When The Door Slams
"For if you forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins], your heavenly Father will also forgive you. "But if you not forgive others [nurturing your hurt and anger with the result that that it interferes with your relationship with God], then your Father will not forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:14-15 AMP
The doorway that opens to a life of love and joy is forgiveness. Your ability to freely forgive other people, and to let the hurt go, is the true mark of integrity, character and a fully developed personality. You can clear your mind and heart of the negativity you have built up over time with one decisive action: You can issue a blanket pardon to everyone for everything that they have done to hurt you in any way.
Many people cling to their resentments because they feel that they have paid so dearly for them that they cannot possibly give them up. Sometimes people's entire lives are built around their past hurts and suffering. They have little else to talk about, and they dwell on their negative experiences continually.
Eventually, these people make themselves physically and mentally ill. Their repressed anger and negativity sooner or later erupt and spoil any new relationships that they try to build. They sabotage their own futures. And, in every case, there is only one solution and that is to give it to the Lord God and let it go.
Think about this: Forgiving another person is a perfectly "selfish" act. You do it so that you can be free. You forgive so that you can experience the happiness and joy for which you were created...If you find that you still cannot bring yourself to do a kindness for the other person, this should tell you something about your true feelings as a Christian. This inability to forgive might be holding you back from loving yourself and other people. You might have your own foot on the brakes of your own future.
Renewal: Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail] (1 Corinthians 13:4-6 AMP).
Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness.
Never Rest Ministries