Forgiveness is the way to be set free.

John 15 : 12 states “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”.Matthew 6 : 9 to 13 We have probably all repeated this prayer a million times. We have maybe also studied this prayer over and over again. Yet in all sincerity, many of us have missed one very important little statement in this prayer, or we have noticed it and have not realised the power of it.Now are you ready to start receiving the true power of being in  total obedience to God?The three most powerful words in the universe are ” I Forgive You”.

In the beginning we talked about the greatest commandment being that you love one another. Now how about that person that wronged you at some time in your life. Have you forgiven them totally? Are you still holding some bad feelings towards them? And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Another translation :-
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. In order for God to forgive us, We have to first forgive others.Without first looking back and forgiving those in our past, we can not move forward into the true blessings that God has planned for us.Jesus then carries on immediately after the Lord’s prayer and highlights this to us.
Matthew 6 : 14 to 15.
” for if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”It does not matter how many times we ask God to forgive us, if we have not yet forgiven those who wronged us, God can not forgive us.
This does not only apply to forgiving your brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus does not mention brothers and sisters, He says forgive men their trespasses.I previously had a lady come to me for counselling. She was about to be placed  into a wheelchair as she was in the process of losing total use of her legs. We spoke to this lady for a while and then the Holy Spirit revealed to me that she had unforgiveness in her heart. It turned out that she had not ever forgiven her husband for something in their lives.
She felt that she could never forgive him. We impressed on her that she should just say the words a couple of times anyway (there is power in the spoken word). She agreed that she would just say the words even though she would not mean them as she felt that she could never forgive her husband.
After repeating the words ” I forgive him” the third time, a sudden glow started to come upon this lady. There was a new vigour as she said it a fourth time and by the fifth time she was jumping up and down with her legs completely healed.
I did not lay hands on her or pray for her.
She was healed purely through forgiving her husband. Her unforgiveness that she had held in her heart for all these years had eventually become physical sickness in her own body.

The second most powerful 3 words in the universe are “I Love You”.

Love is one of the greatest gifts that we can ever give or receive. We were born to give and receive love. In fact we crave love. The whole world is driven around love and of course the devils version of love, which is called “Lust”.

There is a very slight distinction between love and lust.
” Love is when you will do anything at your own expense to satisfy the needs of someone else”.  
” Lust is when you will do anything at someone else’s expense to satisfy your own needs”. 
No wonder our world is in a shambles and that divorce is so rife. The devil got in and perverted the greatest gift of all, Love.

I pose a question to you, ” Do you know what it is to love, and is it the love that Jesus is calling us to show and do“.  I want to take you through a prayer that we all know. The Lord’s Prayer :-

Our Father in heaven
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts
as we forgive our debtors
and do not lead us into temptation
But deliver us from the evil one
For yours is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever

Amen                                     

 In the prayer above we have many requests to God to supply to our needs etc, but there is only one that comes with a condition attached. Look carefully.

The prayer says “forgive us our trespasses – as we forgive those who trespass against us.” WE can only be forgiven by God, if we forgive others.

 Unforgiveness in your heart is like having an open wound. If you leave the wound unattended, it will quickly turn septic. Many major physical sicknesses stem from unforgiveness in your heart. It may be something from years ago, but it sticks there and goes septic until you treat it and disinfect it with forgiveness.

In order to truely love, you need to first be able to truely forgive. How does God forgive you. You ask him to forgive you and he forgives you. When you go to him two minutes later and say “God, remember that thing I asked you to forgive me of”. God replies “What thing”!  God wipes it from memory as soon as he has forgiven you, it no longer exists.

Sorry, but to say ” I will forgive, but I will never forget” just does not work. If you do not forget you have never actually forgiven. Love covers all sins, which means that love hides them.

Now go, I pray, in the name of Jesus. Sow your true Christian love to all around you, and forgive all the trespasses against you, in the mighty name of Jesus.