A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offence. Proverbs 19:11

It may be that a certain incident has crept into your life that seemed to be promising. It may have seemed that the reality of a life long dream has finally come full circle and that God has finally heard your prayer, after a long wait…until someone has come into that inner circle of your life that you so carefully guarded and that person has demolished your dreams turning them into nightmares.

When all that you have toiled for with such great sacrifices is on the threshold of collapsing, what do you do in such a situation? Do you feel like clenching your fist and waving it in the face of those who have so viciously broken you and scandalously accused you of things? Did everything you do or say turn into something of criticism in the eyes of your critics? Did your commitment to a relationship cost you everything, and that you had to sell everything to recover it? Perhaps, even this message may be ridiculed by those whose conscience does not bear witness to their action!

When describing some people, the most scandalous words would seem too honourable to describe them. Such is the plight of a deceitful heart without a conscience. Perhaps the way you’re mother or your daughter treats you, you feel like asking this question ‘Don't you see anything good in me?’ If we truly look for good in others, we will find it.

Crisis, are there to make me better not bitter.

However, all that I just said, when brought in the light of the Christian attitude, would require that we forgive and let go even though it may seem the most difficult thing to do since the pain caused has left a life long social or religious stigma. Perhaps, to wish certain people on their birthdays, or on festive seasons, may be the most difficult thing for you to do. You may have battled and reasoned yourself out of wishing them since you had tried your best to stay away from them. But when you go before God, all you will be able to do is - melt the anger in the warmth of God’s amazing love.

The yardstick of measuring how much Christian you are, is to see how easily you can forgive those who have wronged you.

Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies, transfiguring the disciple by configuring him to his Master. Forgiveness is a high-point of Christian prayer; only hearts attuned to God's compassion can receive the gift of prayer. Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, love is stronger than sin. The martyrs of yesterday and today bear this witness to Jesus. Forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of the children of God with their Father and of men with one another. CCC#2 844

When God came to Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden fruit, He looked at their attitude; He did not go into the details of their sins. He did not ask When, Where, How, How did it feel, etc. Instead, he unconditionally forgave them and sent them a Saviour.

Through life's journey, we encounter a spectrum of situations and develop mixed emotions, these emotions need to be constantly checked and rechecked.

In a certain place in Africa, two Pastors of different Christian Ministries were hostile towards each other. One day, one of the Pastors had visited a voodoo or black magician, seeking to maliciously cause damage to the other Pastor. During his visit, to the witch doctor, the ritual was done against the opposing Pastor. The witch doctor took a knife in his hand and drew it across a mirror which produced blood. As soon as that had happened, the opposing Pastor was dead!

These men, did not become evil overnight, it was the bitterness within them that built up over the years while still doing Ministry. They preached about forgiveness, but failed to practice it. Are we becoming like them? I used to build up bitterness while doing Ministry and it eventually erupted like a volcano and caused irreparable damage to my reputation.

There was an American Pastor, once during his sermon, knelt down and asked forgiveness to the Native Americans of his congregation for the wrong that the white Americans have done to the Native Americans down in history. As he knelt down and begged forgiveness, he beseeched the Natives saying, ‘if you forgive me and my forefathers for the evil that we have done to you’ll, please come and embrace me and tell me that you’ll have forgiven us’ the entire congregation was filled with emotions at the genuine humility of this Pastor. Suddenly, out of the motion, a Native American, walked up to the pulpit and embraced the Pastor and said ‘we forgive you’. One by one, the entire group of Native Indians hugged all the White Americans and reconciled.

There is no such thing as a caste system in the Body of Christ. Everyone are equal, we are the ones who draw barriers. God called the Jews and the Gentiles alike, to be the children of God. I have seen this subjective attitude of some parents who resent when their sons or daughters desire to pursue marriage with a person of another caste. These parents look down on other castes due to cultural differences. The reason why these parents do so, is simply because they do not know what it is to be in oneness within the Body of Christ.

Forgiveness is the key to let go of hurt and anger. Many people who have had unforgiveness for a long time have developed physical ailments which are called psychosomatic illness. These people were hurt and were angry, they were so angry and so unforgiving that this anger led to the development of cancer and mutation. Some of us just don’t want to let go of the hurt and unforgiveness even if we could get better, but we choose to get bitter.

