How to Have a Powerful Life – Part 3

No matter what is going on in your life right at this moment, no matter what challenges you are facing, there is one thing that you can be absolutely sure of …

God’s plans for you are always good!

This is Part 3 of the series of living a powerful life. This is just as crucial as the first 2 parts.

(You can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.)

So, today we are looking at:

Forgiving God and forgiving yourself.

Do I hear you groaning? Do you feel that this is impossible?

It might surprise you but these are two of the most important keys in moving forward in your relationship with Father God, with others, even moving on to have a productive and authentic life.

Have you had a situation that you were absolutely sure was a ‘God idea’ only to realise that your life had taken a completely different turn and you wondered if God was even in it at all? Maybe sickness came, maybe an accident happened, maybe somebody who you thought you could trust let you down.

Let me encourage you with this truth:

God did NOT make bad things happen to you
nor did He allow the bad things to come.

He really didn’t.

Think about it. If your loving Father gave you a sickness or caused a car accident to teach you a lesson, would that be love? Would He give these things to you for any reason? Would you do the same thing to your own child, your spouse, your closest friend? Obviously if you love them, the answer would be a resounding NO!

It literally breaks my heart when I hear people blame God for the sicknesses, the tragedies and the disappointments in their lives. It’s not His fault. The true blame goes to Satan and his minions, or even to ourselves. We need to learn to take any responsibility that we may have had to play in the situation.

The Bible says in Matt 7:11 (NLT), “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.“

Let me just touch on God ‘allowing’ bad things to happen. You can only allow things to happen if you are in control. It’s like saying that I allowed my child to be in a car accident. This, of course, is silly because I am not in control of my child, their car, the other driver or their car. Neither is God in control of any of these things. He gave us freewill, right from the beginning. If He is in control, we don’t have freewill. He is in charge, not in control. He is sovereign, not in control. Does this make sense? (For more on this, click here – “Is God Really In Control?”.)

In saying all of this, when things don’t go your way or the way you had planned, when you have great disappointment in your life, you need to not only forgive people but you need to forgive God. Even though He can never do anything wrong, in your mind, maybe He has. Regardless, forgiving God is an integral part of moving forward. When I miscarried for the umpteenth time, I outrightly blamed God for taking our babies. I called Him names, I yelled at Him, tried the silent approach (that never works), and was unbelievably angry.

God being good, took it from me and explained that He was so glad that I was comfortable enough to be honest with Him. However, He also explained that He did not take our babies. Yes, they are in Heaven with Him but He was not the one who decided that they would leave this world to live in His. There were natural factors going on as well as spiritual ones.

Always remember:

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My (Jesus) purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

John 10:10 (NLT)

See? It’s the enemy that comes to kill, steal and destroy – bring illness, accidents, lack – NOT JESUS!

How to forgive God when He hasn’t done anything wrong

Fristly, acknowledge your feelings. No-one ever got anywhere but sick by suppressing feelings consistently. Tell Him that you are angry, hurt, disappointed, sad, rejected … whatever it is that you feel towards Him, tell Him the truth. He loves that.

Next repent for telling God what to do and for believing and acting as though you know better than He does. Ouch. Yes, this does sting but the truth is, He knows best of all.

Ask God to fill you with His forgiveness, love and joy. He is eager and more than willing to give it to you.

“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

1 John 1:9 (NLT)

Have you ever given someone a gift that you had thought long and hard about and went to great lengths to obtain it? Imagine that you had spent months looking for this perfect gift. You were probably so excited and couldn’t wait to see the look on the receiver’s face when they opened it. However, when they did, they tell you that they couldn’t possibly take it and they leave you holding the goods, as it were. How did this situation leave you feeling? Did you feel rejected, embarrassed, hurt, even angry? If you have never experienced this, how do you think you would feel? Maybe you have tried to do something nice to help someone and they flatly refused you. Rejection hurts.

Imagine now that God is standing there, eagerly waiting and longing to pour out His forgiveness and love upon you. However, you believe that you are so unworthy of it so you say, “No thanks, I can’t possibly take it” and you walk away. Just as you felt rejected and hurt when someone didn’t receive a carefully thought out gift that you painstakingly prepared and planned, God feels hurt and very sad when you won’t receive His perfect gift of forgiveness that His Son, Jesus, died to give you.

Just receive it. God is not offended by anything you say to Him. He loves honestly and really, He knows what’s in your heart anyway. You may as well be honest and tell Him and get it out instead of holding everything in, thinking no-one must ever know. Too late – He already does.

Receive His love. Receive His compassion. Receive His forgiveness and love and move on.

He has.

““But forget all that—
    it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.
For I am about to do something new.
    See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
    I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.””

Isaiah 43:18-19 (NLT)

Why forgive yourself?

I recently watched an amazing video by Abi Stumvoll on “Learning to Love Yourself”. This is a 5 minute excerpt from the whole message – click here. (If you are subscribed to Bethel TV you can click here to watch the message in its entirety.)

Basically she describes how important it is to love yourself and to forgive yourself for not being or acting like who you think you should be.

Abi quotes the verse from Mark 3:25, “If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” Essentially if you don’t like yourself, there will always be a war within you and you will never be at peace.

This teaching was revolutionary to me and completely flipped my world upside down. I know it could do the same for you.

Did you know that it is a sin to compare yourself with someone else? I didn’t. It’s essentially telling God that He has no clue about what He is doing.

It is also a completely useless exercise. If each person in the world has a different fingerprint, how can we compare ours with anyone else’s?

Psalm 139:13-14 tells you that God formed your innermost being, He shaped your delicate inside and your intricate outside, and wove them all together in your mother’s womb. He also says that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”

If you were made with such precision and intricacy, how can you even begin to compare yourself with someone else. You can’t!

You are one very special puzzle piece in the tapestry of life. Each piece has a distinct shape. You cannot fit into anyone else’s space and no-one can fit into yours. Stop trying to be someone who you were not designed to be.

If you are not happy with who you are, you do yet know that you are deeply and passionately loved by all of Heaven. You were imagined and planned before Creation even began. You are absolutely amazing!

What to do now

Make a decision to not be at war against yourself.
Decide to look at yourself like the unique, beautiful, incredible puzzle piece that you are, that can only fit into the hole that was designed specifically for you by the Creator of the world.
Forgive yourself for not looking like you imagined, acting like you wanted, speaking the right words as you had hoped, anything that you are angry at yourself about.
Choose to accept the forgiveness by saying, “I receive your forgiveness”.
Speak positive, life-giving words about yourself. You are no longer to speak negativity and death over your life.

Don’t be your greatest critic
but be your greatest cheerleader!

I know this has been a longer post but I strongly sensed that the Father wanted you to hear this message today.

He longs to forgive you and love you. Your inner self longs to be forgiven and loved.

Try these things today and you will find yourself on the road to a very powerful and hope-filled life!

What spoke to you most in this post today? What did you see that you may have never seen before? What is Father God showing you? Please share in the comments below. I would love to hear your thoughts.

If you know of someone that needs some encouragement, (and let’s face it, who doesn’t) please share this post with them. We all need hope and encouragement today.

As always, many, many blessings to you.

How to Have a Powerful Life – Part 1

How to Have a Powerful Life – Part 2

(Photo Credit: www.canva.com)