Forgiveness is defined as one being excused for a fault or offense; pardon or to stop feeling anger or resentment against.  Why do we have to forgive?  Why can’t the other parties just ask us for forgiveness? Well, that is not how God operates.  It does seem easy to shift the weight onto someone else, but that allows you to have a grudge against that person for an extended period of time. 

 

Why give that person that much power over you? A grudge means to have resentment towards an individual.  Being in Christ, He teaches us the importance of love and that love is not just a word we say as believers but love is a moral way of life.  Love is one of the attributes that He has given us and He requires us to display this important characteristic.  The bible tells us that the disciples of God are recognized by the love that they show, not the joy or how much we praise the Lord in the church, not how much we sing in the choirs, not how much we preach in the pulpit, not how much we read the bible, but how much we display love for one another.  One can look at the love of a mother has towards her child, that unconditional love.  She loves that child in spite of the bad things he or she may do, in spite of the disobedience they may show towards her. A mother constantly forgives her child, because the love that she carries for that particular child overrides everything.  That is how God is toward us.  How would we feel if God did not constantly forgive us over and over again?  Even though we have confessed with our mouth and believed in our heart that He is Lord and a forgiver of our sins, we still sometimes do wrong and seek out forgiveness.  God is so faithful and full of grace that He again forgives us. 

 

Now, forgiveness as it is mentioned earlier is the act of excusing a fault or offense.  When we sin, we offend God!  But He forgives us.  God’s desire is for us to do the same thing toward our fellow brother.  Matthew 18:21-22 says, “Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?  Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”   In other words, every time your fellow man sin or offend you, you ought to forgive him.  Having an ought against someone does more destruction to you, than the one who offends you.  An individual should not allow unforgiveness to have that much power over you.  God even goes to the point of saying in Matthew 6:14-15 that, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” God again shifts the weight back onto us.  God has a unique way of building up our character.  Making believers stronger than we can imagine in a unexplainable way.  He constantly deals with methods that are contrary to the way of the world and the way the world thinks.  He encourages us to think differently, because again as what was said in last week article, we are in the midst of a spiritual warfare, so we fight utilizing our minds.  We must make up our mind to forgive our offenders.  Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”  Everything we go through is for a reason.  Every conflict, trial, tribulations and triumphs have been predestined to happen to us. Everyone we encounter in our lives is there for a reason and they have a person.  Either they are assets or liabilities. We have to learn to pray for those who persecute us, love those who despitefully use us.  How can we do this if we don’t forgive them?  We can not pray that God will teach them a lesson, but we can pray that we have learned a lesson. 

“As a preacher of the gospel, I had to forgive many people, and in some cases it was harder than others.  From a small lie that may have been told on me, to the individual who was responsible for the lost of my son, I forgave!  Even when others thought I should not have done so, God gave me the instructions in His Word to forgive that person.  In doing so, I have found peace.  The release of forgiveness allows peace to dwell in the place that once held a grudge against someone else.  In doing so, you are free; no longer bound, no more chains are holding you down.” 

 

For Further information please go to our website www.womenofseasons.com

“What can depression do to me?  I’m saved! I have God on my side!”  Yes, that is true, but just because you are saved and have God on your side, it doesn’t mean that depression will not knock on your door.  Depression is a powerful and influential spirit sent by the enemy himself.  It operates in many ways.  The bible reminds us to be careful when dealing with the enemy, because he uses wicked devices.  Isaiah 32:7 says, “…He deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, Even when the needy speaketh right.”  This means that the devil will try to attack those who maybe suffering from the circumstances of life and in the midst of their distress, the enemy will send a device called “depression” and it will try to distract you, mislead you into thinking that things aren’t going to get better, or your situation will not change.  Even when others try to encourage you in some circumstances, that depression spirit will block out the words that are meant to empower to you. 