Forgiveness can come to anyone regardless of age or gender. All of us go through these cycles of bitterness. Bitterness is the contrary fruit of love and peace which is a part of Christian emotions, and to hold on to bitterness is not Christ like. It is impossible to please God if there is any form of bitterness or anger. If I hate one person and love ten, I’m still in bondage of sin. In Ministry I have had several opportunities to be angry and unforgiving, and have encouraged that invitation. Each time I was angry and held resentment against someone, I was no different than a murderer behind bars. Our Lord Jesus has taught us to forgive but we don’t. Each time I don't want to forgive, I think of my Lord on the Cross and how He died for me a sinner, so sparing, so faithful, and so merciful.

The contamination of others should not contaminate our thinking which leads to unforgiveness because we have the helmet of Salvation.

Destructive conditions need to be sorted out and talked over and avoided in the future. We need to understand that we are fallible human beings. We were created infallibly but developed fallibility. Therefore all of us make mistakes and we need to give and take forgiveness.

The purpose of forgiveness is to reconcile with one another in love and holiness. How else can God enter us unless we have forgiveness in us?

Rom 5:8  - while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Pray with me:

Lord Jesus, please give me the grace to forgive all the people who have hurt me, especially (name the person). Lord Jesus, just as you have forgiven me, I too forgive them. I thank you for setting us free. AMEN.

Does guilt have a purpose? Have you asked yourself this question anytime?

In Psychology and ordinary language, guilt is an affective state in which one experiences conflict at having done something that one believes one should not have done (or conversely, having not done something one believes one should have done).

There are times in our lives when we go through tremendous feelings of guilt. These feelings have a knack of becoming dangerous in a manner of self hatred and rejection, if we do not surrender it to Jesus Christ.

God chastises those whom He loves and sometimes the chastising is emotional when we do not listen to His voice either through sermons or corrections from Church, elders, etc.

When Judas had betrayed Jesus, he was guilty of what he had done. We don’t really know if he had repented but his reaction to his faults and guilt feelings did not manifest the mercies of God that removes the condemnation of guilt emotions from our being. Peter denied Jesus, and when he realised what he had done, guilt filled him. But unlike Judas, Peter unloaded the guilt that was within him with the forgiveness that comes from Christ through repentance. He was filled with remorse, repented and went to Jesus, which resulted in forgiveness and eternal blessings. Peter, an unstable man, full of follies, filled with guilt for all his mess ups, eventually became the chief of the Church because he sought after God, received His mercies and forgiveness and was restored.

Having counselled so many people of all walks of life, I’ve realised that guilt can come to anyone, even to those who seek after God and to those who serve God. In the context of guilt, one particular story comes to mind. Several years ago, there was this missionary, called by God to serve in dimensions of restoration of the people of God. During his walk with God, he entered into un-discerned affiliations and he backslid. During the course of backsliding, he was dragged into the dungeons of despair which drew him away from God to an unimaginable distance where he lost sight of God, that he even almost renounced his call the serve God.

While he was in a certain city, he got a call from a woman who was having unusual pains due to her pregnancy and sought prayers for healing from this missionary. Because of the distress due his backsliding, he did not go to pray for her. Two days later, the woman lost the baby. GUILT, GUILT & GUILT filled this missionary for not attending to the cry of this woman and for not being faithful to the call of God.

But by the grace of God, he had surrendered everything to Jesus and went straight back to the heart of worship.

Let not your actions be propelled by your negative guilt feelings that leads to condemnation, but be propelled by the guilt that produces a conviction in your heart that leads to repentance.

You may have done something that grieved your husband or your wife or your children or your friends. Whatever happened, first repent before God and seek forgiveness from the people whom you have offended. Do not close your conscience, but open it to the Lord. Do not hold any reservation, but hold on to Jesus. If you are guilty of a particular offence, then take the opportunity in restoring that person.

