Forgive

They have heard the saying “to err is human..., for the one who follows him?,..... to forgive is divine. have you heard that saying? Has no one heard? Ah, ok... Wake up a little bit. "To err is human, to forgive divine".

Definitely making mistakes, offending, mistreating, even abusing others, even people from our own family is human behavior. And as the second part of that saying goes, forgiving is divine. Forgiveness is not common and requires qualities that go beyond our human limitations.

Again “to err is human, to forgive is divine”. One of those sayings that aren't.....theologically they aren't very strong but this one has one, it's a commonly known truth that does have some solidity based on Scripture. Forgiveness is a central theme in the heart of God.

If you look at the word of God from Genesis to Revelation, it is a love letter. It is God's love letter to us, a God who persecutes us with his love. In fact even in the Book of Songs, that is God's persecution with us, God desires fellowship with us. He wants to give us his forgiveness, in fact, he sent his son Jesus Christ, he sacrificed him on the cross so that we would have forgiveness of sins, and our new birth, the experience of our new birth is based on that. our first experience is repentance followed immediately by receiving God's forgiveness.

So from the beginning of our Christian career we are already experiencing the benefits of our Lord's forgiveness. In First John 1:19, God tells us that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So forgiveness is definitely a topic born from the very heart of God, it is not a human invention, but it is born in the heart of God. And my goal on this day is to focus on the issue of forgiveness from the perspective of the offended person, that is, of the forgiver, not so much of the one who needs forgiveness but from the perspective of the one who forgives the one who has offended him.

And my wish is that we all leave this place today understanding in greater depth what is the importance of forgiving and what God says about it and convinced that in God are all the resources that we need to do that what He has commanded us to do, to forgive. And forgiving is easy, nor is it natural, or maybe it's just a little difficult for me, and sometimes very difficult to forgive. It is true that we all have, we face difficulties when forgiving is not easy, it is not natural, it requires a superhuman effort, not superhuman, let's say supernatural. Forgiveness is a divine gift that we give to another person. What is a gift? When we have received forgiveness, it is true that one feels freedom and things look different, the sun shines brighter, there is more light, the colors look more defined, because receiving forgiveness is a precious thing, and giving forgiveness to your time also frees us and makes us be the person God wants us to be.

And a truth of Scripture is that God never commands us to do something that He has not already made provision for it to be done. In other words, there is no reason to say, I cannot forgive, because in Scripture we already have, and in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us, we already have everything we need to forgive. Sometimes we have to discover and we have to remove the fog from our eyes, make changes in our attitudes, changes in our beliefs, but everything we need has already been provided by the Lord so that we can forgive.

But then if God commands us to forgive, why is it so difficult to forgive? There we could talk for hours about why it's so difficult to forgive, but we're not going to talk for hours, I promise you, maybe one, just one more.

The first thing is our selfishness and our pride. Isn't it true that if you were truly honest, don't you like to have the last word in all situations? right yes? We always want to give the last word and we are there..... ok, now you're done, now it's me, we want to be the one in control, and that makes forgiveness difficult, we want to be right, we want to win the fights and many times the way we that we earn them is simply by withholding forgiveness, not by forgiving the one who needs it. So that's one, our pride and our selfishness.

Another factor is the fear that if we forgive we are exposing ourselves to being hurt again. Nobody wants to look weak and I have heard Christian people for many years, already very old, say harshly "I am not going to forgive because that implies that I am acknowledging my weakness, and I am not weak, I am not going to give my arm to twist”. So that's another attitude that we sometimes have. We are afraid of being labeled weak and hurt again.

Another factor is that we believe we have bought into the myth that forgiveness is optional. If it seems to me I forgive, if it doesn't seem to me I don't forgive. But the word is so clear that it is not optional, we always have to forgive. And sometimes we are so stupid and so foolish that we have said, I have heard that and I don't know if I have said it too, but we have heard many times that people say "I forgive everything except......." , white, there they fill their white...... less... I don't know. The rebellion of a son, that a son disrespects me or that I don't know, or that my wife, my husband commits adultery against me. Sometimes we want to limit God in this way, saying "I forgive everything, except such a thing", and when we have repeated that lie many times for a long time in our lives, well, you know what? We believe it, so it's hard to break it later.

The other factor is that we have embraced the false idea that in order to forgive, first... I first need the other to ask for forgiveness, that is, to repent and ask for forgiveness. That's a misconception, we don't have to wait, actually to forgive, do you know how many people it takes? It only takes one person to forgive and in fact only God, God demands repentance, do you know why? Because God sees everything, knows everything. He knows what is in our hearts and that is why He can judge repentance well and then give forgiveness. That is why only God can demand repentance from us, but we cannot wait to see repentance before forgiving. What happens is that many times we confuse forgiveness with reconciliation. To forgive one is needed, for there to be reconciliation two are needed, because it is a more complex, more complete process. But to forgive only one person is needed. God's desire is that there be reconciliation in our lives in all areas, in all relationships, but sometimes it is not possible. I believe that many times when people have been seriously attacked by someone that it is not even certain that they will have a reconciliation with that person, they feel that they cannot forgive, but yes, they can forgive. God is not requiring you to re-establish a relationship with a person who is going to hurt you. So there is a difference between those two processes and I think it is very liberating when we understand that difference that they are two different processes. Forgiveness begins and then comes reconciliation.

