Fear and Forgiveness

 Step 2.  " 12 Steps to Living Without Fear"

   What does fear have to do with forgiveness?  We are looking at forgiveness today and see that dwelling on the past , judging ourselves (in an extreme way) and others create fear.

   To forgive literally means I send away, (b) I let go, release, permit to depart, (c) I remit, forgive, (d) I permit, suffer.

The original greek is  aphíēmi (from 575 /apó, "away from" and hiēmi, "send") – properly, send away; release (discharge). biblehub.com

  Ogilvie nails down the issue about fear and forgiveness ," The panic over being discovered for what we've been, combined with memories of hurts from others produces a feeling of uneasiness about the past and a fear of the future." p. 63 12 Steps to Living Without Fear

Our goal is to " let go of my hurting memories of the past.  I will not anticipate the repetition of past pain; I will accept forgiveness from the Lord and will forgive everything and everyone in the past---including myself.  "  p. 64 

1. .Forget the past by remembering the Lord.  He forgives and forgives our failures, shortcomings and lessons unlearned.  

Isaiah 43: 26 " Put me in remembrance"  He blots out our transgressions and makes a way for us to continue our lives without fear.  2 Timothy 2:8 says " Remember Jesus Christ"   The Apostle knew that he could face the problems of life because of that.  

Forgiving ourselves is part of the hurdle.  In his book Ogilivie tells of a man who had been unfaithful to his wife.  His wife had already forgiven him, but this man was still in a panic.  Lloyd asked him when this happened and he said , " 12 years ago."   Imagine living with the pain for that long and not forgiving himself.  

Many of us have memories that we have not gotten out of our minds.  " The most important thing is that we accept forgiveness---God's and our own.  Then , if there is any restitution we need to make by asking anyone else's forgiveness, we must do it immediately." p. 72

2.  We must specifically confess our failures and fears to God and those whom we have offended.  

Just saying" I forgive you" is the tip of the iceberg and certainly a part of the process .  There are vertical steps( with God) and horizontal ( with others)  to complete the loop on forgiveness, or at least begin to do that. Repentance is a step as well in this.  Turning away from our sin to Christ is repentance.  Admitting it is difficult but no confession, no forgiveness.

The Lord heals if we are honest with Him about where we have gotten off the path. Troublesome memories of past sin and need for healing can be reviewed with a trusted friend, confidant or religious person ( saint- all Christians are this).  A list can be made individually of Secret memories, Memories of my failures and Memories of what others have done.  Go over each event and surrender them specifically to God.

In the case of others we can ask for the power to forgive.   The word confession I am reminded means to say the same thing that God says about our sins.  After working thru this, then burn the list!  A daily prayer of , " Lord , show me what I need to confess" may be just what we need.

We went thru the book of I John. I am reminded of ch. 1:9 talks about confession and how God is faithful to forgive us, and to " cleanse us from all unrighteousness".

----I had another point, but the point is to actually implement a plan to forgive and be free. We started with this, and we end with this.

"let go of my hurting memories of the past.  I will not anticipate the repetition of past pain; I will accept forgiveness from the Lord and will forgive everything and everyone in the past---including myself. "