This is a crucial question which comes from the heart of God Almighty and connects to our inner being. As we examine his character in the Bible, we get to understand that forgiveness pleases God.

I have been a true Christian for a long time, but it has taken me a long time to understand it fully.  By God’s grace I’m going to explain it here so that the reader can understand it as well.

As you know, we all have hurt someone or vice-versa. Did you notice that people who hurt us most are the closest? Relationships break down because of sin, but forgiveness heals broken hearts.  And sometimes it takes a long time to forgive someone, but when we deal with it quickly the better.  Some people think words hurt more than actions, but I differ from this argument.  I believe both hurt more or less the same; I speak from my personal experiences.

Back to the question; what does forgiveness mean?

It means:

• not to hold a grudge against the person
• to erase the issue against the person who has sinned against you
• to say that you have forgiven them
• to pray for the person, or wish them well
• to ask God to forgive them for the wrong they’ve done to you (when Jesus was crucified he said Father forgive them)

This is the issue, it feels good to be forgiven; as you have experienced forgiveness brings peace and joy. So, Father God wants us to understand, if we feel good when we are forgiven by others, imagine the forgiveness of God.  Jesus said, for if you forgive men (people) when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men for their sins, you Father will not forgive your sins. Matthew. 6:14

So, we learn that to gain salvation we have to do what Jesus says. We also learn from the Bible, that God can only forgive sins through Jesus. For, there is no other way we can be saved apart from blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanses our sins. (Hebrews 9)

A person who doesn’t succumb to the problem is much stronger than the one who does..  I’m sure you’re now thinking,  we all know that!  But I’ll explain  a bit more on this;

Firstly, Father God who created and gave us life solves every problem the way he wants.  He revealed his thoughts in the bible for us to learn and understand things.

There is no other book like the bible –  it is the most important book in the world; the biggest selling book of all time, more than two billion books have been sold.  It holds all the secrets and unlocks  solutions to all our problems.  It is the key to happiness and holds the words of encouragement you’ll never find in any other book.

I’m going to take you back to Jesus; Matt.14:22-34, he’s walking on water, the disciples are afraid, and he is saying to Peter, come to me. Peter does as he’s told, but he sees the wind, becomes afraid, and begins to sink.  Immediately Jesus  demonstrates  the power of God, he holds Peter’s hand, and all is well.

But before that, Peter is operating in his human nature, which is tainted by weaknesses. First of all, he is afraid, then he doubts when he says, if it is really you… then gets distracted and focusses on the problem, finally, he acknowledges that if he doesn’t hold Jesus’ hand, he’ll drown.

Here we learn that Peter sees the problem, felt it, but says no to the problem;  the problem gets solved by God, when he holds Jesus’ hand.

Jesus said, ‘problems will come,’  (John 16:33) because we live in a world full of problems, for Satan is busy creating chaos.  But he indicates, when we use our faith, God will have mercy on us.  Satan’s world is harder, insecure, sadder, chaotic etc. whereby God’s kingdom is the opposite.

People are busy creating problems for themselves. I’ve done it too in the past, when I was on Satan’s side. Some people are following what others are doing; they say in their minds, let’s follow what others are doing whether good or bad. That’s how gangs are created, family networks are broken down, and lives are destroyed.

Now back to the first statement, when we say no to the problem, we become energised and stronger.  Some problems are easily fixed. You get a pain somewhere, you take some pain killers – problem solved.  Father God is so kind; he has helped us with a medicine revolution.  Many of them, as you are aware, come from plants and minerals.

But when it comes to marriage problems, the devil becomes the manipulator as well as the destroyer. Think about it; why would someone destroy a marriage – an institution of love, for the sake of money?  A person who says I’m not going to destroy my marriage despite the  problems, keeps it.

And there is another scenario; we complain too much; that we dont have enough; we want more than we need; we’re always asking for more of this, more of that.

Paul said it plainly, ‘he has learnt to be content with even the little‘. This is crucial if we want to live a happy life.  When Jesus our chief advisor said, come to me, all you who are burdened, weary, restless, anxious and I’ll give you rest, (Matt. 11:28) He knew those weaknesses will affect us all, so, he gave us tips  on how to handle difficulties.

The scripture says, humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he’ll lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares…1 peter. 5:6-7.

Anxiety and fear are some of Satan’s schemes to cause imbalance in a person.  A faithful believer in Christ is stronger, and is more likely to say no to a problem, no to anxiety, no to fear, no to Satan etc. Father God wants us to understand, that many of our problems are brought about by Satan. Job 1. That’s why Jesus said, pray – deliver us from Satan’s schemes. Finally, as a believer in Christ you have to say to yourself, ‘I’m not going to let Satan stop me from acquiring the biggest prize of all – salvation’.