The next important area to deal with in over-coming addictions is to deal with the low self-esteem, guilt, shame and self-hatred behind it. Developing a healthy self-image starts with knowing who we are in Christ and learning to see ourselves as God sees us. Therefore, it is necessary to get our image of God straightened out because how can you develop a good self-image if your image of God is that He is harsh, mean and condemning? Until this issue of the father is dealt with, it just sits there and simmers and keeps us breached from God the Father, it keeps us breached from ourselves and from others because we find it so difficult to give and receive love.

If, you are separated, from God, and unable, to identify with Him as your Father, because of a harsh and abusive earthly father, you need ministry – personally and individually in way which you cannot get just from reading a book. Therefore please contact us (contact details on website: www.eagleswings.co.zw) so that we can arrange for you to be ministered to and be set free in this area. At conferences where I teach this material, I deal with it in a way that I have learnt from Henry Wright. I get the pastors and elders in church (who are elderly men or father figures) to minister to each of the women and men at the conference individually who needed healing in this area. These men stand in the place of their earthly fathers and say to them these words:

“On behalf of your Father who did not, could not, would not or maybe did not know how to tell you that he loved you, will you forgive me? I am so sorry for the damage and the injury that would have broken your heart. I am so sorry for not being there for you when you needed a father so much – and for leaving you feeling rejected, stranded and afraid inside. So in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I release you from this fear, this confusion and this pain. This day you are going to hear these words from your Heavenly Father to heal your heart: I love you and I am so glad that you were born. You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. I approve of you and am so proud of you. Receive my love for the healing of your broken heart. Let that pain go in Jesus’ Name!”

After that the men hugged the person if he/she was comfortable with that and God did the rest as the fountains of the deep broke forth and the tears flowed as healing began. During ministry on this level, it is very moving and overwhelming to see how these people cry and sob in the grief and hurt because of the loss of the love of a father.

Ultimately healing in this area and breaking free from the bondage of addictions has to begin with learning to receive God the Father’s love. The Father’s love is the foundation to healing and freedom from your addiction. No man or woman can fill or satisfy that need inside of you to be loved. Receive the Father’s love. Your ability to defeat addictions comes from the love of God. You are His son. You are His daughter. You are loved! The Almighty, Indescribable God says that He loves you!

John 16 v 27: “For the Father Himself [tenderly] loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from the Father.”

Stop buying into the lie that God does not love you, because He does! 1 John 4 v 15 – 19: “15Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God. 16And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love; and he that dwells in love, dwells in God, and God in him. 17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of the doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection].19We love Him, because He first loved us.”

The prayer of my heart for you is that your need to be loved would be filled through the revelation and experience of God the Father’s love for you. I encourage you to take the time right now to pray this prayer below from Ephesians 3 v 14 – 20: “Father, I ask You to grant me out of the rich treasury of Your glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in my inner man by the Holy Spirit [Himself indwelling in my innermost being and personality]. May Christ through my faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in my heart! May I be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, that I may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God’s devoted people, the experience of that love], what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; [That I may really come] to know [practically through experience for myself] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that I may be filled [through all my being] with all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! Father, You by Your power that is at work within me are able to [carry out Your purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that I [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond my highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams].”

Forgiveness: Preparing the Way for Victory

After drawing into a close relationship with God the Father and learning to receive His love in order to fill the void and satisfy the deep thirst within you for love, the next important step towards breaking the bondage of addictions is forgiveness. This is not only an essential step spiritually, but medical science has proven that it is vital for healing on a physical level.

