ARE YOU 'MAN' ENOUGH TO FORGIVE AND MOVE ON? (Part III)

ARE YOU ‘MAN’ ENOUGH TO FORGIVE AND MOVE ON? (Part III)

Allow me to transmit a divine telegram to every man who is a dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ: “You are a prince in a peasant’s garment.”  Satan is fully aware of that definitive strand of royalty within you, and that is precisely the reason he seeks to assassinate you (spiritually, morally, emotionally, intellectually, physically) before the fulfillment of God’s plan and purpose in your life.

Kingdom Principle Number Five: you are more than what you look like. 

To some, you may not look like much.  But our sovereign God seems to gravitate to persons who do not look like much to others.  Shortly after his conversion, Paul was lowered down the Damascus wall in a basket to escape those who would kill him because of his newfound spiritual power and witness.  Admittedly, Paul’s spiritual journey was incomplete, and he really didn’t look like much.  He was a prosecutorial henchman for the Jewish religious hierarchy, a self-described persecutor and killer of Christians, but God was intent on using him to advance the Kingdom.  So it really does not matter what you look like at this existential moment.

Do you need more proof?  When Samuel anointed David as king of Israel, that young ruddy lad did not look like much, but God was intent on using him.  When Elijah stood for God on Mt. Carmel, numerically outweighed by 400 prophets of Baal, he did not look like much, but God was intent on using him.  When baby Moses was gently pushed into the Nile River, cradled in a bassinet of bulrushes that was waterproofed with black tar and pitch, he did not look like much, but God was intent on using him.  When Josiah assumed kingly office and authority at the tender age of eight years, he did not look like much, but God was intent on using him.  When Gideon stood with a small contingent of 300 men to confront a vast army of Midianites, he did not look like much, but God was intent on using him.  When a spiritually bankrupt Samaritan woman encountered Jesus at the well, she did not look like much, but God was intent on using her.  When John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness, clothed in camel hair and consuming wild locusts and honey, he did not look like much, but God was intent on using him.  And when those humble shepherds arrived at a lowly manger in Bethlehem of Judea to see a newborn baby who would one day be crowned as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he did not look like much, but God was intent on using him.

Kingdom Principle Number Six: YOU have been chosen in HIM, long before the foundation of the world, so it does not really matter how others perceive or receive you at any given moment in time. 

Little is always much…when God is in it.  GOD wants to use YOU!  But before your Creator prepares and positions you, He redeems you.  Although HE has redeemed and forgiven you, there is something that YOU must do.  It is of extraordinary importance.

Kingdom Principle Number Seven: You must forgive yourself and you must forgive others.

Failure to forgive yourself for past offenses causes you to bear a perpetual weight of condemnation and regret.  The Word admonishes us to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us.” (Hebrews 12:1)  Once we have been reconciled to God, redeemed and “accepted in the beloved” Son, “there is…no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” (Matthew 3:17 – Ephesians 1:6 – Romans 8:1)  Our ability to forgive ourselves (and others) is mission critical to a sustained healthy connection with Christ.

As Sunday School students, we were required to memorize Ephesians 4:32.  In the words of the Apostle Paul, “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”  An unforgiving spirit disqualifies us from the continuing grace and mercy of God and also positions us to reap harsh judgments from others.  (Matthew 4:24 – Galatians 6:7)

Unforgiveness produces internal turmoil, while devastating communications and relationships, destroying marriages and ultimately diminishing the effect of fatherly counsel (on two levels).  This is important.  When I fail to forgive my own self, I render myself incapable of forgiving my father for his ‘humanity.’  Thereby, I disqualify myself from becoming the beneficiary of his wisdom.  Simultaneously, I invalidate myself from becoming a purveyor of wise counsel to my own children.  In a word, unforgiveness is an intergenerational curse.

Are you ‘man’ enough to forgive…and move on?  Forgive yourself.  Forgive others.  It opens doors to happy and healthy relationships, while releasing your divine-anointing and destiny-appointing.  Forgiveness cancels satanic plans to unravel your dreams and fragment your future.  Forgiveness empowers you to move on…to forge ahead with spiritual ability and authority…to become all that The Creator has in Mind for you.  My brothers (and my sisters), be blessed!