Participants: Jill Morikone
Series Code: HLFT
Program Code: HLFT000005A
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00:26 Hello, and welcome to Heart Lift.
00:28 I'm Jill Morikone, and I'm so glad that 00:30 you've joined us today. 00:32 We're on a journey, in the middle of a journey toward 00:35 healing, toward hope, toward the transformation that the Lord 00:40 Jesus Christ, wants to work in your life and in mine, 00:43 as women of God, as daughters of the King. 00:47 If you've just joined us, we're in the middle of several 00:51 programs dealing with the concept of forgiveness. 00:54 Two programs ago we talked about the parable, the story, 00:58 that Jesus told in Luke 8 about the sower who went 01:03 forth to sow his seed. 01:05 It fell on the wayside. 01:07 We talked about the hindrances in our own hearts for God 01:12 when He wants to plant His word deep, 01:14 and sometimes we put up roadblocks. 01:16 Sometimes we have hindrances that we put up to keep God from 01:21 planting His word in our hearts. 01:23 One of those hindrances is when we're resistant to the work 01:27 of the Holy Spirit. 01:28 We're like the road; we've become hard. 01:31 And God said, Surrender to Me. 01:33 I can plow up that hard soil, and I can make it soft. 01:37 Next, some of the seed was trampled upon. 01:42 We talked about how each one of us experience trampling on. 01:47 Sometimes Satan confuses the character of God. 01:50 Sometimes its an abuse, or some sort of pain, some wrong that 01:55 someone else has done you. 01:56 We discussed last program on the deliverance that the Lord 02:00 Jesus Christ wants to do in each one of our hearts and lives. 02:04 He says, Simply pray. 02:06 Ask for My forgiveness. 02:08 Pray for the person who hurt you. 02:11 Surrender the desire for revenge. 02:14 And choose to process those steps until God 02:17 releases our heart. 02:18 Today we're going to discuss forgiving other people. 02:21 How do we ask for forgiveness when we're the ones 02:24 who have done wrong? 02:25 And, finally, we'll end with the stolen seed. 02:30 The sower casts forth his seed on the road. 02:33 Some was trampled, and some the birds ate. It was stolen. 02:37 We're going to end with that stolen seed. 02:39 First is our Scripture, Hebrews 12:14, 15. 02:44 The word of God says, Pursue peace with all people, 02:48 and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 02:52 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; 02:57 lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, 03:01 and by this many become defiled. 03:05 Lets pray. Father we come before You. 03:09 Thank You for the forgiveness that You want to pour into our 03:13 hearts for our brothers and sisters. 03:16 We praise Your name for that. 03:18 Right now we open up our hearts for Your divine inspection. 03:21 We ask that You would show us, show us if there's any 03:25 bitterness, or any aught against us and a brother and sister. 03:29 I just pray that You could hide me, and that You could speak 03:33 to our hearts, that You could be seen. 03:36 And we thank You in the precious and holy name of Jesus, Amen. 03:41 Greg and I like to garden. 03:45 I think I could honestly say that Greg is a much better 03:49 gardener than I am, and that he enjoys it even more than I do. 03:53 He loves nothing better than the wind in his hair, 03:55 and his hands in the dirt, the sun on his face. 03:59 Now I like to go outside, and I love working in my flower beds. 04:02 But Greg loves any type of gardening: working with the 04:05 tractor, plowing up the soil, working in the garden. 04:10 He likes weeding, he likes hoeing, he likes fertilizing, 04:15 he loves our raspberries, and our blueberries, and our apple 04:20 trees, which sadly died. 04:21 But any type of gardening, he really likes. 04:24 One of my special loves is herbs. I love herbs. 04:28 I like fresh herbs. 04:30 To me they're much more economical. 04:32 It's a lot cheaper if you're cooking to use fresh herbs, 04:36 if you grow them from the garden. 04:39 If you buy them in the store, they're quite expensive. 04:42 So I really like to use fresh herbs. 04:45 They taste better, and they're cheaper if 04:48 you grow them yourself. 04:50 On the South side of our garage, we planted an herb garden. 04:54 Now I had your traditional herbs. 04:57 There's some Basil, there's some Parsley, there's some Oregano, 05:01 some Cilantro, some Thyme. 05:03 One year someone gave us some mint, and they said, Oh Jill, 05:08 you're going to love this. 05:09 Now if you garden you know exactly where 05:11 this story is going. 