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Crosswalk.com's Spiritual Life Channel at: http://spiritual.crosswalk.com ----------- N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L from Freedom in Christ Ministries October 27 FORGIVING YOUR PAST Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32). The second step in resolving past conflicts is to forgive those who have offended you. After encouraging Cindy, a rape victim, to deal with the emotional trauma of her rape, I said, "Cindy, you also need to forgive the man who raped you." Cindy's response was typical of many believers who have suffered physical, sexual or emotional pain at the hands of others: "Why should I forgive him? You don't know how badly he hurt me!" "He's still hurting you, Cindy," I responded. "Forgiveness is how you stop the pain. You don't forgive him for his sake; you do it for your sake." Why should you forgive those who have hurt you in the past? First, forgiveness is required by God. As soon as Jesus spoke the amen to His model prayer--which included a petition for God's forgiveness--He commented: "If you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions" (Matthew 6:14, 15). We must base our relationships with others on the same criteria on which God bases His relationship with us: love, acceptance and forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-35). Second, forgiveness is necessary to avoid entrapment by Satan. I have discovered from my counseling that unforgiveness is the number one avenue Satan uses to gain entrance to believers' lives. Paul encouraged mutual forgiveness "in order that no advantage be taken of us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes" (2 Corinthians 2:11). Unforgiveness is an open invitation to Satan's bondage in our lives. Third, we are to forgive like Christ forgave in order to keep our hearts from bitterness. Paul wrote: "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:31, 32). Your act of forgiveness will set the captive free, then you will realize that the captive was you! Lord, teach me to forgive others from my heart as You have forgiven me. ----------- This daily devotional is published and distributed by Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at < http://www.ficm.org <. You can purchase "Daily in Christ" and other titles by Neil Anderson at christianbook.com (Christian Book Distributors - CBD). < http://shopping.crosswalk.com/bye/devo_na < Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com: < http://devotionals.crosswalk.com <. ----------- To read the Current Feature Story from ReligionToday, go to http://religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentFeatureStory/ For today's complete News Summary from ReligionToday, go to http://religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentNewsSummary/ ----------- For Copyright Terms go to http://www.crosswalk.com/info/copyright ____________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______________________ * You subscribed to Neil Anderson as: < jeff.king@enron.com < * To unsubscribe from this newsletter immediately, click here: < http://link.crosswalk.com/UM/U.ASP?A3.14.261895 < If that link is not clickable, simply copy and paste it into your browser window. * To change your address: unsubscribe your old address and then subscribe your new address. * To subscribe, send an email to: < SUBSCRIBE-neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com < or go to < http://www.crosswalk.com/lists < for a complete list of our newsletters. * Copyright ? 2001 Crosswalk.com, Inc. and its Content Providers. All rights reserved. ____________________________________________________________
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