The Silk Scarf and the Leather Jacket

When I was in junior high school in the early sixties, one of the coolest things a guy could have was a white silk scarf to wear with his leather jacket. Well, I was “lookin’ cool” in my new white silk scarf. It was a gift, and I was proud of it. I was in

The Benefits of Forgiving

After teaching about forgiveness, I had a man ask this question. He said, “I understand that as a Christian I am to forgive. I understand that Jesus commanded us to forgive. But what difference will it make in my daily life? Who knows or cares if I forgive or not?” The answer to that is

Cancel the Debt and be Free

When someone deeply hurts you, quite often it leaves you with a feeling that they owe you something. Most of the time, the people who hurt you don’t realize what they have done. Let me ask you something. Do you really think other people are planning their life around hurting you? The truth is, very

I’ll Forgive You This Time, But You Owe Me

How many times have you heard someone say, “I’ll forgive you this time, but you owe me?” The reason they feel the person owes them is that in reality, they haven’t forgiven him or her. If they would have truly forgiven them, then they would have “canceled the debt” and nothing would have been owed.

The Healed Heart

Unforgiveness is like a cancer that grows deep within the heart. It can remain undetected to the outside world, but it brings destruction. It is impossible to walk in the joy and freshness that hope brings when the poison of unforgiveness is sheltered beneath the surface. There is only one solution to eliminating this hindrance

Let It Go!

What does forgiveness mean? Well, it means this – to absolve from payment or to cancel a debt. You may say, “What do you mean to cancel a debt?” Well, I’m glad you asked, because it’s this way. Most people who are holding unforgiveness in their heart feel that the person who has hurt them,

Be a Doer, Not a Hearer Only

There are people who use the excuse that they are working at overcoming offense. But that’s not what the Bible instructs us to do. The book of James clearly states that only the doers of the Word will be blessed. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is

What is Hindering Your Ministry?

Once I taught a class called “Jump-Starting Your Ministry” (or “How to Know the Call of God on Your Life”). One thing that we discussed in this class was how to know you are called, and if you know you are called into the ministry, how to get your ministry started. The more we discussed