A great story of restoring those we have offend comes from the story of Zacchaeus. When the Lord had called Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus had committed his life to the Lord, he said the Lord “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” Luke 19:8

By Zacchaeus giving half of his wealth to the poor and reimbursing people four times of what he had extorted from them, I believe that Zacchaeus would have been almost bankrupt. Since he was on the level of the chief tax officer of the district, he would have extorted money from people for several years. And now to compensated people, he would definitely have become bankrupt.

Are you afraid to clear your mind of the guilt that convicts you so that if you’re convicted deep within, you may have to restore to people that which you have deprived them off? You may have deprived people of the hope in their lives, you may have deprived people of their self worth or self respect. You will never be able to undo what you have done, but you have a choice of bringing healing to that person by asking forgiveness. When Zacchaeus had restored to people four fold of what he had taken from them, he would never had been able to undo the pain he may have caused them at the time when he extorted money out of them. They may have had just enough money to do a surgery and because they had to given him more than was required, they would have had to forego the surgery which could have resulted in the death of the bread winner of the family ultimately throwing the family in the abandoned fields of isolation at the corner of the streets.

“Conscience can remain in ignorance or make erroneous judgments. Such ignorance and errors are not always free of guilt.” CCC #1801. You may have unconsciously hurt someone. But even the ignorant mistakes cost people and we still need to make things right before it’s too late.

Several times, fruitless deeds and barren relationships lead us into distress that in turn leads us into guilt for we turn away from God and His plan. In His love and mercy, He chastises us and brings us into repentance. The Holy Spirit comes and convicts us of sin and righteousness and we need to pay attention to the conviction of the Holy Spirit working within us. We need to remember that the Holy Spirit convicts us and does not condemn us.

While doing a study on Zacchaeus in Hebrew and Greek, I realised that the name Zacchaeus comes from the Hebrew word “Zakchaious” which originates from the Hebrew word “Zakkay” pronounced  zak-kah’ee” which ultimately means “Pure”. Jesus indeed had a plan for Zacchaeus to be pure. In the same way, Jesus would want all of us to be pure and guiltless.

ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS TO SEE IF THERE IS ANY GUILT IN YOU

• Am I ashamed and guilty for the things I have done and have failed to do?
• Have I asked God and others forgiveness for what I have done and failed to do?
• Do I believe that God has forgiven me? Have others also forgiven me for what I have done and failed to do?

• Have I forgiven others for what they have done and have failed to do?
• Then why would I not be as kind to myself and forgive myself and be SET FREE?

DO YOU HAVE THESE QUESTIONS RUNNING IN YOUR HEAD ABOUT THE GUILT?

• If only…….
• What if…….
• I should have…….
• I ought to…….
• Maybe if I had been…….
• I never got around to…….

Our greatest need is not economy, if it was so, God would have sent us an economist. If our need was music, then God would have sent us a musician. If our need was entertainment, then God would have sent us an entertainer. If we needed… Our greatest need is reconciliation and that’s why God sent us a Saviour.

I encourage you to give yourself into the healing hands of Jesus and get reconciled with Him. Quit beating yourself up and quit living in the past, the past may be dark, but the future with God’s forgiveness is sure BRIGHT. God wants you to come to Him as you are, let Him heal you.

Please pray with me.

Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you today with all the feelings and emotions that pull me down and take away my peace. Today I ask forgiveness for all my sins and beg that you remove all the guilt that I may have within me. I accept your forgiveness and acknowledge that you have washed me clean removing all guilt. Thank You Jesus for setting me free. AMEN.

Now remember that God has forgiven you, if perhaps those guilt feelings come to you, speak to it in the name of Jesus and say ‘I am washed in the Blood of Jesus and all guilt is gone, I refuse to acknowledge any guilt anymore’.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone, for I know, yes I know, He holds the future. Because He lives.

Wounds can come to anyone at any time. If you’re seeking after Christ, you are bound to get hurt and those emotions are there to make us stronger and not disgruntled.

God can use circumstances in our lives to test us and to bring glory to Himself. The classic example of the purpose of wounds comes from the story of Job.

How could it happen? All at once the world came crashing down on a single innocent man, a man named Job. It seemed like the ultimate in unfairness.