05:13 What happened: the first year the mint filled in very nicely, 05:17 and I was very pleased with the results. 05:20 The second year, you know what happened? 05:21 It began to overtake and overrun my garden. 05:27 My Basil was boxed in. 05:29 The Cilantro was crowded. 05:31 And the Oregano was overrun. 05:34 It even went out into the grass. 05:36 And when Greg would mow the grass, you know what happened? 05:39 You could smell the mint, and it smelled really good, 05:42 but that was not the point. 05:44 I didn't want mint everywhere. 05:46 So we yanked, and we pulled, and we tried to pull it up, 05:49 and nothing worked. 05:51 Finally what we did is we used good old fashioned weed killer, 05:55 and we sprayed the entire herb garden, 05:58 and we let it rest for a year. 06:01 When I planted my herb garden again on the South side of my 06:06 garage, you can be sure I did not plant mint, 06:11 or if I did, I would have put it in a container box. 06:14 But I was so burned on it, I didn't even plant mint. 06:18 I think the root of bitterness is something like that mint. 06:22 It invades us, and in the beginning we think 06:24 it's not such a bad thing. 06:26 But then pretty soon it spreads, it grows, it multiplies until 06:33 it effects us, our homes, our marriages, our kids, our church, 06:39 our ministry, our place of work. 06:42 Bitterness spreads, but the beautiful thing is 06:45 that God's love wins. 06:48 In John 13, John 13, let me jump over here. 06:54 This is Jesus speaking, and I like to think of John 13, 14, 06:59 15, 16, 17 as Jesus' last will and testament, as it were. 07:04 He's just completed the foot washing with the disciples. 07:07 They're getting ready, He's getting ready 07:09 to go to the cross, and He's on His way to the 07:12 Garden of Gethsemane. 07:13 But yet He takes time with those twelve men that He loved, 07:18 that He was training for service, and He shared with them 07:22 some last minute pointers, you could say, as it were. 07:26 John 13:34, 35. He says, A new commandment I give to you, 07:33 That you love one another; as I have loved you, 07:37 that you also love one another. 07:40 By this all will know that you are My disciples, 07:44 if you have love one for another. 07:47 And as I read that verse, it seems like I hear God speak 07:50 to my mind and He says, Jill, do you have love 07:53 for your brothers and sisters? 07:54 It's easy to be kind to those who are kind to us in return. 08:00 It's painless to reach out to those without prickles. 08:03 It's easy to love those who love us back. 08:08 The real test comes when the loving costs us something; 08:13 when it's uncomfortable, when it hurts. 08:17 I received a letter from a woman once who decided to address 08:21 some of the issues that she saw in my life. 08:24 Now I'm just being honest with you. 08:26 I think there was some valid points, and there were some 08:30 issues that I really had that I should look at. 08:32 And, I'm being honest with you, I think some 08:34 of it wasn't so valid. 08:36 But maybe that's just my own opinion. 08:38 So some was good, and maybe some I shouldn't 08:42 have taken to heart. 08:43 But at the beginning I couldn't even focus on any of that. 08:47 All I felt was the sting of what she had written. 08:50 And as I prayed over it, I didn't know how to deal with it. 08:54 And I tried praying for her, and I started working 08:57 through this in my life. 08:59 And that morning I was in Romans, Romans 15, 09:04 for my own personal devotions. 09:06 And I was reading Romans 15, and I came to verse 5. 09:11 It says, Now may the God of patience and comfort 09:15 grant you to be like-minded toward one another 09:19 according to Christ Jesus: that you may with one mind 09:23 and one mouth glorify God. 09:26 And as I read it I said, God, I know I'm not like-minded 09:31 toward this sister who just wrote me this letter, 09:33 but I want to be. And I kept reading. 09:36 Verse 7. Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also 09:42 received us, to the glory of God. 09:45 And it's like I felt God tap me on the shoulder. 09:50 And He said, Jill, I've received you. 09:56 I've accepted you as My daughter. 09:58 Don't you think you could accept and receive this other woman? 10:03 this woman who wrote you this letter? 10:06 And I said, Okay, God, I'm sorry. 10:07 I want to receive her as my sister. 