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Series Code: TDY
Program Code: TDY220030A
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00:05 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:15 ♪ I want to spend my life removing pain ♪ 00:25 ♪ Lord let my words heal a heart that hurts ♪ 00:36 ♪ I want to spend my life mending broken people ♪ 00:57 ♪ ♪ 01:07 Hello friends and welcome to your program 3ABN today. My 01:11 is Idalia Dinzey and it's a pleasure to spend this next hour 01:15 with you our 3ABN family. During this hour we're going to be so 01:20 blessed. We're going to talk about a topic that is very, very 01:24 important and very relevant for you and for us today. And we 01:30 have a special guest. The special guest is no stranger to 01:33 some of our 3ABN viewing family This guest is 01:38 Dr. Nathanael Gracia, welcome. 01:41 Thank you, Idalia. Thank you for having us and we're happy to be 01:45 here. 01:46 I am so happy that you're able to make it to our studios and 01:50 dedicate this time so you can share some gems, some treasures 01:55 that you have discovered. You are representing, you are the 01:59 founder of which ministry? Tell us about it. 02:01 Grace Connection. 02:05 Very well. So how did this ministry come about? 02:10 We started with the idea of Grace Connection way back in 02:16 2010 when I was the ministerial secretary for a conference in 02:21 Jamaica, the North Jamaica Conference. And I was going 02:26 about from pastor to pastor's house to help them with some 02:31 healing. There were some issues in the field like you know God's 02:36 people just like Paul and Barnabas had issues that 02:41 happened and through the healing process God has given me the 02:46 vision to speak reconciliation to the hearts of the pastors. 02:51 It's interesting that you mention that you were working 02:53 with the pastors because we as members of the church forget 02:57 that our pastors are human beings, that they also need help 03:01 Exactly and healers need healing (Amen) The doctor needs a doctor 03:07 God has blessed us through the Holy Spirit to have that 03:11 ministry to start. And when I established that program it was 03:16 a one-by-one program. And this work God has allowed us to take 03:23 it around the world afterward where it was no longer for 03:27 ministers who needed healing but for everyone because this is so 03:31 important to have healing. It's poisonous to have grudges, to 03:39 bare unforgiveness. It is a poison and recently they start 03:44 teaching forgiveness at Harvard University. They have 03:48 Forgiveness 101 to see how it is therapeutic to forgive and to 03:56 have forgiveness in your heart. Can you imagine what God has 04:00 already given us, now science is realizing how important it is 04:05 So your telling me that at Harvard University, the 04:08 university well known around the world teaches Forgiveness 101? 04:15 (Forgiveness.) Now how long, I mean it doesn't matter how long 04:17 they've been doing it but it's a good thing they're doing it. But 04:20 it is surprising. 04:22 Yes to show the correlation, because our cells at all levels 04:28 receive information. The information that is found in the 04:33 membrane is passed through your DNA so that means if you weren't 04:40 born bitter and you learn how to forgive and the love of God 04:45 comes to your heart there can be a change and those information 04:50 is through what we hear and no wonder. Faith comes from hearing 04:55 and what we hear is from the word of God. When somebody 04:58 finally can forgive and this is very important lesson I've 05:04 learned through our ministry. A lady could not forgive at all 05:08 forgive her mother-in-law and I can understand why because the 05:15 mother-in-law was living with her and she had only one son and 05:22 the one son was like so precious for that mother (of course) 05:27 so exactly. And in her culture she wanted to cook for her son 05:33 and then she would at times remove the food from the table 05:36 and say that's not how my son would want it and that woman for 05:39 eight years could not have children. 05:41 Okay, I'm sorry Dr. Gracia. You know what I think. I think that 05:45 Harvard needs to be teaching also Mother-In-Law 101. 05:51 (Laughter) How's that? 05:52 Yes, it all comes to the forgive- ness and acceptance. 05:56 And this person that story really impacted us. 06:01 Yes! This woman could not have kids for eight years. 06:04 No children for eight years. And nothing was wrong 06:08 with her body, until she went to that specific person who was a 06:17 psychologist and also a Christian to just try and find 06:23 out diagnose what is happening with your soul because when it 06:27 well with your soul everything else will happen because we are 06:30 are spiritual beings no matter what. (Right, yes, that's right) 06:34 We were created in the image of God and if the spirit is not 06:38 right other things...because there's that psychosomatic 06:44 effect where the spirit and... What happened is when they found 06:50 out...She said I'm not happy at home. I hate my mother-in-law. 06:53 Okay, Pastor, I mean Dr. Gracia I'm going to stop you right 06:57 right there. I want the 06:59 viewers to join us in prayer. We already started this just 07:05 giving them a little taste or a tease of what we're going to be 07:09 discussing during this hour. And