CURRENT THEME: BREAK OUT AND LIVE! (For feedback or suggestions about specific themes in this series, send me an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

By Benescke Janse van Rensburg

A priest was very sceptical as he spoke to a woman claiming God appeared to her in person. He decided to test if she was lying. “Madam,” he says, “if God appears to you again, ask Him to tell you about my secret sin that only He knows about.” The woman agreed.

A month later the priest returned to the woman. “So, madam,” he began sneering. “Have you asked God to tell you my secret sin?” She answered: “Yes I did.” Shocked, the priest continued, almost too afraid to ask: “And what did He say?” To his surprise, she answered: “God asked: ‘What sin?’ And then continued: ‘Tell the priest when I forgive a sin, I also forget it.”

In Psalm 103:12 we read: “He (God) has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” In Isaiah 1:18 we read God’s words: “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.” Also in Isaiah 44:22, God says: “I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.”

God forgives and forgets our sins when we truly repent and turn away from it. Do you also forgive and forget the trespass of a fellow man who sinned against you, but who showed true repentance? One of the enemy’s aims is to ensure that we cling to our unforgiving attitude as long as possible because he knows that it not only steals our joy and peace in our lives, but also prevents us from experiencing a life of abundance. An unforgiving attitude eventually converts into bitterness and bitterness slowly kills us.

How does the enemy do it? He makes us believe that we are weak if we forgive, as forgiveness means giving up your right to repay evil with evil. The truth, however, is that the longer we keep a grudge, the longer we will suffer.

Who do you need to forgive for what? Choose today to break out of the enemy’s clutches (with the help of the Holy Spirit) and forgive your fellow man that sinned against you. You might be amazed at how God sets you free, and how you (perhaps for the first time) truly experience a life in abundance. God bless.

Father God, I come to You in the Name of Jesus Christ. I confess that I am harbouring an unforgiving attitude towards (state the person's name) about (state about what). I ask you to strengthen me through your Holy Spirit to forgive in order to receive a life of abundance. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.