10:10 Please teach me how. 10:12 And He led me on those steps of forgiveness, on those steps 10:17 of releasing and becoming free from that bitterness 10:21 that I was bound with. 10:23 But what if you say you've dealt with that. 10:27 And you've dealt with maybe the people who have hurt you, 10:29 but what if you have hurt someone else? 10:32 What if there's pain, and there's angst in your life, 10:35 and you have injured someone? 10:37 You've lied about someone. 10:39 You've stole from someone else. 10:41 You've gossipped about them. 10:43 Maybe you're the one who pulled the trigger on someone else. 10:47 I don't know what's going on in your heart right now. 10:50 If we've hurt, if we've offended other people, 10:54 God has a solution for that as well. 10:57 I think there's five steps specifically when we're asking 11:00 for forgiveness for other people. 11:03 1. Pray for God to show you who you have wronged. 11:08 I think this is very important. 11:10 Many times we don't see our hearts. 11:13 We don't see our lies. 11:14 We don't see the way that we have hurt, or that we have 11:18 injured other people. 11:20 So just go to God. 11:21 I love Psalm 139. Search me, O God, and know my heart: 11:25 try me, and know my thoughts: and show me the wickedness 11:30 that exists in my life. 11:31 So just go to God and say, God, what is in my life? 11:35 Who have I hurt, even unintentionally? 11:39 I remember once a woman came up to me and she said, 11:42 Jill you have hurt me excruciatingly. 11:46 And you know the truth? I had no idea. 11:49 I had never intended anything in my heart. 11:52 I was glad she told me. 11:55 But if they don't tell you, what are we supposed to do? 11:57 Go to God. He can show us. 12:00 He can show us what's in our heart, and if we need to ask 12:03 forgiveness of someone else. 12:05 2. Ask for their forgiveness. 12:08 I think the most important thing would be to do it in person, 12:12 if you can. I think that's best. 12:14 But what if you can't? 12:15 What if they live a long way away? 12:17 What if you're uncomfortable, and a little afraid 12:20 what you're going to say. 12:21 You can always detail it out. 12:23 You can write it in a letter. 12:25 3. Be specific. Don't say, I'm sorry if I offended you. 12:29 I'm sorry if I hurt you. 12:31 That puts it right back on the other person. 12:33 Be specific. Say I know what I said here was damaging, 12:38 or whatever, whatever you did. Be specific. 12:42 4. Make restitution. 12:46 If possible make the wrong right. 12:49 If you stole some money, pay it back. 12:52 I think of Zacchaeus. 12:53 Remember he was climbing up, and he was in the Sycamore 12:56 tree, so that he could see Jesus. 12:59 He was a tax collector. 13:01 When Jesus came what did He do? 13:04 He said, Zacchaeus come down. 13:06 I'm going to your house. 13:07 Zacchaeus came down and he said, Lord who ever I have wronged, 13:10 who ever I have hurt, I'm going to repay fourfold. 13:16 It's a Biblical principle, restitution. 13:20 Maybe you've gossiped about someone. 13:23 You can go back and tell the truth. 13:25 That's eating some humble pie. 13:27 Now I don't mean to the person you gossiped about, 13:29 I mean to the people that you, all the other people you told. 13:33 Go back and say, You know what? 13:34 I talked about so and so. 13:36 I should never have done that. I'm sorry. 13:38 First pray and ask for God to show you who you need 13:43 to ask forgiveness for? 13:44 Second, ask for their forgiveness. 13:46 Either write a letter or in person. 13:48 Third, be specific in how you've hurt them. 13:51 4. Make restitution. 13:53 And 5. Trust God to heal the relationship in His time. 13:59 Healing takes time. 14:00 Once you've asked for forgiveness, 14:03 and done all you can to make it right, simply trust God 14:07 to make it right in His time. 14:09 I remember there was a woman, I'll call her Mary, 14:13 this was years ago. 14:15 I did something and God brought to my mind several years later. 14:21 He brought to my mind what I had done, and He said, 14:24 Jill you need to make it right. 14:25 And I said, God I don't even know where she lives. 14:28 This is over ten years ago when I did that. 14:30 I knew her then, but I haven't kept in touch 14:34 with her in ten years. 14:35 How am I going to find her? 14:38 What if she doesn't live in the same house? 14:39 You know it's too difficult God. 14:41 I'm not going to do that. 14:42 But He didn't let me off the hook that easily. 14:45 Every day as I was having my devotional time with God 14:48 in the morning, He said, Write Mary a letter. 