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REAL POWER: MAXING OUT ON GOD'S LOVE |
THE OCTOPUS WITH ONE THOUSAND ARMS
Sin and resentment are two sides of
the same coin. On one side of the coin, sin consists of things you
have done that violate the laws of the moral universe. On the other
side, resentment consists of your negative feelings toward those who
have wronged you.
Sin and resentment are like a giant
octopus with one thousand arms securely wrapped around your heart and
mind. These unwanted visitors from another world are not polite
guests. They send their tentacles into every part of your life.
Nothing is safe from their grasp. They invade your relationships with
your family and friends. They choke your emotions and distort your
thinking. These malignant invaders come to dominate and destroy you.
No matter how hard you try, you
cannot dislodge them from your mind. They have too many arms in too
many places and will not let go. Your situation would be hopeless
except for two things. The thousand-armed octopus of sin and
resentment cannot stand up to the power of God’s forgiveness and love.
Sin and resentment make you sick if
you don’t do anything about them. You don’t have the power to send
these predators on their way without God’s help. This is a job for
the two most powerful forces in the universe, God’s forgiveness and
love.
LAW OF FORGIVENESS
God’s Law of Forgiveness makes it
possible to drive these malevolent monsters out. What is this law?
The Law of Forgiveness
states: The forgiving heart is the forgiven heart. This powerful law
is like God’s Law of Love. What goes around comes around. The
forgiveness you send to others comes multiplied back to you.
When God created you, He knew that
you needed to forgive other people as much as you need to receive
forgiveness from him. The reason is simple. When you have a heart
full of resentment and are unwilling to forgive, you become sick
inside.
It’s impossible to be free from the
inner cancer of sin and resentment unless you are willing to forgive.
Until you forgive others, the inner sickness will dominate you, and,
if left untreated, will eventually destroy you. You need to forgive
other people so you can become whole.
DON’T BLOCK THE FORGIVENESS THAT
COMES FROM GOD
For you to feel the full impact of
the forgiveness that comes from God, you must forgive other people
first. The big lump of resentment you hold toward others blocks the
forgiveness coming from God.
It’s not that God is unwilling to
forgive. God’s forgiveness is always there in principle, but it’s not
there in practice until you forgive others. In the world of
forgiveness, what goes around comes around. If you want to have God’s
forgiveness roll through your life, you must send your forgiveness to
everyone else. God will unleash the power of his forgiveness the
instant you forgive everyone who has done you wrong. The forgiving
heart is the forgiven heart.
If you can’t forgive other people,
you will block the forgiveness that comes from God, and you will never
escape from the octopus of sin and resentment controlling your life.
FREE AT LAST
If your heart is hard, and you carry
heavy burdens, there is only one way to lift the load. Every ounce of
forgiveness you dispense to others lifts a ton off the burden you must
bear. Others don’t need your forgiveness nearly as much as you need
it yourself.
As the years pass, you accumulate a
mountain of trash and toxic waste in your mind. Friends come and go,
but enemies accumulate. If you let them accumulate for a lifetime,
your burden becomes unbearable.
When you forgive your enemies, your
burdens instantly disappear. Forgiveness is better than magic,
because it’s not a trick. It’s the real thing. It does everything
it’s advertised to do. It sends the octopus of sin and resentment
packing and frees your heart and mind. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
said, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I’m free at
last.” The forgiveness you send to others makes you free at last.
When you look at people who have
carried burdens of resentment and blame for fifty years, you see the
price they pay for ignoring this law. They grow into bitter
hardhearted people. They aren’t rugged individualists with a smile on
their face. They are worn out and broken down from carrying
unnecessary burdens.
ALL THE WAY OR NOT AT ALL
There is a universal need to be
forgiven for the wrong things you have done. But until you forgive
others, you will not find forgiveness for yourself. It’s that
simple. God made the moral universe work in that fashion in order to
force you to forgive other people. If He had not done it that way,
you would try to get forgiveness from God without passing it on to
others. You would be left with a heart full of resentment, and
forgiveness would have done only half its job. God didn’t want
forgiveness to go only half way. He said it must go all the way or
not at all.
Many people engage in a spiritual
delusion trying to get forgiveness from God while they harbor
resentment toward others. This never works, because God’s forgiveness
cannot do its cleansing work until you forgive the people who have
done wrong to you. God will never let you do an end run around the
resentment that you harbor in your heart and mind.
FORGIVENESS IS A PACKAGE DEAL
There isn’t enough room in your heart
for both resentment and God’s forgiveness. It’s one or the other, and
you decide which it will be. Forgiveness is a package deal. If you
don’t forgive others, then your resentment will block the healing
power of God’s love and forgiveness.
Jesus said it this way, “If you
forgive others the wrong they have done, your heavenly Father will
also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, then the wrongs
you have done will not be forgiven by your Father.” Jesus did not
pull his punches or sugarcoat his message when he was talking about
God’s forgiveness. Jesus understood the inner workings of the moral
universe and how God’s love and forgiveness work inside your heart and
mind. He knew that the resentful heart would block God’s forgiveness
and love from doing its miraculous work. That’s why he told us we had
to forgive other people if we wanted to experience the forgiveness
that comes from him.
START YOUR DAY WITH FORGIVENESS
If you want to have the power of
forgiveness roll through your life, you can’t just talk about
forgiving other people. You must do it.
There is no better way to start your
day than with forgiveness. The first thing you should do when you
wake up in the morning is to forgive everyone. You simply take a
minute to look inside and see if there is a seed of resentment taking
root or actively growing in your heart. If you discover resentment,
then forgive.
If you wipe out resentment the first
thing in the morning, you will have the power of God’s forgiveness and
love rolling through your life all day long. From the time you open
your eyes in the morning until you close them at night, God will be
doing a miracle in your heart and mind. It will be one of the
smartest things you ever do.
It’s impossible to have fellowship
with God when your heart is full of resentment, and sin controls your
life. If you want to have a strong relationship with God, let
forgiveness reign supreme. Unleash the power of God’s forgiveness by
forgiving everyone. The Law of forgiveness can set you free. The
forgiving heart is the forgiven heart.
Affirmation:
In the world of forgiveness, what goes around comes around. The
forgiveness I send to others comes multiplied back to me. If my heart
is hard, and I carry heavy burdens, there is only one way to lift the
load. Every ounce of forgiveness I dispense to others lifts a ton off
the burden I must bear. Others don’t need my forgiveness nearly as
much as I need it myself. Forgiveness washes the pollution of
resentment and ill-will from my mind. It’s better than magic because
it’s not a trick. It’s the real thing. Forgiveness does everything
it’s advertised to do, and it’s free. I don’t need to spend thousands
of dollars and years in therapy to get a fresh start. A forgiving
heart is a forgiven heart. All I need to do is forgive.
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RED SEA CHRONICLES DVD
When Dr. Dave isn't working as a flying doctor for the Indian Health
Service, He is sailing around the world on his sailboat. Find
out what it's like to sail on the ocean of your dreams by watching
Captain Dave's DVD.
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