Finding the Presence of God ~ What Does Forgiveness Have To Do With My Healing?

by Nan Jones @NanJonesAuthor

Guest blogger: Olabode Oluwatosin @DoubleST_Sst

Several days ago I heard from a young Nigerian man who asked about being a guest blogger on Morning Glory. First of all, I was stunned that someone so far away would notice my request for guest bloggers and then I felt overwhelmed that the Lord would honor me with such a gift. As Tosin (his nickname) and I began to communicate through emails, I saw a sweet and gentle spirit with a longing to honor God and a desire to help others know Christ. One of the messages Tosin submitted to me is about the lessons in forgiveness he learned firsthand. Tosin didn't know about my personal struggles and my battle to forgive someone who has hurt me deeply. I have since shared this with him. My heart was moved by his words and wisdom. I trust you will experience the same. He is an amazing young man.

Welcome Tosin!

God is too GOD to be creating junk files … He is too supreme to be establishing laws or stating facts that are of little or no significance.  Anyone that studies scripture deeply and closely will realize that God spoke in certain patterns, pending the context, and all the time he spoke to “hit a certain nail”.

Consider this: 
Matthew 18:21-22, Then came Peter to him, and said, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?" Jesus saith unto him, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."

In today’s post, I try to understand by the leading of the Holy Spirit what Jesus meant when he said to Peter in the context of FORGIVENESS, “Until seventy times seven (490 times)." Could this have been a message of humility? Is it possible for someone to offend you that many times? What is the voice of the Spirit saying?

God wasn’t putting away man’s pride of being able to forgive SEVEN times (seven must have seemed like a really big deal to Peter; I mean, it takes the grace of God to forgive once, let alone seven times).

Jesus didn’t just humble man, He taught within that very context that, when a person sins against us (offends us), it might require us to forgive that person at most 490 times. This is to say, for our hearts to totally heal sometimes, WE NEED TO FORGIVE UPON EVERY REMEMBRANCE until our heart affirms it completely.

Forgiveness is an important part of healing a broken heart (someone who has been hurt in whatsoever way). It is vital to bringing ourselves back to life. This implies that in order to move ahead to the next level in life, we need to forgive that person or else we remain wondering in this thought, "Why me? Why did s/he hurt me??"

Now, because forgiveness doesn’t happen overnight and can take a while (the healing process, I mean), Christ teaches us to forgive “until seventy times seven”. It often takes this long before true forgiveness occurs. We must remember God forgives us daily in Christ a whole lot more than 490 times!

It is popularly said, “forgive and forget”, while it is true that we could have genuinely forgiven the person the first time, it takes a WHILE to absolutely forget, thus GOD’S CONCEPT OF HEALING.

In other words, since it takes time to heal, forgiving 490 times means we should allow ourselves to heal through the process. Our memory is a funny thing - we keep remembering. God is saying for each remembrance: Forgive…FOrgive… FORgive… FORGive… FORGIve… FORGIVe… FORGIVE… Until our hearts have completely HEALED. This is important because if we don’t forgive, Matthew 18:35 says, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses."

Are you reading this today and need to forgive someone?
Or are you reading this and need to be forgiven?
My advice as a friend and brother would be for you to DO WHAT IS RIGHT, for only then would you have PEACE OF MIND…. Do what is right.

God’s blessings upon you and may you continually find His absolute Peace.

By Olabode Oluwatosin

A Tweetable to Encourage Others

What does forgiveness have to do with my healing? Guest, Olabode Oluwatosin:(Click to Tweet)

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Oluwatosin Olabode (SST) is a Nigerian. A Christian redeemed and saved by grace. He is the founder of an online blogging concept called YES JESUS, with the absolute aim of bringing people to Christ. He is known for his simplicity as regards everything he is involved in, thus the birth of his pen name, SST (Strictly Simple from Tosin).  He coauthored his first book titled ‘THE BIG ONE’ and is currently working on his second book ‘THE IDEAL BEING’. 

Connect with Tosin:

Blog: https://bib4le.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DoubleST_Sst

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/tosin.olabode.58