Unforgiveness towards someone is a huge open door for demonic torment (Matthew 18:22-34). Is there a particular person at the top of your list that you struggle to forgive? Is that person you?
That’s a common question I ask clients when they come in for deliverance ministry. Most Christians have worked diligently at forgiving those who have offended them, but struggle to forgive themselves.
The Holy Spirit was eager to share this revelation with me early on in my own personal deliverance process. As part of my counseling session, I was given homework to make a list of those with whom I had ever had unforgiveness toward. After days of sorting through the years from early childhood on, I had a long list of names squeezed onto one page of tiny print.
Once I released forgiveness, I burned my list of names. As I watched, all but one name burned. I thought to myself, “Ah ha, I bet that is my worst offender!” As I stooped down to the see the name, I was shocked! Out of all the names on the list, the only one that did not burn was mine! There in tiny print, dangling from a rung on my grill, was the name “Phyllis”.
At first I was perplexed, but quickly realized how much sense that made. In the past, I had always been my own worst critic. I would lie in bed at night allowing the enemy with his full quiver of self condemnation to beat me up! Then I landed on Romans 8; 1, realizing there is no condemnation in Jesus Christ, I was able to set my name on fire and let it go!
At one of our “Released to Soar” deliverance seminars last year, the attendance was primarily pastors and church leaders. Before we began to pray for them, the Holy spirit tugged at me and said, “Ask them if they have forgiven themselves.” As I led them in a prayer of self forgiveness, I could see the tears start to stream down their faces. For many of this group of ministry leaders, their unwillingness to forgive themselves would have been a roadblock.
In his book “Faith to Faith”, Kenneth Copeland shares a dialog with the Holy Spirit that occurred right before one of his meetings. He heard the Lord say, “I gave you my word that when you confess your sin before me, I would not only forgive you of it, but I’d cleanse you of it and cast it into a sea of forgetfulness. Now it’s not good taste for you’re to keep bringing it up!”
The bottom line is this; God wants you free more than you do, primarily because it’s not about YOU! The world is waiting for the sons and daughters of the king to go out there and bring in the lost.
If unforgiveness of self has been an issue in your life, it could be the roadblock that keeps you bound with spirits of self-rejection, self-condemnation, self-judgment and more. Taking that step could be just the key to unlock the promise of your future and many others! Are you willing to take it?
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