Letting Go

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Matthew 6:14

Forgiveness can be one of the hardest things anyone can do; especially in traumatizing situations. To “let go” of the hurt someone has caused is easier said than done. Recently, I was put into a position in which I had to forgive. I was a victim of being scammed out of money by an individual. I’m usually careful. Before making the deal, I remember telling this person that I am a stay at home mother of two and our family lives on one income; I couldn’t afford to lose money nor have it stolen from me. This person guaranteed the small investment that I was willing to make would grant me a substantial amount of money in return. Well long story short, I ended up “investing” way more than I thought and received nothing in return. “Well that’s what I get for not following the leading of the Holy Spirit,” I murmured. As I pondered what happened, my frustration turned towards myself. I began to feel more anger towards myself than I did with the person who tricked me. “There were so many red flags, how could I trust them? How stupid of me!“. These were the thoughts that were running through my head. God gave me a literal sign it was going to happen. During the transaction process with this person, a notification popped up on my phone informing me about a random news article called, “It’s a Scam!”. But what did I do? Ignored that sign and went ahead doing business with the person. Yah knew this was going to happen, He was already preparing my heart to forgive before I even knew I had to.

Earlier that week before the incident took place, my husband and I were watching a Youtube channel called “Court Cam”. In this video, there was a case in which a man’s son was murdered. The young man’s murderer was on trial. The father was on the stand. I can’t fully remember all the exact words he said, but I do remember him expressing these powerful words to his son’s killer. “I forgive you for what you did to my son. If my son were alive, he would forgive you also. That was the kind of person my son was. I am not angry at you. I feel sorry for you. I am not angry at you, but I am angry at the devil. I am angry at the devil for misguiding you into making this wrong choice.” Later in the trail, the father went to the killer with a handshake and gave him a warm embrace. Wow, right?! He was so strong to forgive that man like that. I can’t imagine how hard that must’ve been. My little scam experience doesn’t even comes close to that father’s experience. As I think back on his words, one particular thing he said remains highlighted in my mind: “I am not angry at you. I am angry at the devil for misguiding you into making this wrong choice”. That was such a true statement! The real enemy is not of flesh and blood, but it is sinister spirits that control, deceive, and lead people into doing evil things.

When someone hurts me, says, or does something that offends me, and even take something from me…I have to remember that the person is operating under a demonic spirit. I need to pray for them. Praying for someone who does you dirty is not a natural instinct. The flesh wants to react by getting even, cursing the person out, and wanting to fight them. But that isn’t following the virtuous foot steps and teaching of Jesus. Jesus says in Matthew 5:44-55, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your father in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on evil and the good, and sends rain to the just and unjust.” The Lord is so gracious. He expects his followers to give grace also. How do I pray for those who hurt me? I pray for them to be delivered. If they are in Christ, I pray that the Holy Spirit will convict them of their actions. If the are not in Christ, I pray for their salvation. That they’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit, that he may help them.

I once heard someone say, you can tell if you have forgave someone, if you have stop bringing up what that person had done you. I can agree with that. I have heard the saying, “I forgive, but I won’t forget”. However, I pose the question; do you really forgive? Because when God forgives, He forgets. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12). On the contrast, the devil reminds us of your sins. The scripture calls him the accuser of the brethren who constantly reminds God of the past sins of the saints, “…for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night (Rev 12:10). With that being said, The Most High let’s go, but the devil does not. When I choose to forgive, I know I am exactly aligned with my Abba’s will. I refuse to let unforgiveness to keep me out of heaven…The Lord Almighty has given a remedy to forgive those who may not even deserve it. That is to simply pray for them and let it go…

*Thank you for taking your time into reading this post. I pray it blessed you. I’d love to hear your feedback! Rate and share any comments you may have regarding this entry. Don’t forget to subscribe below to this blog so you’ll be notified for more amazing content!😊