Forgiveness Isn’t Soft It’s Spiritual Warfare

By Dr. Layne McDonald and Daniel Gullick

Some men treat forgiveness like it is emotional weakness. They act like it is something you do when you are trying to be polite. They think forgiveness is what you offer when you are letting someone off the hook. But the Bible treats forgiveness like something very different. Forgiveness is not softness. Forgiveness is warfare.

Unforgiveness is one of the enemy’s favorite tools because it hooks a man to an old injury and keeps him living in reaction. It keeps him tight in the chest, sharp in the tone, bitter in the mind, guarded in relationships, and exhausted in the soul. It turns old pain into a permanent identity.

Forgiveness breaks that hook. Forgiveness removes the enemy’s leverage. Forgiveness makes you free.

Here is what unforgiveness tends to do.

• Keeps you spiritually reactive

• Keeps you replaying the offense

• Keeps you suspicious and guarded

• Keeps your prayers powerless and distracted

• Keeps your joy on a leash tied to someone else’s behavior

Here is what forgiveness tends to do.

• Restores spiritual clarity

• Removes emotional poison

• Breaks the cycle of replay and rumination

• Reopens your heart to God’s peace

• Rebuilds your strength from the inside out

Forgiveness does not excuse what happened. Forgiveness refuses to let what happened become your identity. Forgiveness is not denial. Forgiveness is deliverance.

If you want a practical step today, do this. Write one name down. One situation. One wound. Then pray one honest sentence.

• Lord, I forgive them, and I ask You to teach me how to walk it out

For more teaching like this from the podcast hosted by Daniel Gullick, go to www.boundlessonlinechurch.org/podcasts