Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 215

August 3;       Luke 17:4;       61/260(III);       ‘Forgiveness is Freedom’

Luke 17:4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you shall forgive him." 

The Lord Jesus is teaching a very important principle here, forgiveness.  Choosing not to forgive someone is one of the greatest tools of the devil to keep Christians in a place where they are miserable and serving the Lord is very difficult.  Thoughts, either the devil’s or our own swirl in our minds replaying the offense that has been done to us.  In the natural, it is known that an unwillingness to forgive causes all kinds of physical and emotional problems in an individual.  In a very real sense, refusing to forgive is pride.  “How could they do that to me?”  The devil does not continually bring the offense up to you because he cares that you have been done wrong.  He brings it up to you so that the blessings of the Lord in your life will be minimal or non-existent.  The Bible teaches several times that we must forgive if we desire to be forgiven.  Each of us have done things to offend someone.  We surely want them to forgive us.  One key to forgiveness is taught in this verse, if they apologize, forgive them.  The Lord Jesus spent quality time in prayer with His Father.  Jesus had a human mind and the cruelty of the religious leaders had to cause thoughts of anger.  He needed to fellowship with His Father to rid Himself of the negative feelings.  Plus, the love of God in Jesus’ spirit enabled Him to love those men in spite of their treatment of Him.  Forgiving someone is a decision.  Prayer, God’s love in you and a firm decision to please the Lord will get the job done..