PART #24 THE STAFF AND SWORD MINISTRY MAY/JUNE 2008

MANIFESTING CHRIST

FORGIVENE S S

by Nancy-TONI Youngbrandt

Forgiveness — we all want and Jesus came to die for us that we might receive it. Jesusliterally lived and died with a heart of love and forgiveness. Shortly before His death, I--Iiswords were all about forgiveness — "FATHER, FORGIVE THEM; FOR THEY KNOWNOT WHAT THEYD0. " (Luke 23 :34) The further good news 1s that there is only one sinso bad that He won't forgive (blasphemy of the Holy Spirit) and no wound so deep that Hisforgiveness won't heal. However, that forgiveness is not just ours to receive but it also oursto practice and live out in our lives as well. Jesus teaches us over and over again that we willbe forgiven AS WE forgive others and that we are to do unto others as we would like themto do unto us.

That is the focus of this article -- forgiveness: the importance of forgiving others as Christhas forgiven us. It is not just enough for us to receive Christ's forgiveness but that for us tomanifest Christ to others by extending that forgiveness to others in our daily lives.

SOME SCRIPTURES ON THE SUBJECTPerhaps we all know the Scriptures, but a reminder of what Jesus told us is never a bad

thing. For example, He told us in Luke 6:37-38:

"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: Condemn not, and ye shall not becondemned: FORGIVE, AND YE SHALL BE FORGIVEN. Give, and it shallbe given unto you: ... For with the strmne measure ye mete withal it shall bemeasured to you again."

And in Matthew 6:12,14-15 Jesus teaches us to pray: "Arid forgive us our debts, as weforgive our debtors. ... For if ye Jbrgive men their trespasses, your HeavenlyFather will also forgive you: But if ye forgive miot men their trespasses, neitherwill yo ur Father forgive your trespasses. "

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SOME SCRIPTURES ON THE SUBJECT continued

The Apostle Paul then continued on Jesus' teaching by telling the Ephesians in chapter 4,verses 31-32 the following:

"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, beput away . from you, (along) with all naval ice: And be ye kind to one another,tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake bathforgiven you.

The importance to us personally to forgive is vital to having a close, personal relationshipwith Jesus Christ and manifesting Him in our very being. After all, in Matthew 5:8 Jesustold us:

"Blessed are the pure in heart: . for they shall see God. "

But how can we be pure in heart if we harbor unforgiveness? We can't be! Andunforgiveness alone is not just the problem but that it can lead to even more sin andunrighteousness such as anger, strife, malice, hatred and bitterness. All these can grow froma small seed of unforgiveness in our hearts and create even more troubles for us personally.

CONSEQUENCESThe thing to remember about unforgiveness is that while we may feel justified in hanging

onto our hurt, anger or bitterness because of a wrong suffered, the consequences of thatunforgiveness do not necessarily affect the one who was the cause of the injury but ratherit hurts us instead.

Unforgiveness is like a two-edged sword — it cuts both ways. Often what we j udge anotherfor, we are guilty of doing as well. The same goes for unforgiveness. What we don't forgivesomeone for, we are often guilty of ourselves on some level. For this reason Jesus warnedus several times:

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what measure ye judge, ye shallbe judged: and with what ineasure ye mete, it shall he measured to you again.Any' why heholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerestnot the beam that is in thine own eye?"

And then there's the example of the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-25. The parable tells us what the consequences will be for us if we do not extend theforgiveness we have received to others. Here is the story of a lord and his servant. Theservant owed his lord the huge amount of 10,000 talents which he couldn't pay. To get the

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CONSEQUENCES continuedmoney, the lord had commanded that not only the servant but his wife, children and all thathe owed be sold to pay the debt. The servant then fell down before the lord, pleading withhim to have patience and that he would pay all that was owed. Touched by his appeal, thelord not only released him but forgave his debt entirely — talk about generosity!