14:52 Write Mary a letter. And I said, Okay. 14:56 And so I sat down and I began to write a letter to Mary. 15:02 I explained, I was specific. 15:05 I said, These are the ways I hurt you, and I am sorry. 15:08 Specific in what I had done. 15:11 I mailed the letter, and I didn't know if she still 15:15 lived at that address. 15:16 I just took a chance. 15:17 And so the amazing thing is a week went by and I thought, 15:20 Oh, she's gotten it by now. 15:22 What's she going to think? 15:24 What's she going to say? 15:25 I didn't hear anything. 15:27 But that barely had time for her to get the letter. 15:29 Two weeks went by, nothing. 15:31 Two months went by, nothing. 15:35 Six months, nothing. 15:38 A year, nothing. Remember step 5. Trust God to heal 15:46 the relationship in His time. 15:48 And so I prayed and I said, God I don't know 15:52 what to do with this. 15:54 I've done all I can. 15:55 And He said, Jill you've done what you can. 15:56 There's nothing else you can do. Trust Me. 16:00 And so I said, Okay, but it sure feels good if the person you've 16:04 asked forgiveness for, if they come back 16:05 and say, I do forgive you. 16:07 I met her at a convention. 16:10 And I just bumped into her. 16:12 And she never comes to this convention. 16:14 But I bumped into her, and she said, 16:15 Oh thanks for that letter Jill. It meant a lot. 16:18 And God said, Now I have brought your relationship full circle. 16:24 Now I have brought the healing that I intended 16:28 to do in the beginning. 16:29 We talked about the sower, how he went forth to sow. 16:34 Remember there was the wayside, the road, the resistant heart. 16:38 Then some of the seed was trampled on. 16:40 Some of the other seed was stolen. 16:45 How was the seed stolen? 16:47 How do you know if the seed, the word of God, is being stolen 16:51 right out from under your nose? right out of your heart? 16:55 I think the seed is stolen sometimes by our busyness. 17:00 I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm so busy it takes 17:04 time even to get into the word of God. 17:05 And I say, I've got five verses. 17:07 Done, done, okay, I'm done! Next thing God! 17:10 I didn't take time. 17:13 I didn't savor His presence. 17:15 I didn't read and study. 17:18 So sometimes the word of God is stolen right 17:20 out because I'm busy. 17:21 I think another way it's stolen is because I become careless, 17:26 or maybe I'm lazy. 17:28 We have a lot of deer in our neighborhood. 17:32 We live in the country. 17:33 I've mentioned that before. 17:34 I think we've counted twenty-five at one time. 17:38 But usually they don't all come through our yard at once. 17:42 We have two or three, and then another two or three, 17:45 and then another two or three. 17:48 They love to come in. 17:50 They go in our garden, and they eat up the stuff. 17:53 That is not very pleasant. 17:55 And I've tried to run out and chase them. 17:57 We have a fence. It has electricity. 18:00 But they can get in our garden. 18:02 They eat my azalea bushes on the north side of the house, 18:07 and that doesn't make me too happy either. 18:10 And they can even come in; they cross the sidewalk 18:14 and they dig my tulip bulbs out right in front of my house. 18:19 Now, they're not very lazy, are they? 18:23 They get in, they get what they want. 18:26 But sometimes I can become lazy. 18:30 I cannot pay attention. 18:31 Maybe there's more things, more steps, something we could do 18:36 to prevent them from coming in as much. 18:39 And I just get careless, or lazy. 18:42 I think the third way the seed is stolen is by misunderstanding 18:47 of the seed's value. 18:49 It was another Monday night, we were having our study in jail. 18:54 And all of a sudden I heard a woman scream. 18:57 And I was startled, but I looked around the circle of women, 19:02 and they didn't seem startled at all. 19:04 They were just focused on the study. 19:06 My friend from church was leading the study, 19:08 and she said, How many of you have heard of the story of 19:10 Daniel and the Lions Den? 19:12 Not a single hand went up. 19:14 Just as she launched into the story of Daniel and the 19:18 Lion's Den, the scream came again. 19:21 And I said, I can't, I can't focus. 19:24 I don't know how they could focus and block it out. 19:27 And so I said, I'm so sorry to interrupt. 19:30 What's wrong? Who's screaming? 19:33 Do they need help? 19:35 They kind of rolled their eyes, and looked at each other, 19:38 and they said, Oh, that's Amber. 