"Learn to Forgive" Kathryn Kuhlman Overcoming Resentments

There wasn't a dry eye in that holy sanctuary. So great was the presence of the Holy Spirit. It seemed as though every person in that sanctuary was receiving a fresh baptism, the love of God. And when... You love is impossible to hate. After the service, going down the turnpike, Maggie was driving. She said, you know, why is it so easy to forgive when you're in the presence of the Lord? She said, after that communion service, I walked out the door and the very first person I met was someone that I wasn't especially fond of. And yet it was so easy to smile and say hello. His presence makes all the difference in the world. Today you and I are going to have a little heart -to -heart talk about something And at the very beginning, I want to say something to you. Don't hold anything in your heart against anyone. No matter what they've done to you, you may feel as though they've done you a great injustice. No matter what. they've done. They may have lied about you. They may have treated you shamefully. But don't hold anything in your heart against anyone. First of all be inwardly too glad and too great to be the enemy of any person. Now that may seem like such a trivial statement, but it isn't. Be inwardly, first of all, too glad. I mean exactly that. There you are, two good eyes, two good legs, two good hands. You can speak. You have a brain. You're being blessed. You've been born again. You're an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ Jesus. Literally the whole world is yours. Be too glad for God's blessing. Be too thankful for what you have. A roof over your head. Food to eat. Clothing on your body. A bed to sleep in. Sunshine, water, you're not suffering, not really. Be too thankful to be the enemy of any person. Be too big. Be too great. When you hold something in your heart against someone else, then you become as small as that person who has done you an injustice. Be too great, be too big to be the enemy of any person. You know, I've always been an admirer. of Dr. Carver, the great Negro scientist and saint. I met him years and years ago when I was very, very young, and I've always been a great admirer of his. And it was Dr. Carver, the great Negro scientist, and when I... Say, saint. I mean exactly that. He was a marvelous Christian gentleman. And, as you well know, he's risen to fame through his chemical discoveries in service to the farmers of the South. And someone asked him to reveal the name of the university which had accepted him as a student. And then, on discovering he was a Negro, had refused him admittance. Dr. Carver consistently refused to tell. He would not tell. And he just passed the incident off as just nothing. He would smile. Always said it was nothing. Just nothing. He had what somebody called the peace that passeth not only all understanding, but all misunderstanding. And sometimes I think that if that's something that we were holding in our heart, that grudge, that unforgiving spirit, that's something that has so grown. It has grown clear out of proportion. If it came to light and we would lay it out, analyze it, we would find that there was more misunderstanding there than anything else. You know, when Jesus announced his program at Nazareth, he read from Isaiah until he came to the words, The day of vengeance of our God. And then he closed the book. You do the same. You leave vengeance to God. That's one of the greatest things that I had to learn. Oh, sure. Years ago, I was a fighter. You know, people with red hair. usually had that reputation. Oh, sure. Oh, I used to be a fighter. And I was licked very often. You can understand that. But one of the greatest lessons that I've had to learn was to just keep quiet and let God fight my battles. Remember, when Jesus read those words from Isaiah, when he came to those words, the day of vengeance of our God, he stopped. He closed the book right there. It is the smart person. It is the big person. who will leave vengeance to God. We win by tenderness. We conquer by forgiveness. He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself. Every man has need to be forgiven. Always remember that. There'll come a day when you will need to be forgiven. Every time I forgive somebody else, I'm very conscious of the fact that the day is coming. And it may be nearer than I know. I will need someone to forgive me. I repeat, he that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself one day. The very best men stand in need of pardon. If thou art a master, sometimes be blind. If a servant, sometimes be deaf. It is a smart master who sometimes. allows himself to be blind to the faults of his employees. And if you are an employee, if you are a servant, it is a smart servant who will sometimes choose to be deaf. Always remember, be inwardly too glad and too great to be the enemy of any person. I still contend, but never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury. Never will you... ever be greater. Never will you ever show what you're really made of on the inside. Never does the human soul ever appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury or an injustice. You see, only the brave, only that person who is secure, finds it easy to forgive. Watch it. Just watch it. Religion through the ages has stressed the need for forgiveness and tolerance. It isn't something that's new. That which I'm talking about this very hour isn't something that's new. I'm giving you something today that's as old as God himself. I'm talking about something that is as old, as up -to -date, as Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I'm talking about something that is as powerful as the might... the power of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Religion throughout the ages has stressed this need for forgiveness and for tolerance. That's the reason you've heard me say over and over and over again that the tragedy of the hour is not that men perish. The tragedy is not that men die. The tragedy of the hour is the fact that we no longer love. That word forgive and forgiveness is completely out of the human vocabulary. Instead of loving, we hate. Instead of tolerance, we refuse. We refuse to forgive. We hate. We despise. There's greed. And that's the reason we've gotten into the condition that we're in this very hour. There are even those who've gone so far as to teach that we can achieve inner health only through forgiveness. The forgiveness not only of others, but also of ourselves. We must cease tormenting ourselves when we do not achieve the absolute in life. There's that somebody to whom I am speaking. disease that has gotten a hold of your mind. And it has gone into your body. It has caused you to be defeated. It's because you are condemning yourself. You find it impossible to forgive yourself. for not being the success that you'd like to be. You've gotten to the place where you have been tormenting yourself because you have not achieved the absolute in life. If you continue, and if you do not get this victory over that self -condemnation, you'll soon find yourself on a bed of affliction. Sick in mind, sick in soul, and sick in body. It is an absolute fact that to hold hate and to hold resentments is to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery of life. Structurally, you are made for positive goodwill. You and I were not made for hate. We are made for the Christian way of living. And the Christian way of living is love. When you try the other way, then the machinery of life breaks down. Or at least works so badly that it leaves you exhausted and ineffective. with the soul. Hate plays havoc with the mind. Hate can play havoc with the human body. Hate is sand in the machinery of life. But, beloved, love is oil, and life works so much better with oil. oil than with sand. And when you forgive, forget. Sure you know that prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. This is our prayer, not his prayer. Our Father, Which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. But don't stop there. Continue, if you will, please. And I give you the very word of God. This comes from the highest authority in heaven and earth. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. You consider yourself a Christian? You consider yourself a saint of God? And yet, you're holding something in that heart of yours, an unforgiving spirit, something against your mother, perhaps years standing something has been there, against your father, or a brother against a sister, or a grandfather against a child. Remember his words. If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your. trespasses be too big to not forgive.