FORGIVE BEFORE THE HURT (4)

THE BENEFITS OF FORGIVENESS

TEXT: Genesis 50:17-23

As we round off on the series on forgiveness, we shall consider just seven (7) out of the innumerable benefits of forgiveness.

1)      ACCESS INTO GOD'S PRESENCE

Unforgiveness blocks the path into divine fellowship. When you forgive, mercy is amplified over your life and God accepts you (Matthew 5:23-24)

2)      RESTORATION

Job was hurt by his friends, but when he forgave them and God confirmed his forgiveness by his obedience to pray for them, God restored him. If you don't let go the person who hurt you, you have used your hands to lock up the flow of God's restorative streams.

3)      PRESERVATION

Moses was a man who enjoyed divine preservation from the beginning of his life and then ministry to his last day. No devil could touch him; Pharaoh couldn't hurt him; the Amalekites couldn't conquer him: God preserved him! How did preservation work for Moses? He was a forgiver. The same people who provoked him to strike the rod against God's instruction; he forgave them and was ready to sacrifice his name being blotted out from God's book just for them to be saved. This is forgiveness! (Exodus 32:32). When Mariam and Aaron spoke against him and God dealt with Mariam, Moses was there begging for her (Numbers 12:13).

4)      RISING IN LIFE

Unforgiveness is a weight (Hebrews 12:1). When you carry unforgiveness in your heart your life becomes too heavy for lifting. When you forgive, you become light and so you can rise in life. Unforgiveness is a puncture that leaks the virtues of greatness and makes a man alien to God's favour and lifting.

Also, forgiveness demonstrates humility, and humility is the pathway to divine lifting (James 1:9; 4:6).

5)      VICTORIOUS LIFE

The devil cannot access a man's life except there is a loophole usually created by sin, disobedience and negative covenants. When a man lives in unforgiveness it creates a spiritual window into his life via which demons can (justifiably) have free entry and exit.

6)      JOY AND PEACE

Forgiveness is a righteous act that builds up your faith and makes you become more like Christ. It is written: "The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous" (Psalm 118:15a).

7)      HEAVEN AT LAST

Unforgiveness is a sin: it leads to hell. To refuse to forgive is to deny God's nature of forgiveness (in you) which made Him forgive mankind. If for nothing, forgive because it is a requirement for Heaven.

Friend, forgiveness is the way of God and it is the way to go. I pray that God's grace and peace fill and flood your heart. May your heart be established with grace in Jesus' name. Amen.