Living in the Abundance of God (5 page)

O
ne day I was talking to the Lord about healing. I had been thinking of the healings Jesus performed while He was on earth. I said, “Lord, You were such a great healing preacher. I wish I could have been there to hear some of Your healing sermons.”

The Lord said to me, “You have them in the Bible. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. That is what I taught. If the people believed and acted on My words, they were healed. If they listened to Me and refused to believe what I taught, I could not heal them, even though I was there in person.”

I realized that in the Gospels, I had the healing sermons of Jesus. I am sure those are not all of His sermons, but they are the ones that God knew we needed.

When I teach what Jesus taught in the Bible, people receive lasting healings and miracles from God. The truths that Jesus taught in the Bible usually do not make people run and jump with joy. They are serious subjects that have to be dealt with in every area of life.

Jesus had much to say about forgiveness. “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established’ ” (Matthew 18:15–16).

It is not strange that Jesus would preach about brothers having fights and disagreements. Jesus’ teachings got down to the real nitty-gritty of life.

Peter heard Jesus say that, and he could not get the concept of forgiveness out of his mind. You can tell it was bugging him. “Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven’ ” (Matthew 18:21–22).

Jesus said we are to forgive our brother or sister four hundred and ninety times! In other words, forgiveness is an attitude; it is a way of life.

I remember a fellow who treated me so badly that I felt like giving him a piece of my mind! After he had wronged me, I wrote him a real nasty letter, letting him have it with both barrels, but once I was finished, I tore it up. I had to forgive him. Jesus gave me no other choice.

When we learn to forgive others as God has forgiven us, we will reign in life as kings over every heartache, hurt, and situation, and we can enjoy the abundance God has provided for us.

After setting Peter straight on the nature of forgiveness, Jesus continued His sermon, explaining the importance of forgiveness in Matthew 18:23–35:

This is not my sermon on the power of forgiveness; it is Jesus’ sermon. This is not my doctrine; it is the doctrine of Jesus.

There are three important facts about unforgiveness to be learned from this passage of Scripture.

First, the master said that his servant was wicked because he did not forgive his fellow servant. God looks at our failure to forgive others as wickedness. God forgave us from all the sins of our past, and He continues to forgive us when we fall even after we have put our faith in Jesus and been born again by the Holy Spirit. How much should we forgive others!

Second, the master was angry with the servant who did not forgive his fellow servant. Unforgiveness in our lives provokes the anger of God. If we are going to live a life that is pleasing to God, we must live a life of forgiveness.

Third, the master delivered his servant to the tormentors because he had failed to forgive. If we do not forgive, our heavenly Father will have to deal with us in the same way we deal with others.

The place of torment is not hell. Thank God, Jesus paid the debt for us, and we do not have to go to hell. But if we continue to live in unforgiveness toward someone, the Bible says that God will deliver us over to the tormentors until we pay our debt. And Jesus, talking about His wonderful, righteous, loving, and merciful Father, said, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”

That is not shouting for joy ground; it is sober ground. That is the Head of the church speaking directly to our hearts. Jesus is teaching us how to avoid being delivered to the tormentors.

Jesus said that a child of God can be delivered over to the tormentors until he pays for his wrongdoings. He can be delivered to the tormentors until he forgives!

There is physical, mental, and spiritual torment. Physical torment is sickness and disease in our bodies. Mental torment produces fear and confusion. Spiritual torment is being accused by Satan. He is the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10).

I knew a pastor whose fingers were bent over and twisted with arthritis. He said, “Pastor Osteen, one day I made a decision to start living a life of forgiveness.” Every time he thought of someone toward whom he had a wrong attitude, he would forgive that person. He said, “I would lie in bed and think of people as I prayed. If someone came to my mind, I would forgive them. As I drove the car, if someone came to my mind, I would forgive them.”

Several months after he made his decision to live in forgiveness, finger after finger straightened up, and healing came into his body. Eventually, he was completely healed! God did not send the sickness, but this pastor’s obedience unlocked the door to healing in his life. God is pleased with us when we forgive.

Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:24–26).

There was a woman in our church who had a large tumor. Based upon James 5:14–15, we anointed her with oil, laid hands on her, and prayed for her, but she did not get healed. Later on, in one of our church services, I taught on this principle of forgiveness. Afterward this woman came to me and said, “I did not know that unforgiveness was locked away in my heart. I had no idea that I had anything against anyone.”

She continued, “The Holy Spirit brought my mother-in-law to my mind and something that happened years ago. I was not aware that I held anything against her, but the Holy Spirit showed me that I had resentment locked away in the recesses of my heart. I had never truly forgiven her.”

After she forgave her mother-in-law for whatever had happened years before, the tumor disappeared.

When you open yourself up to God and say, “God, search my heart and show me how I can change,” He will help you.

Forgiveness
and
healing
are closely related. Many times people who are seeking healing really need to walk in forgiveness.

Forgive and be healed! It may not always happen instantly, but it will happen!

Many divorced people have a battle with unforgiveness. It is easy for a wife to have bitterness against a husband who has mistreated her. It is easy for a husband to have resentment against a wife who has left him. I have heard more than one wife say, “He is guilty. He ruined my life! He left me without anything. I had to take care of the children myself.”

That wife is right; he is guilty. But only the guilty need mercy. Guilty people must be forgiven, not for their sakes, but for ours! Why? Jesus tells us: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15).

If you forgive,
you will be forgiven
.

If you do not forgive,
you will not be forgiven
.

There is no alternative. God will only forgive us as we forgive others.

Jesus put the responsibility upon us to initiate the forgiveness. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus again mentioned forgiveness: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12).

Resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness release a negative force within our entire beings. It is a very dangerous force that grows stronger each day we choose not to follow the teachings of Jesus.

The relationship between you and other members of your family is very important. The relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is an area where there needs to be a searching of the heart; likewise, between mother-in-law and son-in-law, between parents and children, and between brothers and sisters.

One day, as I allowed the Holy Spirit to search my heart for anything that He might find offensive, He showed me that I had held things against my mother and daddy. They quarreled a lot when I was a child, and I grew up resenting the tension that it produced in my heart and in our home. I lived in fear of them divorcing. I remember many times crying over their disputes.

As the Lord began to speak to me about the critical thoughts I had toward my parents, He reminded me that when I was a boy, my parents did not have an automatic washing machine. They did not have many of the conveniences that are plentiful in our day. We had a large family, and it had not been easy for my parents to raise us during the Great Depression. My heart was broken because of my wrong attitude.

I was a successful minister. God had blessed my life in many ways, yet I still had areas of unforgiveness in my heart. Opening my heart to the Lord Jesus, I saw those unpleasant memories were actually areas of unforgiveness.

Parents have to be willing to forgive their children. Perhaps your children have really hurt you badly. They may be guilty of some terrible wrongs, but you must forgive. As you forgive them, you will be forgiven, and healing will come to your spirit, mind, and body.