FORGIVENESS AND FORGIVEN

Welcome to Women of Valour which is about

YOU

experiencing your freedom in Christ, being set free,

experiencing the love of God, and opening your blinded eyes

Isaiah 61:1

You are forgiven! Forgiving yourself is a BIG piece of ALL three freedoms. What is "forgiveness"? My definition is “to let yourself out of prison”. The freedom to love yourself. The freedom to know and understand that you are accepted and significant. Each one of us have made some choices in our lives that we are not proud of. Some of the choices may bring with them shame and condemnation. Well, we have the EXACT same testimony because I KNOW some of my choices have. The good news for each one of us is Romans 8:1 There is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

The dictionary defines forgiveness as:

1) The act of excusing a mistake or offense.

2) Compassionate feelings that support a willingness to forgive.

Forgiveness = Freedom

You have to choose to excuse your own mistakes or offenses. You have to choose to be compassionate  and willing to forgive yourself. You cannot walk in the 3 freedoms above without forgiving yourself first. When you walk in unforgiveness, you are continuously replaying and experiencing the offense or choice. Even if you try and put it out of your mind. You may not realize it but this is what happens when we choose not to forgive ourselves. You have walked into an invisible prison cell in your mind and heart. You have closed and locked the door behind you and sat down. You have built up a wall of protection for yourself. You have planned and purposed in your mind to stay awhile. The deceptive part is we do not realize what we have just done. (I know I did not realize it for many, many years.) You can feel this way for hours, months, or years but it is totally up to you. Especially, if you are the sort of person to hold a grudge. I did not know I was that sort of person but found out that I was. It took God to show me. HE can show you as well and set you free because HE did it for me. Isaiah 61:1



We can hold onto things that God is trying to remove from our lives that are killing us. We have to choose to forgive ourselves for the mistakes or choices we have willingly made. Here are some of mine I have shared before in previous posts:

• I was the one who was searching out compliments from men like drugs because I felt like I needed validation from someone else. (acceptance)
• I got married the first time because I was a people-pleaser and felt like marriage would fix me.  (looking for love)
• I got pregnant because I was seeking to fill the void within me. (significance)

What do you know of forgiveness? I knew I had to ask God and HE would forgive me because of Jesus Christ and the Cross. I John 1:11 - 12 I believed that part of it but the hard part for me was forgiving myself. I always seemed to blame myself for things that went wrong in my life. I played the "blame game" very well. The blame game is equal to prisons in different areas of our lives and minds. I internalized EVERYTHING. It was ALL my fault. Therefore, God could not really love or accept me because of ALL my sins. These were lies I had believed for years.

TESTIMONY: God has forgiven me for my compliment addiction. God has forgiven me for asking HIM to abort my unborn child (I had a miscarriage). God has forgiven me for not loving myself. God has forgiven me for honoring the devil more than I did HIM. God has forgiven me for comparing myself to others. God has forgiven me for trying to fill the void in my own life with other things other than HIM. I have FORGIVEN myself of all of the above things which is the second part of forgiveness. You have to choose to forgive you!

1. YOU ARE FORGIVEN TODAY!!! (I John 1: 11 -12)
2. YOU ARE LOVED TODAY!!! (Jeremiah 31:3)
3. YOU ARE ACCEPTED TODAY!!! (Ephesians 1: 5 - 6)
4. YOU ARE SIGNIFICANT TODAY!!! (Genesis 1:26)

I am praying for you that you stop believing the lies of the enemy and start believing the truth of who God  has created you to be. You are wonderfully complex and marvelous to God Psalm 139:13 - 18. You are forgiven! GOD HAS FORGIVEN YOU TODAY!!! Please FORGIVE YOURSELF!!! It is my prayer that something you read has and will touch your heart to accept Jesus Christ today, if you have not already, as Your  Personal Lord and Savior. Romans 10: 9 -10

Prayer: Holy Spirit, I thank you for showing me that I am forgiven right now by my Father, God. I am choosing to forgive myself and accept God's forgiveness. Thank you in advance for changing my thought processes about me and You.

QUESTION:

Have you accepted God's forgiveness of your past and present sins? 

What lies have you believed about God's
forgiveness of your sins?

I pray something you read touched your heart to walk closer to God. 

Please share a comment or email me privately at

womenofvalour15@gmail.com