The Power of Un-forgiveness!

Unforgiveness is a cancer to your soul. It slowly destroys your life and any hope for your future. Cancer causes rapid cell growth, while other cells grow and divide at a slower rate. Cancerous cells can cause forms of tumors, impair the immune system and other changes that prevent the body from functioning regularly. A cancerous cell may appear to be in one area while spreading to other areas. Unforgiveness can take root into your life and cause afflictions, and blur perception, preventing you from functioning at full capacity. Unforgiveness will appear only to affect one area of your life while affecting work relationships, personal relationships, and building new relationships. It can lay dormant until someone or something feeds the fuel it needs to activate. Some of the common things that causes unforgiveness are someone hurting your feelings, being lied on, or lied too, cheated on, betray, disrespected and abandonment. I find it ironic that cancer reacts in the same form. It lays dormant. It can be years lying dormant. Cancer cells can switch from a dormant state to become an active tumor, but the size of tumors can be limited by the amount of blood supply, which is needed to provide oxygen and nutrients for cell growth. That’s like unforgiveness. You know how your best friend may have done something to you, you thought was unforgiveable. Now you’re not speaking to one another. Then a year later you and your sister have a unforgiveable agreement. You’re not speaking to her either. The employee that just got hired gets the promotion you been working toward for two years.

Before you know it unforgiveness has the oxygen it needs to be active. You might be thinking what’s the oxygen? Well let’s start with bitterness, the feeling of discontentment, resentment, anger, hurt feelings, jealousy, lack of appreciation and disrespect. Instead of dealing with our feelings we use clichés like; “I’ll forgive them, but I won't forget.” “It doesn’t matter; I don’t care.” “I don’t have time for them; I need to move on.” In the meanwhile, unforgiveness lays dormant in us undetected. While the pain of some ones actions and words affects your life. Somehow, we think if we ignore the person or situation, it goes away. However, this is how unforgiveness takes root in us. When you do not make time to self-care for your needs and feelings, you are harming yourself, not the person who hurt you. The bible says, in Ephesians 4:26, “Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” God wants us to acknowledge how we feel. However, God also wants you to address the issue before you lay your head down to sleep. Taking these steps has become my way of life. I stop to acknowledge how someone’s action or the situation makes me feel. A quick prayer, always! Then self - examine with open-ended questions to myself. “Why did that make me feel that way?” Check my state of mind at the time of the offense. Once I’ve finished the steps, I determine if I need to address the person or issue. Then I let it go! Be mindful to check for any sign of residue. Remember you want to get all the cancer out. The best way to do that is to pull out the whole root. You may be asking, How do I check to ensure there’s no residue. When you think about the issue of how it makes you feel? When the person walks into the room, does it change your mood? Do you mumble under your breath when you see them? Do you take opportunities to speak negatively about them or the issue? Are you free to move on? Are there any questions left unanswered. Taking these steps or self-reflection may seem unnecessary; however, it is how you pull out the root — not allowing unforgiveness to grow. No fuel, No life! Food for Thought: Have you ever given it any thought if God was to hold unforgiveness over us for all the time, we’ve let him down? On the other hand, forgave us but not forgotten. How about the time we had other gods before him. When turning our backs on him, denied him, took him for granted, broken promises, lied to him, cheated on him, and used his name in vain. What a burden he would have to carry. As I’m writing this, I began to get heavy pressure in my lower back with sharp pain. As if some was standing on my shoulders. Weighted down all I could do is take a deep breath in hopes of a release of the pain. I would imagine God feeling the weight of pressure on his shoulders and lower sharp pain in his back as he attempts to complete the work his Father called him but unable to forgive us. How difficult that would have been. That’s what we do. We go through our journey of life trying to fulfill God’s purpose but we’re so weighed down with unforgiveness and stuff we can’t reach our promise. Our anointing is tainted with residue, so there’s no real authority. But the bible says, Matthew 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Go to God, give all your pain, disappointment, and he’ll give you rest (peace). Take up his ways and learn of him. He is love. Through his love, your soul will be at peace. His yoke is easy, and his burden is light. Does that mean your life will be without pain and suffering? Not! But, God’s love will provide you a peace that passes all understanding. So forgive the person that touched you inappropriately, betrayed you, cheated on you, lied on you, abandoned you, forgot about you, misused you, took you for granted, called you out your name, jealous of your achievements, mean to you because of your ministries, your anointing, and reputation. I can go on and on. So forgive, forget, forgive, forget, and forgive some more. Forgiveness is for your freedom and healing. Hebrews 8:12 says, For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." God's Love DHJ