Everybody knows that if you stick your hand in a fire you're going to be burned. This is a fact that was branded in our minds since childhood, therefore we usually take special precautions when dealing with fire. You wouldn't intentionally burn yourself because you are aware of the pain and discomfort it will cause you.

But what if I told you that you could be causing yourself and even more painful and deeper discomfort?

What I'm referring to is the pain and suffering caused by holding on to a unforgiving spirit.

A common misconception that people believe is they have a right to be unforgiving based on the amount of pain that was caused to them. Also since they feel alot of pain every time they think about what happened it's only logical to hold on to that resentment.

It seems right not to accept the guilty parties apology and sometimes they never apologize, but I'm here to tell you today that forgiveness is for you not them! It's so you can move on with your life and not dwell in the past on things that are not praiseworthy.

Holding on to unforgiveness is very painful to the unforgiving person and alot of times causes you to experience sleeplessness and stress which in turn could make you sick.

In addition it makes you meditate on angry thoughts toward the person who did you wrong which could lead to hatred.

Hebrew 12:14 "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."

Beyond a shadow of doubt, our spiritual enemy, the devil, will try to get us into a state of unforgiveness so that he can have an advantage in our life.

He will remind us of past hurts that occurred months, weeks or even years ago, if that will work for him. What he is trying to do is to get us to ponder them long enough so that we will act out on them. To "resist" these thoughts is to resist the devil.

I know first hand from my own personal experiences that the above statements are true and terrible, but the worst part of all is that unforgiveness keeps the all mighty, all knowing, all powerful, most high God from forgiving you!

In Matthew 18:21-35 The man who received personal forgiveness but refused to forgive the man who owed him a mere "hundred denarii's," was labeled a "wicked servant" because he was forgiven his debt which was far more than the debt he refused to forgive.

The power of forgiveness is immeasurable. It is a power that Jesus used often and even delegated to his followers.

Luke 17:3-4 "Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying I repent, you shall forgive him".

God loves us very much and is very forgiving, even when we make mistakes. God gives us chances to work on our behavior and be the best we can be. When you pray, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Matthew 6.14-15 "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

In conclusion, to be unforgiving is to: anger God (Mt. 18:34), to give the devil an advantage in your life (2 Cor. 2:10,11), to conform to this wicked generation (2 Tim. 3:3), not to walk in love (1 Cor. 13:5), to stop God from forgiving you (Mt. 6:14,15) and to negate your own salvation (Mt. 18:32,34,35;).