In chapter 2, I explained how addictions develop. The sequence of physical reactions that leads a person into the trap of addictions begins with a toxic long term memory in the brain which was built from a toxic mind-set of the need to be loved unfulfilled and a low self-esteem. The good news is that the sequence of physical reactions can be broken through dealing with the mind-sets that cause addictions. When the need to be loved is filled with the love of God the Father and you build a healthy self-esteem (which will be explained in chapter 8), you will build new healthy long term memories in your brain which will replace the toxic memories. When the toxic memories are removed, there is nothing to stimulate the lowering of serotonin in the brain and the series of physical reactions that follow leading to an addiction. At the same time, those healthy memories are stimulated by an electromagnetic wave which is generated by the hypothalamus in the brain to produce serotonin. This corrects the serotonin deficiency and thus the cravings and cycle of addictions will be broken. However what they have proven in science is that you cannot build new healthy memories in your brain over a toxic memory of unforgiveness and bitterness. This blocks healing because the sequence of physical reactions that lead to the raising of serotonin and the breaking of the cycle of addictions has to begin with the building of a healthy memory in the brain (of love and a good self-esteem). That is why, even on a purely medical level, dealing with unforgiveness and bitterness is essential. In fact there are over 100 scientific studies that have proven the healing power of forgiveness! So in this chapter, let’s deal with this vitally important area:

(An in depth teaching of how the brain works, how thoughts from and how they can become toxic leading to the building of toxic memories, as well as how toxic memories can be replaced by healthy memories in the brain is included on pages 7 – 23 in the 4th Edition of the book “Healing Begins With Sanctification of the Heart” as well as in session 2 of the DVD series “No Disease Is Incurable”– see website www.eagleswings.co.zw for details as to where the material is availablefrom)

But we don’t always have to be serious. Let’s begin with two funny stories related to this subject because it’s good to laugh!Disease flourishes in an atmosphere of sadness but the Bible says in Proverbs 17 v 22,“A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing.”This scripture has an unbelievable amount of medical truth in it as many scientific studies show why laughter deserves to be known as the best medicine. Laughter causes the release of feel good hormones in your body such as endorphins, encephalon’s, and dopamine which are all very healthy for you –they are natural de-stressing hormones, they are the body’s natural pain killer and they have incredible healing properties. Laughter also causes the release of serotonin which as you know is important for the healing addictions! Laughing literally is good medicine that works healing and cures diseases because it rejuvenates the neuro-chemicals in your brain and it boosts your immune system. Laughter improves thinking skills and the flexibility of thought. So that means that you can increase your intelligence with a good old laugh! Want to become clever? Laugh! So let’s have a good laugh:

Story 1:A man who was bitten by a dog went to the doctor because he started experiencing strange symptoms. After examining him, the doctor said to the man, “I’m sorry, it’s too late – you already have rabies.” The man nonchalantly replied, “I thought as much.” He then pulled out a pen and paper and began furiously writing something. Curious, the doctor said to him, “Don’t tell me you are writing out your will now? You should have done that long ago!” The man explained, “No I’m not writing out my will, I’m writing a list of the people that I want to bite before I die!”

Story 2: A lady went to a pharmacist and asked him for cyanide. He said, “What do you want that for?” She replied, “To murder my husband.” Of course the pharmacist refused to give her any cyanide, so at that point she pulled out of her pocket a photograph of her husband having an affair with the pharmacist’s wife! Then the pharmacist said, “Oh that’s different, I didn’t know you had a prescription!”

The people in both of these stories had bitterness and unforgiveness! As you read through this chapter, begin to think about whom it is that has hurt you, harmed you, abused you, humiliated you, falsely accused you, lied about you or made you feel unworthy. What happened in the past that still creates feelings of pain, anger, rage, resentment and bitterness when you remember it?

HEBREWS 12 V 15: “Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favour and spiritual blessings), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it.”

