Dear Reader,
I thank God for the privilege to bring His Word your way again today. Last week, I taught on the keys of acceptance, love and allowing brotherly love to continue in relating efficiently with your in-laws.
This week, I will be speaking on Forgiveness, as a major tool in reverencing the place of your in-laws.
If you are not ready to adopt this tool of forgiveness, you can’t love your in-laws effectively.
Looking from the perspective of God’s Word, forgiveness is not what you should feel like doing but a decision to be made. You might have had some terrible experiences with your in-laws in the past, perhaps to a point that has affected your marriage; forgiveness is still a decision you must make. Forgive them for that wrong they did to you.
Unforgiveness thrives on two major evils:
First, it capitalizes on the past – it keeps your memory fresh on what your sister-in-law did to you many years ago, or what your mother-in-law said against you. Unforgiveness does nothing other than bringing you back to your past.
My husband once gave this illustration: “If you are driving a vehicle and you are looking backward when you want to go forward, what will happen?” Obviously an accident! Many people are not moving forward in life, even after praying, reading the Bible and confessing, because they refuse to let go of the past, holding unforgiveness in their hearts.
I hope the testimony of Sister Olaleye will give you a re-think in that state of unforgiveness that you are:
“What brought me to this Commission was my spiritual lack. I was born again five years before I came here and I was attending a living church.
But since I started worshipping here, God has given me the spirit of understanding, so that the Word of God and my faith have been on the increase. Most importantly, there has been captivity turnaround in my life, particularly in my marriage.
My marriage technically broke down on the wedding day, at the reception table! But I stayed on in it for almost a decade. It was a thorn in the flesh. Eventually, I had to leave. Right inside my matrimonial home, I got a SAN to prosecute the divorce.
I got born again after then, but the Word never came to me until I got to this church. There was a teaching on forgiveness.
One day, I realized that I had been living in self-righteousness all along. I forgive, but don’t forget. I got this corrected in my mind and through the anointed book, Marriage Covenant, and anointed preachings and counselling of the men of God. My marriage was miraculously healed, and right now, I’m having a honeymoon.”
So, that your destiny in God may be fulfilled, even maritally, I want you to let go of whatever thing that person that you have vowed never to forgive has done to you.
Another evil unforgiveness thrives on is that it opens the door to the tormentors. From God’s Word, we saw a man who owed 10,000 talents and that his creditor forgave him the debt. This same man had a fellow servant who owed him only 100 pence, but he refused to forgive him, and threw the man into prison. As a result of his unforgiveness, he was handed over to the tormentors according to Matthew 18:32-34.
When you hold on to unforgiveness, you are saying, “Welcome” to the tormentors of life. They have no power over you until you open the door to them! But as you clear out of all that unforgiveness in your heart, I see you saying an eternal “Good-bye” to the tormentors.
Before you can forgive others, you need forgiveness from God. To receive this forgiveness, you need to confess your sins and accept the Lord Jesus Christ and your sins shall be forgiven. Say this prayer of faith: Dear Lord, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Now I know I am born again!
