By M. Fontaine
Download Audio (9.9MB)
Forgiveness is one of those beautiful spiritual principles that works no matter who is preaching or practicing it. Even those of other faiths or beliefs find that forgiveness is the right choice—that if they choose to forgive, it brings blessings into their lives—happiness, relief, healing, peace.
Forgiveness, and the freedom and healing it brings into your life when you choose to forgive, is one of the spiritual laws that God has put in place to govern our actions in this life. It’s like the principles of gratitude, giving, or humility. You don’t have to know Jesus or be a Christian to see those spiritual principles work wonders in your life. God made it that way, because when people choose to forgive, they are choosing to love in spite of pain, to humble their pride and take what seems like the lower seat, to let go of resentment and revenge and retribution. God blesses those choices and there are clear rewards attached to them.
However, as you know, choosing to forgive is hard. It’s not easy to forgive; it goes against human inclination and pride and the desire for fairness. When you’ve been hurt, it’s not easy to let go of the hurt or move past it. Especially for someone who doesn’t have much love in their life, or doesn’t know God’s love, it’s practically a miracle when they can find the strength to forgive. In fact, it is a miracle. It’s a miracle of love, a miracle of divine strength.
Whether someone has a relationship with Jesus or not, when they are trying to forgive, in a sense, their spirit reaches out to God, and He hears their cry and throws His power behind them to help them have the strength to choose rightly. Even if they aren’t consciously crying out to Him, if they want to forgive, they are in essence choosing God’s love, humility, truth, and mercy—attributes of God’s Spirit—through their choice to forgive, and God honors that and blesses and rewards them for it.
If those who don’t know Jesus can make the choice to forgive, how much more should we, who have received and experienced Jesus’ ultimate love and forgiveness, be compelled to give forgiveness freely to those who have wronged us?
There are so many opportunities when we have to make the choice to forgive. Life is full of them. From little idiosyncrasies on someone’s part, to unintentional hurts, to repeated mistakes, to willful wrongs, to actual evil and malice, or actions with irreparable consequences, the choice is still the same, and it’s still in our court—we can choose whether to forgive. And whether the transgression was a big one or a small one, forgiveness allows us to heal and move on, whereas a lack of forgiveness will stop our growth and will eventually start to poison our spirit.
Choosing to forgive is not something you have to feel like doing. You don’t have to feel that the person deserves forgiveness. They don’t even have to be sorry or acknowledge that they’ve done anything wrong.
Forgiveness is something we do for ourselves, and we do it for Jesus. We do it because it’s the only way to heal. We do it because it will help us to be happier; it will set us free from resentment, bitterness, and misery. And we do it for Jesus because He gave everything for us so that we could be forgiven, so how can we do any less? He took the sins of the world on His shoulders so that He could forgive any sin—past, present, or future; small, major, or absolutely devastating. His forgiveness knows no limits. With all that He has given for us, can we place a limit on what we will give to others?
If there is anything in your past that you haven’t been able to forgive, I pray that reading the following words received in prophecy will be an encouragement to you in your journey toward forgiveness. After all, Jesus said that in order to be forgiven, you must forgive.
You may wonder if, when you forgive, that means you’re saying that you’re okay with what happened, even though with all your heart and soul you disagree with what took place, you hate it, you can’t stand it, and you would get even with the one who caused it if it were in your power. And what if the individual is not repentant? What if they’re not sorry or haven’t shown any signs of remorse or wanting to make things right? What if they are continuing to hurt others? Must you still forgive?
Try to forget about the other person, try to forget about the loss; simply look to Me. Remember that I love you, that I died for you, and that you are in My care. No matter what has happened to you or hurt you, you are Mine, and I can make things right again. Remember that this life is only a vapor, only for a little while, and that the suffering of this present time cannot be compared with the glories of the world beyond.1
Fix your thoughts on Me and meditate on My power, greatness, and love, until you are confident of My love and care for you despite what does or doesn’t happen to you on earth. Remember that your life is not intended to be a paradise of only good. As I said, “in the world you shall have tribulation.”2 Remember this, so that you don’t become angry at Me for how I have or haven’t intervened in your life. If you feel angry at Me, tell Me so. That’s okay. I want to hear from your heart, even if it is a confused jumble of sorrow and anger. I’m here for you, even if you feel angry at Me.
It really helps if you are secure in the knowledge that I love you and can work all things together for good in your life.3 You don’t have to know why, you don’t have to understand why certain things happen in your life; you only have to believe that I am love, that no matter what happens in this life I will work it all together for your good, and that I will never leave you or forsake you.4
If all you can do is repeat “God is love”5 over and over until you come to believe it, then that is a start. Remember that I am here, I love you, and I care for you. This is a matter of faith, a knowledge in your heart that I am the God of the universe, and that I am love, and that My love will never fail.