surely you at home might have 07:13 already connected with the topic because it is a challenge to 07:19 have a unified family, healthy family, healthy environment so 07:24 you're going to teach us a lot of tips during this hour and God 07:28 bless you, for what you do. I am blessed already by listening as 07:33 I long to be the ideal mother- in-law for my daughters-in-law 07:38 whenever my children are married So how about if we just take a 07:42 moment. Let's pray. How's that? And I'm going to ask you to pray 07:45 for our viewers that are watching this program so that 07:49 the Lord will just open your hearts and your minds, your ears 07:53 and that we could have a teachable spirit okay thank you. 07:58 Our mighty heavenly Father, we come to your holy presence (yes) 08:04 You ask us to forgive just like you forgave us. In the name of 08:10 Jesus, we ask that the Holy Spirit may be in every home, 08:15 every heart. We know it's not easy but do your work. You 08:23 promise that we can do all things through you and we do 08:28 understand we cannot be saved unless we forgive those who have 08:34 hurt us. May your Holy Spirit be with us now. In the name of 08:39 Jesus, we pray Amen. 08:43 This is wonderful. This hour is going to go by really fast. 08:46 (really fast) so we're going to bring ourselves now toward 08:48 this blessing, Um 08:50 Dr. Gracia, we also have a prayer in song and we'd like to take 08:56 that pause at this time. We'd like to invite you viewers to 09:00 meditate in this message in song And this is brought to you by 09:05 Jayme Stabol and that song is entitled My Jesus I Love Thee. 09:11 ♪ ♪ Piano Solo My Jesus I Love Thee. 09:34 ♪ ♪ 11:45 Thank you young Jayme Stabol for that introduction of 11:57 My Jesus I Love Thee. God bless you and continue using you to 12:01 minister the hearts of all the listeners. Radio listeners, 3ABN 12:07 radio and also 3ABN viewers. Friends as you already know the 12:11 topic today is about reconciliation and we have 12:15 Dr. Nathanael Gracia with us and he is the founder of Grace 12:20 Connection Family Ministry. So we're going to continue. I know 12:26 I left you on a cliff hanger so please Dr. Gracia let's continue 12:30 For those who've just joined us just briefly (summarize) 12:34 summarize. 12:35 Okay this is a married woman who is willing to have family and 12:42 cannot have children and they could not find out why. And a 12:47 Christian psychologist started to inquire to find out to 12:52 diagnose what's the issue. Physically everything was okay. 12:56 But as mentioned earlier there is a very good connection 13:00 between the spirit and the body. Psychosomatic reality of our 13:05 being. And as the Christian psychologist diagnosed that at 13:11 home she had that anger issue, that hatred. Because we 13:15 need love to 13:17 function (Yes) And he discovered she could not have 13:24 any children because of that constant hatred and anger and 13:31 indifference in her heart. And he asked her, he said, Okay I 13:36 see the problem. Your mother-in- law is the problem. So that 13:39 would be a monster-in-law you could say. The best way to kill 13:44 the monster is to love the monster. It's no longer a 13:46 monster. It becomes now a toy. That's it. Now she was assigned 13:53 to go and every day to say I love you Mom, not even mother- 13:58 in-law. Not to call her by her name, not to say I love you 14:02 Idalia but to say I love you mom 14:04 Wow! And not even I love Mrs... 14:07 So and so. No that would not work. And she has to call her 14:14 mom and to do it continually. She came back to the office and 14:19 said, It was hard! It was difficult. And then he said 14:24 Continue. And as she continued when she would move away the 14:29 food she would not cook and say I want you to taste it first 14:32 because you are the best cook in the house. Taste it to see if 14:36 your son will like it if it is according to your taste. And 14:41 then she would feel so flattered And then she put herself in the 14:46 mom's shoes who had the one child and she said what if now 14:49 I cannot have any kids. I can understand when I finally have a 14:54 child. If it is a son. Oh I'm going to be protective, etc. and 14:57 she finally forgave her and guess what without realizing 15:02 after three months she started to speak because she became 15:07 pregnant. (Wow) She had her child because as I was 15:11 mentioning about the cells, we get our information and it goes 15:14 to the nucleus of our cells and the information that can 15:21 transform even what was there before. So what happens 15:25 physically to us when we don't forgive is that every energy we 15:30 have going to the cells is now concentrated to fight and flight 15:35 that reaction of fight or flight it's always into now resistance 15:41 instead of producing. And that's how cancer can even 15:46 happen. So we can heal ourself with forgiveness and she could 15:50 now have a child because she started to forgive. Nothing was 15:54 changed in her diet but just the mental diet. So no wonder God 16:01 emphasized in the Bible and emphasized it in a way that we 16:04 never considered it that way. You and I, we cannot be saved 16:08 if we don't forgive. (That's true) And we say lightly, we 16:12 say oh maybe it's an opinion. No, we bring a condemnation 16:17 onto ourselves when we say the Lord's prayer. 