Another factor is that many of us have received injuries, especially in childhood and adolescence that have led us to form a rejection complex. The rejection complex prompts us to treat others roughly because they have treated us that way, because we have received rejection and therefore we do the same. And it makes us very sensitive in all relationships. He is the one who is always watching, something is being done against him: if they invited him it is bad, if they did not invite him it is bad, if they included him it is bad, if they did not include him it is ..... and everything is always a sensitivity. I believe that if one of us has that, it is time to leave that sensitivity behind, because that limits us, it limits us in relationships, it limits us in ministry. Who can minister to the people of God with that sensitivity so... that thing as they say "a chip on the shoulder", like everything is a problem? So we have to give up that sensitivity and ask the Lord to fill that area of need in us. And when we have a rejection complex, what happens is that we interpret everything that others do in a negative way and since what is comfortable for us is to protect ourselves by hardening our hearts, that is what we do.

I don't know if you notice that when we are in times of crisis, what do we do? We do what is not comfortable, not what is necessarily healthy for us, but what is comfortable for us. If we are used to struggling by withdrawing into depression, the crisis comes, we become depressed; if we are used to using a drug to protect ourselves and escape, we do that when the crisis comes. And also the Lord wants to bring freedom to all those areas especially going back to the rejection complex, we have to give that up. I know that he is a dear baby that we have spoiled since he was little and we have grown with us, and he is something very dear, but it is time that we leave the child with the rejection complex and grow up and understand that there are healthier ways to handle this and we have to forgive.

Another factor is that we have become accustomed to saying “I cannot forgive”. When in reality, what we have to say is "I don't want to forgive". There is a difference between "I can't" and "I don't want to". Forgiving is an act of the will and many of us have become accustomed to saying that, but once again, God does not give us mandates that are impossible to fulfill. If the Lord says: forgive, it is because He enables us to forgive. And generally when we cling to the offense that has been done to us tooth and nail; Because sometimes I've seen this, it's very common: I don't want to let her go, I grab that offense tooth and nail. And then we don't let go and we get into the habit of ruminating. You know what rumination is, right? They don't know what ruminating is. It is a concept, even in psychology that concept is used, I was surprised that I found it in a psychology book, about ruminating. And of course that comes from the animal world and refers to herbivorous animals, a small class of fauna, herbivorous animals, like cows and horses, I think horses fall there, I'm not sure, cows, yes, I I know... what they do is they eat the food, then they have 4 cavities in their stomach, the food goes down into one of the cavities, then the related word is that they regurgitate it, it goes back up the esophagus, back to the Seeing the food, they chew it again, it goes down, up and down, that's what rumination is. And they know that many of us are professional offense ruminators. That's what we do, we ruminate the offenses, we chew them and they go down and we have them here, but the first opportunity..... we turn it back up, again we bring it into view and we get into that game of ruminating. And that is such a harmful custom. And what happens is that we hold onto the offense in such a way, the pain that it caused us and we relive it over and over again and in the process we also involve others, because nobody likes to have a ruminating party alone. It is better to have guests, then we invite others to also enjoy our ruminations, so we end up not growing, staying small and also involving others in the process. So stop ruminating. If that's your habit, acknowledge it and quit.

Another factor is that this attitude of not wanting to forgive and ruminating over offenses leads many of us to bitterness and once we have bitterness in our hearts it becomes increasingly difficult to forgive. In Hebrews 12:15 there is a verse well known to all of us that says "take a good look, it is a serious warning, take a good look, and I imagine the Lord is with his finger..., take a good look, lest anyone stop achieve the grace of God, think he is not talking about salvation. Salvation we have but grace, that special investiture to live victorious lives,.....lest someone fail to achieve the grace of God that sprouting some root of bitterness hinders you and many are contaminated by it ". It is a tremendous verse. Don't let bitterness take over you. We have to uproot, no matter how small that root of bitterness is, we have to uproot it so that it doesn't get in the way of you or anyone else. Those who do gardening know that when one lets weeds take over, how difficult, at first they are very small, the roots are very superficial, so with little effort it can be removed in five minutes and the weeds have been weeded. But when we've let it soak into the ground and take root out of the ground, I've had on occasions, when I've left it, when I've left the garden, you try with all your might afterwards trying to pull it out with a shovel and all. and still it's hard to pull out those weed roots. Likewise is bitterness when we allow it to take over our hearts. And although it is emotionally difficult to forgive, it is much more difficult not to forgive. And we have to deal with that issue from the beginning, not allow it to take root there in our hearts.