If you believe in My goodness and My ability to work all things together for your good, it will give you faith to forgive. Before you think about forgiving the one who has wronged you, make your peace with Me. You must come to know, like Job, that you can’t hold Me to an accounting and ask Me to explain Myself to you, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so are My ways above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts.6
My promises are there for you—promises of encouragement, comfort, rest, faith, and My eternal, unconditional love. Strengthen yourself in these things until you are fully able to believe in My love and My goodness. Then, while still putting the person and their actions aside, remind yourself of your desire for a pure heart, a heart free from hate, negativity, bitterness, anger, revenge, coldness, or anything else that would separate you from Me. Tell Me that you want a heart full of My light and My purity. Tell Me that you want a heart full of love. Think on how you desire and will need My mercy in your future, how you will need My forgiveness time and again, and that you don’t want to be denied that. Contemplate how you don’t want to be separated from Me in any way, or have any dark or closed-off portions of your heart. Remind yourself that you desire nothing but full oneness and communication with Me, without giving place to the Enemy in any way.7
Once you have decided this and you truly desire it, then forgiveness comes into focus. It’s not about telling anyone that you’re okay with what they did. It’s a sacred act between you and Me, an acknowledgment of My love and goodness, and a desire to have nothing in your heart that isn’t of Me. It’s giving someone else what I have already given you.
Then you can genuinely express from the heart that you forgive what has happened. You express—in words or in your heart—that something has happened to you, something sad or difficult or even terrible, and although you don’t like it, agree with it, or want it, you choose to forgive the people who caused it, to forsake any anger toward them, and to act as though they owe you nothing, because you are erasing the debt they have to you.
Although you may remember for some time, the resentment will fade. Although you may still feel pain for a while, you won’t be tempted to retaliate. Although you may be crushed and it will take time for your spirit to mend, you are surrendering to My love, and thus for God’s sake, and for your own sake, you extend others forgiveness in the name of Christ, who also forgave you.
This is an act of superhuman proportions. It may be one of the hardest things you will ever do. But once you make this decision to forgive, even in the quietness of your own heart, the liberating power of this act will immediately become apparent to you. You will be free, you will be right with Me. Although you may still be in pain, the evil of the action will lose its hold on you. You will have risen above and opened the door to restoration.
When you see it this way, it doesn’t matter whether the other person is sorry, or whether they meant to do it or not, or whether they have made appropriate reparations or not. It’s not about them. It’s about you and Me.
Originally published 2008. Updated and republished May 2013.
Read by Irene Quiti Vera.
1 James 4:14; Romans 8:18.
2 John 16:33.
3 Romans 8:28.
4 Hebrews 13:5.
5 1 John 4:8.
6 Isaiah 55:8–9.
7 Ephesians 4:27.
Download Audio (9.9MB)
Forgiveness is one of those beautiful spiritual principles that works no matter who is preaching or practicing it. Even those of other faiths or beliefs find that forgiveness is the right choice—that if they choose to forgive, it brings blessings into their lives—happiness, relief, healing, peace.
Forgiveness, and the freedom and healing it brings into your life when you choose to forgive, is one of the spiritual laws that God has put in place to govern our actions in this life. It’s like the principles of gratitude, giving, or humility. You don’t have to know Jesus or be a Christian to see those spiritual principles work wonders in your life. God made it that way, because when people choose to forgive, they are choosing to love in spite of pain, to humble their pride and take what seems like the lower seat, to let go of resentment and revenge and retribution. God blesses those choices and there are clear rewards attached to them.
However, as you know, choosing to forgive is hard. It’s not easy to forgive; it goes against human inclination and pride and the desire for fairness. When you’ve been hurt, it’s not easy to let go of the hurt or move past it. Especially for someone who doesn’t have much love in their life, or doesn’t know God’s love, it’s practically a miracle when they can find the strength to forgive. In fact, it is a miracle. It’s a miracle of love, a miracle of divine strength.
Whether someone has a relationship with Jesus or not, when they are trying to forgive, in a sense, their spirit reaches out to God, and He hears their cry and throws His power behind them to help them have the strength to choose rightly. Even if they aren’t consciously crying out to Him, if they want to forgive, they are in essence choosing God’s love, humility, truth, and mercy—attributes of God’s Spirit—through their choice to forgive, and God honors that and blesses and rewards them for it.
If those who don’t know Jesus can make the choice to forgive, how much more should we, who have received and experienced Jesus’ ultimate love and forgiveness, be compelled to give forgiveness freely to those who have wronged us?
There are so many opportunities when we have to make the choice to forgive. Life is full of them. From little idiosyncrasies on someone’s part, to unintentional hurts, to repeated mistakes, to willful wrongs, to actual evil and malice, or actions with irreparable consequences, the choice is still the same, and it’s still in our court—we can choose whether to forgive. And whether the transgression was a big one or a small one, forgiveness allows us to heal and move on, whereas a lack of forgiveness will stop our growth and will eventually start to poison our spirit.
Choosing to forgive is not something you have to feel like doing. You don’t have to feel that the person deserves forgiveness. They don’t even have to be sorry or acknowledge that they’ve done anything wrong.
