One Vital Decision That Determines the Success of Every Dream You Have

02 Jul One Vital Decision That Determines the Success of Every Dream You Have

Have you ever been hurt by someone? Have you ever been betrayed by a friend or family member? We all have to some degree. Take a second to think of a betrayal that happened in your life. (This is going to be handy later.)

We all have experienced pain, betrayal, or hurt because of the actions of others. Jesus himself said that in this world we will have trouble and all those things are challenging to navigate. When someone’s actions hurt us, we are all faced with one of the most critical decisions in this life. We will either choose to forgive, or we will choose to hold on to the pain.

The mistake that most people make is that we believe that forgiveness is a feeling. “If I don’t feel it, it isn’t real.” This is the furthest thing from the truth! The truth is…

Forgiveness is a decision that we make!

How many of us have heard someone say, “I will forgive them when they apologize.” When you think about it, that person can forgive the offender before the apology, but they are choosing to wait until the offender apologizes. They believe the apology is going to make them feel better permanently, but it just calms current emotions.

One day when Jesus was with the disciples, Peter asked Jesus a question that many people ask today,
“How many times do I have to forgive the believers that keep offending me?” All of us can find ourselves here.

We all have people in our life that have done things to us continually.

Jesus proceeds to say the story below

Matthew‬ ‭18:23-27‬ ‭TPT (The Passion Translation)‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

“The lessons of forgiveness in heaven’s kingdom realm can be illustrated like this: “There once was a king who had servants who had borrowed money from the royal treasury. He decided to settle accounts with each of them. As he began the process, it came to his attention that one of his servants owed him one billion dollars. So he summoned the servant before him and said to him, ‘Pay me what you owe me.’ When his servant was unable to repay his debt, the king ordered that he be sold as a slave along with his wife and children and every possession they owned as payment toward his debt. The servant threw himself facedown at his master’s feet and begged for mercy. ‘Please be patient with me. Just give me more time, and I will repay you all that I owe.’ Upon hearing his pleas, the king had compassion on his servant, and released him, and forgave his entire debt.”

The servant was going to be sold; then in an instant, he was free. The king was going to sell him and his family but then decided to release him and forgive the debt.

The debt that the servant owed was a billion dollars. I don’t know of ANYONE, that FEELS like forgiving someone of a billion dollars. However, the King in this story did. The King decided outside of his feelings.

Forgiveness is a decision you make, not a feeling you feel.

Go back to that pain that I asked you to think about before. You are going to be in 1 of these 4 places

1. You FEEL LIKE YOU CAN’T forgive.
2. You CHOOSE not to forgive.
3. You DECIDED to forgive, but you don’t feel like you really have.
4. You KNOW you have forgiven them.

Where are you on this list? Take a second to locate yourself and be honest with yourself.

Have you ever gone to work when you don’t feel like it? Did you ever go to the gym when you didn’t feel like it? We all have! However, you still got paid for that day even though you didn’t feel like it. You still burned calories at the gym even though you didn’t feel like it. Your feelings didn’t make the difference; YOUR DECISION and ACTIONS made the difference.

If you find yourself in places 1-3, I want you to know that you CAN forgive the person or persons that hurt you; but it’s up to you to make a decision to forgive. Your FEELINGS don’t determine if you have forgiven or not.

Forgiveness is a DECISION that leads to ACTION.

In the story earlier, the king made the DECISION to forgive; then, he ACTED on that decision. Just like faith without works is dead, forgiveness without works is dead.

Your actions can change your feelings, but your feelings cannot change your action. Sometimes we allow feelings to DETERMINE our actions. Feelings are great indicators, but horrible leaders!

Why should you forgive?

• Forgiveness leads to better health
• Forgiveness leads to better relationships
• Forgiveness is an ingredient of the Faith Formula (Faith = Believing + Speaking + Forgiving)
• We are commanded by God to Forgive

Action

Today, decide to forgive then put some actions behind it. This may be going to someone and apologizing. Maybe it’s deciding NEVER to bring up the pain to the offender’s face again. ‭‭‬‬This may even be blessing that person! (I know that can be a tough one.) Take action now. Don’t close this window without making the decision and making a plan to act on your decision.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Leave a comment here or on the Purposeful Living Today Facebook Page. I want to hear about your decision about to forgive.

If you haven’t already, make sure you get your copy of the The Purposeful Parent. We all have a purpose and when we choose NOT to forgive, our lives are limited.

If you are still in positions 1-3 and you want to move forward, go here to my coaching page to contact me. Lets start working on this together; your future depends on it.p