(Matthew 6:14-15 NLT) "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.”
In the same chapter Jesus teaches us how to pray – in verse twelve He says something that reveals the Father’s heart about forgiveness. “…and forgive our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” Think about what that means. Do I want God to forgive me a little or do I want Him to forgive me of all my wrongs? This life is, at times, difficult. Those who say otherwise either are hiding their true feelings or have disconnected themselves from real relationship so long ago that they forgot how to truly love and thus go through life unaware of God’s purpose. If the enemy has his way the attacks come during childhood through a parent, usually the father because he is the instrument God has ordained to lead the family. By attacking through the father the enemy’s attack is two fold. He reinforces the lies the father was told in his childhood and he deals out the same tricks on the next generation behind the mask of the faults of the father. The child then makes a vow to protect their tender heart by building walls around it. As an adult he or she reasons away the pain (as the enemy interjects) by either thinking it was their fault or hating the parent but never coming to terms with the weight of the wrongful pain and thus never seeing it for what it is – a very specific attack on their heart by the enemy of God. Why does the enemy do this? Because he hates God, he knows he cannot win and he wants to turn as many people away from God as possible but there is another reason. The enemy knows that if he can derail God’s plan for your life you will miss out on God’s purpose and it is God’s purpose working through your life that the enemy fears! Jesus promises us much but we can’t hold onto unforgiveness and expect His blessings and His purpose to be fulfilled in our lives. The problem with the “wall around the heart” theory is that it only appears to keep pain out but it ultimately keeps love out and the individual who takes this rout never experiences the depths of God’s love. In the end the choice is ours to make – do we continue to guard our hearts with the wall we’ve built around it or do we trust God to heal our pain by revealing our hearts to Him and trusting that He is big enough to make something beautiful with this broken vessel we lay at His feet?
