Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: HLFT
Program Code: HLFT000003A
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00:27 Hello and welcome to "Heart Lift."
00:29 I'm Jill Morikone and I'm so glad 00:31 that you've joined us today. 00:33 We're on a journey toward hope, 00:35 toward healing, toward the transformation, 00:38 that the Lord Jesus wants to work 00:40 in your heart and mine, as women, 00:42 as daughters of God. 00:44 If you're just joining us, 00:46 last week we took a look at forgiveness, 00:49 we examined 1 John 1:9 were the Bible says, 00:53 "If we confess our sins, 00:55 the Lord Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us, 00:58 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 01:02 Now that doesn't mean necessarily 01:03 that we will feel forgiven at that movement. 01:06 But God's word is true. 01:08 He stands back of every promise He has made. 01:11 And as we choose to bring our minds, 01:14 our thoughts interline 01:17 with what the word of God says, 01:19 "God would change our feelings to match our faith." 01:22 That's a beautiful promise. 01:24 Today, we're discussing forgiving others. 01:28 Our scripture is Colossians 3:13. 01:32 If you have your Bible, 01:33 I encourage you to open up and to follow along. 01:36 If not, you can always jot down the reference 01:38 and look it up later. 01:40 Colossians 3:13, "Bearing with one another, 01:45 and forgiving one another, 01:48 if anyone has a complaint against another, 01:51 even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." 01:58 Let's pray. 01:59 Father, we come before You, thank You for Your forgiveness. 02:03 Thank You that we can stand in assurance 02:07 knowing that You have forgiven us. 02:09 And right now, Lord, we open up our hearts, 02:12 because we want to learn how to forgive 02:15 our brothers and sisters. 02:17 We pray that you would teach us, 02:19 and that we could listen and we thank You 02:21 for the anointing of your Holy Spirit, 02:24 in Jesus' name, amen. 02:28 It was a Monday night. 02:29 On Monday night, we go to our local jail 02:31 and we visit with the woman there 02:33 in the jail. 02:35 This particular Monday was a crowded night. 02:37 We never know who's gonna be in there. 02:40 So we never know how many girls we will have. 02:43 This Monday night in our little room, 02:45 we were packed in, 02:46 they sat four across on the desk 02:49 that line the walls, 02:52 they sit cross legged on the floor. 02:55 And I was squeezed in the corner 02:57 along with one of my sisters. 03:00 My friend from church 03:01 was leading the study that night, 03:02 and she was talking on the topic of forgiveness. 03:06 As she began to talk, 03:08 I looked around the circle at the girls. 03:10 And a lot of them 03:12 were not really into the studying. 03:14 It wasn't a fault of my friend who is leading, 03:16 it was just-- I don't know why. 03:20 It was the work of Satan, I'm, sure that was why, but I-- 03:23 Some of them I think come out just because they want to 03:26 get out of their jail cell and they say 03:28 "I just want to get out." 03:29 And so they come for that purpose. 03:31 Some come to hang and to talk with their friends, 03:34 and so they come for that purpose 03:36 and they were writing notes, 03:37 and passing them, and whispering. 03:40 And then some are eager, 03:41 want to read the word of God and they're just 03:44 riveted and focused. 03:47 As my friend was doing the study, 03:49 the girls were in various stages of interests, 03:52 some focused, some not. 03:55 About halfway through the study, 03:58 she began to share a personal testimony, 04:02 how her father had molested her when she was a child. 04:07 He was currently serving prison time. 04:10 Instantly the atmosphere in that room changed. 04:15 Every eye of those girls 04:17 all around the circle was focused, 04:19 because they might not have been 04:21 molested as children, but they all experienced pain. 04:24 They all experienced hurt. 04:27 They all experienced some sort of sadness 04:30 and they could identify in someway 04:33 with what my friend was saying. 04:35 I think no matter what pain we've gone through, 04:38 no matter what hurt, it still hurts and God says, 04:43 "I want to show you, 04:44 I want to pour my love into you." 04:46 So that in turn, you can forgive someone else. 04:52 I have some seeds over here by my chair, 04:57 right here by my chair. 05:00 They are different types of seeds. 05:03 We have an acorn that my husband Greg went out 05:06 and pulled some of these acorns. 