Forgiveness doesn’t mean we automatically reestablish the relationship with someone who hurt or abused us. God may actually want them far away, but to experience true freedom, we must forgive as God has forgiven us.
Are you struggling with or have you struggled with forgiving? We all have, but do you understand how this is hindering your relationship with God? You are being robbed of freedom, peace, and joy. You are truly letting someone rent space in your mind and life for free while they continue enjoying life and remain miserable. This is an area definitely hard to overcome. Of course, it's hard to forgive an ex-spouse. It's hard to forgive and pray for someone that screws you financially. It's hard to forgive and pray for a mother or a father who left you. It is hard to forgive and pray for people that you know talk about you, but to have freedom, we need to learn how to let go and let God. We need to learn to submit to what God instructs us to do. We must, little by little, continue building that spiritual muscle.
We can start by studying the word, especially the book of Matthew, and by investing in personal development resources. We intentionally take the words we read in the Bible and truly believe that God does reward those who forgive others with his own forgiveness. We learn to let him fight our battles. When we follow the teaching of Mark 11, you then learn to experience true freedom and make room to hear from our heavenly father directly. Go to him as a friend, confess, and pray to do better. Be honest with him; he knows you are human, and it takes time to peel off years of hurt and abuse.
Only by having a personal relationship with God can a relationship be restored by the gift of grace.
We live in a world now where it's hard to say no to the distractions of the flesh, especially with social media and Google making it so easy to stalk those who hurt you. It is easier than ever to feed the flesh, and the enemy knows that, but you must be intentional and disciplined to starve that desire, and this can only be done by feeding on the word to drive out unforgiveness and make room to hear God's voice.