And the antidote for the root of bitterness is found in Ephesians 4:32 which says “....be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God also forgave you in Christ". So beautiful! TRUE? That is what the Christian life should be, where mercy is shown, forgiveness to one another and why? Because Christ forgave us. For this reason, because there is gratitude in our hearts, for this reason we can also extend that grace to others so that there is no root of bitterness in us that prevents us from forgiving and that we do not hinder ourselves and others Around us.

Another factor that makes it difficult for us to forgive is that many of us did not grow up in a home where forgiveness was practiced. Perhaps there was a way to resolve situations was by fighting with each other, where there was no resolution of the conflicts, where they put on serious faces. I know of homes where people don't speak to each other for a week, for minor offenses. That kind of thing, many of us have grown up in homes like that, so we haven't seen modeled what forgiving love is. And I believe that it is essential that we stop in our lives, examine our life, our family life and make decisions to heal the land of our family, where forgiveness flows easily, freely. Forgiveness, as we have been saying, is not easy but once it becomes a habit, part of our lifestyle, it becomes easier and easier. I have been surprised at how on occasions when very hard tests have come into my life, at the same moment I have been able to forgive, and it is not because I am better than anyone, it is because I have been practicing this for years and I know that it works. And sometimes one has processes where one goes back, goes back, as I was saying about chewing the cud and that, but the Lord sustains us. If we have that as a life principle, He honors us and will help us. So one of the things that we can do in our families is model forgiveness, talk about forgiveness, talk about God's expectation of forgiveness, share our experiences of how God has helped us forgive in very difficult situations. . How beautiful it is that we can sit down with our children to talk about how we have handled difficult situations and how God helped us overcome them with forgiveness! That is something that should be part of the culture of each believing family, talking about issues like these, because that gives us freedom, raises healthy children, and makes them understand what God's expectation is and makes them see that in God there is power to fulfill all those requests that the Lord makes us to forgive.

There is much ignorance, even among God's people, about the effects of not forgiving, the effects of bitterness, the effects of resentment. I see it in families where divorces are taking place or there have been divorces, where the children are used as chess pawns, where the parents use the children against the other, where the other is talked about in front of the children. How sad! Where property is fought over, how is it possible that if we call ourselves Christians, we are playing with material things, playing with the inheritance of love that we should be passing on to our children and instead of giving them an inheritance of lack of mercy, of being miserable, in not being generous with our resources, with our love, where we withhold love, where we do not forgive. That should not be. It is time for the church of God to be serious about this and ask for forgiveness, each family ask for forgiveness and restore the value of love and mercy in our homes. It is something very serious, both children who are harmed by it, by the conflicts between the parents. I am not saying that a person has to receive abuse from another, we must be careful, we have to be meek but not stupid, there is a difference between being meek and stupid. It is not that we are stupid, but we can be meek and at the same time be able to forgive and continue a healthy relationship that does not affect our children. Because many times our children are in need, we are running looking for psychologists, and we pay thousands of dollars for psychologists when it was unnecessary. The damage that son received was totally unnecessary, it could have been overcome if we had lived our lives based on the principles of the word. So it is time that from the beginning of our lives we review this and do this as a light on our path, so that when moments of crisis come, I say when they come, not if they come, because they are going to come. The question is when and in what way, but if they are going to come, they will always come to us. In the world we have affliction, said the Lord himself, right? So when those moments arrive, we must be prepared to receive them with a divine response, not with a human response.

Part of that whole thing about bitterness, resentment is obviously getting revenge. They say revenge is sweet, right? You've heard that, revenge is sweet, but don't believe it, it's a lie from the devil. Revenge is not sweet. Revenge is bitter and causes bitterness. Perhaps at the moment it gives you relief, it makes you feel better, but in the long run it will create damage and chaos in your life. And revenge is not only physically hurting, it is not pulling out a gun and putting it to someone's head, it is not pushing, yelling, it is speaking harshly, it is using words that are not respectful, it is not doing a favor when you can, it is gossiping about the offender. That's a favorite, right? No, I have already forgiven, that's fine, but we don't miss the opportunity to ruminate and murmur at the same time, if we can do two things at the same time it's better. So we have to avoid that too.

Another way to get revenge is to burn the beans on purpose to your husband, or the tortillas, if you eat tortillas, or the pupusas....... well, that hadn't occurred to me, I of the shirt, but..... but the point is that we have to...... aha it seems that all of you have tried many techniques. Maybe we can make a list so that we give it up in the end, so what we have to do give up revenge, in time.

