Forgiveness

Thursday, April 18th, 2019

In order for you to really begin to forgive other people, you have to understand that you need forgiveness.
Chris Overstreet

TRANSCRIPTION

Hi, my name is Chris Overstreet, with Bethel Church and Compassion to Action.  You’re watching God Today. Listen, I just want to tell you really quickly that unforgiveness is like drinking poison, hoping that someone else is punished by it.  Many years ago, I used to beat my brother, before I got born again, and he would cry for mercy but I thought it was funny to be able to see him suffer.  But, when I was 18 years old someone began to share Jesus with me, and I didn’t want to hear anything about Jesus, but this man was persistent about the Gospel piercing my heart.  You see, I needed forgiveness.  In order for you to really begin to forgive other people, you have to understand that you need forgiveness.

I received forgiveness and I got a hold of my brother and I asked him, “Please forgive me for everything that I’ve ever done to you”.  Well, I did that for years.  Out of the blue, he called me, and this had been years later.  And he said, “Chris, God’s been speaking to me, and this is what he said, if I was really going to follow Him and be a disciple of Jesus Christ, I have to forgive you.  And over the telephone, he begins to weep and cry and he says, “Chris, I forgive you for everything that you ever did to me when we were younger”.  And as he was weeping and crying, the Spirit of God filled that conversation, and I began to pray and prophesy over him.  And I said, “My brother, you are going to be a worship leader one day”.  Right now, my brother is a worship leader outside of St. Louis, Missouri.

I want to encourage you right now, if you have unforgiveness in your heart, to anyone, you need to spit out the poison.  How do you do that? By forgiving those individuals. The Bible teaches us very clearly, that if we don’t forgive, Jesus won’t forgive us.  And I am going to encourage you right now – I want to pray for you that you would forgive.  As I lead you in this simple prayer, I believe that God is going to touch your heart.  Holy Spirit, I pray right now that you would show them who they need to forgive.  Repeat after me say, “Jesus, I forgive name the person’s name, for everything they’ve done for me and everything they have not done for me, and I break the chains of unforgiveness and torment.  Holy Spirit, come and fill my heart and empower me to watch over my heart so that I may be a disciple of Jesus Christ and to follow Jesus wholeheartedly with everything inside of me.”

I want to just encourage you right now that if you prayed that prayer, God is moving in your heart, you are going to teach other people about the power of forgiveness.  I want to encourage you that God only has the best for you, and watch over your heart, He loves you so very much.