Forgiveness is a way of walking in your God-given identity. Many people who have been seriously harmed have a hard time forgiving and don’t really have an understanding of the true meaning of forgiveness. Once you understand what forgiveness is and what it can mean in your life you will be more readily able and willing to forgive those who have offended you and have skewed your identity, making you see yourself differently than what God intended for you.
Oftentimes those who have harmed you have themselves not been acquainted with Gods love for them. Hurt people, hurt people! Many times unconsciously, because that is who they have become through their own hurts and the things that have happened in their own life. They then project this on others. Oftentimes those who are unable to love and be good to others have themselves not tasted of Gods love for them. If for whatever reason you do not yet realize how precious you are to God, you are unable to fully love.
Forgiveness is a mighty tool that God has given you to set yourself free from the baggage of harmful things that have happened to you. Some people think that they are paying their offender back when they choose to hold on to the hurt and anger toward the other person. But do you realize that you are in your own prison when you choose not to forgive? You are the only one not sleeping at night, not being able to eat well, becoming sick, not enjoying life while your offender is happily living life not even knowing what he/she has caused in your life. All the while you are paying a penalty thinking that holding on to unforgiveness is paying them back. That is a lie!!
Forgiveness allows you to open your prison door from the inside and set yourself free. It is the key to freedom, which allows the Kingdom of Heaven to come into your life and change the situation, yourself and maybe even the other person.
Forgiveness means that you send away the offense of the other person toward you. You say: “God, today I choose to forgive. I choose to send away the pain of what that person has done to me and I choose to put on the reality of who you say that I am, what you say that I have and what you say that I can do.”
So choose today to forgive and let go of the offense. When the enemy brings the memory and the feelings related to your situation back to you, speak out and say: “I have chosen to forgive and to let go of anger. I put on joy, peace, etc. because this is who I am called to be in God. I choose my identity in God.” Keep putting off the negative feelings that come up until the only thing that remains standing is what God has called you to be.
Do not let other people or circumstances that you have gone through ruin your life or decide your life for you. Do not live a life of mediocrity because of what people have done against you. You have a life to live and a destiny to fulfill in God. Do not allow circumstances to make you miss out on the best that God has for you.
I hope the above serves you and that you are able to put these things into practice and see your life become what God has intended it to be.