Forgiveness: Growth and Warfare

Forgiveness is the process of giving away resentment.  The Greek word for forgive is aphete, meaning to "send away", "let go", "depart", or "divorce".  Just like sending anything away or a delivery, forgiveness is a process, not an event.  A process that comes with obstacles and unexpected conditions that may slow the process.  Our goal is to complete the process while the enemy's goal is to convince us to either abandon it or never start the process at all.

In the summer of 2016, I was having some financial struggles and chose to pick up a side job as a delivery driver at a local pizza shop.  There is a simple goal in being a delivery driver - get the food to the customer hot and fast.  When you are in the store, do dishes and fold boxes.  Sounds easy, right?   Wrong!  Dinner rushes, traffic, accidents, closed gates with no codes, aggressive dogs, hidden lot numbers for mobile homes, heavy rain, forgotten side items, late-night orders ten minutes before closing, and order mistakes will show you what life is really about.  Delivery is an easy concept with a challenging process.  The same is true with forgiveness.

Forgiveness is an easy concept until the process is up against rainy conditions, rushes of life, traffic surrounding us, and side obligations that still need to be met.  There is also an adversary using our life conditions to stop us from finishing the process.  Satan hates forgiveness because it eliminates accusation and creates room in your mind and spirit for God to do some amazing work.

One of the greatest forms of warfare against forgiveness is reasoning.  This person gave you a valid reason to not forgive him/her.  On top of that, current "rainy conditions" give you all the more reason to not forgive.  Someone just did the same thing to you last week.  It would be unreasonable to "let them get away with it."  The enemy tricks us into believing that forgiveness means to let people away with something.  What makes it more difficult is when we feel that - on top of our hurt - he/she has not paid for what they did.  "I will be secretly be happy when they get their karma."  Sometimes, we wait for it, don't we?  When we feel vindicated, then we will forgive.

Another one of the enemy's tactics against forgiveness is denial.  To say, "I forgave him/her" or "I gave it all to God" sounds politically and biblically correct.  If only this were the truth of what is going on in our hearts.

What do we do against the warfare waged on us by the enemy in our process of forgiveness?

1. Confess your Egypt. Just like being set free an addiction, the first step is to admit that your stronghold is unmanageable.  Not forgiving is a stronghold that, as a (wo)man of God, you deserve to be free from.  But the liberation starts with God knowing that you are aware of where you are.

2. Pray.  Ask God to set your mind in a place that is prepared to start the forgiveness process.  Ephesians 4:23 tells us to be renewed in the spirit of our minds.  A new spiritual posture starts with what we are thinking.

3. Remember that everybody's process is different and takes different amounts of time.  Your friend may be over her trauma; it is okay if you are still in the process.

4. Do not let reason win.  Reason keeps you locked in to what makes sense rather than what makes us free.

Forgiveness is a process, like downloading an app on your phone.  Depending on the app, network speed, and phone model, the process could take some time.  Acknowledge where you are, and allow God to make all the necessary adjustments needed for you to be healed.

By: Minister Micah