 

Depression can manifest itself in various ways and just because you are a child of God, it doesn’t eliminate you from being attack.  Don’t believe me? Well, Isaiah 54:17 tells us, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.”  This tells us that the devices and weapons that the enemy have designed to attack us, will attack.  That battle is inevitable.  We can not stop what life has prepared for us.  Death, job loss, broken relationships, foreclosures, changes and other situations can not be totally controlled by us, things happen to us unexpected.  This is how God strengthens us, builds up our character and our ability to believe in Him and not our faith in our jobs, our relationships or our money, but God has to sometimes train and direct our faith towards Him, and Him alone.  Depression is a heavy spirit that applies pressure to your mind, which in turns affects your body.  Everything has to go through your mind, your ability to believe, the Word of God, your emotions, your ability to resolve problems; your determination resides in your mind.  When one makes up their mind, anything is possible, so depression attacks that mind first to gain control of the body and the emotions.  It causes you to be saddened by the problems that you are facing.  This is not an ordinary sadden, but it comes attached with a heavy spirit, the kind that fights any positive or motivated word that attempts to lift you up.  You become emotional and in some cases, you can’t see an end to your problem. This spirit cause you not to fight back, even when the Spirit of God tries to tell you to pick up His Word and read, that spirit, that evil spirit tries to distract you from being obedient to that voice that is crying out for help, crying to be feed so that it could be utilized to fight the wicked device sent by Satan to destroy you. 

 

In some cases, depression can bring people to different levels.  Emotional distress can be described in ways such as crying for no apparent reasons or becoming angry with others.  And sometimes as believers we can catch ourselves in this mode and with the grace of God, pull ourselves out.  But it is not all true in every situation, even Saints of God, get pulled down further.  Depression has relationships with other spirits; like loneliness, suicidal thoughts, which can make impressions on individuals whom, are not strong enough to fight back.  If you are a weak individual in Christ, fighting more than one heavy evil spirit can result in a predictable battle. You have already given to the enemy, but what the devil tells you is that, “just give up, you can’t win, it is alright to quit, no one cares about you, give up” The DEVIL IS a LIE!  You have to begin fighting back.  

 

First you have to realize that you are in warfare.  Secondly, you then have to recognize the devices that the enemy has placed before you, which in this case is “depression”.  Tell the devil that you know what he is up to and call that spirit out by its assigned name.  Thirdly, pull up the Word that has been hidden in your heart, so that you will not sin against God, and put it on the devil.  Remember who you are.  Get up, look in the mirror, wash your face, clean house, I mean the earthly vessel, and go before God.  If you have to force yourself, get up out of that bed.  Open the windows in the house, open the doors, let the air in your home, put on some of your “good clothes”, dress yourself up, even if you don’t have anywhere to go, began to make yourself feel good physically first, then began to strengthen up spiritually.  You can fight! You can WIN!  Why?  As believers, we are more than conquerors and we can do all things through Jesus Christ.  Don’t let Satan win, don’t let him defeat you.  Know what the enemy is attempting to do to you, for II Corinthians 2:11 says, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”    

Power, what is it really?  What is truly resting in the center of our Spirit?  We know it is not the “power” that superwoman or superman possesses, nor the kind of power that makes spider-man climb buildings.  The lack of understanding of what kind of power we have may be the reason why we don’t utilize the power that God has given us.  The question then is, “What is Power?”  Well, the dictionary defines power as the ability or capacity to perform or act effectively; strength or force exerted or capable of being exerted; or the ability or official capacity to exercise control; authority.  Yes, that’s it!  No, it is not some supernatural force that came from the sky or from another world.  Power is define as just that, your ability or capacity to perform or act effectively.  Isn’t that great!  That definitely relieves a lot of stress.  Now that we clearly understand what power is, lets see what the Word of God says about it and how it relates to us.

 

 II Timothy 1:7 states that, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Apparently lack of confidence is an issue that the Apostle Paul wanted to address to the body of Christ. This particular text is a very popular phrase.  Most of the time, it is used when a person is scared to face an issue or feeling uncertain about decisions or even themselves.    Power is a great gift from God.  Acts tells us of the story of the receiving of power, it says that, “when the Holy Ghost has come upon us, you shall receive power…” Other words, when the Holy Ghost has come upon you, you shall receive the ability or have the capacity to perform or act effectively, you shall receive authority from God to witness, authority from God to lay hands on the sick, authority from God to cast out demons, authorization from our Lord and Savior to do the work of the ministry.  Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  The work begun when the Holy Ghost came upon you and when the Power was given to you, that is why God tells us not to fear, not to be scared but to use the power that He has given us to continue to the work that He has assigned us to do.  Just imagine how great things will be if your mind lines up with our power.  If these two attributes learn to operate in their full capacity and become effective, we will become more stable and successful in what we set our minds to.  While we wait on the Lord and as our faith becomes tried, we should learn to pull on the power that we have to get us through.  Of course, faith is everything, but there are times that we find ourselves questioning our on faith when we are in the midst of a storm. 