05:09 There're some, I don't know if you identify 05:11 what this seed is, it's a green bean seed, 05:14 that we planted in last year's garden. 05:16 This over here is some corn that we pulled off 05:18 of a dried corn cob, 05:20 and at the end is some squash or some pumpkin seeds. 05:23 Now, if I want to plant, let say corn. 05:28 If I were to plant the corn, what would I harvest? 05:32 What would I get? 05:34 Now, I hope your gonna say, I'm going to get corn. 05:38 Because if you plant corn, you should, 05:43 you should receive corn. 05:44 If I plant corn, am I gonna harvest green beans? 05:48 No, at least it shouldn't work that way, 05:50 unless someone went into the garden 05:52 when I was sleeping at night, 05:54 and dug up the corn seeds and plant a green beans. 05:57 If you plant an acorn, are you gonna get corn? 06:00 No, you should get an oak tree. 06:05 The potential of the harvest is wrapped up in the seed. 06:10 The potential of the harvest is wrapped up in the seed. 06:13 The word of God is the same way. 06:16 When God wants to plant His word into our hearts, 06:21 He says, "I know the potential of the harvest 06:24 is inherit in the seed 06:26 I'm planting in your heart and I know 06:29 that it's gonna bring forth an abundant fruit." 06:32 I want you to turn with me to Luke Chapter 8, 06:35 Luke Chapter 8, we're gonna look at 06:37 the Parable of the Sower. 06:40 And this happens in several gospels, 06:42 so you don't have to look at in Luke 06:44 but I like the way Luke describes it. 06:46 We're gonna look at Luke 8:4, 5. 06:49 The Bible says, 06:50 "When a great multitude had gathered, 06:53 and they had come to him from every city, 06:55 he spoke by a parable. 06:58 A sower went out to sow his seed." 07:00 Now in the Bible times, 07:01 they sowed a little different than you and I might so. 07:06 We sow different, we have our machines 07:08 that are mechanicals devices today. 07:10 In the Bible times, the sower would have 07:12 some sort of sling, I don't know around him, 07:17 and he would reach in and he would grab the seeds 07:20 and he would toss them, 07:21 and then he would reach in and grab some more seeds 07:24 and he would toss them. 07:26 Now he wasn't planting probably corn or green beans, 07:29 or squash or acorns. 07:31 Probably he was planting, what did they plant? 07:33 They had barley, they had wheat, 07:37 they might have had some corn, 07:38 they had different types of crops. 07:40 He went out and planted. 07:44 It said "As he sowed, some fell by the way side, 07:47 and it was trampled down, 07:48 and the birds of the air devoured it." 07:51 Now I know in this parable, 07:53 in this story that Jesus told about the sower, 07:55 there's more types of ground, 07:56 there's a ground where that it was 07:58 chocked out by the thorns, some fell on the stony ground, 08:03 some fell on good ground and it had a 100 fold harvest. 08:08 We're only going to look at one type right now. 08:12 We're only looking at one type. 08:14 This is the seed that fell by the wayside. 08:17 And I want to look at the three hindrances 08:19 to planting the word of God in our hearts. 08:23 Remember the potential of the harvest 08:24 is wrapped in the seed, and God says, 08:27 "I want to plant my word deep into your hearts." 08:31 He wants to plant it into our hearts. 08:35 There are three different hindrances 08:37 to the word of God being planted in our hearts. 08:40 First, do you notice some of the seed 08:42 fell by the wayside. 08:43 Now, I like digging in and finding out 08:46 what is the origin or the root of that word. 08:49 The New Testament, excuse me, 08:51 the New Testament was written in Greek. 08:54 And if you look at the Greek word 08:56 for "Wayside" some of the seed feel by the wayside, 09:00 the word is "Hodos," it means a road. 09:04 Now I don't know about you but all the roads 09:05 I have seen are pretty hard, 09:08 it might be an asphalt road or pavement, 09:12 those are hard, gravels, pretty hard, 09:15 even if it's a dirt road. 09:16 If you drive down it long enough 09:18 and you get some rain, it hardens once it dries out. 09:21 Most roads are hard. 09:23 I think the first hindrance to God 09:26 planting His seed, His word into our hearts 09:29 is if we're resistant, if we're hard, 09:33 if we resist the work of the Holy Spirit. 09:36 My husband Greg and I-- 09:37 this was probably the first year 09:39 we were married, we had a disagreement. 09:41 Now, we've had more than one disagreement, 09:43 but this particular one, 09:45 at this point I can't tell you what we disagreed about. 09:47 I didn't even know what the argument was about. 09:50 All I know is I was right, 09:53 and he was not right, he was wrong. 09:56 And I knew that and so, I said, 09:58 "I'm not going to him 09:59 and I'm not going to apologize", 10:02 because I was right and my husband was not. 10:07 And so I went about the day and all of a sudden Greg 10:09 came to me he said, "Jilly, let's pray" 10:11 and I said, "I don't want to pray" 10:14 'cause if I pray, God's gonna say, 10:19 "Jill you were wrong 10:21 or at least your attitude was wrong" 10:25 And I didn't want to face that, but I knew I should pray, 10:29 and so Greg and I knelt down at the couch to pray. 10:33 I'll never forget he prayed first 10:36 and I was very thankful for that, 10:37 because I thought 10:39 if I pray first, it looks like I was wrong, 10:40 so I didn't want to pray first, 10:42 but my husband Greg prayed first 10:44 and I'll never forget what he said. 10:46 He said, "God forgive me, 10:49 for not being the husband to Jill 10:52 that I should be." 10:53 Now, he did not pray that prayer 10:55 to manipulate my heart, it was what was in his heart. 10:59 And as soon as he said that, 11:01 the Holy Spirit used that prayer to break 11:06 down my hard heart, my resistance to the work 11:12 that he wanted to do in my heart. 11:14 Sometimes we're resistant. 11:16 We resist the work that the Holy Spirit 11:19 wants to do in our heart, 11:20 we become like the wayside, we become hard. 11:25 Turn with me to Hosea, Hosea 10:12 11:30 it talks about this hardness, it says, 11:32 "Sow to yourselves righteousness, 11:35 reap in mercy, breakup your fallow ground, 11:40 it's time to seek the Lord, till he come 11:42 and rain righteousness upon you." 11:45 Sow to yourselves in righteousness. 11:48 How do you break up a hard field? 11:51 How do you break up something that's, 11:53 that's hard? 11:54 You know, I think one of the best ways 11:55 is a gentle rain. 11:57 Have you ever seen that work? 11:59 If you have a hard pounding rain, 12:01 what's gonna happen? 12:02 If the soil is hard, it's gonna run off. 12:05 None of it will penetrate or absorb 12:08 into the hard soil, but if you have a gentle 12:11 soaking rain, it opens up the soil. 12:15 Another way you can break up a hard ground, 12:18 possibly is by using a rototiller. 12:20 We do that every spring, breaking up all those clods, 12:23 and getting the garden ready for planting again, 12:26 making it soft so that those seeds can go in the soil. 12:31 Now when you do a rototiller, 12:33 if it's too dry, that doest work, 12:35 and if it's too wet when you do it, 12:37 eventually you're gonna get clods 12:39 and you have soil compaction. 12:41 So you need the right balance, 12:42 the right mix when you're using your rototiller. 12:46 And I just think God says, "I want to break up, 12:49 Jill, I want to break up your hard heart. 12:51 I want to break up that resistance 12:54 to the work of my Holy Spirit." 12:56 God breaks it up by 12:57 the gentle rain of His Holy Spirit. 12:59 He breaks it up by the washing of the water of His word. 13:05 Turn with me to Jeremiah 29, 13:07 Jeremiah 29:11, the first way 13:11 that we can be resistant, 13:14 the first hindrance I should say, 13:16 the first hindrance that we have in our lives 13:19 till God planting His seed in is to be resistant. 13:22 The second hindrance is when it's trampled. 13:25 Remember in Luke 8 it said, 13:28 "Some seed fell on the roadside", 13:30 the wayside that was the resistant soil, 13:33 and it said, "And it was trampled." 13:37 God says in Jeremiah 29:11, 13:40 "I know the plans, I have for you", 13:41 says the Lord, plans to prosper you 13:43 and not to harm you. 13:45 Plans to give you a future and a hope. 13:47 God has a beautiful plan for our lives, 13:51 for your life, but so many times, 13:54 the enemy tramples on our heart. 13:58 What are the ways that 13:59 Satan has trampled on your heart? 14:01 What are the ways that he has trampled on that 14:04 soil in your heart? 14:06 I think one of the ways he tramples is by 14:08 confusing the character of God. 14:12 It was another Monday night 14:13 and we were there in jail with the girls. 14:18 We stood to pray and then after prayer, 14:21 we were doing our prayer request 14:24 and I was not really paying attention 14:26 as much as I should, I'm just being honest with you. 14:28 Someone else was doing the prayer request 14:30 and my mind was wondering a little bit. 14:32 And all of a sudden I heard a woman say, 14:35 "My name is Crystal." 14:36 And I looked over her and I thought, 14:38 "I haven't seen her before." 14:39 And I said, "Hey, Crystal, I'm glad you're here. 14:43 Have you been here before?" 14:44 And she said, "No", and she folded her arms 14:47 across her chest, she said, 14:49 "No, I've never been to church before. 14:51 I have no use for God." 14:54 Her vehement startled me and I said, 14:57 "It's okay, we're just so glad 14:59 that you're here Crystal, it's okay." 15:02 And then, later as we got into our study, 15:07 I prayed silently and I said, 15:09 "God show us the key to her heart. 15:12 What's causing the bitterness? What's causing the anger? 15:16 What's going on in her heart? What is the key to her heart?" 15:20 'Cause I didn't know, but I know 15:22 that the Lord Jesus Christ did. 15:24 And so, we were discussing bitterness, 15:26 we were discussing the un-forgiveness 15:28 that we hold on to. 15:30 And all of a sudden halfway through the study, 15:32 a significant shift occurred. 15:35 A woman raised her hand and she said, 15:36 "You all know I have cancer. 15:39 However, I'm here to tell you that I believe I got cancer, 15:43 because I held on to a resentment for years." 15:48 As soon as she said that, I kind of crunched inside. 15:51 Not that our emotions don't affect 15:55 our physical health, I agree with that 15:57 and I believe that, but I didn't want 15:59 any of our girls there in jail to feel like something 16:03 that happened to them was their own fault. 16:05 And before I could even speak, 16:07 I took a breath and I thought what am I supposed to say. 16:09 Before I could even speak, Crystal spoke, 16:15 she said, "What kind of resentment 16:16 does a kid have? 16:17 Does a kid hold on to that would cause cancer?" 16:22 And I took a deep breath and started to speak 16:25 and then she lashed out again, 16:27 she said, "My eight year old son 16:30 died of cancer, six months ago." 16:35 She said, "You cannot tell me, 16:38 that because of his resentment 16:40 or because of something he did that he got cancer." 16:44 Instantly understanding flooded my mind. 16:47 Here was the source of her pain with God, 16:51 and I said, "Crystal, tell me something, 16:54 of course it was not your son's fault 16:57 that he got cancer. 16:59 Tell me do you believe that God caused his cancer?" 17:04 And she said, "No." 17:06 She said, "But he could have stopped it and he didn't." 17:10 And so we began to talk about 17:13 Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 17:16 How God created them with free choice 17:18 and how they made the choice to sin 17:20 and the results of sin and suffering and misery, 17:25 that we see on this planet we call earth, 17:28 we call home. 17:30 We talked about how God has to allow sin to ripe in 17:34 and bear fruit in order that we all 17:37 can see the result of following Satan's way, 17:40 the result of rebellion. 17:42 I think one of the ways Satan tramples on us, 17:45 this woman is by confusing the character of God. 17:49 Maybe you've heard some of his lies. 17:52 He says, "God causes pain, misery and suffering." 17:58 We know that's a lie from the enemy. 18:00 Jesus says in John 10:10, 18:02 "Satan comes to steal, kill and to destroy, 18:05 I have come that you would have life, 18:08 and have it more abundantly." 18:11 Maybe you've heard another one of his lies. 18:14 "God can't love you, God can't love you." 18:17 The Bible says in 1 John 3:1, 18:19 "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, 18:23 that we should be called the sons and daughters of God." 18:27 Also in John 16:27, he says, "The Father himself loves you." 18:34 Many times we think of the God in the Old Testament 18:37 as being harsh, as being stern, 18:40 has being unforgiving, yet at the same time, 18:44 we see the God of the New Testament 18:46 as being loving. 18:47 Jesus says there in John 16, he says, 18:50 "The Father himself loves you." That means, God the Father. 18:56 The God of the Old Testament loves us. 18:59 What about one of these lies? 19:01 God wants to keep you in bondage. 19:04 Jesus says in John 10:10 again, 19:06 "I am come that you would have life, 19:08 and have it more abundantly." 19:12 Also John 8:36, "Whoever the Son sets free, 19:18 is free indeed." 19:20 Satan is the one who wants to keep us in bondage. 19:24 God is the one who wants to set us free. 19:28 Isn't it interesting how Satan so twists 19:31 our understanding that we attribute 19:33 the character traits of Satan to God. 19:36 He so twisted that up. 19:39 The first way, the enemy tramples on us 19:41 is by confusing the character of God. 19:44 The second way he does is through abuse or neglect, 19:49 through pain in your life. 19:52 I was at a women's conference, 19:53 I was not conducting the conference, 19:55 I was attending. 19:56 And they had us break up into groups of two or three 20:00 and a woman came and said, 20:01 "Jill, I would like to pray with you." 20:02 And I said, "Absolutely." 20:05 And we went into the another room to pray, 20:08 and she began to weep, she said, 20:11 "Her dad went to prison for molesting her daughter." 20:17 Now I can't even begin to fathom the pain 20:20 that, that entails. 20:21 The hurt that is in that precious woman's heart, 20:25 the anger, the bitterness, abuse. 20:29 Satan does a pretty good job 20:31 of trampling on us with that abuse. 20:35 Think of Joseph, remember the story of Joseph. 20:39 His brother sold him as a slave. 20:43 Now, maybe some of it was a result of his own choices. 20:46 He told them about his dreams. 20:48 He might have been a little cocky, 20:50 I don't know, but some of it was 20:52 through no choice of his own. 20:54 His father is the one who made him 20:56 the code of color, many colors. 20:58 His father is the one who especially 21:01 showed favoritism to him and created that jealousy 21:05 with the brothers against him. 21:07 Whatever the reason, 21:08 Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt. 21:11 And remembers at the very end of their life, 21:14 after Jacob had already passed away, 21:16 the brothers were in Egypt. 21:18 The brothers began to get worried 21:20 and they said, "I don't know, 21:22 maybe Joseph has just been nice to us 21:24 'cause daddy's been alive, 21:25 but now I don't know if he's gonna be 21:27 nice to us anymore." 21:29 Genesis 50:20, Joseph says, "As for you, 21:35 you men evil against me, but God meant it for good, 21:40 in order to bring about this day 21:42 to save many people alive." 21:44 God meant it for good. 21:48 God will bring justice. 21:50 God will even the scores of justice. 21:52 It doesn't mean that, 21:54 what was done to you was right, it doesn't mean that. 21:58 It felt good. 22:00 All I'm saying is that God can bring justice, 22:04 and that in the midst of the pain, 22:06 in the midst of the hurt, 22:08 God can pour in His healing into your life, 22:13 into your heart. 22:14 Satan tramples on by confusing the character of God. 22:17 He tramples on us through abuse 22:20 and he tramples on us through offences. 22:23 Maybe someone at church, 22:25 someone at homes, someone in your jobs, 22:27 someone at school, maybe a stranger. 22:31 Maybe they're giving you the cold shoulder. 22:33 Maybe they're gossiping about you 22:35 or telling lies about you or your family. 22:38 Maybe you've been betrayed. 22:41 Maybe someone is broken into your home 22:42 and stolen something. 22:45 Maybe someone has murdered someone 22:47 that you love dearly, whatever the pain, 22:51 whatever the hurt, God asks us to forgive. 22:55 Now, I know it seems impossible. 22:57 Next program we're gonna talk about 22:59 how we actually can forgive. 23:01 But turn very quickly with me to Matthew, 23:03 Matthew Chapter 6, 23:07 "Forgiveness is not optional for the Christian." 23:09 Matthew 6:14, 15, "If you forgive men 23:13 their trespasses..." 23:15 my Bible says, we could say sin. 23:17 "If we forgive men their sin against us, 23:19 our Heavenly father will also forgive us. 23:23 However if we do not forgive men their sins, 23:27 neither will our Father in Heaven forgive us." 23:31 God is not being mean or harsh here, 23:33 it's simply a kingdom principle. 23:36 How can He work in our lives if we won't let Him in? 23:39 If we don't give Him access to our hearts? 23:43 If we hold on to feelings of revenge or bitterness? 23:48 I don't know what pain you have experienced. 23:50 I don't know what hurt there has been 23:52 in your past or maybe right now in the present. 23:55 The Lord Jesus sees and He knows 23:58 and He wants to pour His forgiveness 24:01 into your hearts, 24:02 so you constantly don't have to be 24:04 damaged by the person. 24:06 Next program, we will look at how God does that, 24:10 the steps and the keys for experiencing 24:12 that forgiveness. 24:13 But first, we need to take a break. 24:14 We're gonna give you some practical application, 24:17 something practical you can tape, 24:19 you can work this week on this principle, 24:22 this topic of forgiveness. |
Revised 2018-09-12