Have you ever felt like dark things are all around you and no matter how hard you pray, they don’t leave. You feel constantly pressured. This is called being “hedged in”.
In my experience, and by observation with the people I talk to, it happens when you are refusing to forgive someone for what they have done.
The tough truth of the situation is that if you won’t forgive, you will not be forgiven. Think about the Lords prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” So what happens if you won’t forgive those trespasses?
What does the bible say?
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” – Matt 18:23-35
If you feel hedged in and always under pressure, you might very well be in the torture prison that Jesus taught about.
So how do you get out of it? Forgive!
Some of you are saying… but I can’t… you don’t know what he/she did. I just can’t.
Some people are just INCREDIBLY angry and they can’t forgive. I know how that feels. The kind of unforgiveness is really just anger. You’re angry. Very angry. Immensely angry.
Here’s what I did.
Releasing spiritual debt
I will probably never forget the exact day on which I did this.
Let’s look at the sin that has been committed against you as a debt. Someone has sinned against you and now owes you a spiritual debt.
Step one is to separate the spiritual debt from your anger. The bible says:
BE angry, but do not sin (Eph 4:26)
So you don’t need to stop being angry right now. Your mission… should you choose to accept it… is to release them in prayer from their spiritual debt to you.
Your prayer can be as simple as this: “Lord Jesus, please do not hold their actions against them. I declare that they do not have any debt to me”. You might want to add your own authentic words to this. Really let them go from spiritual debt.
That takes care of the torture prison. The enemy should leave right away.
Thanking God for the good
This is the second step I took.
God promises to use all things for the good of those who love Him. That’s you and me!
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Rom 8:28
Perhaps you’ve been rejected or abused. Have you used those experiences to help other people? Can you thank God for using those experiences to help others?
DO NOT thank Him for the experience of being sinned against. No, thank Him for using it for good in some way.
In my case intense loneliness in my childhood was the memory. But now I write this blog and help hundreds of people overcome emptiness and loneliness. It’s a bad memory, but God is using it for the good. I can smile now.
I can move on.
Emotional release
But the thing still happened right? You might still have some anger to deal with. As long as your anger gets processed, you will be able to go to a deeper level of forgiveness, where you EMOTIONALLY release the event or person.
Step three happened for me today. I read a book for men about women. I was just amazed to see into the world of a woman. How emotional it is. How they love. How they view the world through a lens of love and emotions.
As I understood that, I “saw” that my own mother had seen her own family and me in that way. Let me say that my family was responsible for a SHOCKING amount of pain in my young life which I am only now working through. But… when I could see that she really did do her best, that she tried to love, that she lived this life of trying her best… I could release her EMOTIONALLY.
My childhood had been massively lonely and painful, but I could “see” my mother’s angst as she tried her best to create a loving environment. I could truly see it. She tried. I can let that go now.
And so I have felt unbelievably FREE and happy for most of the day. I’m moving on.
Summary
You can do this too. Just take it step by step. See it as layers. Forgive the spiritual debt to begin with. Then go on to the other emotional layers. It will be a different process for you… but the end result is the same. Freedom and release FOR YOU
In my experience, and by observation with the people I talk to, it happens when you are refusing to forgive someone for what they have done.
The tough truth of the situation is that if you won’t forgive, you will not be forgiven. Think about the Lords prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” So what happens if you won’t forgive those trespasses?
What does the bible say?
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.” – Matt 18:23-35
If you feel hedged in and always under pressure, you might very well be in the torture prison that Jesus taught about.
So how do you get out of it? Forgive!
Some of you are saying… but I can’t… you don’t know what he/she did. I just can’t.
Some people are just INCREDIBLY angry and they can’t forgive. I know how that feels. The kind of unforgiveness is really just anger. You’re angry. Very angry. Immensely angry.
Here’s what I did.
Releasing spiritual debt
I will probably never forget the exact day on which I did this.
Let’s look at the sin that has been committed against you as a debt. Someone has sinned against you and now owes you a spiritual debt.
Step one is to separate the spiritual debt from your anger. The bible says:
BE angry, but do not sin (Eph 4:26)
So you don’t need to stop being angry right now. Your mission… should you choose to accept it… is to release them in prayer from their spiritual debt to you.
Your prayer can be as simple as this: “Lord Jesus, please do not hold their actions against them. I declare that they do not have any debt to me”. You might want to add your own authentic words to this. Really let them go from spiritual debt.
That takes care of the torture prison. The enemy should leave right away.
Thanking God for the good
This is the second step I took.
God promises to use all things for the good of those who love Him. That’s you and me!
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Rom 8:28
Perhaps you’ve been rejected or abused. Have you used those experiences to help other people? Can you thank God for using those experiences to help others?
DO NOT thank Him for the experience of being sinned against. No, thank Him for using it for good in some way.
In my case intense loneliness in my childhood was the memory. But now I write this blog and help hundreds of people overcome emptiness and loneliness. It’s a bad memory, but God is using it for the good. I can smile now.
I can move on.
Emotional release
But the thing still happened right? You might still have some anger to deal with. As long as your anger gets processed, you will be able to go to a deeper level of forgiveness, where you EMOTIONALLY release the event or person.
Step three happened for me today. I read a book for men about women. I was just amazed to see into the world of a woman. How emotional it is. How they love. How they view the world through a lens of love and emotions.
As I understood that, I “saw” that my own mother had seen her own family and me in that way. Let me say that my family was responsible for a SHOCKING amount of pain in my young life which I am only now working through. But… when I could see that she really did do her best, that she tried to love, that she lived this life of trying her best… I could release her EMOTIONALLY.
My childhood had been massively lonely and painful, but I could “see” my mother’s angst as she tried her best to create a loving environment. I could truly see it. She tried. I can let that go now.
And so I have felt unbelievably FREE and happy for most of the day. I’m moving on.
Summary
You can do this too. Just take it step by step. See it as layers. Forgive the spiritual debt to begin with. Then go on to the other emotional layers. It will be a different process for you… but the end result is the same. Freedom and release FOR YOU
No comments:
Post a Comment