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

0:12 Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast with your host, Connie Morris, where healing has a voice and truth is no longer silent. Father God, like Jabez, we cry out that thou would bless us indeed. Bless every woman listening beyond trauma, beyond limits, beyond what she thought was possible. Enlarge her territory. Expand her purpose. Let your hand be upon this moment. Saturate every word with oil and truth. break cycles, cancel every curse sent to silence her. This isn't just a podcast. This is holy ground. In Jesus' name, amen. Hello, and welcome back to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

0:57 I'm your host, Connie Morris, and we are continuing our Faith on the Goal series. It's titled The Freedom Mindset. As we know, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So I hope that you are getting free, getting your faith built up so that you can believe for the impossible because we have a God. We have a God, the impossible. He loves doing it in our lives. And so this is why this space was created. For your quiet moments, your work days, your commutes, and those in-between places where your spirit needs to be refilled, recharged.

1:38 Faith on the Go is for those times when you're fighting battles not yet won, but already finished in Christ. It's for the ones who keep believing, keep pressing in, and keep walking by faith, even when the road gets long and narrow. So wherever you are today, settle in and let the word of God strengthen your faith while you are on earth. Go. Today's topic, we're going to start with day 11, the freedom mindset. And this is the mind of forgiveness. We'll go to Matthew 6, 14 to 15. Let's see what he says. For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your father will also forgive you.

2:21 But if you do not forgive others' sin, your father will not forgive your sins. Forgiveness was never optional for Jesus. It was a culture of his kingdom. It is the culture of his kingdom. He spoke about it often because he knew how easily offense can entangle the human heart. He understood that bitterness blinds us, but mercy makes us free. When Peter asked, Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sinned against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but 77 times, Matthew 18, 21 through 22.

3:04 He wasn't giving Peter a number. He was revealing a mindset. What is that mindset? That mindset is forgiveness. And I always remember when I was preaching that 70 times, 77 times, I just said, forgive until you forget, right? Because we can hold on to stuff for a long time, but you keep forgiving until you forget. And you begin to treat that person as though he never or she never sinned against you. That's the forgiveness mindset. And we see that's how Jesus lived. The mind of Christ don't hold offense. They don't hold judgment. They don't hold anger against anyone. They just forgive until they stop remembering how much that person has caused them.

3:52 Right? So later on this parable, we later on, Jesus told the parable of the unforgiving servant who had been forgiven an enormous debt, but refused to forgive a small one. Matthew 18, 23 to 25. The lesson was clear. Forgiveness imprisons the one who refuses to release it. We talked about holding hostages in our heart, right? Same thing. This servant, he was forgiven so much, but yet he chased down this family, owed them a little bit of nothing. And the Bible says he was sent to a place where the gnashing of teeth, like that was an unforgivable sin for him. Remember he said, your sin won't be forgiven.

4:34 So just as you thinking like, you know, I can do this on earth, God is saying, oh, no, you don't. You don't get to do that. You forgive or you won't be forgiven. And guess what? I'm keeping track of that, right? Even on the cross, Jesus modeled the freedom of forgiveness. With his final breath, he released every wrong. Father, forgive them. Luke 23 to 34. Forgiveness was his final message and the first key to our healing. Come on now. We want to be healed. We need to forgive. You ever see people with bitterness in their body? It's arthritis. It's arthritis. It's arthritis. Forgiveness was his final message, and that should be our final message.

5:17 When they remember you, they're going to say, you know what? I tried to get her back, but she kept forgiving me. She just kept forgiving me. She would not confront me. Remember I shared with you in the earlier episodes that I have a person who walks around in anger and I decided I'm going to free myself from you because I don't want that offense on me. So I forgave her, I cut her loose, and I walk in my freedom bubble, my freedom mindset. I'm free, I'm free, I'm free. The mind of Christ stays unburdened by bitterness, unforgiveness clouds discernment. Poisons peace, and disrupts prayer. That's why Jesus taught us to include forgiveness in our daily communion with the Father.

6:01 Matthew 6, 12 tells us, forgive our debts as we have forgiven our debtors. Forgiveness is not about who deserves it. It's about who needs to be free. When you release others, you release yourself. You step out of the prison of pain and into the presence of peace. To forgive is to trust that God will handle what you cannot. Surrender in its purest form, the kind that heals your heart and renews your mind. Colossians 3.13 tells us to bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you have a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgave you.

6:41 Forgiveness doesn't mean reconciliation. It means release. It's choosing to live untangled with the weight of resentment. Every time you forgive, you reclaim authority over your peace. Forgiveness isn't forgetting what happened, It's remembering without reliving it. It says, I don't let this define me or distract me from my destiny. So ask yourself, am I rehearsing an old pain instead of releasing it? Who am I? Still holding on, still holding hostage in my heart? And do I trust God to bring justice in his way and in his time? It all shows in how you forgive and forget, right? You say you don't have to forget, but you don't have to hold him hostage either.

