Freedom in ForgivenessSample

Day Three // Bless Those Who Hurt You

I know yesterday's plan was hard to accept, but the truth is, you need to forgive. That is, if you want to be forgiven and receive the freedom God has for you as you forgive those that hurt you most.

If you need more time to pray through forgiveness, take an extra few days to get your heart right with the Lord before proceeding with this plan. However, if you are ready to move on to the next step of forgiveness, then continue with today's reading. There's no shame in taking an extra few days to pray, but keep in mind that holding onto unforgiveness, bitterness, and offense is hurting you, and that's not good.

Today, we are going to dive into what it looks like to bless those who hurt you.

I had a situation happen recently where bitterness was raging wild in my heart. I pushed it down for months. Finally, I realized that I needed to forgive the people who hurt me. So, I asked the Lord to forgive me for holding bitterness, anger, and offense towards them. Just when I thought I was done, I felt like the Lord told me I should give them a gift. When I heard that, I mentally rolled my eyes and thought, “Why do I have to give them a gift? Why is it not enough that I forgave them?” Although I resisted at first, I ultimately knew that if I had truly forgiven them, I needed to bless them. Sometimes, that means physical gifts, and sometimes, that means spiritual blessings. Well, I started shopping online to find a gift for those who hurt me—I'm not tooting my own horn; this was hard for me to do! I knew in my heart that I needed to spend more money than I actually wanted to. Did I want to just give them a dollar store gift? Possibly... don’t judge me! Anyways, I found a gift that I felt was the right one, and I thought to myself, “You know what, I can secretly give it to them and not put my name on it. It could be a surprise blessing for them.“ Then I very clearly heard from the Lord and heard Him say “I want them to know it was from you.” Honestly, I started crying. I didn’t want them to know it was from me; I didn’t want them to know I was blessing them. God was still working on my heart. So I gave them the gifts and they were gratefully received. Truthfully, it was still hard for me. But I did it. I obeyed what God told me to do. Was it easy? No. The cut is still there in my heart but I feel like now it’s turning into a scab that's healing. The healing will not always come overnight. If it does for you, God bless you! Literally, praise God! It’s been a few months for me. Every day, it gets a little easier to pray for them.

So, I ask you. How do you need to bless the people who hurt you? You do not have to do what I did. You can simply just bless them every day in your prayers. Every success that you want in your life ask God to bless them in that way too! If God does lead you to give them a physical gift, I challenge you to do more than a dollar store gift like I wanted to do originally.

I pray that these past few days have been healing for you. It’s hard to forget what happened but you most certainly need to forgive. I pray joy over your life. I pray that you will be free from the hurt. I pray that you will learn to lean on the Lord in your pain. He’s the only One who can take your pain away. I hope you have a beautiful life full of freedom in Jesus' name. Amen.

I truly hope these past three days have been a blessing to you. If they were, please follow me for free daily encouragement by clicking here!