First, raiders stole his belongings and slaughtered his servants. Then fire from the sky burned up his sheep, and a mighty wind destroyed his house and kicked his sons and daughters. Finally Job came down with a horrible, painful disease and he wailed What did I do to deserve such suffering?

Sooner or later we all find ourselves in a position somewhat like Job’s. Our world seems to crumble apart. Nothing makes sense any more. God seems distant and silent. At such moments of great crisis, each one of us is put on trial, just like Job.

Ultimately, Job glorified God when he fell to the ground in worship and said “… The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job 1:20-21.

At the beginning, Job had a fear that was greater than his faith when he said “Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men, fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.” Job 4:13-14.

In the midst of our wounds and the pain that it produces, often times, Christians are tempted to question God in a harsh manner even to the extent of cursing God or being provoked to curse God. When the family of a Christian missionary is not happy with the career choice of the missionary and when things don’t go well with him, his family questions him if that’s what he gave up his career for. I have seen so many Christians fall away the moment they are embraced with wounds.

Job was tempted to give up when he said “that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose His hand and cut me off! Job 6:9. Job steadfastly refused to curse God, but he did curse the day he was born.

For Job, his loyalty preceded his royalty that manifested the royalty of the true King Yahweh when he said “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth” Job 1:25. In the midst of his deepest agony, Job expressed astonishing words of hope. Job did not try to hide his despair and anguish, but as the story shows, the trials never crushed all of his hope for he realised the purpose of wounds!

Jesus and the disciples realised the purpose of wounds. In John 20:25 - When the disciples told Thomas “we have seen the Lord”, he replied “Unless I see the nail marks in the hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand in into His side, I will not believe it.” In verse 26, Jesus told Thomas “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.”

The purpose of wounds or marks from past hurts are the signs that God has healed us, it’s just that these marks sometimes stay so that we are reminded of how God has brought us out of calamities. Just as Christ has risen and now shows us His wounds and marks, we in the same way should rise above situations and show the marks of healing and glory that signify the healing power of God.

Having been raised in the city of Madras, living in a small room for a house along with my brother my sister and parents who have been tormented with the despairs of life – life was a tragedy. Most of the time without the hope of bear necessitates for daily living, because my precious father had been under the vicious bondage of alcoholism and psychosis. This attack on my father turned our home into a dysfunctional one. Life for me had no hope. My education was hampered and I had no friends as people looked down upon us. This was enough to be broken. If that wasn’t enough, being abused as a child ruptured my life and the patterns of my adolescent cycle which led me to be an outcast.

Because of the poverty at childhood, I went out and got educated, determined to achieve that which my family had lacked. By this time, my entire family was in Canada. Everything I did, I excelled and reached great heights in my profession. But in the midst of the luxuries and achievements, the nagging hurts and tormenting voices of the past had encamped by heart and flooded my mind which led me in the way of darkness and to lose sight of my set goals.

Finally, the torments caught up with me and drowned me in miseries of the law where I had lost everything that I had worked for. At the point of no return where death seemed to be the best way out, in the midst of a huge retreat of over 4500 youth as I was about to say good bye to life, the Lord reached out and touched me. He saved me.

From that day forth, I decided to follow my Saviour and realised the purpose of wounds.

From that day, my cry was this ‘Lord, give me the youth of this world, or I will die.

As I shared my testimony in Goa at one of my meetings, a group of youth listened with their jaws hanging as to how God had delivered me from the addictions and the despairs of life, they said ‘if God can change you, He can also change me’. At this, the lives of those young people have changed.

The purpose of wounds is to turn tragedies into triumphs. Once, in a village, a donkey had fallen into a well. So the people of the village threw sand into the well to bury the donkey to keep it from making a huge noise and to prevent the stench that it would produce when it had perished. As the villagers kept pouring in the sand, and the sand kept pilling up, the donkey kept stepping on the sand. As the sand filled up to the mouth of the well, so did the donkey also come up to the mouth of the well and was rescued. Thus is turning tragedy into triumph.

I encourage you today, no matter what the wounds or life’s struggles you may be going through, it could be with your husband, wife, parents or children or many other issues of life where you are being pushed to life’s end. I ask you to commit today to believing the Word of God and trusting God to fulfil His promises to you. In spite of life’s conflicts, produce faithfulness.

