"...For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you..."
Many years ago, a little widow lady died and left me her car. I had no second car, so she left me this little Plymouth vehicle. It was in top condition. I loved that old car. At the same time there was a man in the church who had not been saved very long, who had no car and no credit. I knew if I gave him that car, it would not be good. Reluctantly I sold him the car for less than what it was worth. I required no down payment, just monthly payments. He took the car, paid two payments, and then stopped paying. There was a part of me that didn’t like that. I called him, but he wouldn’t return my call. He eventually left. I didn’t realize that smouldering within me was this “self” with its unforgiving spirit toward that man. One night, during a great revival meeting, the Evangelist had preached how the tests of life come to reveal to us the covetousness, unforgiveness, and whatever else may be in our life, so that we can deal with them by reckoning them to be dead. The Evangelist put emphasis on the fact that we cannot make “self” holy; it has to die.
That night at the altar, God brought to my mind the car issue. That man had thirteen hundred dollars of my money, and I wanted it. I had not forgiven him. As I stood there in the altar, God brought this to me, and I said to God, “I forgive him. I absolutely forgive him. That is gone from my life, and if they brought me that money, I would give it back to them.
This is a story that is almost unbelievable. These people were not in the church that night, and I had not seen them for months. But as I stood in that altar, the wife of that man came into the church, handed me an envelope with thirteen one hundred dollar bills in it, and said to me, “This is the money we owe you. God has dealt with us.”
But I had just told God that if they gave it to me, I would give it back.
I went to the car with her and gave it to the man, and told him how God had dealt with me. I did not know He was dealing with them. The money meant nothing to me. What mattered to me was that God showed to me that there was still this spirit of bitterness in me restricting this flow of Christ’s life. That night deliverance and victory came as I confessed and obeyed this great God.
That night at the altar, God brought to my mind the car issue. That man had thirteen hundred dollars of my money, and I wanted it. I had not forgiven him. As I stood there in the altar, God brought this to me, and I said to God, “I forgive him. I absolutely forgive him. That is gone from my life, and if they brought me that money, I would give it back to them.
This is a story that is almost unbelievable. These people were not in the church that night, and I had not seen them for months. But as I stood in that altar, the wife of that man came into the church, handed me an envelope with thirteen one hundred dollar bills in it, and said to me, “This is the money we owe you. God has dealt with us.”
But I had just told God that if they gave it to me, I would give it back.
I went to the car with her and gave it to the man, and told him how God had dealt with me. I did not know He was dealing with them. The money meant nothing to me. What mattered to me was that God showed to me that there was still this spirit of bitterness in me restricting this flow of Christ’s life. That night deliverance and victory came as I confessed and obeyed this great God.
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