Page 68 - Life is a Fight for Territory

Interestingly, the Greek word for forgiveness means to let go, to release, and to throw off. Chew on that for a minute! You are actually throwing a heavy burden of darkness off of you when you forgive someone!
In forgiveness therapy, it is reported that people actually felt lighter after they forgave someone, as if a physical weight had been lifted from them. Incredible, right? Just think about all that negativity robbing your health and your thought life.
What does a root do? Well, it’s connected to something that grows and bears fruit, right? The fruit produced by un- forgiveness is poisonous. When you have a root of bitterness operating in your life, you’re not going to be able to “bear good fruit.” The Bible tells us the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We simply don’t have the ability to produce poisonous fruit and good, healthy fruit at the same time. So, un-forgiveness has to go.
But How Do I Forgive?
I’ve noticed that a lot of people talk about the fact that we should forgive. They lay out the same type of research that you’ve just read here and prove that forgiveness is necessary, but the problem is, most people don’t have an understanding of how to forgive.
So, let’s talk about that. Do we forgive out of obligation? Do we pray and try to conjure up some feelings of forgiveness? Do we go to the person who has hurt us and tell them, “Hey, I
forgive you?” Well, in some instances we may want to face the
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