From: Mary Padgett Ministries, Inc.
A Word In Due Season
THE VEIL OF UNFORGIVENESS
Scripture: Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV) "If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."
There is no misunderstanding about what Jesus was saying in this scripture, for His words are about as plain as they can get. God's rule is very simple, "Forgive if you want to be forgiven." Considering these words, is it any wonder that sometimes we find it hard to receive forgiveness from God for ourselves? For in the hidden recesses of our hearts, we are harboring unforgiveness. Unforgiveness may have been in our hearts for such a long period of time that we had forgotten that it was there and possibly don't exactly remember what the issue was about. Nevertheless, our sins will not be forgiven if we, ourselves, haven't forgiven others.
Maybe you can relate to my experience. In the natural, there have been times that I have packed away an item and then forgotten that I had it. Later, I was shocked when I discovered that item. I have even forgotten about places that I visited or an event that I attended until I looked at old photos. Yet the memory is still there, it's just dormant until something stirs it. When the item is uncovered or the photo is revealed, the memory becomes very fresh in my mind and I say, "Oh, I remember now." Even in arguments, we tend to bring up past events and things that we thought were long forgotten. Unforgiveness in our hearts is like a hidden item or a photo. We think it is not there until something nudges us and we feel the old familiar pain. There was a season that required much forgiveness on my part. With God's help, I was able to forgive the one who transgressed against me. Yet, the enemy still tries to use painful memories to resurrect the past in an effort to overthrow the spirit of forgiveness that is within my heart. This is a common battle for all of us.
We need to understand that forgiveness is a gift that we give to ourselves. We are the ones who benefit when we forgive, for It is the only way that we can approach God. When we go to the altar with unforgiveness in our hearts, we offer an empty sacrifice to the Lord and our prayers are hindered. It is as though a veil is over our hearts and God won't look beneath that veil. When He sees unforgiveness, He turns His head in sadness. Jesus said, "Reconcile yourself with your brother and then bring your sacrifice to the Lord." You, yourself, must remove the veil of unforgiveness. If you want God to listen to you, then you must listen to Him and obey His words. He simply says, "Forgive." You may think that it is impossible, but Jesus would not tell you to do something that was impossible for you to do. Forgiveness is a decision, an act of your will. So, remove the veil of unforgiveness from your heart and you will find that you have removed the veil between you and God's heart. +++
Posted By Permission
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posted by feywon
And i never found a passage saying we must forget and must put ourselves continually in harms way from someone who has repeatedly hurt us. Tho many think that's what the 'forgive 70 x 7' passages are about. People overlook that in Luke 17:3,4 we are told that we to 'rebuke' the person and 'if he repent, forgive him' no matter how often they 'offend' us. Now i have mixed feelings about this too...because i've forgiven people i never had the opportunity to rebuke for their offense, and i've forgiven people who either did not 'repent' at all or thought the same 'sorry' they used for accidently bumping into a stranger was sufficient repentance for lieing to/betraying an intimate loved one. But then i forgive (admittedly somewhat selfserving reason similar to the 'to be forgiven') because i will not poison my own life with the anger and hatred that festers if you don't. Those feelings get in the way of the lessons of love i believe we're meant to learn in this life.
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