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by Billy Joe Daugherty
If you make a decision to forgive, forget and release your assailants and offenders, the blessing of God cannot be stopped from coming upon your life.
The very things that are scars will be turned into stars! The very things that hurt you can become the key to your promotion or the platform from which you go to the next level of success. They will serve as stepping-stones for you.
However, if you nurse and rehearse your scars and curse your offenders, your scars will become like a millstone around your neck, and that will be the end of a fruitful life for you.
If someone has hurt you, then you must choose to forgive that person! Forgiveness is not a feeling and it is not an emotion. It is a decision. Always remember, forgiveness is a choice. It is based on what God did for you when He forgave you through Jesus’ death on the cross.
Ephesians 4:32 says it this way: And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you (NKJV). I need forgiveness so I am going to forgive. I need mercy so I am going to show mercy.
How much forgiveness do you need? Put it in proper perspective. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught that we are to forgive others, even as our Father has forgiven us our trespasses; if we don’t forgive others, neither will our Father in heaven forgive us (see Matthew 6:12, 14,15).
Soaring Past Offenses
Everywhere Joseph went he had a battle, but God always delivered him. David, who was delivered by God from many troubles, wrote in Psalm 34:19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all (NKJV).
It was the same in Paul’s life. He could have quit after that first experience in the Philippian jail. He cast the devil out of a girl, and the next thing he knew, he was in jail for it. He could have said, “Lord, if this is what I get for preaching, then that’s it. If that is Your reward, forget it!”
Instead, Paul chose to forgive, forget and release, and at midnight he led a celebration of praise to God. As a result, God opened the prison doors and a jailhouse revival broke out. Think of it! What was a stumbling block and a scar to Paul became a testimony that has literally catapulted millions of people to victory!
Your trial or your most horrible experience can become a terrific testimony, depending on your response. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “Your attitude will determine your altitude.” It’s not the things that happen to you or how fast the wind comes against you that counts toward success. It’s your response that counts. It’s the way you set your wings, because the stronger the wind, the higher you will soar!
Jesus Is Our Example
In Luke 23:34, with spikes in His hands and feet, a crown of thorns on His head, and a back that had been beaten with the Roman scourge, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do”…(NKJV). It wasn’t about an emotional feeling. It was about a decision based on the love of God. If you have Christ in your life, then you can do what Jesus did.
Jesus is the ultimate forgiver. He is the ultimate example of rising up after He got knocked down. He is the ultimate example of going ahead and praising and giving thanks. We need to make a decision that we are going to follow Jesus’ example.
When I was punched in the eye during a church altar call in November 2005 by a man who was out on a weekend pass from a mental institution, I came back on stage and we, as a congregation, chose to forgive the man. Yes, the punch hurt. Yes, I was bleeding. But we prayed for the Lord to bless that man and do a work in his life to transform him. Then we all began to praise God while the blood was flowing from my eye down my face.
When you get hit in an unexpected way, you have to get up and keep on going. It’s not the time to quit. It’s not the time to fall into depression. It’s not the time to get distracted with anger. Keep on doing what God has assigned you to do. Just stay with it!
Leave the Past Behind and Watch Your Future Unfold
Isaiah 43:18,19 says, Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (NKJV). To get through life, you have to forget about your past experiences, and let go of those things that are behind you.
We can learn a lot from Joseph, who took some very important steps to move forward after being sold into slavery by his brothers and wrongfully accused by Potiphar’s wife. He had to learn to let go of his past so that he could embrace the future that God had for him. What has happened in your past is past, but what you do about the past will control your future. You may not have had control over what happened in the past, but you do have control over your response to what happened.
We can’t always explain why something happens, but one thing we can do is ask for the grace of God to forget about it and leave it with God. There are other relatives, situations, circumstances and battles that you are going to have to face, and you need all of your energy focused on them rather than dwelling on
your past.
Paul said it like this in Philippians 3:13,14: Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (NKJV).
Forget those things that are behind and holding you back. Reach forward to what is ahead for you. If you keep your eye on the prize, it’s easier to do whatever it takes to win. And forgiveness will cause you to win every time! 
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