Mind of Christ: Ep 6: Forgiveness: Freeing Your Heart to Walk in the Mind of Christ

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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.

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Hello, and welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and we're going to continue our series, Faith on the Go series.

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Today's title is Forgiveness. We have been learning that faith comes by hearing

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and hearing by the Word of God.

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This is why this space was created, for your quiet moments, for your work days,

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for your commutes, and for those in-between places where you just need to be

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refilled and recharged.

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Faith on the go is for the times where 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, and keep walking,

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even when the road gets long and narrow.

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

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strengthen your faith while you are on the go.

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Six, a mind of forgiveness, free from offense.

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Today's key scripture is found in Luke 23, 24.

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It reads, Jesus said, Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.

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Are doing. Seeing through Jesus' eyes, as the nails pierced his hands and the

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crowd mocked his name, Jesus did something unthinkable.

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He prayed for his enemies.

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He didn't curse them, call for angels, or demand justice.

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Instead, with love bleeding through pain, he whispered, Father,

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forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.

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Luke 23, verse 34.

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In that moment, forgiveness was no longer an idea. It was incarnate.

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Between heaven and earth, Jesus refused to let bitterness be the last word.

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Even before the cross, gibness marked his ministry.

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He forgave the paralyzed man before healing his body, Mark 2, 5.

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He forgave the woman calling adultery, saying, Neither do I condemn you.

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Go and sin no more, John 8, 11.

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He restored Peter, who denied him three times with three words of grace.

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Feed my sheep, John 21, 17.

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Forgiveness was not weakness. It was strength surrendered.

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It was the weapon that defeated shame and the bridge that reconciled humanity to God.

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The mind of Christ cannot coexist with unforgiveness.

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Bitterness clouds discernment, poisons peace, and stifles prayer.

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Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting what happened. It means releasing the right to revenge.

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Jesus taught his truth boldly. If you forgive others when they sin against you,

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your heavenly father will also forgive you. Matthew 6, 14.

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Forgiveness is not about fairness. It's about freedom.

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When you hold on to offense, you relive the wound over and over.

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When you release it, you let God heal what your heart cannot.

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Forgiveness doesn't make them right. It makes you whole.

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To forgive as Jesus forgave means to love beyond logic.

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It means choosing mercy when you have every reason to hold on to pain.

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It means remembering how much you've been forgiven.

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So I want you to ask yourself, who am I still holding hostage in my heart?

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Am I waiting for apology that may never come.

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Do I trust God enough to release what he's already redeemed?

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You cannot think like Christ and live offended.

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Forgiveness unclose the flow.

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Forgiveness is the flow of grace in your life.

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It opened doors for peace, clarity, and healing to return.

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The part I want to pause for is who are you holding hostage in your heart?

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And this goes back to, you know, we grow up and we learn to forgive and not forget, right?

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We forgive and not forget. God asking us not to really forget,

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but to let them free so that you can be healed.

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You know, that could be something that may have happened to you when you were

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younger. It could be something happened in your childhood. It could be something

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that happened recently, a divorce.

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Maybe someone had an affair on you or committed adultery.

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Something that may have caused you to say words like, I would never forgive you.

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And when you say those words, you're locked in that cage with that person.

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You know, you're thinking that you're free, but no, you're locked in there with them.

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And so you have to let them go so that you can be, so that you can be free.

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So let's see how Jesus walked it out.

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Number one, pray for the one who hurt you. Jesus didn't wait until they apologized.

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He forgave mid-crucifixion, Luke 23, 34.

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Pray a blessing over those who wronged you.

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Remember, you're asking God to have the mind of Christ. And so when you suddenly

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feel that you need to forgive people, you do that and you pray for them.

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And I remember just pretty just recently within the last week or so,

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there was a colleague that I work with and I don't know what I did to her. I really don't know.

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But yet she doesn't she doesn't speak to me.

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She doesn't. It's just an odd kind of relationship. Remember,

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I've only been there a little while, so she don't know nothing about me.

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I don't know nothing about her.

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Sometimes when you're whispering behind people's backs, it's kind of hard to

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walk, look at them in the face, right?

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And so I remember that one day, Lord said, Connie, I want you to pray for her.

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And I just said, okay, Lord, I'll pray for her. How do you want me to pray for her?

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And a simple prayer that you can pray for your enemies is they come into the

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knowledge of Jesus Christ.

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They come into the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The ministering angels or a ministering

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person who can minister to them can actually meet them where they are and bring

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them into the true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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And once you pray that, that releases you from having an hell hostage won in

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your own heart, but also release them from having so much power over you because

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you just release them to Jesus.

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And whatever happens after that, then you can just say, hey, Jesus, I did my part.

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Bible tells us also to be at peace with everyone if it's absolutely possible.

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So it shows that some people you're not going to be at peace with,

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but that don't mean that you have to be enemies with them either. You see what I'm saying?

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So you can actually say, we're not going to get along, so let's agree that that's

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not going to happen, but we can be cordial and we can work this thing out.

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And you'll find out that those relationships, they seem to come together, right?

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Because it's a mutual respect. I'm not no longer holding you hostage to whatever

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offense or anything that you've done to me. I released you.

