Step 10: I will continue to self-examine in order to ensure that I am not holding Unforgiveness

STEP 10

I will continue to self-examine in order to ensure that I am not holding unforgiveness in my heart.

Hebrews 10:26-27 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. (NIV)

                  Sometimes the hardest thing for people to do is to be honest with themselves. We may tend to say that all is well because we want to believe that it is when in all actuality, our spiritual lives are filled with rotten bones and have the stench of garbage. The Bible lets us know that we must examine ourselves, so they we can be in compliance with the will of God. Lamentations 3:40-42 ⁽⁴⁰⁾Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the Lord. ⁽⁴¹⁾Let us lift our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: ⁽⁴²⁾”We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven.” (NIV) Jehovah El Nose desires for His children to return to Him, so that He may bless them. He desires to forgive us of all our sins, but we must first acknowledge when we have not forgiven others. To hold unforgiveness in your heart is to sin against God. Jehovah El Nose can only forgive you once you acknowledge that you are in need of forgiveness. This is why we must examine ourselves before Jehovah El Nose, so that He can show us the hidden things in our hearts. Psalm 26:2 Test me O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind. (NIV)

                  Sometimes we hold on to offenses without realizing it and then a memory of what was done comes back to brings forth a whole new set of demons. Luke 11:24-26 ⁽²⁴⁾”When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left. ⁽²⁵⁾When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ⁽²⁶⁾Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. (NIV) Unforgiveness is indeed a demon. This demon tries to attach itself to an individual for life. It may go away for a while; therefore, the individual is fooled into thinking that they have forgiven all when in fact, the demon has only taken a brief vacation.

                  That rest period may had been a time when Jehovah El Nose was really working on the individual to eliminate the demonic spirit of unforgiveness. Unfortunately, unless a person stays wrapped up in the Lord and allow Him to take complete control, the demon will return and not only come with itself, but more demons attached. This is often displayed when there is a disagreement between two individuals who had the promise of reconciliation, but the offense was once again recalled. Not only was this offense recollected, but other ones were added to the fire to cause a newly restored animosity between the two individuals. Now, the relationship is in worse shape than what it was. It can be compared to a dog returning to its vomit. 2 Peter 2:21-22 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.” (NIV)

                  We must continuously ask Jehovah El Nose to keep our minds and hearts with a forgiving Spirit. This means that once we forgive, we do not keep entertaining the offenses. To do so means that real forgiveness has not taken place. Constant prayer and even fasting is required to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in us. No one is able to forgive on their own. Nevertheless, Jehovah El Nose gives us the tools that we need to successfully forgive and to bury the offense in the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19 You will again have compassion on us: you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. (NIV)