How can we forgive like God forgives?
Well, the Bible says that God is love, and the same kind of love that God is has been shed abroad in our hearts, or spirits, in our inner man by the Holy Spirit. It’s not natural human love but divine love, the God kind of love and the God kind of love forgives.
Let’s look in the word and see how God forgives. One thing about divine love, when God forgives, He forgets. Once we repent and ask God forgiveness, He blots out our transgressions and doesn’t remember our sins anymore.
Isiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He that blotteth our thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” Under the new covenant, God again tells us how He forgives. “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins, and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
How does God forgive? These scriptures tell us that once we ask forgiveness, God doesn’t remember our sins anymore. No more! This verse doesn’t say “I’m going to hold everything you’ve ever done against you, and I’m going to remind you of your sins every time I think of them.” Think about that. What if every time we prayed, God reminded us of everything we’ve ever done wrong in the past?
We wouldn’t have any faith would we? We would constantly feel guilty about our past. We would come boldly before Him and expect to receive everything from Him, because we’d constantly be feeling condemned.
Aren’t you glad God forgives and forgets? I John 1:9 says “That God is faithful and just to forgive us when we ask Him to. Ephesian 4:32 says “We’re to forgive each other the same way God forgives us.”
I remember something Joyce Myers said. The Lord had called her to a world-wide ministry but before He could get it to her, she had to forgive her father who had physically molested her for many years. What her father did to her was wrong, but she forgave him and ended up leading him to the Lord before he died. She forgave hm the same way God forgive us.
Sometimes, husbands and wives can be prone to remind each other of their past mistakes every time something happens. There is no way they can develop a good relationship if they keep doing that. Not only that, but constantly reminding each other of past mistakes and failures will ruin their prayer lives and make their faith of no effect.
I Peter 3:7 “Likewise, ye husbands and well with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grave of life; that your prayers be not hindered.” This verse tell us what hinders our prayers, God doesn’t want anything hindering our prayers.
If husbands and wives hold un-forgiveness and ill will against each other, it can affect their health and their prayers will be hindered; their faith won’t work.
I heard a minister tell when he was a little boy, his parents were pastors and he started running a really high fever, like 103 degrees. Well, they believed in prayer and healing, and they laid hands on him and prayed and he hadn’t got any better. This went on for a little while and his fever was worse.
The Lord spoke to the husband and said, “The reason your faith isn’t working is because you treated your wife wrongly.” So he went and apologized, they prayed, and the fever left.
Remember Galatians 5:6, “Faith works by love.”
Husbands and wives need to forgive like God forgives. We should be able to say to each other, “Honey forgive me, I was wrong, I was short with you.” Love, forgiveness and faith all work together. You can’t separate them. If we want our prayers to work, we need to walk in love and forgiveness.
A story’s told of two brothers who were both pastors. The older brother had a much better personality and could preach much better., but the younger was much more successful in ministry and life, although his personality wasn’t as good nor could he preach near as well.
One fellow said to another minister, “I have it all figured out. I know why the younger brother is more successful, it’s because the older brother was much meaner and wicked before he got saved and God is punishing him for all he done.”
That’s someone trying to reason things out without knowledge of the Bible. Because when we get born again, God doesn’t even remember what we done in our past. He forgave us and He forgot about it.
The other minister, who knew them both well and the Bible well, said the reason the younger was more successful is because he is very diligent to study, and the older brother is always out visiting, telling jokes and never studies.
It didn’t have nothing to do with his past because God forgave him for his past, and if we walk in love and forgiveness, that’s the way we will be as well.