Bitterness, like battery acid, corrodes and eats away at your soul. It poisons first your mind and then your body with disease. However just as a mind-set of a low self-esteem and self-hatred begins in the spiritual realm from the accusing spirit which gives you those thoughts in the first person and you follow that way of thinking as if it were you, so the toxic mind-set of bitterness comes from a spirit of bitterness. However, bitterness is a principality and under it and answering to it are seven spirits that reinforce bitterness:

1. UNFORGIVENESS

This is how bitterness first gets a foot hold. You begin to keep a record of wrongs and you carry un-forgiveness in your heart. You say to yourself, “I am not prepared to forgive you and I am going to remember what you did to me.” You think on all the wrong things that have been done to you and every time that person’s face comes to your mind, that high octane ping goes off inside of you. This un-forgiveness invites the next six spirits to become a part of your life:

2. RESENTMENT

Resentment develops as you continue to meditate on that record of wrongs and fume and steam internally over it. A toxic long term memory is beginning to grow in your brain and secrete chemicals that putting your body into a toxic state of dis-ease. Those chemicals are carrying negative emotion and that is why you have that bad feeling in your gut every time that person comes to your mind. Resentment keeps the un-forgiveness in place.

3. RETALIATION

After the resentment has been simmering for a while, the steam builds up and you start thinking of ways to get even with that person. They must pay for what they did.

4. ANGER

Un-forgiveness, resentment and retaliation has been building up and now you are very, very angry. The pressure cooker is really going and adding fuel to the fire. This anger is both seen and felt.

5. HATRED

Now that you are angry, hatred gets a foothold. You are saying, “I remember what you did to me. I have really been meditating on it and I really resent it. I’m going to get even with you and make you pay.” At this stage hatred begins to say, “You do not deserve to exist. There is no room on this earth for you and me to both be at the same place at the same time.” Hatred starts to go into the elimination mode:

6. VIOLENCE

Hatred fuels violence. Violence says, “Before I eliminate you, you are going to feel my pain.” Violence is anger and hatred in action. It can take the form of verbal, emotional, physical or sexual abuse.

7. MURDER

Once violence erupts, the final fruit of bitterness is murder. This can be literal physical murder, premeditated murder which is murder of the heart or murder with the tongue which is gossip, slander or character trashing. When hatred, violence and murder are in a person’s life, they feel they are justified and that person is going to pay the price. Unfortunately the person does not realize that by this stage the devil has managed to get in and alter his body chemistry, causing diseases that are resulting in death of his own body.

If any one of these seven areas that answer to bitterness are present, the preceding ones are usually also there, and if they are not dealt with, all the rest will surely come. For example, if the person has hatred in his heart, un-forgiveness, resentment, retaliation and anger will also be there. You will not be able to remove bitterness from your life until you deal with un-forgiveness, resentment, retaliation, anger, hatred, violence and murder behind it.

WHY IT BITTERNESS SIN?

Romans 12 v 19 – 21; “19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave the way open for [God’s] wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay (requite), says the Lord. 20But if your enemy is hungry feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. 21Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome (master) evil with good.”

Isaiah 54 v 17: “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises up against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security and triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced]; this is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me [this is that which I impart to them as their justification], says the Lord.”

Zechariah 2 v 8 says that he who touches you touches the apple of God’s eye. When somebody wrongs you, those two scriptures above are God’s promise to you so long as you keep your heart right with Him. When you choose to forgive and overcome evil with good, you open the way for God’s wrath and you allow Him to repay the evil that was done to you and to be your Vindicator. However when you put yourself in God’s shoes and become your own vindicator and the judge of others, you are in disobedience to Scripture and you will reap the consequences of that:

Matthew 7 v 1 – 3:“1Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. 2For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you [use to] deal out to others; it will be dealt out against you. 3Why do you stare from without at the very small particle that is in your brother’s eye but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye?”

THERE IS JUST NO WAY AROUND FORGIVENESS

Mark 11 v 25-26: “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings.”

Without mastering this issue of forgiveness, I am wasting my time trying to help you overcome addictions. Forgiveness is a big missing link in healing. I will tell you emphatically that forgiveness is a prerequisite to all healing. There’s just no way around it. The promise of healing and divine health is yours as a child of God (Isaiah 53 v 5). However, with every promise God has a condition. You can’t claim His promises without being prepared to meet His conditions. In my book “Healing Begins with Sanctification of the Heart” I explain in detail why the condition for healing is repentance.