How wonderful it will be to hear the Lord say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!”

Through all this, God has given me Character, for Romans 5;3-5 says, “… we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. For if we do not possess the Character that God had given me, we would succumb to the pressures of life.

Pray with me:

Dear Lord Jesus, I offer all my wounds and pain to you Your healing hands, I trust that You are in perfect control of my life. If Your will be done in me, then I SHALL be made whole. Amen.

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21. 

All of us are in some area or the other broken. This brokenness has the power to break us even further if we permit it to do so. But it also has the power to make us powerful if we endure with the right spirit of perseverance.

When I am hurt by people or situations, I learnt that I am not fighting against that person, but there is an opportunity to bring healing to that person’s wounds. It may be a personal issue and there was no fault of mine at all. I have begin to understand that if a person can break me so much, I realised that person must have been broken in the first place.

It is hard most of the time to understand the purpose of brokenness. There was a time when I was under such pressure and Ministry persecution and condemnation in ways that even satan himself would not accuse and condemn the way people did, that I questioned the Lord 'did I ask You to call me?', 'did I ask for the anointing?' I was so lonely and discouraged that I stripped myself in my room and shouted to the Lord 'now take my life, I did not ask for it, and I don't want it'.

Job asked a similar question “Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?” Job 3:11

I've known the good Lord for over six years and have been in Ministry for just over three years now and have seen His love, mercy and power manifest in my life and through my life. The Lord has taken me to countries and towns and used me to perform miracles, signs and wonders. He has used me to reach out to terrorists, He used me to clean up towns which were infested with drug addicts, alcoholics and the worst of the worst that society had rejected, God used me to bring them to Him and today some of them work at rehab centres and some serve the Lord. Although the Lord had done so much in and through me, I had been through so much brokenness that I couldn't handle or so I thought that I could not handle. It was then that I realised the purpose of brokenness.

God would permit us to be disturbed; He would permit us to be crushed. How can we prove that we have the fruit of patience unless our patience is tried and tested? The breaking process involves being tried, tested and approved. Many Christians do not want to be tried. We many times ask God for patience and when God actually gives us opportunities to exercise patience, we grumble and say “God, I asked you for patience and you still have not given it to me”

In serving God, we need to be tested and moved out of our comfort zone. Before the Lord could touch me, I had all the wealth and more than was required. When the Lord had first touched me, He put me through terrible times of financial testing. For the first five years, I had lived in store rooms, and even in the wilderness. After five years, the Lord lifted me up with a Ministry and with all my needs where I’m able to bless other Ministries with resources. Never once, have I had to stretch my hands out soliciting my needs. I was so confident that the Lord God who has called me, will also provide me with all my needs according to His riches in glory.

There was a missionary who when was called by Christ, told the Lord this “Lord, I am willing to do anything for you as long as you never permit me to starve.” Guess what? His greatest testing was starvation. I’m not sure if he’s still a missionary.

God allows us to pass through the pressure of circumstances so that we may live well before Him. Frequently, adverse situations arise in Christians’ circumstances. Some are troubled by their folks at home; others are disturbed by friends. Some may be opposed or misunderstood by people; others may have financial difficulties. Why do all these things come upon us?
Many of us ordinarily do not realise how precious the breaking process is, it is through this process that we learn to appreciate what God truly has for us. How else can God enter into us unless we are broken?

If, for instance, your heart is being pierced by a certain event or betrayal that causes you to weep in secret like I had done, and you acknowledge that you are totally helpless and beyond any comfort, you will gain complete victory if at that moment you cast yourself upon God. You will be amazed at the greatness of the power which gives you victory. The external pressure causes you to spontaneously trust God, thus enabling you in turn to manifest the reality and the power of the Lord's life.

I am like a rubber ball, the harder you hit me the higher I will rise - this has been my attitude. I've realised that after every persecution, there was a higher glory about to be revealed.

Brokenness produces opportunities. Every purpose of brokenness has an opportunity. The opportunity to love those who hate you, the opportunity to bless those who curse you, that if you are slapped on one cheek, you would turn the other.