These cold days in the bleak midwinter are perfect to reflect on the Word, spend more time in prayer, and really listen to the Holy Spirit as He reveals areas that He is concerned about.
As an intercessor, I am always striving to keep my hand on the Lord's pulse, so to speak, in order to be able to detect even the slightest "disturbance in the force."
In recent weeks, there has been an avalanche of warnings in the Spirit regarding a particular area in the lives of all believers. It is an area that we don't really want to talk about because we might have to admit that we've been missing the mark. But, it is crucial to our own well-being to make sure, absolutely sure, that we are conducting ourselves according to God's Word and His will.
This mysterious area is: forgiveness. The Lord has reminded me of something that I have been guilty of in the past, and the Church, in general, is in serious denial today. Case in point: we say things like, "Well, I'll forgive them, BUT..." My dear friends, there is no BUT in forgiveness. It must be absolute, and completely from the heart. Personally, I have had many occasions in my life when I needed to project forgiveness strictly by faith, because my flesh was not wanting to give up the injury so fast or so easily. But, thank God that His Spirit will continue to strive with us until we get it right.
I have also learned, again from personal experience, that oftentimes the very same person will do the very same thing that hurt me in the first place, and I am confronted with the need to forgive yet again. I want to scream, "That's not fair. I'm never going to put myself in this position again." Really?! The Father comes gently then, holds me while I rant and rave, waits patiently for me to calm down, and then He says,
"seventy-times-seven." I realize that this expression is the hard-fast proof that sometimes I am going to be faced with the decision as to whether or not I will truly forgive AGAIN. He reminds me that true forgiveness is not keeping a tally anyway, just like He has never kept a tally on all the times I have messed up AGAIN in the same area as before.
Never do I ever feel more like my blessed Savior than when I am able to truly forgive, and FORGET the matter (even when I know it is bound to happen again). Just like the way He regards my repetitious shortcomings with mercy and grace, and love that simply cannot be explained, I want to be enough like Him that I can do that, too. Why does He take me back? Why does He keep giving me another chance? Why doesn't He just kick me to the curb and say, "I am so done with her!" Why?! Because, LOVE will not allow Him to cut me out of the herd that easily.
He paid much too dearly for my life, my very soul, and He has been faithful to prove to me that I can never remove myself from His unfailing grasp. He would prefer that I walk along, quietly beside Him daily, but He is always prepared for the event that I won't. His forgiveness outweighs my rebellion. He just keeps showing me His love, over and over again.
Did you know that there is a reward for keeping a right spirit before God? When we forgive others with the same compassion and love that He has shown us, things start going in the right direction again. Our health improves, our finances improve, stress is reduced, and most importantly, our prayers are not hindered.
It is high-time that we call a spade a spade. When we are wronged, there is never a lingering clause or condition that allows us to treat the offender with anything except God-given mercy and grace. We are not even entitled to an apology. That's how faith works...no strings attached. One of the things that the children of God are marked with is His love. "You will know them by their love."
The Church needs to wake up and get far away from this whole notion of entitlement. We are not entitled to withhold forgiveness for any reason, we are not entitled to make conditions on the forgiveness, we are not entitled to keep a record of wrongs...unless of course, that is how we want the Father to respond to us.
After all, didn't Jesus teach us to pray, "Father, forgive us our debts as (just the same way that) we forgive our debtors." There is a saying that goes like this: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. But, God says, even if it takes seventy-times-seven attempts, I will still forgive you.
When is once enough? Maybe never, maybe seventy-times-seven is a much more realistic number!