 

Proverbs 18:21 tells us that, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”  In one of the smallest, overlooked muscle in our body, God has given us the authority to speak death or life.  We can put to death things that should not exist in our lives, or we can speak life in things we want or don’t want in our life.  Yes, I said “don’t want”.  Some of the times we find ourselves speaking sickness on ourselves, trouble on ourselves.   One has to be careful of what they say about situations, our finances, even our children.  Know the weapon that you have and use it with wisdom. 

 

Remember, God has already told us in II Chronicles 20, that the battle is not ours, but the Lords.  You should already know that in the end, victory is ours!  He wants us to just be in our positions and prepared to face whatever comes our way, God has given us the weapons to use in warfare and the Word of God tells us how to use them.  As Romans 8:17 states and reassures us that we are joint heirs.  We are entitled to the promise (Ephesians 3:6-7) 

 

For further teachings or information about our ministry, please visit our website at www.womenofseasons.com.  Elder LaShonda Crawford is an associate minister at the Cornerstone Church of Christ, 1102 Short St. Thomasville, NC 27360 where the pastor is Apostle James H. Carter. 

 

What is warfare?  The dictionary defines warfare as the act of waging war or conflict and strife.  In order for war to be present, it must consist of more than one party.  The question is, "What’s the difference between male and female warfare?"  Do we handle our battles different?  Do we fight differently when our back is up against the wall?  How does it affect women as individuals?  These are questions that lie in the womb of women in the ministry.  Women play an important role within the body of Christ and sometimes can become overwhelmed with the responsibility of the work inside the church.  Inside the church, you will find women holding various assignments, from the usher president to sometimes the Pastor of the church.  Not only are we holding positions within the body of Christ, but we leave the place of worship to go home to our other role in ministry, which is in some cases the wife, mother, daughter, sister, employee and entrepreneur.  It is amazing on how many hats a woman wears within her lifetime. 

 

In having so many assignments that we are responsible for, not having balance can be destructive.  Lack of balance can cause uncontrollable warfare, which can cause you to face uncontrollable and constant defeat.  As women of God, we must find that place of balance.   That place where we don’t overload ourselves with responsibility.  Not becoming so emotionally attached to assignments can allow one to operate freely and to make decisions about task with a clear mind.  

 

The Word of God reminds us that, “The weapons of our warfare or not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”  These words given to Apostle Paul and inspired by God, should urge us to be prepared in every way possible for what the enemy is going to attempt to do.  The bible reminds us that “…no weapon formed against us shall prosper” it tells us that it will form but it has no prosperity. 

 

Women are emotional creatures.  We are more likely to become attached to a job or an assignment, even to people more quickly than men will allow themselves.  We were created to nourish and to be care takers.  So whatever we attach ourselves to, we enter into that situation not only with our intentions to assist, but we end up placing ourselves into what we do.  There can be pros and cons to this, one is that we utilize the love that God has given us into the things that we do, but at the same time it can cause it to get hurt as well.   

As women, we must continue to read and study the Word of God.  It will not eliminate the warfare, but given the grace and mercy of God, endurance is what is going to get us through. Peace in the midst of warfare is a gift of God.  The ability to handle and to stand on the His Word is the source of our strength as women of God.    How can we ministry to other women, when we are suffering so much from our on warfare?  We have to remind the enemy who is in control, but at the same time, we must not overwhelm ourselves with responsibilities without having balance.  The enemy is trying to destroy our churches by bringing division,  he is trying to destroy our marriages by bringing divorce in our homes and he is trying to steal our children with the temptations of the world. 

 

You chose what battle is worth fighting for.  Strengthen and prepare yourself for warfare and with God on our side, we can not, and we shall not lose.