19:41 We'll call her that. 19:42 That's not her real name. 19:43 She's been in and out of jail before. She's crazy. 19:47 Amber, Amber? I kept trying to think about it. 19:51 Where had I heard the name Amber before? 19:53 And then it hit me, she'd been in jail before. 19:57 I remembered her. She came to our Bible study. 20:00 But what had happened? 20:02 Why was she coming back to jail again? 20:05 The study continued, and I have to admit my mind was not very 20:09 focused on the study. 20:10 Because all I could think about was Amber, and would they let 20:13 us go pray with her? 20:15 Many times when we come into jail, we walk in, 20:19 we do our study, we walk out. 20:22 They don't let us wander the halls. 20:24 They don't let us go visit people in cells. 20:27 It's very strict, and so I didn't know if they 20:30 would let us do that. 20:31 We said goodbye to the girls. 20:32 I walked up to the guards desk and I said, Hey, I wondered, 20:37 is there any chance you would let me go visit Amber? 20:40 He looked tired. Amber, he said, She's probably been 20:44 in and out fifteen times. 20:47 She no sooner gets out and she gets picked up again. 20:51 He said, She's ruined her mind with bath salts. 20:56 Sure, you can go pray with her. 20:59 And so I started walking, walking down the corridor, 21:03 and he followed behind me, hand on the gun at his belt. 21:08 Before we even got to the window, 21:11 Amber stepped up to the glass and she said, Hey lady, 21:14 come over here. I want to talk to you. 21:17 And so I stepped up and I said, Hi Amber. 21:19 My name is Jill. I came to talk with you, 21:22 if that's okay with you. 21:24 So we made small talk; had a pretty good discussion. 21:29 And then I said, I'd love to pray with you, 21:32 if that's okay with you. 21:35 She began to get agitated. 21:37 I don't need prayer. 21:39 I don't want prayer. 21:40 Then she stepped right up to the glass. 21:43 There's a glass window in the door there in 21:46 solitary confinement. 21:48 She stepped right up to the glass. 21:51 She said, Oh lady, look at your teeth. 21:53 You have pretty teeth. 21:56 And I said, Oh Amber, I'm sorry I can't give you my teeth. 22:01 But I'd love to pray with you. 22:04 No, no, no, she said. 22:07 I don't want prayer. 22:08 Oh, but your teeth! 22:10 Look at your teeth! 22:11 That's what I want; teeth like that. 22:15 Amber, I said, We can talk to the God of the universe. 22:20 Look at those teeth! 22:22 Tears filled my eyes, and I turned away. 22:27 We could have talked to the Creator God, the God of the 22:32 universe, the God who can do anything, 22:36 and all she wanted was my teeth. 22:40 Later that night as I drove home, I thought of the 22:46 tremendous gift she had cast aside. 22:49 It wasn't purposeful. 22:51 She simply had no idea of the power of our King. 22:58 And then in the recesses of my mind, in the quietness of my 23:03 heart God reminded me that I, too, have been like Amber. 23:09 I have prayed for teeth. 23:14 Haven't I desired advice from people, but neglected to seek 23:21 my Father who says, If you lack wisdom, just come to Me. 23:25 Haven't I trembled with fear instead of seeking His face? 23:30 When have I had not because I asked not? 23:37 I don't know about you. 23:39 I don't know in your life, have you been praying for teeth? 23:44 Are you settling for second best when God says, 23:49 I love you. I made you. 23:52 I have a plan for your life. 23:55 I long to bring you deliverance from your bitterness, 24:01 from your unforgiveness, from the pain that just hangs on your 24:07 chest, or constricts your shoulders. 24:09 I want to bring you forgiveness. 24:12 I want to pour My forgiveness into your life so that you can 24:16 extend it to others, so that you can go, and if you have hurt, 24:20 if you have wronged someone else, can go and ask 24:24 for forgiveness from them. 24:26 When have we had not, because we ask not? 24:30 Come to the Lord Jesus. 24:31 Ask, ask for His forgiveness, ask for His cleansing, 24:36 ask that He would pour His forgiveness into your life, 24:40 so that you could extend it to others. 24:43 We're going to take a short break here. 24:45 We want to do a practical application, something that you 24:49 can take with you, something that you can do this week 24:53 that will help you on this journey. 24:55 In our next program we're going to discuss fear. 24:58 All of those aspects of fear, and what God wants 25:01 to do in our lives. |
Revised 2016-05-02