Time after time we hear in prayer ministry, “Roger and Gerri, I truly thought I’d forgiven ____ for their sin against me. Why don’t I sense that forgiveness has taken root in me? Why does it seem that I come back around this mountain repeatedly, only to meet myself with the sense that the issue is still unresolved?
The answer to this timeless merry-go-round is that forgiveness and healing are two different issues. Forgiveness is a simple act of our will (choice) to forgive the person who hurt us. It can be as straightforward as, “Please forgive me for stepping on your foot” or as difficult as “Please forgive me for committing adultery” or some other very deeply wounding act. Perhaps your child has violated you and dishonored you in some way. It could be that you invested years of your life into someone you thought would never betray you and then it happened. They not only turned their back on you, but they spoke terrible words against you. Woundedness comes as a part of life. We are commanded many places in the scriptures to forgive; to give the gift of forgiveness to those who don’t deserve it just as Jesus forgave us when we didn’t deserve it. We muster the courage to say the words, often times with absolutely no feelings behind them, yet something huge takes place in the realm of the spirit when our mouths say, “I forgive” and our hearts say, “I really want to do this.” It must be by faith that we courageously speak the words and then release the person of all responsibility. When we do that, we have just taken the bold first step in our own healing journey.
In prayer ministry we encourage our clients to pray the ‘I forgive ____ prayer’ from their heart out loud so that Father can hear it, they can hear it, we can hear it and the devil can hear it! The foundational scripture of prayer ministry is:
“Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].”James 5:16 Amp.
After praying the prayer of forgiveness, the client is then ready for step #2 – healing from the woundedness and pain that the sin against them caused. Without this vital step, the process is incomplete. Here is where the ride on the merry-go-round ends. Here is where Jesus comes as the Healer with healing in His wings to re-write the end of the story. This is where victory is certain and we are able then to really let go and let the Father’s love replace our pain. We are then free to walk on in our life letting go of the past sin against us and get off the proverbial “I thought I forgave…why can’t I let this go” merry-go-round.
To help bring spiritual clarity to the issue that forgiveness and healing are two difference issues, let me share another scripture with you:
“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought and action.]” 1 John 1:9
Father is faithful to ‘forgive’ our sins. The word for forgive in the Greek here is aphiemi. It is past tense and among its meanings are:
– to bid to go away or depart
– to send forth, yield up or to expire
– to let go, let alone, or let be
– to give up a debt, or remit
– to give up and keep no longer
– to leave, go away from one in order to go to another place
– to depart from anyone
– to depart from one and leave him to himself so that all mutual claims are abandoned
Father also ‘cleanses’ (heals) us from our unrighteousness. The word for ‘cleanse’ is katharizo. It is present tense and among its meanings in a moral sense are:
– to free from defilement of sin and from faults
– to purify from wickedness
– to free from guilt (shame) of sin, to purify
– to consecrate by cleaning or purifying
– to consecrate, dedicate
– to pronounce clean in a levitical sense
This perfectly describes what happens in prayer ministry. As we listen to the client’s confession of forgiveness for the sin committed against them, we then begin the cleansing process breaking the power of the sin against them by declaring the statements of freedom above and pronouncing liberty to the captive. Now we have together worked through the two-step process of forgiveness and healing. You cannot successfully have one without the other!
Forgiveness and Healing
Time after time we hear in prayer ministry, “Roger and Gerri, I truly thought I’d forgiven ____ for their sin against me. Why don’t I sense that forgiveness has taken root in me? Why does it seem that I come back around this mountain repeatedly, only to meet myself with the sense that the issue is still unresolved?
The answer to this timeless merry-go-round is that forgiveness and healing are two different issues. Forgiveness is a simple act of our will (choice) to forgive the person who hurt us. It can be as straightforward as, “Please forgive me for stepping on your foot” or as difficult as “Please forgive me for committing adultery” or some other very deeply wounding act. Perhaps your child has violated you and dishonored you in some way. It could be that you invested years of your life into someone you thought would never betray you and then it happened. They not only turned their back on you, but they spoke terrible words against you. Woundedness comes as a part of life. We are commanded many places in the scriptures to forgive; to give the gift of forgiveness to those who don’t deserve it just as Jesus forgave us when we didn’t deserve it. We muster the courage to say the words, often times with absolutely no feelings behind them, yet something huge takes place in the realm of the spirit when our mouths say, “I forgive” and our hearts say, “I really want to do this.” It must be by faith that we courageously speak the words and then release the person of all responsibility. When we do that, we have just taken the bold first step in our own healing journey.
In prayer ministry we encourage our clients to pray the ‘I forgive ____ prayer’ from their heart out loud so that Father can hear it, they can hear it, we can hear it and the devil can hear it! The foundational scripture of prayer ministry is:
“Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps,
your offenses, your sins) and pray for one another, that you may be healed
and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt,
continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power
available [dynamic in its working].”
James 5:16 Amp.
After praying the prayer of forgiveness, the client is then ready for step #2 – healing from the woundedness and pain that the sin against them caused. Without this vital step, the process is incomplete. Here is where the ride on the merry-go-round ends. Here is where Jesus comes as the Healer with healing in His wings to re-write the end of the story. This is where victory is certain and we are able then to really let go and let the Father’s love replace our pain. We are then free to walk on in our life letting go of the past sin against us and get off the proverbial “I thought I forgave…why can’t I let this go” merry-go-round.
To help bring spiritual clarity to the issue that forgiveness and healing are two difference issues, let me share another scripture with you:
“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins,
He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises)
and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and
[continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness
[everything not in conformity to His will in purpose,
thought and action.]”
1 John 1:9
Father is faithful to ‘forgive’ our sins. The word for forgive in the Greek here is aphiemi. It is past tense and among its meanings are:
– to bid to go away or depart
– to send forth, yield up or to expire
– to let go, let alone, or let be
– to give up a debt, or remit
– to give up and keep no longer
– to leave, go away from one in order to go to another place
– to depart from anyone
– to depart from one and leave him to himself so that all mutual claims are abandoned
Father also ‘cleanses’ (heals) us from our unrighteousness. The word for ‘cleanse’ is katharizo. It is present tense and among its meanings in a moral sense are:
– to free from defilement of sin and from faults
– to purify from wickedness
– to free from guilt (shame) of sin, to purify
– to consecrate by cleaning or purifying
– to consecrate, dedicate
– to pronounce clean in a levitical sense
This perfectly describes what happens in prayer ministry. As we listen to the client’s confession of forgiveness for the sin committed against them, we then begin the cleansing process breaking the power of the sin against them by declaring the statements of freedom above and pronouncing liberty to the captive. Now we have together worked through the two-step process of forgiveness and healing. You cannot successfully have one without the other!