What does the word say about revenge? Whose revenge? It belongs to the Lord, it is no longer ours, because we do not see, we do not see beyond our noses many times, so revenge is not ours, it belongs to the Lord. He will do with each one as He pleases.

I want to share the example of a former client of mine at work. This lady lived with a husband who was very controlling and who in the past had physically abused her, but she had improved a lot and no longer did that, but he was very controlling, hurtful, demanding, he wouldn't let her go to church, well , all kinds of difficulties lived this woman. The point is that one day, when I was talking to her, she started talking about that crazy guy and then I asked her. You treat him like that, you treat him crazy, you use words that dishonor him, and he told me "Oh, yes, and in front of my children I'd still better do it", and I also found out that she didn't cook because she didn't want to cook for her husband , so the thing is, we started talking and I called her out. I told him "I challenge you to do something, in this next month you are going to eliminate all those words that dishonor him and you are going to do the opposite, you are going to honor him, you are going to give him words that honor him and that put him in a place of respect in front of you and your children and you are also going to start cooking the food that he likes the most. Do those two things and at the same time I also instructed her on how she could put limits on his verbal and emotional abuse and say: look, this is what I am going to do. I want to go to church at least once a week and you are going to let me go. You are not going to prevent me from going. So I told him with firm love, you are going to demand things that are fair, but at the same time you are going to put him in a place of honor. And I challenged her to do it for a month, every day. They know that after a month there had been a total, spiritual change in that house. He had already stopped the insults, he let her go to church, with a bit of protest, but that's the least of it. The protest one deals with it. She was treating him with respect, the atmosphere at home changed, the children began to smile at each other more. It was clear that there had been a change, it was a visible change because she dared to take the attitude of forgiving him, the decision and to treat him with the respect he deserved. This family was very, very poor at this time and I am convinced, I felt that this was what the Lord told me, therefore, because she was faithful and obedient in forgiving and doing what God had commanded her, the Lord it even prospered them financially. From being very poor where there was practically very little food in the fridge, in the kitchen, they came very soon after to buy a house, to move to a better place, to have much healthier finances. That is what forgiveness can do in a life, transform a whole life. Because where there is absence of forgiveness there is darkness and oppression. And where forgiveness comes in, wonderful things happen. So she is an excellent example of what God can do when we are obedient to Him.

In the word there are many passages that talk about forgiveness, but there is one that is dramatic and that is found in Matthew 18 of 21 to 35, is the parable of the wicked servant. If you want to look it up, I will read it and you will listen to it or you will also read it in the Bible. Matthew 18, 21 to 35:

Jesus introduces this parable when Peter asked him: “Lord, how many times will I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to 7? Pedro is thinking, I didn't say three, not one, not two, not four, seven. He was being very generous in his forgiveness. He thought the Lord was going to tell him. "Yes, my son, seven is a lot, maybe six." But Jesus told him "I do not tell you up to seven but even seventy times seven." And then Jesus goes on to say in verse 23 "for this reason the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to do accounts with his servants and beginning to do accounts, someone who owed him 10,000 talents (which was an exaggerated amount) was presented to him." ). As he could not pay, his lord ordered him to sell him and his wife and children and all that he had so that the debt could be paid. Then that prostrate servant begged him saying: Lord, be patient with me and I will pay you everything, (which was impossible no matter how hard he worked all his life, he was not going to be able to pay everything), but on the 27th says: "the lord He released that servant out of mercy and forgave him the debt. And leaving that servant his heart exploded with gratitude. She stopped at the nearest florist to buy roses to give to everyone she met on the way. As he walked he also meditated on the great gift he had received from his king and how he would forgive the debts of others with that same mercy.” End of the parable. aren't they going to say anything? No lo creo! Unfortunately, the parable does not end, it does not have a happy ending, because it later says in verse 28: "but that servant came out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii (which is a very small amount) and, holding him by the neck, he strangled him saying : Pay me what you owe me. Then his fellow servant, prostrating himself (doing the same thing he had done with the king), begged him saying "be patient with me and I will pay you everything" (which would have been possible because it was only one hundred denarii) but he did not want to but went and he threw him in jail until he paid the debt. When his fellow servants saw what was happening, they were very saddened and went and reported to their Lord all that had happened. Then calling his Lord said to him: wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me, shouldn't you also have mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? Then his angry Lord handed him over to his executioners until he turned off everything he owed. And Jesus concludes the parable with these words "so also my heavenly father, (Father God), will do to you if you do not forgive each one his brother his offenses with all your heart." They are direct, cutting words. They go for the jugular. There is no doubt that maybe.... no. What the Lord is telling us is very direct. It is a warning against our natural inclination to withhold grace and mercy, not to give grace and mercy and rather refuse to forgive.

