THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS

The gift of forgiveness is the liberation it provides.  It starts with honesty and surrendering with truth the wrongs we have done to God.  Keep in mind, anything that separates you from God (what you make more important than God) wrongs God.  Anything that wrongs God by separating us from Him is sin.  When we surrender our sin to Him by admitting that we have wronged Him, He will cover that with the eternal, all encompassing, and perpetual work and payment Jesus made to, on, and through the cross (our permanent pardon).  When we accept HIs forgiveness (fresh daily mercy and grace provided through our daily surrender), He removes our objective guilt (factually based on wronging God) so He cannot and will not bring us punishment (which was paid for by Jesus) and He removes our subjective shame (our personal condemnation), through the shame Jesus took on for us to and on the cross, so we do not remain in inner anguish.  It is divine forgiveness, internal acceptance of forgiveness, and external daily living as forgiven people forgiving others.  That is the power of forgiveness.