Well, after that the servant then went out and found a man who owed him money, andtook him by the throat, demanding to be paid what was owed. And like the servant had beenbefore his lord, this man who owed him money pleaded with the servant for mercy butunlike the lord, the servant would show him no compassion or forgiveness and had the manarrested and put in prison.

Following this, word got out and the servant's fellowservants went to lord and told himall that had happened. Needless to say, the lord was not pleased and call the servant to himand proceeded to tell him the following:

"0 thou wicked servant, Iforgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredstme: Slrouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, evenas I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to thetormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall myHeavenly Father do also aurto you, if ye froi;i your hearts forgive not every onehis brother their trespasses."

So you can see God takes forgiveness very seriously indeed. He does not give it entirelywithout condition. He gives it with the condition that we too will give it as freely as it wasreceived by us. If not, we will then reap the consequences of our sin.

SO WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES??The consequences to us personally for not forgiving are man y and can run deep within us.

One such consequence is seen in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 where the Apostle Paul wrote:

To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also. for if I forgive any thing, towhom Iforgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satanshould get an advantage of us : , for we are not ignorant of his devices."

Here we can see that Satan Can get an advantage over us through our lack of forgivenessand none of us needs that kind of trouble for sure.

For us personally, the biggest danger I see in unforgiveness is that bitterness, anger andeven hatred can too often get set in our hearts and we then become defiled and uncleanspiritually. Through this bitterness, Satan can surely move and have his way in our lives.

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SO WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES? continuedSuch a warning is clearly seen in Hebrews 12:14-17 where Paul wrote:

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see theLord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root ofbitterness springingup trouble you, and therefore many be defiled; Lest there beany fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold hisbirthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited theblessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he soughtit carefully with tears. "

Here we can see multiple warnings. One — that if we don't "follow peace with all men, andholiness: then we shall not see the Lord ... and that would be like death itself Secondl y -we see that a root of bitterness can spring up to trouble not only us but that others maybecome defiled in the process. Lastly — the consequences to this condition can even lead toa loss of one's own birthright as sure as Esau sold his. This sin condition would lead us tomiss out on our own birthright by keeping us from repenting and getting right with God asHe commands.

Another example in Scripture can be seen in I John ] : ] 9 and Romans 3:10-14. In the firstScripture we see what we need to do:

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and tocleanse us front all unrighteousness. " ( 1 John 1:19)

In the latter Scripture we see what might happen if we fail to confess our sins and receiveGod forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness.

"... There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth,there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they aretogether become unyrof itahle; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Theirthroat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poisonof asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness...."

Now you may think that sounds extreme but I see as the ultimate possibility and end resultof what unforgiveness can lead to: it separates us from God and we fail to seek after Godas we should because inwardly we are aware of our sin which will keep us from truly givingour all to Him; it lead us off His path and we become "unprofitable" as Christians. Ourmouth then can spew forth of this filth in our hearts as we defile ourselves with cursing andbitterness .

And lest we delude ourselves into thinking we are ever justified in not forgiving someone,

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SO WHAT ARE THE CONS EQUENCES? continuedI would remind you of what Jesus said in Matthew 18:21-22:

Then came Peter to him (Jesus), and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sinagainst me .. and I for give him? Ti! seven times?

Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times; but, until seventy

times seven. "

We must never allow ourselves to come to the point where we don't forgive — even if itmeans asking Jesus for His help to forgive. After all, it is His forgiveness we seek andtherefore His forgiveness within us that we extend to others.

EXAMPLES OF TRUE CHRISTIANSWhen hard trials come upon us, when seemingly unjustified attacks and hurts come

against us, it is all too easy to entertain unforgiveness and then bitterness settles in ourhearts because we feel it is justified. It can even give us a sort of perverse pleasure inthinking what may come to those who have injured us and enjoy on a carnal level_ This isdangerous and is never justified and should be repented as soon as possible for it to benipped in the bud because if we're not careful it can grow like a weed with a thick root thatwill become increasingly harder to get out as time goes on and may even spread to others.