There we see in that parable that God can be limited in what He can do by the attitude of our hearts, the attitude of not forgiving. And notice how sad, two ended up in jail, the one who was forgiven by the king ended up in jail as well as the one who was not forgiven by the fellow servant. The two ended up in jail. That is a very clear picture of what happens when we choose to withhold our forgiveness and instead retaliate or take it out on a person. We are putting ourselves in jail, and we are putting another in jail. We are turning ourselves in to the executioner or to the torturers, as another version says, and we are doing the same with another person. How sad right? when one thinks about the reality that this parable wants to express to us! It is very sad that this is what happens in our lives. You have to run away from all that.

I want us to contrast the behavior of the servant in the parable that we just read with the behavior of Joseph in Genesis between Chapters 37 to 50. Obviously we are not going to read Chapters 37 to 50 because otherwise they will go to sleep all of you, or you're going to starve, one of the two is going to happen first right? So, but I encourage you if you can today, those who do not know the life of José. Recently, about a month ago, Roberto was preaching about José, he was about four sermons I think about the life of José, so for some perhaps some of the concepts are fresh but I want to review the concepts as quickly as I can basics of his life, rather of his basic biographical data.

For you to see, it is the profile of a person who has suffered a lot, as perhaps many of us have suffered a lot at the hands of someone, but at the same time it is a profile of someone who took the opportunity of suffering to turn it for good. Right now we call it a dysfunctional background, having a very, very dysfunctional family, it was rice with majarete, I think some say, you were a revolution... what was in that family, very, very dysfunctional, like some of the..... then when I have the second son with Jacob, Benjamin, died that there was and there was competition between women with..., so imagine.

If you have problems with your husband, imagine what Jacob had, then he had four. So don't openly complain about José. It was the son who was born when he was already... a robe of many colors, so from a distance they saw him walking with such a beautiful robe, which shouted his father's preference over all his other brothers. . And the contempt of his brothers culminated when he shared with them two dreams he had had where he appeared as... they decided to kill him... here comes the dreamer... I think, my psychological analysis is that they really had resentment, a very big resentment against their father, but in a patriarchal society like this, obviously they were not going to give an open course to their hatred against their father, so they focused their resentment on it...... I I think, calculating they could be 50, 60 years old, they were already much older than José, but they still took him. He was saved from that, they decided to put him in ..... they sold him as a slave, they killed him (?) and they presented him to his father as if a wild beast had slit Joseph's throat.

Then he took him to Egypt and then at the age of 30 he took him to the palace of Pharaoh ..... who had interpreted the two dreams, but because he had a special grace. José at the age of 30, the...... already very abundant that there was for seven years and then........ his importance was only surpassed by his authority..... Imagine what a surprise. Can you imagine that scene? José calm down, simply distributing food when he sees these 10 men arriving. José recognizes them but they do not recognize him. Remember that twenty..... Then he... and also he does not identify himself..... spies in the land of Egypt. He interrogates them to find out if their father and brother..... go back to Canaan and bring brother Benjamin back, supposedly to prove that he kept testing his brothers and in the third meeting with them, that sense.... it was in this process of forgiving, of breastplates twenty-some years before. ...... by the way those twenty-two years licking his wounds, sitting, depressed, defeated,.... thoughts, if they crossed his mind, but he had already made decisions..... two sons in Egypt, the He gave the firstborn the name Manasses and Manasses Ephraim, which means God made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.

What a name so charged in memory of the healthy choices he had made to live a fruitful life. So very soon after the betrayal, José decided to stop his past from determining his future. He stopped and said: up to here it came, I have gone through an experience of terrible affliction but I am not going to allow bitterness to enter my heart and then he also renounced revenge, the possibility of...... as a slave. Part of which, was in jail when he was wrongfully accused by his butler's wife. So he decided to restore his life despite his many problems.

And he decided: I'm going to move on, no matter what my situation is, no matter what my past is. He gave him a gift to govern, to be in authority, to administer and he at all times recognizes that these gifts come from God. Therefore there is gratitude in his heart that leads him to be able to more easily, not to become bitter. In Joseph we see how a verse that was written many years later in the word and Solomon wrote it, in Proverbs 4:23, despite the fact that it was not written, he already began to practice it. That Proverbs is "above all guarded things, guard your heart because life flows from it." "Above all guarded things, guard your heart because life flows from it." that is one of the verses chest, where there is a treasure, a treasure for example as the fruit of the spirit, and my responsibility as a daughter of God is to keep the lid of that chest so that nothing enters inside that contaminates the treasures that are there, where life comes from. In other words, nothing enters that causes spiritual or emotional death, nothing is contaminated. And that's emotional beings, we're going to have the emotions but we don't have to allow them to come into our hearts and settle. There's a saying, I think it says that you can't necessarily stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop it from making a nest on your head. right yes? Well, that is more or less the same thing, that they damage the life that God has already placed in us.

