The Power of Forgiveness
By Don Vess
There is perhaps no power that is greater than the power of forgiveness!
Psalm 32:1 NIV- Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.2 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
God has forgiven us
Not only has He forgiven all our sins, He has given us the same
Paul wrote this phrase to the church at Ephesus and the practically repeated it in hi His letter to the Colossians, Col 3:12-13 Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowances for each other’s faults (it’s going to happen!), and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Apart from the Lord forgiving us of all our sins, perhaps there is no other account of total forgiveness being demonstrated than when Joseph forgave his brother in Genesis 37:1-50:26- the account of Joseph-
Joseph had been the favorite son of his father, but he had a tender heart toward God. His brothers were jealous of Joseph because of his father’s favorable treatment of Joseph over them. Joseph worshipped God and God gave him dreams of the future and when Joseph shared his dreams with his brothers they were furious because God has showed Joseph that his brothers and his entire family would eventually bow down and serve him. Not the kind of news you would want to hear from a brother that was “Daddy’s favorite.” So they decided to kill him. But his brother Rueben, not wanting to kill him, said, lets just throw him into one of the empty cisterns and let him die on his own. So they did, but as they were getting ready to leave him behind a group of Ishmaelite traders traveling down to Egypt loaded with trade goods came along. Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? His blood would just give us a guilty conscience. Instead, of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders.” So that’s what they did, and then killed a goat and put his blood on the coat of Joseph, took it to his father Jacob a lied to him, telling his his son had died from a wild animal attack.
Joseph was consequently sold into slavery to Potiphar, captain of the guard for Pharaoh, king of Egypt. But: Genesis 39:2 The Lord was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did. Potiphar grew to trust Joseph so much he put him in charge of his all his house and business matters. But, Potiphar’s wife took a liking to Joseph in the wrong way and desired him sexually, so much that she began to make unwanted advances to Joseph and wouldn’t be denied. One day, she attempted to seduce him and when Joseph denied her advances, she grabbed hold of his robe and tried to pull him to her. Joseph slipped out of his robe and ran out of the house and got away, leaving his cloak with her. She kept the cloak as evidence and made false accusations of rape to her husband Potiphar who had Joseph thrown into prison. There the Lord again gave him favor and he soon became a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, Joseph was put in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in prison (Genesis 29:22).
Joseph spent twelve years in prison. But while he was there, he overheard two men talking about dreams they had. Joseph interpreted their dreams. One of them, the former chief cup-bearer to the king told Joseph his dream, and Joseph interpreted and told the man he would be restored to his former position. The other man, the chief baker, saw how Joseph gave a favorable interpretation to the cupbearer told Joseph his dream. The interpretation wasn’t good. He would be executed. Joseph told the cupbearer that when he was restored to remember him and put in a good word to the Pharaoh for him. But when the man was restored, he forgot about Joseph for two more years. That was, until Pharaoh had a couple of disturbing dreams: fat cows-skinny cows, and healthy stalk of grain with seven healthy heads grain and seven shriveled, withered grains. Then the man remembered Joseph and how he had interpreted his dream. Joseph was summoned and to Pharaoh who told Joseph his dreams and Joseph interpreted them: Seven years of plenty, seven years of famine. This led to Joseph becoming governor of all of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. Joseph’s brothers, whose family was suffering from the famine went to Egypt to buy grain and had to buy it from Joseph. Joseph tested his brothers and after revealing himself to them and finally getting to be restored to his father, and now his father had passed.
Genesis 50:14 NLT- After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father’s burial. 15 But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said. So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So, we the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.” When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. 18 Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said. 19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.”
Romans 12:17-21 NEVER pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 19 Dear friends, NEVER TAKE REVENGE. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge, I will pay them back,” says the Lord. 20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap coals of shame on their heads.”
21 Don’t let evil
2 Kings 6:23 NLT Elisha was supernaturally being given the positions of the enemy armies by God. In this account of the invading Aramean armies, Elisha is with his servant, and they have gone outside and see all kinds of soldiers and horses surrounding the city of Samaria, and his servant says, “What will we do now?” Elisha says, “Don’t be afraid, for there are more on our side than on their!” Elisha prayed and the Lord opened his servant’s eyes and he saw the whole hillside filled with horses and chariots of fire. Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please make them (the Aramean soldiers) blind.” So the Lord struck them with blindness. Elisha went out and told them, “You’ve gone the wrong way.” And led them into the city of Samaria. As Soon as they entered the city, Elisha prayed again, “O Lord, now open their eyes and let them see.” So, the Lord opened their eyes and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”
“Of course not!” Elisha said. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home to their master.” So, the king made a great feast for them and sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel.
Prov. 16:7 NKJV -When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him..
Forgiveness
Are you ready to be set free?