It isn’t a rule. It’s a spiritual principle or law, like the law of gravity in the natural. “Faith…worketh by love” (Galatians 5:6) and refusing to forgive is unloving. Therefore, holding onto unforgiveness short-circuits our faith.
It puts us in a place where faith in God won’t operate because God Himself is Love (1 John 4:16). He doesn’t just have love, it’s who He is. So when we’re operating outside of love, we’re not operating in Him.
Jesus put it this way:
• “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Mark 12:30-31)
• “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34)
Those aren’t suggestions. They’re commands based on spiritual law. They’re how we, as born-again believers and Holy Spirit filled people, live. We’re to respond to Jesus’ command to love by saying as He taught me in the vision, “I believe. I will. I take it. I have it. I thank You for it. I forgive!”
Don’t Take the Poison
“But you don’t know what those people did to me!” someone might say.
No, I don’t. But whatever it was, you’re still commanded to forgive them. If you don’t, you’re putting yourself in danger. You might not think you are. You might think you’re protecting yourself and punishing the ones who wronged you. But that’s a misconception.
It’s like taking poison and expecting the other person to die! (That may be the answer to the question: How dumb can you get?) It doesn’t work. Instead of hurting the other person, you’re the one who suffers from the poison of unforgiveness. The person it damages is you.
Over time, you may even forget about that unforgiveness. You may go around making your faith confessions and saying, “Praise The LORD,” thinking everything is fine. But all the while that poison will still be there in your spirit. Doing damage. Destroying your faith.
Here’s the good news though: You can get rid of it! As a believer, you have the power to forgive anyone for anything, anytime you choose because you have the love of God inside you. You’re born of His love. You don’t have to pray to get it, it was shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost when you were born again.
28 : BVOV
