BY REV. DORAL PULLEY, Today’s Church Tampa Bay
“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you (Matthew 6:14).”
It was challenging for me to embrace the Divine idea that there is only One Power and One Presence in the Universe, God, the Good, Omnipotence. I had two gods: The Good God, Jehovah, and the bad god, the devil. Jehovah received all the praise, and the devil got all the blame. When I stopped giving place to the devil in my thoughts, words, and actions, I had One Source, God (Ephesians 5:29). Without the devil to blame, I was forced to face my anger with God and ultimately learned to forgive God.
Although God had not sinned or done anything wrong, I still needed to forgive God because, in many cases, I felt that God had done me wrong. Because I felt that way, I needed to forgive God and “let go” of that erroneous idea so that I could be in an authentic and intimate relationship with God. When I forgave God for allowing situations to happen in my life, I was also able to forgive myself for my reaction to these situations and take more responsibility for my life. As I let it go, I was able to see more clearly God’s Divine Purpose for my life and realize that everything was in Divine Order.
Forgiveness is the cornerstone of any healthy relationship. It is important to build forgiveness in every relationship because, in every relationship, you will experience the four primary emotions: glad, sad, mad, and afraid. Don’t wait until someone does something to forgive them. Set your heart on forgiveness to prepare from the very start before it happens. Whether things occur intentionally or unintentionally, forgiveness is required for every person in your life, including yourself and God.
Using the Prayer Tool of Forgiving as symbolized by the vice grip pliers, forgive God for anything that happened in your past that you did not like.
Rev. Doral Pulley is the senior pastor of Today’s Church Tampa Bay, 940 5th Ave. S, St. Petersburg (Staybridge Suites) and 5107 North Central Ave., Tampa.
