You're Strong Enough by Kassi Pontious Page A

your rebellion and you get caught, who goes to jail? It’s not your parents. It’s you. On the other hand, if you were to forgive your parents for their poor choices and learn from their mistakes, you would be free to have whatever life you wanted. Forgiveness brings freedom—not just freedom from the present negative emotions and feelings, but the freedom from Satan trying to be your puppeteer in your life because of negative circumstances.
    Watch out for Satan’s Fiery Darts of Lies!

    Another type of reaction that is caused by not forgiving another’s harmful act is revenge. Let’s say you have been hurt deeply by someone in your life and because of all the negative thoughts and feelings that consume your life at the moment, Satan convinces you to seek revenge. The day you decide that revenge is your best course of action against the one who has hurt you is the day you become a puppet in the hands of Satan. And when Satan becomes your puppeteer, he not only will help you destroy your life, but the other persons’ life as well. As a result, he will have destroyed two people’s quests for the price of one.
    It is important to be freed from unforgiveness in order to conquer your quest successfully. You may be asking, what about the one who raped me or beat me up or got me addicted to Meth. Must I still forgive them? Absolutely. After you have reported these illegal activities to the authorities, it is absolutely necessary for you to forgive them and let the law of the land claim its justice. Failing that, let God’s justice do it’s claiming. If we do not forgive those who have harmed us, then our hearts and minds will be filled with anger, hate, revenge and hopelessness. It could consume us and darken our path back home.
    Unforgiveness produces negative and unproductive thoughts that can, and will, cause our hearts to be filled with hate, resentment and anger that can consume us. Such negative feelings will affect our current relationships, how we view the world and, ultimately, our life.
    Let’s say you find yourself not liking men, or you don’t trust them, but you have no idea why. Ask yourself: Are you currently angry at your father? Are you resentful he left the family? Did he hurt your mother? Have you forgiven him yet? Unforgiveness will always spew out into other areas of our lives as it creates a dark mist on our path home. Satan will try to convince us that anger towards another, like our father, will not affect other areas in our life. Therefore, you may not think holding a grudge against your father is a big deal. But judging by the results of not trusting men, now maybe it is.
    It is very important to forgive everyone who has hurt us. Unforgiveness will become like a noxious weed that can take over other beautiful things in our life (i.e., close relationships). Distressed relationships are just the beginning of what unforgiveness can do in our lives. It also has a way of clouding our view of reality. The reality is that our pain will never go away until we forgive.
    Who’s in Control?
    When we let unforgiveness create darkness on our path home, it can greatly thwart our efforts of being successful on our quest. As a result, we let Satan and others control our future. Another’s actions have the potential to stop our progress. Let’s say you’ve been hurt deeply (i.e., -beaten), and you won’t let it go by forgiving the abuser. Who’s in control?
    The abuser is in control. If you do not forgive the one who has harmed you, anger can take over your life. It can control you, you thoughts, your feelings, your outlook and, ultimately, your life. Do you want to give that power to the abuser again by reliving the experience and not forgiving him/her? When we don’t forgive others for their harmful actions, we are giving our power to Satan and the person who harmed us. The choice is yours. Do you want Satan in control of your life through unforgiveness?
    Resentment, anger, and hate caused by