And I want to share with you a little personal testimony from me. I don't need that but I can listen, it's always good to learn something and I went to accompany another person who I considered could be of greater benefit and we begin to think if there is an absence of forgiveness, if we are withholding forgiveness from someone and I'm sure I thought. I, I think I don't? But, since I am sensitive to the Lord and I want to hear the truth from Him, I sat in my chair and told him; Lord, if there is something in me according to what your word says, in a second later God presented me with the image of an apple, there was the hand of God and there was a precious apple, it was like gold, it was an apple out of this world, precious, and what God did with that apple, this is an image that God gives me in my mind, with my eyes closed. I am looking at the apple, I realize that a very small corner of the apple...... that was what I saw in the apple, as if a piece had been torn off and the piece had been put back as well as covering it up, like nothing had happened, like ....... you know when you start a marriage there are so many adjustments, it's incredible.

Everyone who has been married or is beginning this process knows that it is not easy, we have to make many adjustments, there is a lot to give up, there is a lot to die, well, adjustments of all kinds. The point is that he wanted to tell me is to ask your husband for forgiveness for the resentment that you have from the first years of your marriage. We are talking about 15, 16, 17 years before and I told him: ok, thank you Lord, forgive me Lord, and ok we are going to leave the matter here. But the Lord told me: no, no, no, you have to go to your husband and you are going to ask for forgiveness because this is necessary. And the interesting thing is that after this the Lord called me and that was not on my mind at all, he called me to start the premarital ministry in the church, and after that we started it with a brother from the church, with Gustavo, and we have continued, and after that I have extended a little more to the marriage ministry, to counseling in other areas. I am sure that I cleaned that part of my heart where there was contamination so that the Lord could pass me to the other stage. And it has become more than clear to me in many situations that this is so.

So that is sometimes what we limit by our bad attitudes and our disobedience. So keep that there as an example of how important it is to obey the Lord when He commands us to forgive.

Another thing I want to say about José is that .... the Bible, one thing that seems liberating to me is that the biblical protagonists, if you look closely, are people of flesh and blood They are not unattainable figures of unattainable perfection, quite the contrary. They are people with limitations, with afflictions, like you and me. When I understood that I said: Aha, then the truth of the........ able, then we are wasting our time. But the word is very clear in that, it presents people to us in full color, both the good and the bad. We see that in the life of David, in the life of Gideon, all the great biblical protagonists...... identify with them and treat them harshly and it is in Acts when he later rebelled against them and also it gave him time to process his emotions.

Imagine that he finds himself in this, a normal day doing his job, at the moment those 10 years come in and for the first time in 22 years, he sees his 10 brothers that the last time he had seen them It had been in such a terrible situation, where they had tried to kill him, where they had insulted him, they had perhaps pushed him, they had played with his life, trying to decide what to do or not to do with him. They had locked him in a well that he did not know if it had water or not, it turned out that it did not. God provided for him that way, that the well had no water. He is sold, he has to move away from his father in 22 years he has not heard from them and he meets them after 22 years, he finds them there in front of his presence. It is not logical to think that humanly he would have said: oh, my brothers come, welcome. How is dad? Come, let's eat. Let's go to McDonald's all together, let's celebrate. And that's one thing we have to do. I have seen many people who, because of their eagerness to supposedly be obedient to the Lord, have anticipated the Lord's time and what they have done is cut short what God wanted to do.

I have seen that in marriages that have been separated, that have been trying to resolve important issues in their lives, where they had been hurt...... at God's time, and that doesn't work. In fact, I have seen, after serious crises, such as adultery, men demand that their wives give up all the privileges of marriage, when there is still a wound, things still have to be talked about, there still has to be a process. And I believe that it is healthy that all of us, whether it is both the one who offends and the one who is offended, must recognize, and it is liberating to recognize that we need, not only time, but God working in time, so that God can do the miracles that He wants to make it so that when there is a meeting it is a solid plane where God can truly glorify Himself. That is essential, that is God's wisdom. Do not speed up God's times, I have seen so many times where I have seen, for example, women who have offended each other terribly and one is saying: come to my house to eat. But how is he going to come to eat at your house if they are still processing, they are not in a position for it to be a social experience yet. We are in a position to prepare the way so that restoration and reconciliation can take place.

So I ask you to apply that to your life if you are in a crisis situation, and teach it to others as well. Don't speed up others. I have seen people who are saying to another: no, but go back to your husband, go back to your wife. Why did you get divorce? No. God knows how he does things and you have to have a balance in everything. It is God working in the temple that brings healing. And that was what I think José started from, his purpose in waiting for that time, for all the......them. And when he finally revealed his identity to his brothers, he says he was crying loudly, all this is a reconciliation with his brothers. That is enough in the order of the Lord. By revealing his identity to his brothers, José had already forgiven them many years before as a decision, an act of will, but here he also forgives them emotionally. Show care, affection for them, make them feel welcome. In fact, it can be seen that in one of the verses it says: “when he revealed himself ...... give us so that you can move soon, tell my father that I am alive, that I want to see him. Imagine all those emotions and José could be generous because he had already forgiven long before. He could have been generous to reestablish all that connection with his brothers....

