What Is Forgiveness And Why Is It Important?

The power of forgiveness can transform your life and remove all resistance and blocks. You might have heard of the phrase ”forgiveness is for you and not the other person.” When it comes to forgiveness, it is an emotional health check. According to research, women suffer most from various diseases such as cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, and many other diseases because of their inability to let go and forgive. Research has shown that forgiveness does have benefits such as improved heart health, improved self-esteem, less anxiety, among other fantastic health benefits.

What Is Forgiveness?

According to psychologists, forgiveness is a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or a group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.

As you can see, releasing feelings and resentment can have a powerful effect on the body and life. Even though you can not see it, releasing heavy feelings of anger and resentment does remove toxins from the body. These toxins, when left in the body, over time, turn into dangerous diseases such as cancer and heart problems.

Even in the Bible, God knows how damaging unforgiveness can be; that is why HE was adamant when it came to commanding people to forgive others.

In Matthew 5:24, Jesus teaches us to ”leave our gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

According to this Bible scripture, the Lord wants us to go and offer forgiveness to those who have hurt us before we can offer acceptable sacrifices or prayers to Him.

Often, our prayers can be hindered because we are holding grudges or unforgiveness in our hearts. We are stuck and can not move on in life because we refuse to settle conflicts with each other. The power of forgiveness.

A simple way to get your prayers answered is to offer forgiveness to people who have wronged us. Offering forgiveness does not mean to go and be best friends with them, but you can forgive them in your heart, pray and tell God that you have forgiven anyone who has hurt you and that you are moving on from holding a grudge against anyone. Ask God to give you a clean heart to move forward. It is as simple as that.

Forgiveness does not always pertain to the other person, but we can also hold unforgiveness about ourselves. If you are someone who has made wrong choices or decisions in the past which have affected your life in any way and you hold that decision making against you, you will have to let go of the past, the hurt, and forgive yourself to move on to a brighter future. The power of forgiveness.

During my coaching sessions, the first thing I do with my clients is the ”forgiveness exercise.” This part of the coaching session is critical because you can not expect to have a successful life transformation when you are holding a lot of toxins within your body. If Jesus admonishes us to go and offer forgiveness before He listens to us, then I think it is essential to follow that same principle in our daily lives.

What Are The Benefits Of Forgiveness?

1. Improves heart health

2. Lower blood pressure

3. Improved self-esteem

4. A stronger immune system

5. Less anxiety

6. Less stress

7. Healthier relationships

8. Improves mental health

9. Improved self-confidence

10. Feeling of being free

As you let go of grudges, you will no longer define your life by how you have been hurt. You might even find compassion for those who have hurt you, which is the first step to living a whole and purposeful life.

Who do you need to forgive today? Make it a point to release resentment before you go to sleep today.

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