As examples of how a true Christian should deal with the trials and tribulations in theirlives I have the Godly wisdom and testimonies of two Christians who endured some of theworst hardships a person could experience and yet saw the freedom and healing power ofChrist in their lives through forgiveness. One was a former slave named Booker T.Washington; the other survived being in a concentration camp in Germany during WorldWar II named Corrie Ten Boom.

In Stephen Mansfield's book entitled, Then Darkness Fled - The Liberating Wisdom ofBooker T. Washington (published by Cumberland House Publishing, Inc., 431 HardingIndustrial Drive, Nashville. TN 3721 1). he shared how when "black people walked outof slavery, their bodies shed the bondage but their heart remained imprisoned."Booker T. knew firsthand the wounds suffered from being enslaved but he also saw God'sHand at work and that for the black people as a race or individually to move on, they musthave compassion and forgive even their former slave masters. He knew that compassion "isalways the sign of true freedom from the bonds of bitterness." He also knew thatthe trouble with bitterness "is that it draws enough from fact to seem justified." Italso often unwittingly transforms the one with the bitterness into the very image of those atwhich the bitterness is directed. "Moreover, bitterness anchors the mind in the past

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EXAMPLES OF TRUE CHRISTIANS continuedand takes the heart with it. There is no future and no sense of the possible. Thereis only the incessant churning. Soon it becomes an excuse, a room into which theheart can run to find justification for failure and wrongs of its own. The endcomes after the isolation and the rage have run their course. Bitterness is thesecond sting of the wound, and its fruit is death."

Corrie Ten Boom confirmed this experience by seeing firsthand how different survivorsof World War II in Holland responded once the war was over. She wrote in her book, Trampfor the Lord (published by Fleming H. Revell a division of Baker Book House Company,PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287) the following:

"Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able toreturn to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what thephysical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. Itwas as simple and as horrible as that."

The Holy Spirit brings to mind what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8:

"... Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump ? Purge outtherefore the old leaves that ye may be a new lump, as ye are leavened. For even

Christ our Passover is sacriced for us.... neither with the leaven of malice andwickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. "

In other words, what may start out as a small, seemingly insignificant seed may grow andchange you in ways you least expect and have dire consequences down the road. There itis best to pray and purge yourself of even the little things that are sin, as well as the big sinsso that the seeds of compassion, truth, love and forgiveness grow within and not the seedsof sin such as malice, anger, wickedness and bitterness.

In Corrie Ten Boom's book she gave to examples she experienced or saw in her own lifeas she sought to bring Christ and His healing message to those in war-torn Germany as wellas all over the world. During World War II she was in a concentration camp calledRavensbruck with her sister, who died in the camp. After the war, Jesus sent Corrie toGermany to preach about the need to confess our sins and that God would surely forgive.After one meeting in particular, she noticed a man in the audience who looked familiarworking his way toward her. She wrote, "One moment I saw the overcoat and thebrown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull andcrossbones. It came back with a rush: the pathetic pile of dresses and shoesin the center of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man. I couldsee my sister's frail form ahead of me, ribs sharp beneath the parchment skin.Betsie, how thin you were!"

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EXAMPLES OF TRUE CHRISTIANS continuedAs it turns out, this rnan was one of the most cruel guards in Ravensbruck. Now he was

standing in front her, complimenting her on a fine message and Corrie said her bloodseemed to freeze. This man then spoke to her of Ravensbruck, knowing that she had beenthere but did not actually remember her specifically and told her that he had been a guardthere. He also told her that he had since become a Christian and knew that God had forgivenhim for all the cruel things he had done there but would like for her to forgive him as well.

He held out his hand, asking Corrie's forgiveness.

