Mind of Christ: Ep 11: Forgive to Be Free: The Freedom Mindset

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host,

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Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent.

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Father God, like Jabez, we cry out that thou would bless us indeed.

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Bless every woman listening beyond trauma, beyond limits, beyond what she thought

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was possible. Enlarge her territory.

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Expand her purpose. Let your hand be upon this moment.

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Saturate every word with oil and truth. break cycles, cancel every curse sent

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to silence her. This isn't just a podcast.

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This is holy ground. In Jesus' name, amen. Hello, and welcome back to the Diary

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of a Black Woman podcast.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we are continuing our Faith on the Goal series.

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It's titled The Freedom Mindset.

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As we know, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

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So I hope that you are getting free, getting your faith built up so that you

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can believe for the impossible because we have a God.

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We have a God, the impossible. He loves doing it in our lives.

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And so this is why this space was created. For your quiet moments,

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your work days, your commutes, and those in-between places where your spirit

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needs to be refilled, recharged.

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Faith on the Go is for those times when you're fighting battles not yet won,

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but already finished in Christ.

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It's for the ones who keep believing, keep pressing in, and keep walking by

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faith, even when the road gets long and narrow.

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So wherever you are today, settle in and let the word of God strengthen your

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faith while you are on earth.

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Go. Today's topic, we're going to start with day 11, the freedom mindset.

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And this is the mind of forgiveness. We'll go to Matthew 6, 14 to 15.

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Let's see what he says. For if you forgive other people when they sin against

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you, your father will also forgive you.

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But if you do not forgive others' sin, your father will not forgive your sins.

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Forgiveness was never optional for Jesus.

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It was a culture of his kingdom. It is the culture of his kingdom.

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He spoke about it often because he knew how easily offense can entangle the human heart.

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He understood that bitterness blinds us, but mercy makes us free.

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When Peter asked, Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sinned against me?

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Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times,

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but 77 times, Matthew 18, 21 through 22.

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He wasn't giving Peter a number. He was revealing a mindset.

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What is that mindset? That mindset is forgiveness.

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And I always remember when I was preaching that 70 times, 77 times,

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I just said, forgive until you forget, right?

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Because we can hold on to stuff for a long time, but you keep forgiving until you forget.

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And you begin to treat that person as though he never or she never sinned against

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you. That's the forgiveness mindset.

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And we see that's how Jesus lived. The mind of Christ don't hold offense.

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They don't hold judgment.

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They don't hold anger against anyone. They just forgive until they stop remembering

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how much that person has caused them.

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Right? So later on this parable, we later on, Jesus told the parable of the unforgiving servant

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who had been forgiven an enormous debt, but refused to forgive a small one. Matthew 18, 23 to 25.

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The lesson was clear. Forgiveness imprisons the one who refuses to release it.

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We talked about holding hostages in our heart, right?

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Same thing. This servant, he was forgiven so much, but yet he chased down this

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family, owed them a little bit of nothing.

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And the Bible says he was sent to a place where the gnashing of teeth,

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like that was an unforgivable sin for him. Remember he said,

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your sin won't be forgiven.

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So just as you thinking like, you know, I can do this on earth,

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God is saying, oh, no, you don't. You don't get to do that.

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You forgive or you won't be forgiven. And guess what? I'm keeping track of that,

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right? Even on the cross, Jesus modeled the freedom of forgiveness.

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With his final breath, he released every wrong.

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Father, forgive them. Luke 23 to 34.

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Forgiveness was his final message and the first key to our healing.

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Come on now. We want to be healed. We need to forgive. You ever see people with

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bitterness in their body? It's arthritis.

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It's arthritis. It's arthritis.

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Forgiveness was his final message, and that should be our final message.

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When they remember you, they're going to say, you know what?

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I tried to get her back, but she kept forgiving me. She just kept forgiving me.

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She would not confront me. Remember I shared with you in the earlier episodes

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that I have a person who walks around in anger and I decided I'm going to free

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myself from you because I don't want that offense on me.

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So I forgave her, I cut her loose, and I walk in my freedom bubble,

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my freedom mindset. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free.

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The mind of Christ stays unburdened by bitterness, unforgiveness clouds discernment.

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Poisons peace, and disrupts prayer.

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That's why Jesus taught us to include forgiveness in our daily communion with the Father.

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Matthew 6, 12 tells us, forgive our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.

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Forgiveness is not about who deserves it.

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It's about who needs to be free.

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When you release others, you release yourself. You step out of the prison of

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pain and into the presence of peace.

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To forgive is to trust that God will handle what you cannot.

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Surrender in its purest form, the kind that heals your heart and renews your mind.

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Colossians 3.13 tells us to bear with each other and forgive one another.

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If any of you have a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you.

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Forgiveness doesn't mean reconciliation. It means release.

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It's choosing to live untangled with the weight of resentment.

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Every time you forgive, you reclaim authority over your peace.

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Forgiveness isn't forgetting what happened, It's remembering without reliving it.

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It says, I don't let this define me or distract me from my destiny.

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So ask yourself, am I rehearsing an old pain instead of releasing it? Who am I?

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Still holding on, still holding hostage in my heart?

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And do I trust God to bring justice in his way and in his time?

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It all shows in how you forgive and forget, right?

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You say you don't have to forget, but you don't have to hold him hostage either.

