The Power of Forgiveness: Keep Your Heart Free

by Joyce Meyer

Overview

When someone says, 'I can forgive, but I cannot forget,' they really are saying, 'I will not forgive.' Unforgiveness, resentment, and bitterness are spiritual maladies that keep many people from living a Spirit-filled life. Joyce Meyer says that keeping score of all the hurts we have suffered does more spiritual damage to us than those who have offended us. In fact, we can suffer serious physical illnesses as a result of unforgiveness. Is it difficult to forgive? Absolutely, but the rewards are well worth it.

In The Power of Forgiveness, Joyce Meyer reveals that when we choose to forgive others, we release ourselves from sin's power. The act of forgiving them allows God to work his will and our healing in the situation. Forgiveness in the power that will change life of defeat into one of victory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780446553223
Publisher:	FaithWords
Publication date:	12/14/2008
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Joyce Meyer is one of the world's leading practical Bible teachers. Her daily broadcast, Enjoying Everyday Life, airs on hundreds of television networks and radio stations worldwide.

Joyce has written nearly 100 inspirational books. Her bestsellers include Power Thoughts; The Confident Woman; Look Great, Feel Great; Starting Your Day Right; Ending Your Day Right; Approval Addiction; How to Hear from God; Beauty for Ashes; and Battlefield of the Mind.

Joyce travels extensively, holding conferences throughout the year, speaking to thousands around the world. Joyce resides in St. Louis, MO.

Read an Excerpt

The Power of Forgiveness

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By Joyce Meyer

Warner Faith

Copyright © 2003 Joyce Meyer
All right reserved.
ISBN: 0-446-53249-5

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Chapter One

God's Word for You

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the [physical and spiritual] captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound ...

Isaiah 61:1

Why We Must Forgive

Have you been hurt? Misused? Abused? Treated wrongly or improperly? Rejected? Has it affected your emotional state? Do you really want to be healed? Do you really want to get well? Will you forgive?

I believe that most people are abused in one way or another during their lifetime. It may come in the form of physical, verbal, emotional, or sexual abuse. Whatever form it takes, abuse causes a root of rejection, which is a devastating problem in our day.

I know all too much about this. I was sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused from the time I can remember until I left home at the age of eighteen. I have been rejected, abandoned, betrayed, and divorced. I know what it means to hurt ... and I thank God that He has shown me how to recover.

Wounded emotions can become a prison that locks us into our pain and keeps others out. Perhaps you are in the condition in life where I was, an emotional prisoner. It's a bitter, resentful, angry prison cell, and forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door that holds us there. How long have you been there? Do you want to be free of it?

Jesus came to open prison doors and to set the captives free! He wants to heal you. Jesus is willing; are you?

God's Word for You

There was a certain man there who had suffered with a deep-seated and lingering disorder for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, Do you want to become well? [Are you really in earnest about getting well?]

John 5:5-6

A Question for the Heart

For many, many years, "Why me, God?" was the cry of my heart, and it filled my thoughts and affected my attitude daily. I lived in the wilderness of self-pity, and it was a problem for me, my family, and the plan of God for my life. My troubled mind caused me to have a chip on my shoulder and to expect everyone else to fix my problem. I felt as though I was due something for the way I had been treated, but I was looking to people to pay me back when I should have been looking to God.

When Jesus addressed His question to the man who had been lying by the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years, He knew that self-pity would not deliver this man. "Do you want to become well?" are words of compassion to anyone who is trapped in an emotional prison and who has learned to function with their problem. They are words directed to the heart.

Gaining freedom from hurts and emotional bondages is not easy. I know. It will provoke feelings and emotions that have been "stuffed" rather than faced and dealt with. It may involve very real pain, but to be free and cleansed by the power of forgiveness is the only way to ever be fully well again.

God told me I could be pitiful or powerful, but I could not be both. I had to give up the self-pity to be free.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Power of Forgiveness by Joyce Meyer Copyright © 2003 by Joyce Meyer . Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Part 1	Why We Must Forgive	9
	A Question for the Heart	11
	Personal Sin	13
	What's Wrong with Me?	15
	By Your Fruit	17
	Problems People Manifest	19
	Pretending	21
	Starved for Love	23
	Walls of Protection	25
Part 2	Receiving Forgiveness	29
	Know the Truth	31
	Confess Your Faults	33
	Tell Yourself the Truth	35
	Receive Your Forgiveness	37
	Purchased by Jesus' Blood	39
	Guilt and Condemnation	41
	Forgiving God	43
	Opening Up to God	45
Part 3	Forgiving Others	49
	Why Be Tested?	51
	Doorways of Pain	53
	Be Quick to Forgive	55
	A Root of Bitterness	57
	Receive the Holy Spirit's Help	59
	Bless, Not Curse	61
	Forgiveness and Restoration	63
	Forgiveness Versus Feelings	65
Part 4	Restoring the Soul	69
	God's Predestined Plan	71
	Memories	73
	From the Pit to the Palace	75
	Good from Bad	77
	Opening the Ashes	79
	My Cup Runneth Over	81
	Restored to Worship	83
	A Restored Conscience	85
Part 5	Dealing with Shame	89
	Rooted Shame	91
	Fruit of Shame	93
	Our "Love Tank"	95
	True Meekness	97
	Accepted in the Beloved	99
	Loving Yourself	101
	Liking Yourself	103
	A Twofold Recompense	105
Part 6	Living Free	109
	Keeping a Proper Balance	111
	Alive in Christ	113
	Doers of the Word	115
	Become Childlike	117
	The Living Water	119
	Hang Tough!	121
	Go All the Way Through	123
	Bridges Instead of Walls	125