THE SUPERNATURAL HABITS, PAUL & NUALA O'HIGGINS [red novels .txt] 📗

against us. They have been nailed with Jesus to His cross and our guilt has been taken away!
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.” (Romans 5:1-5)
It is on the basis of this extraordinary emancipation from the real guilt of our sins that believers are empowered to be the best forgivers. To illustrate this, Jesus told a story (Matthew 18:23-25). A man who had amassed an enormous debt to his employer, and being totally unable to pay back the debt, threw himself at the employer’s mercy. The employer then magnanimously forgave the debt and the man went away delighted. Released from his debt he was free to begin life anew.
Later another man incurred a minor debt to this forgiven worker. However, though he himself had received enormous mercy, he refused to show the same kind of mercy to his debtor (it was like someone who was forgiven a 2 million dollar debt refusing to forgive the debt of someone who owed him $3!).
When word went back to the employer of how unforgiving his employee was, he restored the entire enormous debt. “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:35)
From this great parable we learn that forgiveness is not an option for the believer. In fact it is the primary responsibility of everyone who has received forgiveness. We pass that same forgiveness on to everyone. The way to continue living in the mercy, pardon and blessings of God is to keep passing it on to others. No matter how much people have hurt us, their offense towards us is nothing compared with the debt God has released us from.
The slightest unforgiveness towards self or others disturbs our peace with God and violates the principle of His mercy. Unforgiveness is like plaque in our arteries – it blocks the flow of God’s love and life to us and through us.
We are all infinitely and equally in need of forgiveness. When we embrace the forgiveness that is in Jesus we have a special responsibility to show the same forgiveness to everyone else. A believer who leans on the mercy of God in Jesus and does not show total forgiveness towards others contradicts the principle of mercy on which his life is based.
Yes there are real things that others have done against us. There are people whose behavior we rightly don’t like or whose views we rightly disagree with, but whether they are right or wrong, we still have an obligation to forgive. We do not have to condone people’s wrong behavior or views but we do have an obligation to forgive and release them from any charge.
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15)

Taking Offense
An offense is:
• an opportunity to forgive, or
• a temptation to unforgiveness
Jesus said “Each day’s trouble is enough for each day.” (Matthew 6:34) Each day brings along some offense or another. It can be as small as someone taking your parking space, annoying you with the noise of their radio, or as large as someone murdering a family member.
Believers can allow the law to take its course and to do its work to protect society from the evil that works through people. However, it is never right to harbor unforgiveness because when we take offence it cuts off the flow of God’s further blessing and redeeming grace.
Forgiveness does not require that we agree with what has happened but that we refuse to let past misfortunes cut us off from present blessings. “These things I have spoken to you,” says Jesus, “that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11) To the degree that we hold no unforgiveness towards self, God or others, we can live in the full sunshine of God’s blessing.

If Only!
The saddest phrase in our language is the phrase ‘if only.” It indicates regret over the past, and a failure to be released from its sorrow.
Unforgiveness is the glue that binds us to the past, and forgiveness is the liberation that enables us to embrace today’s blessings. It is impossible to forgive, however, when those two little words “if only” bind us to our past. James says, “we all make many mistakes.” (James 3:2) We have all been hurt in some way by our own mistakes and by the mistakes and injustices of others. This can become Satan’s bait to enter into self-bitterness or bitterness towards others.
God, however, is our great Redeemer. He can take all the negatives in our lives and make them work for our good. When we give Him all our regrets, and receive His forgiveness for our sins, mistakes and failures, He looses us from our past. We do not have to remain victims of our past, because Jesus, Our Redeemer, has the ability to make all things work for our good. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
When we release the pains, sorrows, disadvantages and injustices of our lives to Him, He by His redemptive touch makes it better that the bad things happened than if they had never happened. Adversity can be our prison house that locks us to the past, or it can be our stepping-stones to destiny. When we turn our adversities and disappointments over to the Lord our Redeemer, His Redemptive and Resurrection power seize the situation and forge destiny from it.
Most of the greatest leaders of history from Joseph to Martin Luther King have been schooled in the college of injustice and adversity. Those hardships handled with grace became the springboard to their destiny and influence.
Richard Wurmbrand, the writer of the autobiographic book “Tortured for Christ”, was imprisoned in Romania first by the Nazis for being a Jew and then by communists for being a believer. In prison, he learned through the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit to endure, to forgive and to overcome. His experiences of persecution equipped him to become one of the most inspirational leaders of his time and the founder of “The Voice of the Martyrs’, the leading ministry to the persecuted church.