(An in depth teaching of why repentance is the condition for healing is explained on pages 24 – 44 in the 4th Edition of the book “Healing Begins with Sanctification of the Heart” as well as in session 5 of the DVD series “No Disease Is Incurable”– see website www.eagleswings.co.zw for details as to where the material is available)

Repentance involves asking God to forgive you for the sin (toxic mind-set) that caused your disease. Even with addictions, in your journey of healing, you will need to come to the place of asking God to forgive you for the low self-esteem, guilt, shame and condemnation behind it. When you repent to God for serving the sin that caused addictions, do you think He will forgive you and heal you? The answer is – it depends. You see, God’s forgiveness for you is conditional. The Bible tells you very clearly that you cannot ask God to forgive you, if you are not prepared to forgive all those who have hurt you and wronged you. Un-forgiveness is a major block to healing and it is one of the reasons why our churches are filled with disease.

GOD’S FORGIVENESS FOR YOU IS CONDITIONAL TO YOU FORGIVING OTHERS

Jesus said in Matthew 6 v 14-15:“For if you forgive people their trespasses [their wreck less and wilful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their wreck less and wilful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.”

Imagine the condition your life would be in if God refused to forgive you? You would be cut off from a relationship with Him and everything in your life would be a miserable mess of poverty and disease – spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially and physically. We like to think that we can stay angry with other people and yet go to God and receive forgiveness for our sins. But the Lord tells us in Matthew 6 v 14 – 15 that this is not so. God’s forgiveness for you is in direct relationship to how you forgive your brother.

Jesus taught us how to pray in Mathew 6 v 12: “Father forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven (left remitted and let go of the debts and have given up resentment against) our debtors.” God is a God of mercy (Psalm 57 v 10; Psalm 86 v 15) and this issue of forgiveness is very important to Him. As a believer you will not get anything from Heaven that you are not prepared to give away to others. So if you want to have forgiveness, you are going to have to give it away also. God tells us repeatedly in His Word that if we want mercy, we have to give mercy.

Mathew 5 v 7: “Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous – with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favour and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy!”

Mathew 18 v 21 – 22: “Then Peter came up to Him and said, Lord, how many times may my brother sin against me and I forgive him and let it go? [As many as] up to, seven times? Jesus answered him. I tell you, not up to seven times, but seventy times seven!”

I don’t know about you but I am personally very glad that God does not put a limit on how many times He forgives me. How many times have you done the same wrong thing at least seventy times seven, and God still forgave you for it? We are often willing to keep receiving and receiving forgiveness from God, but it is amazing how little we want to extend forgiveness to others. We freely accept mercy, yet it is surprising how rigid, legalistic and merciless we can be toward others, especially if they have wronged or hurt us in some way. Yet the Bible says that the debt we owe God is much greater than any debt anyone may owe us.

Matthew 18 v 23 – 35: “23Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a human king who wished to settle accounts with his attendants. 24When he began the accounting, one was brought to him who owed him 10 000 talents (probably about $10 000 000], 25And because he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and everything that he possessed, and payment to be made. 26So the attendant fell on his knees, begging him, Have patience with me and I will pay you everything. 27And his master’s heart was moved with compassion, and he released him and forgave him [cancelling] the debt. 28But the same attendant, as he went out, found one of his fellow attendants who owed him a hundred denarii [about $20 dollars]; and he caught him by the throat and said, Pay what you owe! 29So his fellow attendant fell down and begged him earnestly, Give me time, and I will pay you all! 30But he was unwilling, and he went out and had him put in prison till he should pay the debt. 31When his fellow attendants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and told everything that had taken place to their master. 32Then his master, called him and said, to him, “You contemptible, and wicked attendant! I forgave you and cancelled all that [great] debt of yours because you begged me to. 33And should you not have had pity and mercy on your fellow attendant, as I had pity and mercy on you?” 34And in wrath his master turned him over to the torturers (the jailers), till he should pay all that he owed. 35So also My heavenly Father will deal with every one of you if you do not freely forgive your brother from your heart his offenses.”