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I said, keep forgiving until you forget. Keep forgiving until you get free.

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Keep forgiving until you have this freedom mindset. So let's walk it out like

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Jesus. Let's see what he says.

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Number one, forgive before you're asked.

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Jesus forgave those who never apologized. Luke 23, 34, freedom starts before remorse.

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Now that's a hard one, right? Forgive before they apologize,

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but the Holy Spirit will remind you, needless to say, you might want to forgive them.

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Boom, it's done. And so you are being the mind of Christ. It's not a reactive type of mind.

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It's more of a proactive type of mind.

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He's not allowing you to wait until they come and forgive because they never, never, never will.

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But if they never will, then you still hold them hostage and you still living in bondage too.

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And you're not healed, you're not free, you're not restored.

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But you forgive before you're asked, you're proactively defeating the devil.

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And he's like, wait a minute, hold up. I want it to turn into bitterness and wrath.

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And even when you get this wrath in your heart, guess what?

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People start to be unalived because they don't let that go.

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Let's go to number two, speak blessings, not bitterness.

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When you bless those who hurt you, you break the spiritual chain, Romans 12, 14.

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You break the spiritual chain.

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There's hostage, then there's some chain. You can let them go,

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but you're still holding on to that bitterness.

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That's like a chain wrapped around you and them.

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Nobody's free in this situation. But when you speak blessings,

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not bitterness, you break the spiritual chain, according to Romans 12,

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14. Number three, remember your own grace story.

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The more aware you are of how much you've been forgiving, it's easier to forgive.

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Ephesians 4.32, we forget.

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Christians are the ones that are the hardest to forget. Forgive.

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Let it go, folks, because you are worshiping the Lord. He said,

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I need you to go forgive that person. I don't want your money.

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Go forgive them and then come and give because your offering is not good under

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that unforgiveness umbrella, right? And so remember your own great story.

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Number four, pray until peace returns.

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Pray until peace returns. Forgiveness is sometimes a process.

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Keep praying until the sting is gone. Philippians 4, 6 to 7.

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Keep praying until you forget.

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Keep praying, keep forgiving until the sting is gone.

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I remember an incident where my heart was just broken.

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I just felt betrayed. But I just said, Lord, I forgive them.

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They know not what they do. And I don't want that barrier in my prayer because

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sometimes you can't get to heaven because we got the

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this unforgiveness in our way. And I didn't want that in my way anymore,

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even though I have the right to be angry.

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I just said, I refuse to let that be a chain. I refuse to hold them hostage.

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You know, I'm not saying it was easy, but you make an effort to do it.

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You say, if it's up to me, I'm going to be at peace with everyone.

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I might not like you, but I'm not going to have you in my heart with unforgiveness,

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right? And number five, let go of the why.

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Jesus didn't demand an explanation.

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He extended mercy. Release.

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But release the need to understand Isaiah 55, 8 through 9.

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We will not know everything on this earth. We will not know it.

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And so when we want to know the why you did this, why you shouldn't have done

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that. And we want them to give a reason.

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Sometimes they don't even know they're working for the enemy.

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Remember, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood.

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And so whatever had them that day got them trapped, trying to keep you trapped.

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Remember? And so we don't want that. So let go the why, let mercy have the last

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word, and release the need to understand.

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Let's pray. Father, thank you for the freedom found in forgiveness.

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Search my heart for hidden grudges and old wounds. Heal what I buried and help

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me to release what I can't control.

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Teach me to forgive as Jesus forgave, freely, fully, and without condition.

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Let my life be a reflection of your mercy, and let my mind be a dwelling place

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of peace. In Jesus' name, amen.

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I decree I have the mind of Christ. My heart is light, my mind is clear, and my spirit is free.

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I release every offense, forgive every debt, and walk in divine peace.

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Nothing in my past can hold me when God's grace has already freed me.

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I'm going to leave you with this. Who or what have you been carrying that God

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has asked you to release?

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And what might your life look like if you finally let it go?

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Thank you for listening to Faith on the Go with your host, Connie Morris,

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from the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I pray that this word energizes your faith and reminds you of God's promise

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to allow his word to work in your life.

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Remember, he tells you Isaiah 55, 11, he says, so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth.

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It should not return to me void, but should.

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Let forgiveness come back to you.

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Let me know how that works for you, that we're finally letting it go.

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We're letting it go. And be confident of this.

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He who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day

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of Christ. Philippians 1.6.

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Remember, God wants to finish this work in you.

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Don't hinder him. Do not hinder him. God will finish what he started.

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He will do that. And you will look back today, write it on your calendar,

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and you'll say, you know what? Connie was right.

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It doesn't hurt as much and my life is better.

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The sickness and disease that I held on from that wrath and unforgiveness is

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finally letting go. My body doesn't ache as bad as it used to.

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So I want to encourage you to keep believing, keep walking, and keep trusting

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because God will finish what he has started in you.

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In Jesus name, amen.

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Thank you for listening to this episode. And before we close out,

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I want to speak a word of promise over you from Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14.

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Father God, you declared, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper

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you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

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So today we receive that truth.

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You said when we call on you, you will listen. So we pray.

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You said that when we seek you with our hearts, you will be found. So we pursue.

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You said you will restore us from captivity. So we declare freedom over every

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place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small.

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Thank you for always drawing near when we show up in faith. In Jesus' name, amen.