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- Apr 25, 2006
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Peace comes by forgiving
'FORGIVE ANYONE YOU ARE HOLDING A GRUDGE AGAINST.' MARK 11:25
A Christian teenager was really upset when she heard that a couple of her friends were planning to go to a travelling fair that had pitched up in town but she hadn't been invited. The day before, she got a Facebook invite from one of her other mates who also wanted to go. 'it's too late' she typed in reply 'I've already prayed for rain!' When we are hurt, God doesn't want us to lash out, he wants us to forgive.
One night after preaching about forgiveness, Corrie Ten Boom recognised that the man approaching her was a former guard from Ravensbruck, the Nazi prison camp where she was tortured and her sister Betsie starved to death. When he asked her to forgive him, Corrie thought about Betsie and felt she couldn't do it. Nevertheless she knew she must, otherwise everything she'd preached would be meaningless. So she told God, 'I can extend my hand, I can do that much but You'll have to supply the feelings.' Taking the man's hand she felt God's power rushing through her, enabling her to wholeheartedly say, 'I forgive you, brother'.
Corrie never experienced God's love as intensely as she did that night. Although she'd been badly tortured, she let God heal her, and then went on to help others. The truth is that forgiveness is the only way to have peace!
written by Bob Gass
'FORGIVE ANYONE YOU ARE HOLDING A GRUDGE AGAINST.' MARK 11:25
A Christian teenager was really upset when she heard that a couple of her friends were planning to go to a travelling fair that had pitched up in town but she hadn't been invited. The day before, she got a Facebook invite from one of her other mates who also wanted to go. 'it's too late' she typed in reply 'I've already prayed for rain!' When we are hurt, God doesn't want us to lash out, he wants us to forgive.
One night after preaching about forgiveness, Corrie Ten Boom recognised that the man approaching her was a former guard from Ravensbruck, the Nazi prison camp where she was tortured and her sister Betsie starved to death. When he asked her to forgive him, Corrie thought about Betsie and felt she couldn't do it. Nevertheless she knew she must, otherwise everything she'd preached would be meaningless. So she told God, 'I can extend my hand, I can do that much but You'll have to supply the feelings.' Taking the man's hand she felt God's power rushing through her, enabling her to wholeheartedly say, 'I forgive you, brother'.
Corrie never experienced God's love as intensely as she did that night. Although she'd been badly tortured, she let God heal her, and then went on to help others. The truth is that forgiveness is the only way to have peace!
written by Bob Gass
