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    • Shattering chains that hold us hostage

      Posted at 8:00 am by sneuhofer, on August 27, 2018

      Psalm 30:11 – 12 (NCV) “You changed my sorrow into dancing. You took away my clothes of sadness, and clothed me in happiness. I will sing to you and not be silent. Lord, my God, I will praise you forever.”

      Not too long ago, I had allowed unforgiveness to consume every fiber of my being. I was very angry over a situation in my life and as I allowed anger to fester. Of course, this produced absolutely nothing in me – nor did it solve the problem. The only thing “festering” over the situation did was gave Satan the opportunity to construct an intricately woven chain around my neck in the form of bitterness, anger, resentment, and jealousy.

      I didn’t even realize it was happening until one Sunday my pastor pointed out the symptom…unforgiveness. Funny, I thought I had the forgiveness issue “under control” until I heard:

      “Someone does something to hurt you and you forgive them. But what happens at the very thought of the issue? Can you see them the way God sees them or are you still offended by what they have done to you?”

      “Whoa, what’s that? ”I suddenly felt the tiring weight of a chain around my neck” pulling me down as someone’s face came rushing to the front of my mind. With each thought, I saw clearly another link in the long chain holding me captive. Why hadn’t I seen the chain earlier?

      It was hard for me to admit that I had allowed the construction of this “unforgiveness chain.” I added bitterness link after anger link at the mere thought of this person. On this particular Sunday, warmth washed over me and I heard the words deep in my spirit… “give the chain to me… you’ve carried it for too long.”

      I saw clearly Satan’s weapon of choice that morning… Unforgiveness.

      I had held onto to every offense – which allowed anger, bitterness, and resentment to fester. Hadn’t I forgiven each offense? Not really…When it came right down to it… I had forgiven in my own strength… that means I was fighting the way the world fights.  If I was going to fight unforgiveness and break its stronghold, Jesus had to lead the charge.

      2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says:

      For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

      There is nothing I can do in my own strength but, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Bible promises me that I can demolish the stronghold of unforgiveness. Before I left the church that morning I chose to forgive; shattering the unforgiveness chain once and for all.

      That morning, God turned my sorrow into dancing. The God of the universe delivered me from the weight of my unforgiveness chain and I will forever praise Him for His mercy and kindness.

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    • Unforgiveness destroys everything!

      Posted at 8:30 am by sneuhofer, on July 11, 2018
      Proverbs 17:9 (NCV) Whoever forgives someone’s sin makes a friend, but gossiping about the sin breaks up friendships.
       
      Reading the words of this verse bring an immediate feeling of of hurt and sadness. I thought back to a time where I engaged my mouth before my brain and the words, intended to be funny, came out hurtful. The person receiving the words was instantly offended at what I had said. I thought everything was fine. But little did I know, my eyes were wide open to what had transpired in her heart when someone we both knew told me how much my friend had been offended. I could tell that her offense had grown into anger and bitterness.
       
      Whoa! If I would have only known right then and there…I would have explained myself better and apologized for the unintentional hurtful words. But this friend had held onto the words and allowed them to fester. The more my words lingered, the more of a foothold my friend gave Satan to twist everything I said around.
       
      Has this ever happened to you?
       
      This root issue in this situation is that my friend didn’t like conflict so instead of coming to me and saying something, she felt it necessary to share how I had hurt her with several others. She had fallen into the sin of gossip. By the time word got back to me, I was hurt because the things she said about me were so far from the truth. Playing the victim, she spun the story so many different ways it had taken on a life of its own.
       
      Let me just be honest…I don’t particularly care for conflict either but a conversation had to happen. This was someone I considered to be a close friend…so approaching her should have been easy. But it wasn’t. It was perhaps one of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had. I told her exactly what I heard from the other person and then restated what I intended to say. I told her that I sincerely didn’t mean to hurt her feelings…but I knew the damage had been done. I asked several times during this conversation for her to forgive me, but she “just couldn’t.”
       
