In the bible, it says that
we cannot enter heaven if we are not cleansed by all our sin. Heaven
is a holy place, therefore, sin can not enter in. It also says that
we need to forgive others like God forgives us. If we don’t forgive
others, God won’t forgive us. If we are not forgiven from our sins,
we can’t enter heaven.
A year ago, I had a best friend
who hurt me really bad. Not physically, but emotionally. Lied to me
after 6 months, and didn’t care about me like they had lead on they
did. Obviously, I was hurt really bad. I didn’t understand why God
would allow me to feel so much pain. Why He would do something like
that to me? I thought He loved me? After that, I decided to shut people
out of my life completely. After awhile of not really having anybody
to go to because had shut them all out, I went to God. Which was exactly
His plan. I went to God crying and giving up. Gave Him everything. Now,
I can honestly say He healed my heart and I’ve been growing stronger
and stronger in Him since then.
Well, there was one thing…
I hadn’t forgiven my friend that hurt me. I thought I had, but somebody
asked me if I ever forgave them… and when I really thought about it,
I realized… no, I hadn’t. I couldn’t. The enemy clearly had a
hold on me that was so strong, I wanted nothing to do with that person…
especially to go and forgive them. NO WAY, God! Well, during church
recently, the lesson was on forgiveness. And somebody read the verse
on how if we’re not forgiven from sin, we can’t enter heaven. And
if we don’t forgive others, God can’t forgive us. So they both go
hand in hand. They also shared a testimony of a woman in a church who
was a intersessor and was good friends with the pastor. Well, this lady
died and the pastor missed her, so he asked God to tell her he missed
her. And God told the pastor that she wasn’t there! And the pastor
asked “Where is she?” and God told the man to ask her family. So
he asked her family and they said that when she was younger, engaged,
that he fiancé cheated on her and ran off with another woman. And that
that woman never forgave him for doing that, therefore so wasn’t able
to enter heavens gates. If she’s not in heaven, she can only be in
one other place. Hell. Well, I kind of freaked out because I had held
onto a grudge for a year! So I prayed that God would give me the grace
to forgive my friend. It was really humiliating, but I did it. I sent
them a simple text message saying that I was praying for them. I know that sounds
so simple and easy, but honestly, it was tough. Because I had vowed
to never talk to that person or ever see them again. God had something
else in mind.
So many times, we take advantage
of God’s grace, and totally forget about that scripture. It’s a
very dangerous thing…. Not forgiving. We need to fight against the
enemy and their holds on us. Rebuke them when they whisper lies in our
ears.
Forgiveness is a MUST.
