I remembered the conversation I once had during my prayer time today. Jesus Calls Ministries at Chennai is a ministry that had God’s special anointing on it because of that great man of God, Brother D.G. S. Dinakaran, its founder whose love for Jesus is so well known all over Chennai and the world. Hundreds of thousands of people come to Jesus Calls through their Prayer Tower all through the day and night throughout the year. They come with their cries to the prayer warriors to intercede for them with Jesus for all their problems. Of course Brother D.G. S has now gone to be with the Lord. His son Paul who was trained for long is now the managing director. During one of my prayer requests for a special need, the prayer warrior at the other end of the phone line asked me “Is there any unforgiveness in you that is hampering you from having your prayers answered? You say you have prayed for this need long enough and still you don’t see the results. Please check your heart for not forgiving anyone for offending you. And come back to us again. We will pray with you in agreement then.”
So there it is friends. All of us pray, some of us even in tongues, we meditate in the Word, and we sing hymns in praise. And then we see that the results we were expecting for long go unanswered still. How many of us have laid hold of this spiritual principle called ‘Forgiveness?’ Not many. I’m sure. In fact, it is a vital element in the process of our growing up as a good Christian. Certain demonic forces are released in the life of a Christian who refuses to forgive. And in order not to miss this essential element, God uses people who offend us to teach us how to forgive.
We can only remind ourselves about the price of blood that was paid on Calvary by Jesus. His body was wounded beyond repair and His blood was spilled all over. Why? We know it was only for the forgiveness of our sins. This was a price that can never be compared or reached. It was the blood of Jesus that forgave all of us. So it follows that we too forgive those who sin against us. In Mathew Chapter 6: 14 and 15, Jesus says “If you forgive those who sin against you, your Heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Many a time during our prayer times, the Holy Spirit brings up a sin of unforgiveness from the deep corners of our hearts. It is at this time that we should quickly confess openly and ask God for forgiveness. The Holy Spirit knows that if we do not deal with the sin immediately, the rest of our prayer time will become futile. So let us go ahead and forgive. How many times do we forgive? As Jesus says in Mathew 18: 21 and 22 “Seventy times seven” When a problem of really forgiving anyone comes, let us remind ourselves of the image of the price that was paid on Calvary.
How can we develop an attitude of forgiving people all the time? How can we forgive people who are always waiting to hurt us? I believe the key to the right attitude for forgiving is ‘preparation.’ It is what we do before the hurt happens. This is when we set ourselves up on deciding to forgive even before the issue of forgiveness comes up. Let us not wait till the end. Of course this will take time and constant endeavour.
There is certainly a lot of struggle for Christians to operate in forgiveness today and I too am one of them. I’m sure there will be many who will say “How can we forgive after what they did to us?” Why not just forgive and let God do the rest in making the other person not to offend us again? Unforgiveness binds us to the painful chords of hostility. Forgiving others as we have seen is non-negotiable. It is an order from the Almighty God.
So let us learn how to set ourselves up to remove unforgiveness once and for all. It is the single most important master key to spiritual liberty and joy in the physical world. And to all answered prayers.