Within herself, Corrie wrestled with the most difficult thing she would ever have to do.She knew the Scriptures and knew what Jesus would have her do but still she felt a coldnessclutching her heart. But she also knew that forgiveness is not an emotion but an act of thewill. She went on to say:"the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. "Jesus, helpme!" I prayed silently. "I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply thefeeling."

And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched outto me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in myshoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then thishealing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

"I forgive you, brother!" I cried, "With all my heart."For a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and

the former prisoner. I have never known God's love so intensely as I did then.But even so, I realized it was no my love. I tried and did not have the power.It was the power of the Holy Spirit recorded in Romans 5:5., `The love of Godis shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."

So you see, even if you are having a hard time really forgiving those who have done youharm, then Jesus can and will help you with that too!! He is truly our everything if we letHim be our everything.

The other testimony she shared was of a German lawyer she met who had lost both hislegs in the war. He was filled with self-pity, hatred and bitterness. He had once been anactive member of his church and as a boy had rung the church bell in his hometown village.Now the horrible injustice of war had taken his legs, and he was bitter against God and man.

One day Corrie decided to talk with this man and jumped right in by telling him, "Theonly way to get rid of bitterness is to surrender it."

He was skeptical and doubted this woman before him would have knowledge ofbitterness, especially since she still had both of her legs.

She then was able to share her own experience with bitterness. You see during the war,when she was living in Holland, a man came to her begging her to help him liberate his wife.Corrie felt compassion for him and gave him all of her money. She also convinced her

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EXAMPLES OF TRUE CHRISTIANS continuedfriends to do the same. However, the man was a traitor and only came to her to trap her soshe would be arrested. Tragically, not only did he betray her, but her entire family and herfriends. They were all sent to prison where three members of her family died. You talk abouthatred and bitterness tilling one's heart — Carrie wanted this man to die.

At this point she definitely has the lawyer's attention who is now wondering then what hecan do about his bitterness and hatred. Well, instead of listening to what Corrie's opinionwas, she directs him to what Jesus and more:"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also

forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will yourFather forgive your trespasses' [Matt. 6:14-15] If we forgive other people,our hearts are made fit to receive forgiveness.... When we repent, Godforgives us and cleanses us. That is what I did, believing that if I confessedmy sin God would be faithful and just to cleanse my sin and forgive me fromall unrighteousness"

She then went on tell this man Jesus filled her with such a love for this man that after the

war, when this man who had betrayed her and her family was sentenced to death, she

corresponded with him and God used her to show him the way of salvation before he wasexecuted. Praise the Lord!

Well, needless to say, the lawyer did as Corrie suggested and gave up his bitterness andhatred through forgiveness and he was able to at last get on with his life. Instead of livingin the cubicle of a camp just waiting to die, a year later she being greeted at the train stationby this very same man who was actually driving a car specially fixed up for him.

After she got in the car, she then had the opportunity to ask him how he was doing. Hereplied: "Fine. I must tell you at the very beginning that I have surrendered my bitternessto God. I repented and the Lord did j ust as you said. He forgave me and filled my heart withHis love. Now I am working in the refugee camp and am praising God that He can use evena legless man if he is surrendered."

Following this wonderful news, he then had a question for Corrie, and that was if her

bitterness or hatred ever returned and if so, what to do about it.

Well, Corrie did indeed admit that she did have problem from time to time. There were

times when it would hit her and she would pray as before. She would bring it to the Lord

and He would take it and fill her heart with love but then the next night it would happen all

over again. She got quite discouraged about this until she remembered Ephesians 6:10-?0

where Paul describes the armor of God.' She told the lawyer, "He said that even after

you have come to a standstill, still stand your ground. I was at a standstill, soI decided to stand my ground and the bitterness and resentment fell awaybefore me.

"Corrie ten Boom without the Lord Jesus cannot be victorious. I need theLord every moment. And I have learned that I am absolutely dependent onHim. Because of this He has made me rich." (Unquote) s^ S ^ $xs , ^^ 4 ^,