In Genesis 45 from 5 to 7 he says: "...now then, he tells his brothers, do not be sad, ( They weren't sad, they were terrified of the revenge that Joseph could have against them, right?) but he told them: “.... now, he tells his brothers, don't be sad, and don't be sorry for having sold me here for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life, for there have already been two years of famine in the midst of the earth and there are still 5 years left, and God sent me ahead of you to preserve your offspring on earth and to give you life in the midst of great release."

So he interprets God's why for them. Many times we do not know why but many times we can live the why of God. Therefore, because Joseph's life was centered on God, he knew providence, he knew God's hand in his life, he could then give permanent forgiveness. And in fact, years later when Jacob dies, after 17 years in Egypt, the brothers are frightened again and say: oh, now that dad is dead, now maybe revenge will come because dad is no longer there to defend us and to maintain our neutral position. But there again, look at what Joseph tells them: “do not be afraid, am I in the place of God? In other words, can I have revenge against you? You thought badly against me. In other words, he tells them, you truly sinned badly, terribly, but God directed it to good to do what we see today, to keep many people alive, now well (look how tender Joseph is with his brothers) now well, don't be afraid , I will support you and your children, so he comforted them and spoke to their hearts. That is a complete forgiveness, there is the decision to forgive out of the desire to please God, to be obedient and then combined with the part of emotions, where we give love and affection and mercy to those who do not deserve it. Because that's what mercy is. Mercy is giving favor and grace to those who do not deserve it. So José did not reserve anything, he was generous in every way, word and action.

And finally, I'm going to go through a list of what José chose as a review. Joseph chose to forgive and bear fruit even within the affliction. That he did early in his career. He chose to reject bitterness. He chose to forego revenge. He chose to exercise grace and mercy on those who betrayed him. In other words, in short, that was what José chose. And because Joseph was faithful in that sense, because he chose all those things that were for his good and for the good of many people, as he says, he also reaped a great harvest and reaped the fruit of reconciliation with his brothers. If he had withheld forgiveness there could have been no reconciliation. He collected the fruit of sharing with his father Jacob, the last 17 years of his life. Jacob, who had lost all hope of seeing Joseph again, because he considered him dead, not only does Jacob see Joseph those 17 years, he enjoys him, he enjoys his presence, his company and what God has done in his life, but he He also sees the children of Joseph, so already another part because of Joseph's forgiveness that Jacob was benefited.

Joseph also reaped the fruit of being an instrument of salvation for his entire household. Because of his heart sensitive to the Lord, his entire house, that is, everything we are talking about, a large group of people, were saved from starvation.

It also collected the fruit of being a channel of blessing to future generations that did not have to live under the curse of not forgiving. And imagine how different it would have been if he had withheld forgiveness, what would his own children have learned? First you would have reached the position of honor that where God put you, would be a question. What inheritances would have passed from generation to generation in that whole family for not having forgiven? So he broke that and established a heritage of forgiveness.

Joseph also reaped the fruit of being an instrument in the hands of God so that he could follow the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to him, first to Abraham, then to Isaac and then to Jacob. So he was faithful because if you remember in the land of Egypt, the people of Israel multiplied, strengthened, then they were used as slaves for many years in Egypt, but finally God raised up Moses and it was fulfilled, after a time that they could enter the promised land. So Joseph was part of the fulfillment of that promise that would not have happened if he had not been faithful.

In closing I want to encourage each of you to determine today to embrace forgiveness as part of your personal vision. Since as we said before, if we are waiting for a crisis to then decide whether or not to forgive, we are... we have already lost part of the battle. We have to decide as part of our life to be a person with a vision of forgiveness, that when those moments come we immediately go before the Lord and we can forgive the one who has offended us.

I encourage you to develop a forgiving heart and to develop forgiveness as a lifestyle, as a habit, that when the offense comes you do not think first that with what shot, what do I hit it with, what I do. No, but immediately there is a sense of introspection, of searching your heart and determining to forgive.

When I was preparing this talk, God brought to my mind, how does God work? He brought to my mind a person who many years ago hurt me in a very serious way and I recognized before the Lord that I still forgiveness was not complete, and from a distance I blessed her. And I am trusting that God heard that prayer, I know that He heard it, I know that He saw my heart in that sense, He saw the sincerity of my heart, and that something is going to happen regarding that, because that is how our work works. God. He provides opportunities for us. It is possible that while you were listening to all this, someone came to mind. Don't leave here thinking it was just because it came to mind by chance. Do something with it. Take away all those concepts that we saw, I know that we have covered many concepts about forgiveness. If they have any doubts, they buy the CD or whatever, so that they review the concepts because they are all essential concepts to live a healthy life.

