October 10, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right!
This Week’s Message: Don’t make room for unforgiveness in your heart, let it go!
When we make room for unforgiveness to take residence in our hearts, we open the door for the enemy to walk right into our lives. This is one of his number one tactics that he uses against Christians because a lot of us don’t understand the ramifications. It hinders our prayers from being heard, interferes with our relationship with the Lord, and affects us negatively in so many other ways.
This week take an inventory of your heart. Take note of areas that need positive reinforcement. Are there people that you still haven’t truly forgiven? If so, ask the Lord to help you develop the strength that it will take to fully surrender that unforgiveness over to Him. Within our own power it is impossible to let go of an offense that affected you in such a way that you feel like that person doesn’t deserve forgiveness. But, with God all things are possible, Matthew 19:26. It is not worth holding onto because the repercussions that unforgiveness comes with can hinder your walk and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord will fight your battle for you:
Romans 12:19 “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
The Lord is making it known about how He feels about you taking matters into your own hands. This is one of the most difficult things for Christians to adhere to because we want to retaliate, strike back, and react. That is not how God wants us to handle these kinds of circumstances. The reason why He is so adamant about you giving your battles over to Him instead of dealing with the issue yourself is because of the repercussions.
When you have those negative emotions built up inside of you, your anger and vengeance against someone that has done you wrong can easily develop into strong holds in your life. The enemy will use that crack in the door to push his way all the way in. He will keep reminding you of what was done to you so that you can develop unforgiveness leading to animosity, bitterness, and hate. Those emotions are what he will use to give him legal access to create chaos.
When we can relinquish our control of the situation over to the Lord He has the ability to repay the person that wronged you in a way that you never could.
Deuteronomy 28:7 states, “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”
God will fight your battles for you and make sure that every enemy that comes after you will know that the Lord is on your side. He states in this verse of scripture that your enemies will be defeated before you face, meaning that you will see what the repercussions for that person will be if you trust the Lord enough to handle the battle for you.
Do not allow your unforgiveness to turn into hatred:
Proverbs 15:17 “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, Than a fatted calf with hatred.”
The book of Proverbs is jam packed with so many helpful verses of scripture pertaining to changing your frame of mind. Whether we want to realize it or not, when we harbor unforgiveness in our hearts it almost always invites the emotion of hatred. That is not a feeling that you want to allow to take residence in your spirit.
The Lord is giving us this verse of Scripture to show us just how detrimental hatred truly is. He is basically saying to us that if you are the type of person that exudes hate, wrath and anger, you are not pleasant to be around. The people that you come into contact with would rather eat dry salad with no dressing with someone that is loving and kind than to eat filet mignon steak with you because of how hateful and negative you are.
Believe it or not, if you entertain that unforgiveness long enough it will turn into hatred. We have to learn how to let go of the things that are going to affect our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. How can you be a witness for Him if you have all of these adverse emotions that you are exhibiting? He is love (1 John 4:16) and if we are His representation here on Earth we must show love too, all day, every day. The Lord calls it the bond of perfection, Colossians 3:14.
Loving God means being able to forgive:
1 John 4:20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”
The Lord truly frowns upon someone that cannot forgive their brother or sister, Matthew 6:15. When you don’t let go of the transgressions done to you by others, there is no way that you will be able to show them love. The more that the unforgiveness goes on, the more hatred will be developed towards them, it’s inevitable.
God is making it clear in this Scripture about what the results of that way of thinking will bring. He articulates the fact that if you love Him like you say you do than there is no way that you should have strong animosity towards others. He is calling those that say they love Him but hate their brothers and sisters liars. This is why it is important for us to approach all circumstances with love and never revenge or retaliation.
It takes so much more strength for a person to bless those that curse them and pray for those that spitefully use them, Luke 6:28. It is very difficult not to want to take revenge on someone that you feel deserves it, but you do not want the enemy to have a legal right to wreak havoc in your life. When you give those negative emotions space to take residence in your heart, nothing good will come from it. The consequences are not worth it, just let it go!
This week take an inventory of your heart. Are there more negative emotions in it than positive ones? Is there anyone in your life that you feel that you still haven’t fully forgiven? If so, ask the Lord to help you develop the strength that it will take to fully surrender that unforgiveness over to Him. It is not worth holding onto because the consequences that it comes with can hinder your walk and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you’ve missed some of the previous Positive Weekly Messages, no worries I am linking them below:
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! October 2, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! September 24, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! September 19, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! September 12, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! September 6, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! August 28, 2022
Positive Thinking-Get Your Week Started Off Right! August 22.2022
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