Forgiveness!
John 20:21-23 “So JESUS said to
them again, ‘Peace to you! As The Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ When He
has said this He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive The HOLY
SPIRIT! If you Forgive the sins of any, they are Forgiven them; if you retain
the sins of any, they are retained.’”
Have you ever thought what that
means, we have the authority to forgive or not forgive someone’s sin?*
James 5:13-16 “Is anyone among you
suffering? Let him pray! Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms! Is anyone
among you sick? Let him call upon the Elders of the Church, and let them Pray
over them, anointing them with oil in The Name of The LORD. The Prayer of Faith
will Save the sick and The LORD will Raise them up. If they have committed sins
they will be Forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another and Pray for one
another, that you may be healed! The Effective, Fervent Prayer of a Righteous
person avails much.”
See how repentance (which starts
with confession), prayer and forgiveness work together to bring healing and
recovery?
1 John 2:1-2 “My little children
these things I write to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have an
Advocate with The father, JESUS CHRIST The righteous! He Himself is the
Propitation (Mercy Seat) for our sins and not for ours only but also for the
whole world!” John 1:29
We have to have at least one
person in our life who is a mature Christian who we trust our life to; it may
or may not be a pastor or church leader. Someone we can confess our sins to!
*JESUS told us if we do not
forgive someone who sins against us then our Father in Heaven would not forgive
our sins, Matthew 6:13-14. How do we reconcile this? In Matthew 6:13-14 JESUS is talking about
someone sinning against us as this follows 6:9-12 where JESUS teaches us to ask
for forgiveness for our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
There is a point in a person’s
life that prayer for them is not valid, Romans 1:18-24; 1 Timothy 4:4-5. The
reality is that we have the authority in JESUS CHRIST to not Forgive sin, of
those who do not sin against us personally but whose sinful life is so dark
they seem and proclaim that they are unredeemable, Matthew 7:15-20; 1
Corinthians 5; 2 Timothy 3:1-9.
Remember Matthew 7:1-2, 12 “Judge not, that
you be not judged! For with the Judgment you Judge, you will be Judged; and
with the measure you use it will be measured back to you….Therefore, whatever
you want people to do to you, do also to them, for this is The Law and The
Prophets.”
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