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So anything you do outside of that doesn't really affect me anymore.

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That prayer acts as a barrier.

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Around your heart, around your life, around all things that concern you.

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Because you, first of all, you have put Jesus first. And Jesus promised that

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he'll never leave you or forsake you.

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He promised to give you peace. He promised to protect you. So when you release

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them from that hostage in your heart, guess what?

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Peace is coming your way. And it can be a barrier around you where it seems

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like whatever they're saying doesn't really affect you.

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Why? Because you've already released them to Jesus. Let's go to number two.

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Remember how much you've been forgiven.

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We forgive because we've been forgiven much. Ephesians 4.32,

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gratitude softens the heart and you have to remember where you've been.

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And a lot of times, many people were attracted to what we used to be.

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People attract to you and that's always kind of like a rough,

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rough, rough, like sandpaper kind of feeling. And then you stop and you think,

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you're like, wow, this girl is hurting.

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I'm going to pray for her. And you see her smiling around. She doesn't know you prayed for her.

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Remember, you're not going to get rewarded if you're going to say,

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hey, girl, I prayed for you.

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That don't matter to her because she probably not believe in the same Jesus

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you are, but you did your part.

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And so you remembered how much you were forgiven.

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And so you develop a gratitude of the heart. Number three, release control of

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the outcome. Remember, I said, once you pray, you release it to Jesus.

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That means that forgiveness doesn't mean reconciliation.

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It means releasing the debt, releasing the hostage situation, right?

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And then according to Romans 12, 19, and you let God handle it going forward.

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You don't have to say nothing.

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You can still be nice. You can still do what you do, but you no longer have to be in control.

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And a lot of times anger and bitterness and offense is our way of rebellion,

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rebelling against the system, right?

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I'm just going to hold this in. Lord, I don't care what you say.

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And Lord said, no, come on. I done forgave you. You don't have to be there,

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buddy, but I need you to let that go. and I can handle it.

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God has plans for each and every one of us. Remember, he knows each and every one of his people.

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Number four, guard against bitterness. It says, out resentment before it grows.

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Resentment is like a weed. It's like a weed. And you know, some weeds grow into

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trees. Oh my gosh, I found that out.

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We're out resentment before it grows. It's in Hebrews 12, 15.

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Offense left unchecked becomes bondage. I found out that a tree,

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if you don't have a weed, certain weeds can grow into trees.

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This is a guy on YouTube. He cleans other people's yards, and you can see these

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weed trees. They are big.

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They call them travelers or suckers, but those little things that's growing

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out the side of your plant, those things get some big roots,

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and they will grow into trees. Some will grow into trees.

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Let's go to number five. Give yourself too. Peter whipped bitterly.

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But Jesus restored him, John 21, 15 to 17, the same grace that covers others covers you.

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And many times I have to say, Lord, forgive me for being so mean or so rude.

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And it feels like I have to fight. I have to fight. I said, Lord, I don't want to fight.

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I want to be friends with this girl, but she doesn't want to be friends.

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And so I'm like, okay, then I'm not going to continue this bitterness with her. She's angry, I'm not.

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And I want my heart to be free. So I want the mind of Jesus.

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I want everything that Jesus has. I want to represent him in the earth.

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That means I got to let some people go. I don't have to reconcile with everybody.

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I'll let them go. God will bring me new friends. But remember that same grace covers others.

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We'll also cover you. Let's pray.

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Father, thank you for showing me forgiveness through Jesus. When I want to hold

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on to hurt, remind me of the cross. Wash my heart from resentment and teach

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me to release what I can't repair.

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Help me to forgive quickly, love deeply, and live freely.

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Let forgiveness flow through me as easy as you have given it to me. In Jesus' name, amen.

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I decree I have the mind of Christ. My heart is free from offense.

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I forgive those who wrong me and bless those who misunderstand me.

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No bitterness can live where love reigns. I walk in mercy and not memory.

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Let's think on these things. Who is God inviting you to release today?

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And how can forgiveness become your declaration of freedom instead of your burden

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of pain? Something to think about.

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Just like I shared with you, it becomes this shield.

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You release them and they go, Jesus is now responsible. No longer are you holding

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them hostage in your heart.

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I thank you for listening to Faith on the Goal. We'll be right back.

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Your host, Kenny Morris from the Diary of the Black Women podcast.

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I pray that this word energize your faith and remind you of God's promise that

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his word will not return void.

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So I want you to, that's one thing you can notice that when he says that just

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reminds me of when I pray and I see instant results.

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Remember, that word did not return void. Why?

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Because I released it to Jesus and I have peace. I release it to Jesus and it

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prospered where I sent it.

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And be confident also of this. He who began a good work in you should carry

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it onto completion until the day of Christ.

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Now, I didn't say that was going to be easy, right?

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But he's going to complete it. So don't give him no headaches.

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Just follow him in obedience. And so that you can have the mind of Christ,

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that you can do the works of Christ. So keep believing, keep walking,

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keep trusting, because God will finish what he has started in you. In Jesus' name, amen.

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I'll see you on the next episode. Thank you for listening to this episode.

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And before we close out, 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.

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So we pursue. You said you will restore us from captivity.

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So we declare freedom over every 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.