Good day to you! I’m excited to connect with you today following the same train of thought from the other day. Are you ready to hop aboard and join me on this journey of healing and true self-wholeness? All aboard!
God has been teaching me new concepts on how to respond and forgive those who offend me. After He helped me identify unforgiveness in my life and has been helping me choose forgiveness every day, He revealed to me how light my heart feels now. I wanted to learn everything there is to know about myself and unforgiveness/forgiveness. I said, “God, I want it all. I want to get everything You have for me. I want to lick the plate clean.” No sooner had I said that than I realized where that came from and chuckled. On the German side of my family, licking the plate (or bowl) is a compliment to the cook. I consider myself mannerly but this is an exception to the rules. I still lick my plate when the meal is too good to leave anything behind. I love how God brings good things about us into the lessons He is wanting us to grasp.
I hope you were able to read the book by Hana Mackenzie Forgive What You Can’t Forget and have started implementing many of the concepts and guidelines. Click on the Buy Now button below and it will direct you to a website that is still selling this book.
Today I’m speaking to you who have found the secret to forgiving and have learned why it is so important to forgive. You might be experiencing space in your heart and mind that was once filled. I have enjoyed getting up in the mornings feeling like I can breathe not just physically but emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
The giant of unforgiveness has been slain and it’s left a huge emptiness in my life.
What now?
I remember a parable Jesus told of the empty house found in Matthew 12. He said that when an unclean spirit leaves a person it wonders around finding another residence but doesn’t find anywhere. So, it decides to go back to the person. When it returns, he finds the empty space swept and in order. He enters and invites more spirits to join him. Jesus then says, “the last state of that man is worst than the first.”
God allows us to enjoy the empty space for a time. It’s what I call a spiritual vacation. It gives us time to feel freedom, enjoy a different way of life, and time away from the spiritual battle that wages. Like I said, it’s a vacation, not a permanent dwelling place.
Thank God for this break and enjoy it knowing that it will come to an end.
And when it’s over, it’s time to lick the plate. It’s time to take everything you have learned and put your renewed energy to inviting good things into this empty space. I do not want to leave it to chance. Whatever comes to replace the spirit of unforgiveness gets to control the space. I want to know that whatever fills the spot it is beneficial to not only my spiritual goal but my emotional, physical and mental health as well.
Many things can be defined as good depending on our opinions, right. I think chocolate ice cream is good, but the scales say otherwise. I might be enjoying a movie series and think I’m ignoring the off-color scenes, but my subconscious tells me otherwise.
So, then how do I know that what I’m inviting into my life is good? I asked God this question and this is exactly what He gave to me. 2 Peter 1:5-7 amplified version:
For this very reason, applying your diligence [to the divine promises, make every effort] in [exercising] your faith to, develop moral excellence, and in moral excellence, knowledge (insight, understanding), and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, steadfastness, and in your steadfastness, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly affection, and in your brotherly affection, [develop Christian] love [that is, learn to unselfishly seek the best for others and to do things for their benefit].
Our first invitation to stay in our empty space is moral excellence. This is not an automatic Christian virtue but something that must be practiced. It’s a muscle that when exercised, gets stronger. Our nature is to sin, so diligently practicing always doing right and resisting the wrong will change our nature into Godliness. It will also attract knowledge. Not just knowing something but understanding the benefits and drawbacks of something. For example, I would rather a mechanic that has experience with my type of vehicle to fix it, rather than someone who knows only the maintenance side of mechanics. I would say that the experienced mechanic “knows what he is doing.” The same here. If we will study the word of God, listen to others who have gone before us and keep our ears open to the Lord, we will become experienced in righteousness (right ways).
The third invitation becomes a conviction: self-control. Without the two ahead of it, we wouldn’t feel the need for self-control. The knowledge of right and wrong doesn’t stop us from taking things too far or speaking our minds without thinking.
Self-control is the caution light.
When we invite this conviction in, we will see ourselves calmer, resilient, wiser, etc.
Steadfastness is the sister to self-control. Once doing good is a habit, we have hidden God’s Word in our hearts and use the knowledge of it daily and learned to control our human tendencies, steadfastness stops the enemy’s accusations from sticking. We must have confidence that we are living the right way. This is the “I’m not giving up, I’m not giving in,” attitude.
And with steadfastness enters Godliness. To put it simply, all the above is not a diet but a lifestyle. What you have chosen into your space is defining it as Godliness. You are consistently practicing the will of God in your life.
And then God wants you to invest.
You have not simply added these virtues to your life to fill the empty space. They have a purpose. You have a purpose and God wants moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness and Godliness to be encompassed with Love. Jesus said for us to love each other as He loves us. And this, my friend, is a lifelong practice. If we love like Christ, the things of this earth will grow dim, and pride will not have a place in our hearts or minds.
I am challenged to fill this space with God’s attributes and leave nothing to chance. I am challenged to get everything God has for me that and that means I’m licking my plate.
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