Introspectively Speaking…

We live in a world that focuses on the faults and shortcomings of those around us… Grudge holding, is that you?  Still holding hurts of years gone past and in doing so, allowing yourself to be held captive to the pain of “their fault!” or “should have, would have, could haves but didn’ts…”:   Or maybe you are so envious of someone else and their lifestyle choices that you have made them the “bad guy” in your life… The reason why you didn’t “do this or that” because it is THEIR fault.

Who is getting the glory for that type of thinking?  It certainly isn’t God… Have you been held captive in a prison of perception that you have helped the enemy create?  Sometimes the walls that are built around us are made of stones that we ourselves have put up and maybe as you read these words, Holy Spirit is telling you that it is time to tear them down.  In conceding to Holy Spirit the breaking down of that wall of thinking can be painful, but the end results are freeing and healing and if you allow Holy Spirit to assist you, the outcome is one that will fill you with the peace that passes ALL understanding.

But it has to be a choice, a decision that you make…  And it is one where in the removing EACH emotional brick that you have put up requires introspection, prayer and forgiveness – either for you to give yourself or for you to give someone else who may not even be asking you to forgive them.  The hardest thing is having to forgive someone anyways.  Jesus did it time and time again – forgave others who never saw the wrong they did Him.  Never asked Him to forgive them.  He tells us we must do the same…  Colossians 3:13 tells us:

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

someone reading this is saying as they read these words, “but they did this to me… They did that…” God’s answer is STILL the same… FORGIVE.

I have unsaved loved ones in my life that have hurt me deeply and don’t seem to care that they have hurt me.  In fact, it probably hasn’t even crossed their mind the hurt they have caused me because they have been so focused upon themselves.  They don’t know Jesus, so they are unaware or concerned over anyone but themselves and how they feel.   God tells me to forgive them.  Here is how my conversation with Father God went:

“But Father, they hurt me over and over again.”

“FORGIVE THEM.”

“But Father, they are WRONG about me.”

“FORGIVE THEM.  Why does it matter to you what they think about you?  What did I tell you in Luke 12:53?  I told it to you for a reason a time such as this.”

“They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

“Did I not tell you in Luke 23:34:

“Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

“My grace is sufficient.  Keep your eyes focused upon ME.  I have saved you for such a time as this.”

We get to choose if we are going to listen to Holy Spirit and allow God’s good and perfect will to occur in our lives, by walking IN His forgiveness, or whether we are going to remain captive to the opinions, thoughts and behaviors of others. It is not easy to forgive, especially if you have been wronged or judged unfairly, but the only way for God to allow healing to occur and for us not to allow   bitterness to take root is to pull up EVERY hurt from the soil of US and give it to the One who forgave US.  Hand it over to Him, even if you have to name EACH hurt as you tear them down and pull them out.  Allowing God to replace it with His love, His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness, His healing.  It IS a decision we get to make and we can’t let pride or stubbornness get in the way of what God wants to do in our lives. Submission to the Word of God is a growth process.  Healing is a choice.  In order to go forward in God’s good and perfect will and not remain “stuck” behind a prison of hurt that we have allowed to stay us, we need to tear down each brick of unforgiveness and allow God to replace it with His healing love.  This IS a process and as Holy Spirit reveals the hurts (and this can be an ongoing process in your walk with Him as Holy Spirit shows you as you grow in Him areas that you need to turn over to Him) it is not a one-time thing.  Will you pray with me?

“Father God, throughout my walk with You I know You are having me discover areas of my life that need Your healing touch.  My first inclination when I come to one, is to turn away because it is too painful to uproot.  But I know that in order to be in the center of Your good and perfect will, I have to face those areas that pain me, so that You can heal me and it won’t be a trigger in my life anymore.  I can’t do this on my own, I need Your help.  When Holy Spirit reveals these areas within me, help me to have the strength to face them, give me wisdom on how to remove them – be it in the forgiving the ones who have hurt me or in the forgiving myself for a wrong I have done in my life.  Help me to focus on YOUR good and perfect will and how it is YOU want me to proceed and not the opinions and thoughts of those that it involves.  Help me to have the strength to walk in the forgiveness that YOU constantly bestow upon the areas of ME that need to change.  YOUR grace, YOUR mercy, YOUR love.  Help me to have the same for others and to remember (especially when it comes to those that are unsaved and therefore unaware or unconcerned of how they treat me) to walk in forgiveness and intercession.  I cannot do this on my own strength, Father I need Yours.  Take away the smarting and the remembrance of the offense so that when I examine it, I can do so from a viewpoint other than pain.  Give me the same compassion and mindset that You have bestowed upon me so that YOU WILL be glorified in my life and in the situation and so that the situation will not be a stumbling block for me anymore, keeping me from going forward in my life with You.  And in doing so, allowing me to go higher in my walk with You Father.  I thank You Holy Spirit for revealing what needs to be revealed and helping me to face it.  I thank You for healing and for the ability to tear down any strongholds be it with my attitude or with harboring unforgiveness. Please free me Holy Spirit and help me to get beyond it so that YOU may be glorified.  I thank You for all You are showing me, ALL You are doing in my life.  I desire most of all that YOU would be glorified and that through ALL of this, those (especially those that have hurt me) will see YOU in me and will be drawn to YOU through my actions and responses in obedience.  In Jesus name I pray. AMEN”

Our walk with God will always be one of revelation, especially if we are TRULY seeking to be in the center of His will for our lives.  He didn’t say it would be easy, but He DID say it would be worth it. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says:

“Our suffering is light and temporary and is producing for us an eternal glory that is greater than anything we can imagine.”

and in 1 Peter 1:6-7:

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuiness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

There is no greater joy than obeying Holy Spirit by listening, receiving and acting upon ALL that He reveals to us as our Teacher, our Comforter and our Guide in order to bring us into a closer walk with Him. May His good and perfect will be done in EACH of our lives.  In Jesus’ precious name, AMEN.