that we make, and by faith, we receive it as done, even if thoughts try to arise to get us to take hold of the hurt and/or anger again. We must refuse to do so, and walk on in freedom from the torment of unforgiveness.

The Power of Forgiveness - Joel Osteen

Like Our Father

Be imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father].(Ephesians 5:1 – The Amplified Bible)

I am sure we have all watched little kids imitate, or copy their parents, or whomever they love and adore. They try to be just like that other person – doing and saying the same things.

Well, we are to be as little children in regards to imitating our Heavenly Father. Our life should produce His characteristics – the fruit of the spirit, listed in Galatians 5:22, which says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith. And Ephesians 5:9 tells us, For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.

In order for us to imitate our Heavenly Father, we just need to allow the fruit of His Spirit that dwells in us to shine forth, so that others will be able to see Him through our lives.

What Did You Say?

Do you ever feel like you really don’t know what is in your heart? You want it to be pure and pleasing to God, but you begin to question yourself because of something you may have done, or may not have done, or perhaps because of thoughts you have had.

Well, if we really want to know what is in our heart, we need to start giving attention to what comes out of our mouth, because the Word says that from the abundance of our heart, our mouth will speak (Luke 6:45).

So we just need to listen to our words – in times when everything is going like we want, and in times when things are not going like we want.

We may be shocked. We may think we have it all together, and that our heart is full of the Word of God – full of love, life, and faith, but what we speak forth proves that there are areas that are not yet right, that still need to be changed by His Word.

If that is the case, we must not condemn ourselves. We just need to thank God for calling our attention to those areas that need changing, and keep His Word going into our heart, through our eyes and ears, and allow it to change our heart, so that it will be truly pleasing to our Heavenly Father.