THE WEEKLY WORD FROM Reverend Dr. William W. Easley, Jr., B.S., M.Div., D.D., LL.D. When Life Hits You Hard Trusting God When Life Knocks You Down It’s Good For Us! “Letting go of a grudge is good for your health, writes Sheryl Giesbrecht, author of Get Back Up: Trusting God When Life Knocks You Down … “Grudges increase tension and stress, deplete energy, cause isolation, and prevent old wounds from healing. Grudges steal joy, disrupt sleep, and harden hearts and arteries. Such bitter emotions can even get in the way of prayers. Resentment keeps us in chains unless we recognize it as bitterness. Give up the grudge and our right to get even, and we will gain peace, sound mind, and a restful sleep.” “We can train our minds to refuse to keep score of the wrongs others have committed against us through the power of God’s word,” writes Giesbrecht. “Remember that 1 Corinthians 13:5 says, ‘Love keeps no record of wrongs.’ We must not keep lists of anything that has hurt, angered, offended, or wronged us. It’s only through God’s power this is possible. Evagrius Ponticus said, ‘Resentment casts a cloud over your prayers … if you collect injuries and resentments and think you can still pray, you would probably put water in a bucket full of holes!’" “We give God permission to do whatever He wants with us when we choose forgiveness instead of bitterness. This is one of the most difficult steps of faith we will ever take. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ‘Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a permanent attitude.’ Forgiveness should actually begin at the time of the offense. Forgiveness is the only way to follow God in faith.” It helps to take these four steps toward getting rid of the grudge. Step 1: Confess it “We must agree with God about our sin,” writes Giesbrecht. “Blunt honesty can be difficult. It takes a little time to sort out injured feelings. It is essential before we can be healed of an unforgiving spirit. Consider Romans 2:4: ‘Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kingdom and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?’ We show God how we respond to His loving kindness through a sincere desire to get rid of the grudge. The result: in good conscience we admit our sin and humbly repent. Step 2: Let go of it “We must release our hurt and hate to God. This means giving up our control of the situation and its outcome to Him. We choose to release the offending person when we give him over to our Heavenly Father. Letting go of the grudge means we are choosing not to hold a person accountable for the debt we feel he owes.” Step 3: Name it “Dr. Neil T. Anderson said, ‘Unless forgiveness visits the core of your emotions, it is incomplete.’ God has wired us with a need to constantly get rid of pent-up hurt and hate. This purging of the soul restores our right relationship with Him; it’s good for us spiritually, physically, and emotionally. We allow Him to do a deep work in us when we name the emotion, identify our feelings, and privately turn them over to God.” “Someone at work, for instance, has made a sarcastic, hurtful comment. You feel hostile, bitter, and resentful. Those are attitudes God wants our permission to change in us. He can change us by exposing our weaknesses; if we are sensitive to Him and cooperate with His will, He can use times of struggle for His glory. He can make us better instead of bitter. I recommend using a simple prayer I learned from Dr. Neil T. Anderson to help you understand and experience how forgiveness can visit the core of your emotions. It goes like this: ‘Dear God, I forgive (fill in the person’s name)_______________for making me feel (describe how you felt at the time of the offense. List every emotion, allowing God to mentally take you back to the time it happened) _______________.’” “Ask God to help you forgive every painful memory and every person associated with it. And then close with this prayer: ‘Lord, I release all these people into Your hands. I relinquish my right to seek revenge. I choose not to hold on to the hurt and the hate. I let go of my anger and bitterness. Please heal my damaged emotions. In Jesus’s name, Amen.’” Step 4: Believe it “We give ourselves a gift when we receive God’s forgiveness,” writes Giesbrecht in Get Back Up: Trusting God When Life Knocks You Down. Have you ever asked God to forgive you, and He’s said, ‘No, sorry, you’ve run out of forgiveness coupons for today.’ Absolutely NOT! Jesus was asked, ‘How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Not seven times, but seventy-seven times’ (Matthew 18:21–22). God will always forgive us, and, in the same way, we must forgive others.”
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 12:13:56 +0000
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