7:24 I said, keep forgiving until you forget. Keep forgiving until you get free. Keep forgiving until you have this freedom mindset. So let's walk it out like Jesus. Let's see what he says. Number one, forgive before you're asked. Jesus forgave those who never apologized. Luke 23, 34, freedom starts before remorse. Now that's a hard one, right? Forgive before they apologize, but the Holy Spirit will remind you, needless to say, you might want to forgive them. Boom, it's done. And so you are being the mind of Christ. It's not a reactive type of mind.

8:05 It's more of a proactive type of mind. He's not allowing you to wait until they come and forgive because they never, never, never will. But if they never will, then you still hold them hostage and you still living in bondage too. And you're not healed, you're not free, you're not restored. But you forgive before you're asked, you're proactively defeating the devil. And he's like, wait a minute, hold up. I want it to turn into bitterness and wrath. And even when you get this wrath in your heart, guess what? People start to be unalived because they don't let that go. Let's go to number two, speak blessings, not bitterness. When you bless those who hurt you, you break the spiritual chain, Romans 12, 14.

8:49 You break the spiritual chain. There's hostage, then there's some chain. You can let them go, but you're still holding on to that bitterness. That's like a chain wrapped around you and them. Nobody's free in this situation. But when you speak blessings, not bitterness, you break the spiritual chain, according to Romans 12, 14. Number three, remember your own grace story. The more aware you are of how much you've been forgiving, it's easier to forgive. Ephesians 4.32, we forget. Christians are the ones that are the hardest to forget. Forgive. Let it go, folks, because you are worshiping the Lord. He said, I need you to go forgive that person. I don't want your money.

9:30 Go forgive them and then come and give because your offering is not good under that unforgiveness umbrella, right? And so remember your own great story. Number four, pray until peace returns. Pray until peace returns. Forgiveness is sometimes a process. Keep praying until the sting is gone. Philippians 4, 6 to 7. Keep praying until you forget. Keep praying, keep forgiving until the sting is gone. I remember an incident where my heart was just broken. I just felt betrayed. But I just said, Lord, I forgive them. They know not what they do. And I don't want that barrier in my prayer because sometimes you can't get to heaven because we got the this unforgiveness in our way. And I didn't want that in my way anymore, even though I have the right to be angry.

10:17 I just said, I refuse to let that be a chain. I refuse to hold them hostage. You know, I'm not saying it was easy, but you make an effort to do it. You say, if it's up to me, I'm going to be at peace with everyone. I might not like you, but I'm not going to have you in my heart with unforgiveness, right? And number five, let go of the why. Jesus didn't demand an explanation. He extended mercy. Release. But release the need to understand Isaiah 55, 8 through 9. We will not know everything on this earth. We will not know it. And so when we want to know the why you did this, why you shouldn't have done that. And we want them to give a reason.

11:01 Sometimes they don't even know they're working for the enemy. Remember, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. And so whatever had them that day got them trapped, trying to keep you trapped. Remember? And so we don't want that. So let go the why, let mercy have the last word, and release the need to understand. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the freedom found in forgiveness. Search my heart for hidden grudges and old wounds. Heal what I buried and help me to release what I can't control. Teach me to forgive as Jesus forgave, freely, fully, and without condition. Let my life be a reflection of your mercy, and let my mind be a dwelling place of peace. In Jesus' name, amen.

11:45 I decree I have the mind of Christ. My heart is light, my mind is clear, and my spirit is free. I release every offense, forgive every debt, and walk in divine peace. Nothing in my past can hold me when God's grace has already freed me. I'm going to leave you with this. Who or what have you been carrying that God has asked you to release? And what might your life look like if you finally let it go? Thank you for listening to Faith on the Go with your host, Connie Morris, from the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I pray that this word energizes your faith and reminds you of God's promise to allow his word to work in your life.

12:30 Remember, he tells you Isaiah 55, 11, he says, so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth. It should not return to me void, but should. Let forgiveness come back to you. Let me know how that works for you, that we're finally letting it go. We're letting it go. And be confident of this. He who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ. Philippians 1.6. Remember, God wants to finish this work in you. Don't hinder him. Do not hinder him. God will finish what he started. He will do that. And you will look back today, write it on your calendar, and you'll say, you know what? Connie was right.

13:14 It doesn't hurt as much and my life is better. The sickness and disease that I held on from that wrath and unforgiveness is finally letting go. My body doesn't ache as bad as it used to. So I want to encourage you to keep believing, keep walking, and keep trusting because God will finish what he has started in you. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you for listening to this episode. And before we close out, I want to speak a word of promise over you from Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14. Father God, you declared, I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

13:57 So today we receive that truth. You said when we call on you, you will listen. So we pray. You said that when we seek you with our hearts, you will be found. So we pursue. You said you will restore us from captivity. So we declare freedom over every place where our listeners feel stuck, silenced, or small. Thank you for always drawing near when we show up in faith. In Jesus' name, amen.