The Power of "I Forgive You"

Genesis 50:15-21

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. Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said.

But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 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. No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

Good morning everyone!

Today I woke up with "I Forgive You" on my heart. And I realized that there is such an enormous amount of power in those words. A power that not only heals the person that you are forgiving, but, it heals you. You really feel the weight of whatever the issue was, lift right off of you immediately. If you still feel it on you, you did not really forgive. You just said some words.

Now please don't let the enemy use the power of forgiving against you. Sometimes, someone does not repent for whatever they may have done. But you need to forgive them anyways. You can't just walk up to a person and say I forgive you because they will come back to you with "I didn't do anything wrong, so I had nothing to apologize for." Nothing worse than having an apology or forgiveness rejected and thrown back in your face. Believe me, I know. Sometimes, the person that is in the wrong, really won't apologize. Something that I think is useful in those times is telling them "I forgive us both. Me for not realizing where I was wrong, I want to be able to do/say things correctly. And I forgive you for maybe not knowing/realizing xxx." That is just a more approachable way of doing it. But you have to use judgment. Not all people are receptive to this concept. Sometimes YOU DO need to forgive someone in your heart and mind, and they may never know that you forgave them. But guess what, God does.

The ideal way that things would go, is the person who wronged you (or you yourself, if you were the wrong person) will honestly repent and apologize, and you say or show them that you forgive them. We all know that when you are wrong, you need to make it right. And step one is always that you need to repent and apologize to that person. But the other side of that is that the person should release you and just forgive you. I know the feeling of being the one in the wrong, and you repent and ask for forgiveness, and that is where it is left. You really don't know if you were forgiven. It's almost like the days, weeks and months just keep going and you are left in a box. It's not that hard to say "I forgive you" or "It's ok". Or just let the person know that you won't hold them in condemnation or try to wrong them back (get even), as Joseph told his brothers in the passage above. Or if you aren't a person like Joseph, to be of many words, if someone asks for forgiveness for something, something as simple as a hug can let someone know that they are forgiven.

Repenting and Forgiveness are so important in life, because those 2 things alone, hold our hearts hostage, or set us free. I don't know about you, but I like to live my life Free. Free to Love. Free To Serve. Free to Give. What does your repentance, and especially your forgiveness look like to you?

Be blessed, I love you all!!!!

Ana