      Sad…isn’t it?
       
      The God of the universe can forgive me for the stupid stuff I’ve done over the course of my life, but a friend couldn’t forgive my offense. Needless to say, our friendship is no longer.
       
      Unforgiveness destroys everything…friendships, families, health, etc.
       
      Are you holding on to an offense today? The Bible encourages us to let go, forgive and reconcile. I have included a few scripture references for you at the bottom of this post. I’d like to encourage you to open the lines of communication and talk about the issue with the offender. Don’t allow yourself to fall into gossip. Talk directly to the person who hurt you. If the person is not around to talk to face to face consider writing an email or a letter. These steps will help you get started:
       
      1 – Pray first and seek God’s guidance in the matter.
      2 – Read what God has to say about harboring an offense (see scripture references below).
      3 – Take the steps necessary to make contact with the person who offended you.
      Corinthians 13 is considered to be the love chapter of the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV) we are told that love “does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”  When we keep records of wrong, we are not being forgiving at all.
       
      Matthew 18:21 – 35 – The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. This parable tells the story of a forgiving master and an unforgiving servant.

       

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    • Chains that hold me captive

      Posted at 7:00 am by sneuhofer, on April 13, 2018

      I didn’t realize how much I had allowed the chains of unforgiveness to weave themselves so intricately around my body until I was reminded of the symptoms one Sunday morning as I sat and listened to the sermon.

      “Someone does something to hurt you and you forgive them. But what happens at the very thought of the issue? Can you see them the way God sees them or are you still offended by what they have done to you?”

      “Whoa, what’s that?”

      I suddenly felt the tiring weight of “unforgiveness chains” pulling me down as a name came rushing to the front of my mind.

      For the next few seconds I sat in my chair flooded by waves of images in my head of ways that I had been offended by someone. I had to admit right then and there that I had carefully constructed the “unforgivenss chain” I wore around my neck. I added bitterness link after anger link at the mere thought or mention of the person’s name.

      “But you don’t know what this person does and gets away with!”

      From the pulpit I heard “Unforgiveness is like lighting yourself on fire and hoping the other person dies of smoke inhalation.”

      “Humm.” 

      I nervously shifted in my seat and finally there was illumination. I had allowed Satan to hold me in bondage. His weapon of choice? Unforgiveness, bitterness, and anger. As the pastor continued to preach I thought about how the “unforgiveness chain” originally got its start. I was highly offended by someone’s treatment of me and others. I said something and asked for forgiveness, but the words were not heartfelt. I really didn’t mean what I said at all; I was merely going through the motions. Satan had his first link and was able to quickly add others by keeping those offenses at the forefront of my mind.  At the time, I was fighting a losing battle because I had forgiven in my own strength.  Needless to say, I was going nowhere fast. The more this person got away with, the more bitter I became adding another link to the unforgiveness chain. I was even allowed myself to be offended at something that didn’t even pertain to me in most cases. With each thought I saw clearly another link in the long chain currently holding me captive. At this point I knew exactly what I needed to do to be free.

      As I continued to listen to the pastor, I was reminded that if I was going to win a fight against Satan, I had to use God’s weapons. I can’t do anything on my own, but by the power of the Holy Spirit I can forgive. I can conquer unforgiveness by choosing to forgive. Before I left the church that morning I chose to forgive. I had allowed the chains of unforgiveness to weigh me down for far too long. Now as I move forward, I will keep my eyes focused clearly on Christ and pray – not just for me but for the other person too.

      I encourage you today to forgive as Christ forgave. If He can forgive us for what sent Him to the cross (our sin), then we can forgive someone for what they’ve done to us.

      Matthew 18: 32 – 35 (NCV) – The Unforgiving Servant

      “Then the master called his servant in and said, ‘You evil servant! Because you begged me to forget what you owed, I told you that you did not have to pay anything. You should have showed mercy to that other servant, just as I showed mercy to you.’ The master was very angry and put the servant in prison to be punished until he could pay everything he owed. “This king did what my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

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