Dan ****** (DAN THE CHILD OF GOD) Offline

57 Happily married Male from Boston       228
         
DAN THE CHILD OF GOD
DAN THE CHILD OF GOD: November 10

Victory Over Unforgiveness

Daniel 6

Immediately after teaching His followers to pray, Jesus gave a warning about allowing unforgiveness to reside in the heart. He said that those who refuse to forgive others won't be forgiven by the Father.

Do not misunderstand Jesus' meaning here. Believers don't lose their salvation when they refuse to forgive. Rather, they break fellowship with God because their unrepentant attitude gets in the way of regular confession and repentance. The Lord cannot ignore sin, and His Spirit will bring wrong behavior to the believer's attention until he or she deals with it.

Forgiveness is an act of the will more than an act of the heart. Often people don't feel like being merciful to someone who has wronged them. But a resentful spirit grows into a terrible burden. The Lord knows that forgiveness is best, even when it is difficult.

You won't deal with a sin until you see it as God does. So assume full responsibility for your unforgiving attitude, and acknowledge that it is a violation of His Word. Claim the divine mercy He offers, and ask Him to enable you to lay aside anger and resentment against the other person(s). As part of the decision to move forward in grace, make a habit of praying for those who hurt you. And if God so leads, seek their forgiveness for your wrong attitude.

A bitter and resentful spirit doesn't fit who we are in Christ. Nor is it healthy to carry an angry attitude through life. That's why Scripture emphasizes the need to forgive. Choose to be liberated from your burden--Jesus promised to make us free when we release our sins to Him (John 8:36).from Dr. Charles Stanley, Thankfulness In Spite Of . . .

Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. - Psalm 97:12
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 42:11

Consider this short recap from a previous devotional of the life of one man who knew the importance of a thankful heart:

When he was nine, his mother died. Though he loved books, he received little formal education. His sister died in childbirth. At age twenty-four he found himself deep in debt when a store he invested in failed. When he was twenty-five the woman he loved caught fever and died causing him to sink into deep depression.
Three years later he proposed to another woman and she turned him down. At thirty-four he lost the nomination for U.S. Congress. Only one of his four sons lived to adulthood: one died just short of age 4, one at age 11, one at 18. Who was this man? Abraham Lincoln. And in 1863 he asked Congress to establish the annual celebration of Thanksgiving.
In spite of his failings, his sorrow, his depression, his disappointments, he chose to express gratitude to God and lead a nation to do the same.

What's your "In spite of . . .?" It doesn't matter what it is: hurt, pain, sorrow, depression, loss, disappointments, or anything else. You can choose to have a thankful spirit.



- Steve Arterburn
2 years ago ReplyReport Link
1