It is sometimes very difficult to forgive someone, especially when they have abused, repeatedly or deeply hurt or offended us. If there is someone you are having a hard time forgiving, remember God’s mercy, grace and forgiveness towards you. As you have received forgiveness, you are called to extend forgiveness. Un-forgiveness is a luxury of the flesh. It makes your flesh feel good at the time, but it will literally destroy you spiritually and physically. It is a luxury you cannot afford to have. If you want to hold onto your offense, resentment and un-forgiveness – you must also be prepared to hold on to and live with your illness. Many people can’t understand why their prayers for healing aren’t answered…yet they have un-forgiveness in their heart. There are people who go up for prayer every Sunday after church, month after month, year after year and still can’t get free of their bondage. They have fasted and prayed but the harder they try the more bondage they find themselves. Their prayers seem to be hitting a brick wall and the skies of heaven seem to be closed to their prayers.

YOUR HEALING HINGES ON YOUR FORGIVENESS

Many people have already made up their minds and have completely justified their feelings of un-forgiveness or resentment. They say things like, “I have every right to…” or “It was his fault, he is so in the wrong…” Was Jesus wronged? He was the only one who never sinned and never did any wrong to anyone. He was completely right! Yet He still said, “Father, forgive them” as He died on the cross. In Acts 7 v 50 – 60 we read about how Steven was stoned to death for witnessing about God:

Acts 7 v 55, 59 and 60: “55But he, full of the Holy Spirit and controlled by Him, gazed into heaven and saw the glory (the splendour and majesty) of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand;…59And while they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit! 60And falling on his knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them [lay it not to their charge]! And when he said this, he fell asleep in death].”

Wow! Did they do Stephen wrong? Certainly they did! He was the only one in the crowd who was right, yet as they stoned him to death, Stephen cried out to God, “Forgive them!” Wow! What I pray the Holy Spirit will reveal to you is that it makes no difference who was right or wrong, that is totally irrelevant. What is important is that you are the forgiver. It is important that you get your own heart right with God. You don’t have to prove that you are right, you have to prove that you are willing to forgive. Your flesh wants to hold onto that un-forgiveness because it wants justice… but the Bible says that it is God who vindicates us (Isaiah 54 v 17).

You don’t have to carry someone else’s sin inside you. That’s their sin. God will be their judge. Your job is to release and forgive them. Your freedom, spiritually and physically does not depend on their resolution – it depends on your resolution between you and God.

To be able to receive complete healing of your illness, you are going to have to make peace in your heart with every person that you have ever known and have it resolved before God concerning them. You don’t forgive people who have hurt you because you feel like it. You need to forgive them as an act of your will in obedience to God and His Word. Forgiveness is not a ritual performance: You don’t need to do it from an intellectual standpoint or because it’s a law – but do it from your heart: Forgiveness is an attitude of your heart towards others in love.

FORGIVENESS IS NOT A FEELING, IT IS A DECISION – AN ACT OF YOUR WILL

When you forgive others, you are not letting them off the hook, but you are giving them to God, still wriggling on the hook. You are now off the hook. When you forgive someone, you have got to separate the person from their sin, just as God separated you from your sin in His heart when He saved you. To forgive you don’t have to condone their sin. You continue to hate the sin, but you are commanded to love the person.

