The Lord gently said to me one day, “There are still many areas in your heart that hold unforgiveness. You need to forgive deeply in order to soar.”
This is a season where My children must forgive – truly, deeply, completely. I am going deep into the hearts of those who would open to Me and reveal all the unforgiveness that is holding them back; unforgiveness toward others, themselves, and even Me. I will help them through to Deep Forgiveness, so that they can get free from the shackles and truly soar in the places I have called them to.
The Lord spoke these words, and a few days later He showed me the map to deep forgiveness. The kind of forgiveness that transcends the intellect + emotions + even spiritual warfare.
The Lord showed me the different stages of forgiveness, and here they are listed below.
Stage 1: Intellectual Forgiveness (immediate). We understand + believe the importance of forgiveness, and we make the choice to forgive even though it still hurts. We choose to obey God, trusting that as we forgive He will bring healing to the pain in our hearts.
Stage 2: Emotional Forgiveness (process). As we keep choosing to forgive, the sting of our wound begins to heal, and we can look back on that incident/person and bless them. We can say like Joseph did, “God was in that and He used it to make me a better person.” The deeper the wound, the deeper the layers of forgiveness, the longer the process.
Stage 3: Spiritual Forgiveness (2nd heaven). There is a real battle in the heavenlies (Ephesians 6:12, Revelation 12:7, Daniel 10:13). Sometimes we need to wrestle for our hearts. The angels and demons battle in this realm, and we must make a choice which side we’ll fight on. James 4:7 says, “Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” an important principal to remember in this stage.
Stage 4: Supernatural Forgiveness (3rd heaven). This is the realm that transcends our intellect (Job 36:26), emotions (Philippians 4:7), and even the spiritual principalities (Ephesians 1: 20-22). This is the level where we find deep, lasting forgiveness + freedom in our hearts.
What does deep, supernatural forgiveness look like?
There are some wounds in my heart that don’t hurt that much, a little scratch that is soothed with a simple, “Lord I choose to forgive this person”. Choosing to forgive any little offense on a daily basis helps keep my heart clean from the dust of traveling this road of life.
But there are the deeper wounds.
Careless words from a loved one, betrayal by those we trust most, rejection, failure. These wounds run deep, and I’ve found that all the years of intellectual, emotional, and even spiritual forgiveness haven’t healed those areas of woundedness. Have they helped? For sure. But not completely. For the deeper wounds, they are rudimentary solutions at best.
Deep wounds require supernatural healing.
We cannot heal ourselves at the deepest, most hidden bedrock of our subconscious. God must take over.
The Lord began to show me that when we pierce through the earthly + spiritual realms (stages 1-3) in worship, we enter into the place in Ephesians 2:6 where we are “seated with Jesus in heavenly places” (stage 4).
That’s where the throne of God is, seated above the earth + spiritual forces of good and evil.
In this place in the throne room, all strife and spiritual fighting cease. The flesh has been laid down (levels 1 & 2), the enemy silenced (level 3).
This is the no-war zone. It’s just God, and me. And this is the place where it’s so easy to lay it all down. Before His great throne, it’s so simple to put down all the deep hurts I never even knew I carried. Healing + surrender are a spontaneous response to His beautiful glory.
In this place, we no longer reach up to heaven to change our earthly circumstances. Instead, we are reaching down from where we’re seated in heaven to touch earth. We experience deep transformation because we are literally living on earth as it is in heaven.
And there is an invitation to all who would say Yes. Come up higher, press in to the throne room of your God. Push through your soul’s fears and worries, push through the enemy’s voice. There is a break through available to you. Come up higher into the holy place.
He has decreed it, and He will empower you to make His word happen.
Beautiful blog! Forgiving like Christ has forgiven us is so important and we can’t do it without him.
I needed this. God bless you.
Forgiveness is definitely vital. Difficult sometimes, but vital.
Such a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing!
A great post on a much needed bad day, thank you! xo
Forgiveness cut both way ! The Lord teaches that we are to forgive those that hurt us . At the same time we are to make peace and ask those we have hurt to forgive us . Both require our humility.
Just love this robust post on forgiveness, especially love the idea of supernatural forgiveness..this really sheds light on what we need to do for those deep wounds, surrender them to Christ the one who forgives all!! Beautiful!
I love your blog. It always inspires me to be a better blogger.
Yes, I want to come up higher so, that my life can be transformed. So, that the little unforgiveness in my heart can be no more. Thanks for sharing.
http://www.funmiwrites.com
It all starts with a desire in our hearts to do whatever the Bible says we should be doing
Forgiveness….such a powerful thing yet so many fail to really do it. I am spurred to forgive when I remember that unless I forgive I will not be forgiven. If forgiveness is practiced, then it comes easier.
and if we have the pure desire to forgive and ask God to do so – He will help us…
I have had trouble forgiving in the past, but i’m getting better.
I enjoyed reading this great importance of forgiveness especially the different levels!
Ursula
http://www.blueridgebeautyblogger.com
Lack of forgiveness is something I think we all struggle with at some point in our lives. It can be hard to forgive others, but the Bible commands it. Great post, thank you so much for sharing it with us!
Forgivness is definitely a process but it is vital in order to heal. I try to forgive each day because life is short.
This is good, I’m not really too religious but it does make you think.
We were just talking about forgiveness in Sunday School yesterday. It is so important to forgive others even if they haven’t asked because we are the ones who suffer when we don’t.
Forgiving others lifts a great weight of one’s shoulders and can help the healing process, although it can be very difficult to do so.
What a beautiful and meaningful post you have here. This post is so inspiring. I wish i’m like you, good writer.
Anyways, forgiving is easy to say but it’s so hard to give it to the person who hurt you?
Forgiveness is definitely something we can struggle with at times.. Thank you for sharing!
I’m not religious, although I consider myself spiritual. Forgiveness is one of those things that does not come so easy. Something funny to think about when you see how easily children move on from disagreements! It’s certainly important to let go of the past so that you can move on and continue to grow.
We can never hear too much of this. An area very much overlooked but needs to be talked about often. I am also in the process of writing a post on forgiveness.
I love this line because it so true and sums up this post in a nutshell: “Deep wounds require supernatural healing.” I feel sorry for those who choose to ignore the spiritual. There is no escape if we keep running away from it. Great post, sister!
Forgiveness is hard, but necessary. When we try to be forgiving, we fall short. But the Lord gives us the ability to do so, in His strength!
Wow, what a great reflection on forgiveness. True, deep forgiveness really is a process, so I love that you broke it down into stages. Thank you!
The power of forgiveness is like the power of love. It can seem complete, and yet we can still grow in the grace to express deepening expressions of divine forgiveness.
What an awesome ministry of encouragement. Much needed by myself. Thank you for sharing and I look forward to reading more in the future.
Blessings
Jean Mc Lean
Cape Town
South Africa