Humanity is power mad
but ignorant of the power of forgiveness to
shake loose the devil's hold on souls.
And! On me!

Forgiveness is power. Earthshaking power.

Forgiveness is a Divine Test.
A test of your love for your God.

Forgiveness is a Power and a Test.

The offense makes you seethe with fire to
change the unchangeable, be heard by the deaf,
and known by the blind.
The offense spawns in you the drive to control,
to take over as God and
force justice and truth into being.

The power of revenge, the dominion of rigid force,
the strength of coercion . . .
these are human powers that tempt the soul
against the offender.
They are sweet to consider, delicious to plot . . .
and deadly to keep. 

In forgiveness - true forgiveness - these powers
are forfeited, discarded and refused
along with my
"legal rights" in the situation.  

Forgiveness is true power . . .
Forgiveness is the Believer's only legitimate power
in the arena of what-is-wrong. 

To forgive is to possess holy power over
the person you are forgiving,
power to change their life for God, for goodness,
to free your enemy from his Enemy,
that he might see his error. 

In forgiving,
in blessing,
you are giving the offender a gift,
the hidden gift of
freedom from the Legal System,
for Christ's sake, by what He paid.
It is a debt of gratitude you owe HIM! 

Strife and trouble are about God.
God in your life, God in theirs.
You are not a factor, not the central issue.
Human relationship is entirely secondary.
Relationships-Horizontal are fixed when
Relationship-Vertical is established.

God - by Pure Design - sends people to offend you
that you might by Christ,
"intercede for the transgressor." Isa. 53:12

The offense is the signal of a need.
Their need. God's need of them. And their need of HIM.

Above my issue, overriding my personal pain stands
God's purpose and His glory.
His need . . . for Eternity.
That must be of more concern to me than
my own petty defense.
 
Forgiveness is the basic call of the Gospel and
it must come before Love will take you over
to then . . . overwhelm your enemy.

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Copyright © 2002 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick