Forgiveness is the Key to Moving Forward

Do you really forgive?

Many times we say that we forgive those that hurt us but when they enter a room or their name is spoken in our presence, we feel a certain type of way. We roll our eyes or we are careful not to speak against them but we deny them anything good. We may even hang around them but they are on a tight rope. Is this really forgiveness?

Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well.

Now we tend to forgive with conditions, but real forgiveness is just the opposite. It does not release the offense and make it of non-importance but it takes the sting out of it, so you can move forward with your life. It frees you. It does not say that person did nothing or you accept what they did. It's still wrong and they do still need to correct any offense, however IF they never correct it, your forgiveness sets you in a place of reward and blessing. Forgiveness does not just happen over a period of time. It is something we have to intentionally do. We must choose to forgive.

Forgiveness allows us to continue to receive forgiveness from God. I don't know about you but that is the most important thing. I know that I need god to forgive me for my wrong doing and how can I allow my own unforgiveness stand in the way of receiving God's forgiveness.

We sometimes wonder why we are not able to heal from hurts, habits and hangups...I say to you today, check your forgiveness bag. Is it empty because you have used it to forgive or is it full because you have withheld your forgiveness of others? Then check your answered prayers bag. Is it full because you are operating in god's forgiveness or is it empty because God has not forgiven you? Something to think about. 

Let me leave you with this... God can not and WILL not bless mess. Sin separates us from God. So if we have not been forgiven by God, is our relationship with Him in jeopardy? Can we walk in obedience if God has not forgiven us? Can we be blessed if God removes His grace and mercy?

Why not truly forgive so we can be forgiven.

You are Bound No More. 

Pastor Linda Hillman 

(c) 2014 Living Above Hurt Ministries 

Pastorlindahillman@hotmail.com

Residue Part 2 - Who We are After Becoming New!

So in my last post I talked about residue and why it is important that we acknowledge it's existence and we actively work to become new and remove all residue from our lives. Residue is a contaminate and thus we need to make sure that it does not effect everything else that we do or become.

Well let's take a closer look at how we should get rid of it.

I Peter 2:9 – “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:”

Most of us never think twice about this passage and the demands that it places on us. We just quickly and glibly pass over it with thoughts of white clerical collars or Praise & Worship songs roll over in our head, but no real consideration that these titles place on us very specific responsibilities. Responsibilities that can not he done with residue in us.

I want us to journey back into the Old Testament and examine the daily jobs or duties of the priesthood, those that were set  apart for God, because I think they still translate and speak to us today. I want us to remember that there an be no residue in us if we want to operate correctly. We have ministry that we are required to do on a daily basis as priest of the Kingdom! 

1. The first duty that the priest was responsible for was to diagnose sickness. Their job was to examine the folks around them and be aware and sensitive enough to see sickness for what it was. They were to determine how severe the sickness was. They were to prescribe remedy for the sickness. They were to act as physician to the sick. God’s go between. God’s means of brining diagnosis and healing. And didn’t Jesus reiterate that for his followers and for us? 

1. The second duty of the priest was to transport glory! The assignment of carrying the Ark of the Covenant which was the place of the manifest presence of God fell to the priests. 

I would declare to you today that the reason we are inept at transporting glory because we are inept at living holy! we are inept at living holy because we carry in our heart the residue of what we have been through. The priests that were called to transport glory had to be holy. They had to live pure. They had to be consecrated and set apart. It wasn't enough to just hang out in the glory, worship in the glory, they had to apply the glory to their lives.

In my next post we will take this a bit further and will talk about each of the two steps separately and in depth so we can start to remove the residue and Live as God intended us to live. 

You are Bound No More. 

Pastor Linda Hillman 

(c) 2014 Living Above Hurt Ministries

Pastorlindahillman@hotmail.com

Residue

Residue, what is residue?

First let's look at how the dictionary defines it. Residue is a small amount of something that remains after the main part has gone or been taken or used. So what got me thinking about residue is the PAM cooking spray commercial. You know the one with the ghost of food past. He basically describes himself as the definition found in the dictionary but with a twist. He says that you combines with the new food being cooked. So the residue from the old is now affecting the new.  Yes, someone just got that.

So what does it mean to us in our journey to be free and delivered from our past.. We have to apply the word of god to use and be washed thoroughly. no residue can remain. if it does we will be tainted from the past in every new situation, choice, and relationship. 

Have you ever asked yourself after an argument or an outburst: "Why did I do that or why did i say that?" or maybe it was "where did that come from?" or "I thought I was over that." these statements alone gives us a clue that residue is there. the Bible says:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17

This weekend I learned from Evangelist Rein Johnson that to be IN Christ means to be encompassed (See clip below). In order for us to remove all residue we have to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. we have to allow the Word of God to change how we think. We have to forget the former things as Isaiah 43:18 says and move on the the newness that comes from being transformed. We have to press into the things of God and not allow what happened to us to hinder us. It's not pretending that it did not happened but it is sitting with a journal and allowing the truth of your situation and past to teach you the lessons you could not learn at the time.

It's freeing yourself, let liberty and redemption happen. It's forgiving yourself for thinking you could have done something different. For thinking you could have made a different choice or said something differently. It's understanding that you are who you are because of what you have gone through and that does not make you a bad person or less than. It's not getting over stuff and pretending it did not happen but it is understand that you went through it. In going through it you must let the word wash over over and cleanse you so when you step out one the other side you are a new creature.

Let me end with this. Getting rid of residue is a simple process. Let's take a look at a butterfly and the transformation that occurs when it is ready to covert from a caterpillar. 

First, the caterpillar digests itself, releasing enzymes to dissolve all of its tissues. If you were to cut open a cocoon or chrysalis at just the right time, caterpillar soup would ooze out. But the contents of the pupa are not entirely an amorphous mess. Certain highly organized groups of cells known as imaginal discs survive the digestive process. Before hatching, when a caterpillar is still developing inside its egg, it grows an imaginal disc for each of the adult body parts it will need as a mature butterfly —discs for its eyes, for its wings, its legs and so on. 
Once a caterpillar has disintegrated all of its tissues except for the imaginal discs, those discs use the protein-rich soup all around them to fuel the rapid cell division required to form the wings, antennae, legs, eyes, genitals and all the other features of an adult butterfly. 

This process is a natural look at what takes place supernaturally in 2 Corinthians 5:17. Everything that God needs for us to be whole and complete is already in us but we need to get wrapped in our cocoon called Christ and let him completely transform us to be NEW. He will then make sure that all residue is done away with. That you will become exactly what he intended you to be and all old ways are destroyed and done away with. No more Residue!

You are Bound No More.


Pastor Linda Hillman 
(c) 2014 Living Above Hurt Ministries
Pastorlindahillman@hotmail.com