Sunday, October 8, 2023 AM
RETURN TO HOLINESS: Sin of Anger (pt 7) Steps to Forgiveness
Mike Teel, Pastor
Focal Passage:
1 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. —Philippians 2:1-4
TO FORGIVING OTHERS
(Taken from Charles Stanley’s Book on Forgiveness and added my embellishment.)
Please remember from last week we said: Forgiveness is a process not and event!
UNDERSTAND WHAT FORGIVENESS IS NOT …
–IS NOT … JUSTIFICATION: Justifying, understanding, or explaining why the person acted toward you as he or she did.
–IS NOT … FORGETTING: Just forgetting about the offense and trusting time to take care of it.
–IS NOT … INTERCESSION: Just you asking God to forgive the person who hurt you.
–IS NOT … REPENTANCE: Just asking God to forgive you for being angry or resentful against the person who offended you but genuinely seeking reconciliation.
–IS NOT … DENIAL: Denying that you were really hurt; after all there are others who have suffered more. I’m OKAY!
Forgiveness is not … Justification, Forgetting, Intercession, Repentance or Denial
STEPS TO CONSIDER …
(These are suggestions from Dr. Stanley on forgiveness.)
–REFLECTION: Select a time and place when you can be alone for a season of time to work through the emotions and hurts of the offenses.
–CONFRONTATION: How do we proceed? It is possible it may at times be unwise to forgive face to face. Our purpose is not to make the other person feel “put down” and make us look holier-than-thou.
–EXAMINATION: Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to bring to your mind all the people you need to forgive and the event(s) you need to forgive.
–SUBSTITUTION: There are times when actually engaging with the perpetrator is not possible because of life’s circumstances (death, distance, desire, etc.).
–INCORPORATION: If the person is still a part of your life, now is a good time to accept the individual without wanting to change aspects of personality or behavior.
–CONFESSION: Now it is time to confess and rely upon God’s grace and goodness as we finalize our dealing with forgiving others.
—This comes in the form of two prayers, which are vital and extremely important.
—Pray. This is a suggested prayer to pray as you “talk” to each person or “work” through your forgiveness:
Because I am forgiven and accepted by Christ, I can now forgive and accept you, , unconditionally in Christ. I choose now to forgive you, , no matter what you did to me. I release you from the hurts (take time to name the hurts), and you are no longer accountable to me for them. You are free.
—When you have finished praying through the hurts you have suffered, pray this prayer of faith:
Lord Jesus, by faith, I receive Your unconditional love and acceptance in the place of this hurt, and I trust You to meet all my needs. I take authority over the Enemy and in the name of Jesus, I take back the ground I have allowed Satan to gain in my life because of my attitude toward. Right now, I give this ground back to the Lord Jesus Christ to whom it rightfully belongs.
LIVE IT OUT
My appeal this week is similar to last week:
—What grievous violation do you need to release to the Lord today?
—Who do you need to approach and seek reconciliation?
—Remember God first forgave you with no boundaries attached to it.