HYMNS
SDAH 458, SDAH 574, SDAH 505, SDAH 069, SDAH 661
Beginning Prayer
- Prayer of Thanksgiving
- Pray for the power of Holy Ghost
- Pray for the clergy of the seventh day Adventist church, elders, evangelists and gospel workers
Scripture: Matthew 5:23,2
One of the most deadly weapons of the enemy in these last days against the church and against individuals is the spirit of unforgiveness. Unforgiveness destroys and damages many endeavors that bring success. Unforgiveness has brought about wars and myriads of wars. Unforgiveness has caused deaths. Unforgiveness has caused many divorces. Unforgiveness has brought untold hardships on children. Unforgiveness has brought divisions among members of churches. The canker of Unforgiveness has affected church pastors, church elders, and church members. Unforgiveness is the skull of death. The demon of Unforgiveness dispels the Spirit of God. There is nothing so destructive like the Spirit of Unforgiveness. The Spirit of Unforgiveness transmits itself even to our children. It affects them and eventually they take it also.
The Unfortunate Story
It happened that in Ghana two women had an argument. One older woman held on strongly to the hurt and will not forgive the young lady. She would not talk to the young lady for weeks they lived together in the same house, in fact, a compound house. The young lady whose child laid in the front of the door Threshold left to the nearby grocery. She left because the older lady was cooking. In her absence, the baby woke and cried. She crawled looking for her mom. The older lady ignored the baby because she was not on talking terms with the younger woman. The baby crawled into the middle of the compound where the was an open well dug for construction. Unfortunately, it was not covered. The older lady never looked the child’s way. When the child’s mom came back home, her baby had drowned to death. Can you imagine how unforgiveness could affect even the innocent? Unforgiveness and not letting go killed a baby. Unforgiveness is a terrible demon that Christ dealt with on the cross of Calvary.
As Christians, how long shall hold on to unforgiveness? Sometimes we find it difficult to be in the company of others because of something they did, but we are in the same church. Alexander Pope wrote: “To err is human but to forgive is Divine” Forgiveness is a divine gift; let us seek it as a church. Our objective cannot be met in this gathering without respecting what Jesus said in Matthew 5:23, 24 that if we come before his presence and we remember that a brother or a sister is in offense against us, we go back leaving the altar to reconcile.
As Jesus sacrificed himself, he also made himself an example for us all. As the 6-inch nails ran through the flesh of his palms, through his bones into the wood, blood dripped to the ground. He felt the pain. He had done nothing wrong. He wailed, he cried, and he wept. In excruciating pain, he cried out: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” Jesus had to forgive for his sacrifice to be accepted. The Sacrifice of Christ was the forgiveness of Sins. For your sins, Christ wailed pain. What are you holding on to? Be not deceived because God is not mocked (Gal 6:7). If we continue to sow this seed of unforgiveness, we will be possessed with demons and we will reap corruption and damnation. Christ’s wail on the Cross of Calvary is a call to you to forgive because he has forgiven you. The Spirit of Prophecy tells us categorically: “We are not forgiven because we forgave, but as we forgive” (E.G White) This
Means that forgiveness should be a daily affair our part. We must forgive every day, every minute, and in this receive forgiveness because Christ forgives us always.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for a United Church
2. Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to give us the heart to forgive
3.pray against the spirit of opposition in the church
4. Pray against the Spirit of Gossip
5. Pray for the Spirit of Humility
Readings by Daniel Dickson Boateng PhD Seventh-Day Adventist Theological Seminary
Andrews University, Michigan
