October 11, 2015 WWJWMTD by Steve the son of John

Take Me Out of Prison

I have found myself in prison a few times. Seems like I was walking in circles, alone, and depressed of sorts. It is not unusual to have un-forgiveness creating bondage and isolation in one’s life.

Most of us find it easy to repent or enjoy forgiveness from sins we create, but other people’s sins are a completely different matter. I forgive myself, but to forgive others takes an action of one’s will and determination to walk away from all the wrong someone has inflicted on me, in other words, it’s not so simple.

It’s not hard to hold a grudge, resentment or hurt feelings. Most us do not ‘forgive on the spot’ when others wrong us. We do not even realize that we did not forgive that ‘other person’. We tend to accept the wrong, acknowledge that our feelings or personhood was injured, but we just ignore the obvious that someone’s sin hurt us.

It would be impossible for me to record all the times people have offended me, and the many times I have forgotten. Well, that is until God reminds me of the offense—the sin I had forgotten or just buried it in my subconscious. No matter the case, God has not forgotten. He wants me to be clean and I cannot be clean if I hold onto a grudge or a ‘forgotten grudge’.

Sin is complex; I wrote about that a few weeks ago. If we do not forgive others, we place ourselves in prison. We have made our own personal hell on earth. We are not free, and we have not been totally forgiven.

We are captive without liberty; we are bound in a personal prison; we are broken hearted and our feelings and self-esteem are injured. This is a prison where no wholeness or complete freedom is ours in Christ. I would be so bold to say that when we are sinned against we can be brought into a place of darkness, mourning without resolution, ugliness without any sense of beauty or inner healing.

Whenever God reminds me, of a past injury that someone perpetrated on me or a grudge I still hold onto, or a sin someone knowing committed against me and I did not or have not forgiven that person or persons, I try and often have to work over days to forgive and forget. God also usually asks me to forgive their sin so He might forgive them and that they might be healed. God wants to forgive me and He tells me that their sin against me is standing in the way. Yes, He says, “Steve you are in prison—do you want to be set free? Steve, forgive and let go of their sin.”

To be forgiven is to forgive all wrongs committed against oneself—to let go of present or past grudges. Jesus, I want to be set free, grant me your forgiveness to forgive.

WWJWMTD

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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