Ephesians 4: 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
If we are to have revival in our own hearts and in our nation then we must learn how to forgive. Forgiveness is easy to say; but, I daresay not that easy to perform. How often do we say, "Oh, I forgave him; but let me tell you what he did to me." (So you can really understand how great I am to have forgiven him or her). I am certain that I have failed in this area too often and must repent of the same. So how do we learn to forgive and lay aside all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour and evil speaking? How do we learn to forgive the way God forgave us which went beyond forgiveness and included reconciliation to whomever would accept His forgiveness. Perhaps if we remember how much God has forgiven us, then how much should we forgive. Let us each pray that God give us His heart of love and compassion so that we might forgive in this manner and that He bind up our mouths to not speak until we have had our words seasoned by His wisdom. Let’s look at a few scriptures that remind us of what God like forgiveness is.
1. Jeremiah 31: 34 they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
2. Psalm 103: 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear (revere) him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
3. Romans 5: 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
4. Matthew 18: 21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
4. Luke 6 27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
30 Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
Let us remember the great forgiveness that we have been given. Let us pray earnestly for God to transform our hearts.
One of the quotes that my son Alberto introduced me to is
"As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let you down… probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it’s harder every time. You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You’ll fight with your best friend. You’ll blame a new love for things an old one did. You’ll cry because time is passing too fast and you’ll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you have never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back."
Author: Unknown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=h1Lu5udXEZI&feature=endscreen