Forgiveness is something we do for ourselves, and we do it for Jesus. We do it because it’s the only way to heal. We do it because it will help us to be happier; it will set us free from resentment, bitterness, and misery. And we do it for Jesus because He gave everything for us so that we could be forgiven, so how can we do any less? He took the sins of the world on His shoulders so that He could forgive any sin—past, present, or future; small, major, or absolutely devastating. His forgiveness knows no limits. With all that He has given for us, can we place a limit on what we will give to others?
If there is anything in your past that you haven’t been able to forgive, I pray that reading the following words received in prophecy will be an encouragement to you in your journey toward forgiveness. After all, Jesus said that in order to be forgiven, you must forgive.
You may wonder if, when you forgive, that means you’re saying that you’re okay with what happened, even though with all your heart and soul you disagree with what took place, you hate it, you can’t stand it, and you would get even with the one who caused it if it were in your power. And what if the individual is not repentant? What if they’re not sorry or haven’t shown any signs of remorse or wanting to make things right? What if they are continuing to hurt others? Must you still forgive?
Try to forget about the other person, try to forget about the loss; simply look to Me. Remember that I love you, that I died for you, and that you are in My care. No matter what has happened to you or hurt you, you are Mine, and I can make things right again. Remember that this life is only a vapor, only for a little while, and that the suffering of this present time cannot be compared with the glories of the world beyond.1
Fix your thoughts on Me and meditate on My power, greatness, and love, until you are confident of My love and care for you despite what does or doesn’t happen to you on earth. Remember that your life is not intended to be a paradise of only good. As I said, “in the world you shall have tribulation.”2 Remember this, so that you don’t become angry at Me for how I have or haven’t intervened in your life. If you feel angry at Me, tell Me so. That’s okay. I want to hear from your heart, even if it is a confused jumble of sorrow and anger. I’m here for you, even if you feel angry at Me.
It really helps if you are secure in the knowledge that I love you and can work all things together for good in your life.3 You don’t have to know why, you don’t have to understand why certain things happen in your life; you only have to believe that I am love, that no matter what happens in this life I will work it all together for your good, and that I will never leave you or forsake you.4
If all you can do is repeat “God is love”5 over and over until you come to believe it, then that is a start. Remember that I am here, I love you, and I care for you. This is a matter of faith, a knowledge in your heart that I am the God of the universe, and that I am love, and that My love will never fail.
If you believe in My goodness and My ability to work all things together for your good, it will give you faith to forgive. Before you think about forgiving the one who has wronged you, make your peace with Me. You must come to know, like Job, that you can’t hold Me to an accounting and ask Me to explain Myself to you, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so are My ways above your ways, and My thoughts above your thoughts.6
My promises are there for you—promises of encouragement, comfort, rest, faith, and My eternal, unconditional love. Strengthen yourself in these things until you are fully able to believe in My love and My goodness. Then, while still putting the person and their actions aside, remind yourself of your desire for a pure heart, a heart free from hate, negativity, bitterness, anger, revenge, coldness, or anything else that would separate you from Me. Tell Me that you want a heart full of My light and My purity. Tell Me that you want a heart full of love. Think on how you desire and will need My mercy in your future, how you will need My forgiveness time and again, and that you don’t want to be denied that. Contemplate how you don’t want to be separated from Me in any way, or have any dark or closed-off portions of your heart. Remind yourself that you desire nothing but full oneness and communication with Me, without giving place to the Enemy in any way.7
Once you have decided this and you truly desire it, then forgiveness comes into focus. It’s not about telling anyone that you’re okay with what they did. It’s a sacred act between you and Me, an acknowledgment of My love and goodness, and a desire to have nothing in your heart that isn’t of Me. It’s giving someone else what I have already given you.
Then you can genuinely express from the heart that you forgive what has happened. You express—in words or in your heart—that something has happened to you, something sad or difficult or even terrible, and although you don’t like it, agree with it, or want it, you choose to forgive the people who caused it, to forsake any anger toward them, and to act as though they owe you nothing, because you are erasing the debt they have to you.
Although you may remember for some time, the resentment will fade. Although you may still feel pain for a while, you won’t be tempted to retaliate. Although you may be crushed and it will take time for your spirit to mend, you are surrendering to My love, and thus for God’s sake, and for your own sake, you extend others forgiveness in the name of Christ, who also forgave you.
This is an act of superhuman proportions. It may be one of the hardest things you will ever do. But once you make this decision to forgive, even in the quietness of your own heart, the liberating power of this act will immediately become apparent to you. You will be free, you will be right with Me. Although you may still be in pain, the evil of the action will lose its hold on you. You will have risen above and opened the door to restoration.
When you see it this way, it doesn’t matter whether the other person is sorry, or whether they meant to do it or not, or whether they have made appropriate reparations or not. It’s not about them. It’s about you and Me.
Originally published 2008. Updated and republished May 2013.
Read by Irene Quiti Vera.
1 James 4:14; Romans 8:18.
2 John 16:33.
3 Romans 8:28.
4 Hebrews 13:5.
5 1 John 4:8.
6 Isaiah 55:8–9.
7 Ephesians 4:27.
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