Forgiveness is not Denial
Forgiveness is not denial or brushing something under the carpet. True forgiveness faces the hurt and pain without diminishing its evil. Forgiveness is never a cover-up or hiding of problems from the light. On the contrary, it requires bringing everything into the light of truth and then covering it with love and forgiveness.
When we receive forgiveness from God we acknowledge our offense and receive pardon and restoration from God. Similarly, when we forgive others we do not diminish the offense but, fully acknowledging the seriousness of the offense, we forgive as we ourselves have been forgiven. The victim of rape, for example, should never be required to diminish or make little of the offense that has been perpetrated against her. On the contrary, only when she fully faces the depth of the violation can she fully forgive in a way that releases her from the offense and opens the door for healing and enlargement.

Four Steps to Total Forgiveness
• Acknowledge the reality of the pain and suffering the offense of others has caused us.
• Forgive others of any real or imagined offense
• Release them from any sense of obligation to us arising from the offense just as Jesus has justified us and treats us as if we have never sinned
• Bless them. Just as God is never going to get back at you because He already ‘got back’ at Jesus for all our sins and trespasses, so we forgive others not to “get back” at them but that they will be blessed.

The Physical Effects of Unforgiveness
“Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord; looking diligently lest any fail of the grace of God, or lest any root of bitterness springing up disturb you, and by it many are defiled.” (Hebrews 12:14-15)
A root of bitterness is literally a poisonous root. Medical science recognizes that emotions such as anger, guilt, sadness and resentment can damage our bodies and our mind. When negative emotions become chronic, they become literally poisonous, as they cause the body to produce excess doses of cortisol, histamines and other chemicals.
In addition to the obvious damage unforgiveness does to relationships, it can have a devastating effect on our physical health. According to Judith Perlman of the cancer Wellness Center of Suburban Chicago, “lack of forgiveness can create an avalanche of stress hormones.” It increases production of cortisol and epinephrine, which leads to changes in heart rate and blood pressure. It raises levels of catecholamine and CD8, which suppresses the immune system thus increasing the risk of viral infection. It leads to the release of histamines, which can trigger severe broncho-constriction in people with asthma. Lack of forgiveness:
• alters insulin levels
• alters the acid concentration in the stomach
• causes plaque buildup in the arteries
• causes or intensifies aches and pains
• raises anxiety levels
• causes depression
• interferes with intimate and social relationships
• affects sleep and appetite
It is no wonder that Jesus said that we must forgive before we get on with any spiritual or any other life activity.
“And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive it so that also your Father in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25)

Who to Forgive?
Unforgiveness is not only physically poisonous, it is also spiritually poisonous because it destroys relationships. In this way it undermines the basic fabric of life. Since we are created to receive and give love, unforgiveness destroys the most essential element of life.
Many find it hard to forgive because they themselves have never received it. They still believe that forgiveness has to be earned because of a false theology that God’s mercy must be earned. However, the basis of Christian belief is that God loved us and provided atonement for our sins ‘when we were still sinners.’
“For we yet being without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will with difficulty die for a righteous one, yet perhaps one would even dare to die for a good one. But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” (Romans 5:6-9)
If you believe you must somehow earn your forgiveness, then you will make other people earn their forgiveness also. But if you know you have not earned it you will more readily give it to others. Forgiveness is not earned; it is received. “Freely you have received, freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)
The three great relationships for all of us are:
• our relationship with God
• our relationship with ourselves, and
• our relationship with