If José had not forgiven, he would have forgiven himself so much. And if you and I don't forgive, we also lose a lot. We may have irreparable damage. We may be condemning our family to an inheritance where there is no forgiveness. God wants to change that. God wants to change that within his people. A little while ago we were talking about healing the earth, this is one way that we heal the earth. Forgiveness heals the earth. Sometimes we have to forgive terrible things that have been done to us, sometimes we have to forgive ourselves. There are people who have done things that they know displeased God and cannot forgive themselves. So on this day I beg you to take all these things seriously. They are not just beautiful things that the Lord says in his word, they are not just interesting lives on the pages of the Bible. It is for our instruction, it is for our strengthening, it is for our healing, so that we are healthy people, so that we are healthy families, so that we are a healthy church.

I pray to the Lord that this is a truly healing church and one of the facets of healing is forgiveness. Imagine that someone comes here and sees that there is discord between us, sees that there are little disputes that go by for years and is not resolved, sees that when a brother comes we turn our faces so as not to see him. That hurts the heart of God and I rebuke that in the name of the Lord. Don't do that, ask the Lord for freedom. Ask for freedom so that you can act with the sweetness of the spirit and with the truth of what the word says. May we be merciful to one another, may we forgive one another. That is what the Lord commands us to do.

We're going to stand up to end with a prayer. Although we have been praying, speaking about the word in a sense is also praying. Lord, thank you, Father, thank you for your word this morning, Lord. Oh, Father, Lord we present ourselves before you Lord. We recognize that we are limited beings, Lord. We recognize that we alone cannot do all that You have commanded us to do, Lord. But at the same time, we declare, Father, that if You have commanded us to forgive, it is because in You is everything we need to forgive, Lord. Father, I ask you that if any name or face of a person has come up in our minds on this day when talking about so many things about forgiveness, that we follow up on that, Lord. Father, I ask you, Lord, fruit. I ask you for fruit, true and multiple fruit, Lord, of having been in your presence dealing with this issue, Lord. Father, I ask you to release, Lord, release the anointing to forgive, Lord. I ask you, God, that you shake your people, Lord, shake the complacent, Lord. Shake, Lord. Shake us from our wickedness, from our lack of mercy, Lord. Shake us, Lord and cleanse us, Lord. Lord may our hearts be clean before You, Lord. Father, clean our minds, Lord, that the ideas that You have proclaimed in Your word, Lord, be our Father.

I ask you, Lord, that you throw away from us thoughts that are not yours and replace them with the truth of your word, Lord. I ask you, Father, that you hunger and thirst for justice in this place, Lord. May Your justice, Lord, be the one that dominates in our relationships, not our justice, Lord, which is a human and failed and fallen justice, Lord. May we manage our relationships, Lord, let us manage forgiveness, reconciliation, Lord, according to what your word says, Lord. Father, as a people, Father, we renounce resentment, we renounce bitterness, we renounce everything that displeases You, Lord. We renounce revenge, Father. Oh Lord we acknowledge that vengeance is yours, Father, and it is yours alone. Father, cleanse us. Again I tell you, Lord, shake your people, cleanse your people, Lord, so that the revival that you want to do in our midst may happen, Lord. Father, may we not be hung up on little things, hurting one another, not forgiving, withholding forgiveness, Lord. On the contrary, all that energy that we use in foolish and vain things, Lord, be used for the magnification of your kingdom, Lord, to have holy lives, Lord, that speak that your presence is in us, that the character of Christ is what motivates us to do everything and to think everything, Lord.

Lord, make us a light, Lord, in a high place, Lord. A holy light, Father that shines in all its splendor, Father. We ask your forgiveness Father for our sins. We ask your forgiveness for the times we have withheld forgiveness, Lord, and have been disobedient, Lord. And we declare on this day, Lord, that we will be obedient and sensitive to your spirit, Lord. Lord, I ask you to open what has been covered and hidden, Lord, in this time, Father, that you bring to light what is hidden, Lord, and that each one of us be faithful in doing what he has to do, Lord. May each one be obedient, Father, obedient. Father, I ask you to persecute me, persecute each one of my brothers, Lord, and that there be no peace of mind, Lord, until they do what You want each one to do, Lord. That each one only You know what it is, Lord. Father, pour out an anointing of forgiveness in this place, Lord. Use us, Father, to bring healing to the earth, Lord. Thanks, Dad. Thank you for your love and your mercy and your word, Lord. Thank you, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Hear and see more recorded presentations Sunday December 4, 2005< br/>

Sermon by Mercedes Miranda recorded on December 4, 2005 at Congregación León de Judá (62 min.)

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