It doesn’t just stop at forgiveness, Jesus calls us much higher than that: Luke 6 v 27 – 38: “27But I say to you who are listening now to Me: [in order to heed, make it a practice to] love your enemies, treat well (do good to, act nobly toward) those who detest you and pursue you with hatred, 28Invoke blessings upon and pray for the happiness of those who curse you, implore God’s blessing (favour) upon those who abuse you [who revile, reproach, disparage, and high handedly misuse you]. 29To the one who strikes you on the jaw or cheek, offer the other jaw or cheek also; and from him who takes away your outer garment, do not withhold your undergarment as well. 30Give away to everyone who begs of you [who is in want of necessities], and of him who takes away from you your goods, do not demand or require them back again, 31And as you would like and desire that men would do to you, do exactly so to them. 32If you [merely] love those who love you, what quality of credit and thanks is that to you? For even the [very] sinners love their lovers (those who love them). 33And if you are kind and good and do favours to and benefit those who are kind and good and do favours to and benefit you, what quality of credit and thanks is that to you? For even the pre-eminently simple do the same. 34And if you lend money at interest to those whom you would hope to receive, what quality of credit and thanks is that to you? Even notorious sinners lend money at interest to sinners, so as to recover as much again. 35But love your enemies and be kind and do good [doing favours so that someone derives benefit from them] and lend, expecting and hoping for nothing in return but considering nothing as lost and despairing of no one; and then your recompense (your reward) will be great (rich, strong, intense and abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind and charitable and good to the ungrateful and the selfish and the wicked. 36So be merciful (sympathetic, tender, responsive, and compassionate) even as your Father is [all these]. 37Judge not [neither pronouncing judgment nor subjecting to censure], and you will not be judged; do not condemn and pronounce guilty, and you will not be condemned and pronounced guilty; acquit and forgive and release (give up resentment, let it drop), and you will be acquitted and forgiven and released. 38Give and [gifts] will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others], it will be measured back to you.”

Something is missing when you say that you forgive those who have hurt and offended you and go no further. Joyce Meyer once asked the Lord, “Father, why is it that people come to our church services and pray for the ability to forgive, and yet in just a short time they are right back again still having the same problems with bitterness, anger, and hypersensitivity?” The Lord showed her that these types of people are not doing what He instructs in His Word. You see, God tells us in His Word to forgive others – but He does not stop there. He goes on to instruct you to love and bless them. In this context, the word “bless” means to “speak well of”. So one of our problems is though we pray and try to forgive those who offend us, we turn right around and curse them with our tongue or we rehash the offense again and again with others. Sorry, but this will not work! It is not enough to merely say that you forgive others; you must be careful not to curse them or speak evil of them even if you think they deserve it.

To work through the process of forgiveness and enjoy the peace and wholeness in health that you seek, you must do what God tells you to do, which is not only to forgive, but to go beyond that: Jesus challenged you to pray for them, bless them, speak well of them and love them. Why? Because by doing so, you bless not only them, but yourself too! Jesus said in Luke 6 v 35 that your reward for your obedience in this area will be great, rich, strong, intense and abundant, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over…this includes your physical health.

Hating those who hurt you is like drinking poison yourself, but hoping that your enemy will die. Obviously anyone who did that would only be destroying himself. Why spend your life angry at people who probably do not even know or care that you are angry? These people are going on enjoying their lives while you are thoroughly miserable. You don’t have to allow somebody else’s sin to ruin your life. Release them, forgive them, let the offense go, let it drop. Have the same attitude that Jesus had toward His enemies. By doing this, you will experience wonderful freedom, peace, good health and God will show Himself strong as your Vindicator.

When you have bitterness and un-forgiveness you have a toxic long term memory in your brain. This toxic memory secretes toxic chemicals that can cause other sickness such as cancer in your body. Remember I also explained at the beginning of this chapter that science has shown that you cannot build a new healthy memory over a toxic memory of bitterness and un-forgiveness. That is why you cannot recover from a disease, regardless of what disease it is, if you have bitterness. That is why un-forgiveness is a major block to healing. However when you choose to release that bitterness by truly forgiving the person from your heart, you grow a new healthy memory of forgiveness in your brain. This memory produces healthy chemicals that flow through those old toxic memories of bitterness and literally physically removes the part of the memory that releases toxic chemicals. The memory will still be there so you will still remember what the person did to you but it won’t affect you. You’re no longer carrying the burden of hurt, hate and bitterness in your life. That high-octane ping will be gone and it will not cause sickness in your body.

TAKE THIS NEXT IMPORTANT STEP TO FREEDOM