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Day 5 - Holding on to Unforgiveness and Offense:

Months ago the LORD shared with me some age-old tactics used by the enemy that he would "ramp up" in the season to come to attack the Bride of Christ. Control, manipulation, orphan mentalities, Jezebel, and unforgiveness/offense. Today we are going to talk about the latter.

This will be a tough read but we MUST examine ourselves. A true fast includes examining ourselves and seeing what needs to be rooted out of us. PROVERBS 19:11 says, "Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense." 

We cannot control what other people do or say to us, we can only control what we do and say to others and if there ever comes a point where we are holding on to unforgiveness or offense, we are choosing to do that and it IS NOT of God. Whether we understand this or not, we have opened a door for the enemy. 

--Here comes the difficult statement--

If we say that we are a follower of Christ yet we hold on to unforgiveness and offense, we do not understand, or have lost sight of, what being a Christian is. I am reminded of the parable of the Unforgiving Debtor in MATTHEW 18:21-35. Even though the King forgave him of a massive debt, he refused to forgive a fellow servant of a MUCH smaller debt. The king found out and had him thrown in prison to be tortured. Jesus told this parable after Peter asked Him how many times he should forgive someone (answer = seventy times seven = always).

Brothers and sisters, my eyes fill with tears right now as I think of all the egregious sins in my past and how God has forgiven them ALL. What a massive debt I owed. A debt so large only the blood of Jesus, the spotless lamb, could cover. This does not become, "If God has forgiven me then I, too, must forgive others." Sure, that is true, but when we truly understand what God has done for us, it becomes our DESIRE to imitate Christ to others. 

Oh, and don't think for a moment I forgot the other group. I see you. How? Because I fall into this group. Forgiving others is a God-given gift and has become easy for me, relatively speaking. However, forgiving myself is another ball game completely. one I am still trying to learn the rules of. Hear me, if God has forgiven us, we must walk in that love and forgiveness, not just for others, but for ourselves. 

The Good News to all of this is that Jesus is waiting! He not only takes away the unforgiveness, the offense, the pain, and the heaviness, but He replaces it with love, joy, peace, and praise. He gives you a NEW SONG!

PRAYER FOCUS: Brothers and sisters, when our cup is bumped, what spills out reveals to us (and others) what is inside. That is why God is looking for empty vessels. let us pray for God to reveal any unforgiveness or offense that we are holding on to and if there is some, let us repent and put it on the altar. TODAY! No more holding on. Let us chop up this bitter root, in the Name of Jesus!

SCRIPTURE FOCUS: Galatians 5:19-26

p.s. I love you ALL dearly and want to see each of you grow closer and closer to the LORD.