16:21 What do you say in your Lord's prayer? 16:23 Forgive as we forgive... And how do we forgive? 16:27 We forgive with condition, if you don't do it again. If you 16:31 ask me to forgive you. If you stay in your lane. But how God 16:36 forgive us and now we are condemning ourselves saying 16:40 Forgive us as we forgive and that same verse went further 16:44 If you don't forgive and I'm talking to someone here, If you 16:47 don't forgive says the word the Father in heaven will not 16:51 forgive you. If you forgive then you will be forgiven. Can I be 16:55 saved without forgiveness? It is okay for me to sin where I'm 17:00 being okay. It's not okay to sin But we understand that we are 17:03 sinners, we will sin. But if I'm now not forgiven, this is very 17:08 powerful. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. 17:14 Now if I'm not forgiven I cannot make it to the kingdom. Now my 17:19 forgiveness has to now go with the forgiveness I give unto my 17:25 boss who did something wrong to me. And now he doesn't even know 17:28 he hurt me. He is going to make it to the kingdom because he 17:33 asked God to forgive him but I'm still holding that grudge and I 17:37 miss the mark, I miss heaven because I did not let go of my 17:41 spouse or of my child or of my father, of my mother, I did not 17:48 forgive that person. And we don't put enough attention while 17:52 we are thinking about other things, thinking about this and 17:55 that and we get so distracted while there's a curse 17:58 on the land. A curse. 18:02 I want to mention to you that holding a grudge and resolving 18:08 the problem is not something that families, that I know of 18:13 anyway. How do you dialogue about forgiveness in the home? 18:20 How do you dialogue about getting to the point of 18:24 discussing and feeling comfortable that here's a 18:29 problem we need to talk about this. We need to resolve it. 18:30 This is not easy because our human reaction, as you know, 18:35 when we are stressed. We're under stress, because this caused 18:38 conflict and conflict causes stress. (Right) Because always 18:41 the first two answers, flight or fight usually is the fight and 18:46 we have conflict in the language There's a beef. And then the 18:52 other thing is the flight whereby the person...I'm moving 18:56 out. I'm not staying in your presence whether within a 18:58 marital relationship or the family relationship, that's what 19:02 usually happens. We need that entity. That's why church is 19:07 important. Church will be the catalyst will help, will usher 19:11 you to that discussion. Usually even before communion they 19:17 mention the other, that text is put out of context. It's 19:19 every time you bring your offering to the altar. People 19:22 usually think it's when we have communion we have to do that. 19:24 You need that outside influence to make it happen but without 19:32 that it's not easy. If you do have family reunion a parent 19:37 could entertain that and say is there something that needs to be 19:41 spoken about but the pride of parents usually keeps them 19:46 silent. You should have known I've done my best and your best 19:50 usually is what has hurt me because you give what you have 19:54 and your best was what was hurting me. In your pride, it's 19:59 not an easy thing. We need the Holy Spirit. It is a gift of God 20:03 Definitely we need to be humble as well. Humility you know that 20:08 should be able to resolve issues in the home. Now a Grace 20:14 Connection Family Ministry has helped many, many homes because 20:21 you travel throughout the world and you give seminars. You also 20:25 speak French. You are on 3ABN Frances. I used to speak French 20:31 but anyway I'm not going to even try it right now. 20:33 I forgive you. (Laughter) 20:35 French phrase. Oui, Oui. So yes this is definitely an important 20:42 topic that we as family members need to develop a good habit 20:47 of having a discussion about how we're going to deal with the 20:55 differences in the family. Now based on the example that you 21:00 placed...It was a real case. The only son brings his mother to 21:08 live with his new bride in his new home and the mother wants to 21:15 tend to her son. And I can see she wants her son to be happy 21:19 and do everything for him. She's done it for him all his life but 21:23 then also now there's the bride that needed to...Was she fleeing 21:30 She was fighting. There's that passive aggressive reaction when 21:38 we are fighting, resisting. And that's where the energy in the 21:40 body, in the soul, because your soul is your body and your 21:44 spirit. When a soul is in a fighting mood the energy is no 21:48 longer there. You're no longer creative, you're no longer 21:51 progressing and all these things affect you so you don't move 21:56 forward. You take the lower road and sometimes we don't even know 22:00 we are doing it. And my example when this ministry was going 22:07 around it was in Jamaica that happened and there was a father 22:11 who could not forgive actually it's a son could not forgive his 22:18 own father. He was 74 years old. After I presented the message of 22:22 forgiveness and I said you have to forgive to go to heaven and I 22:29 read the text and I said my Father in heaven will not 22:32 forgive you if you don't forgive others. And then he asked me a 22:35 very difficult question. He said to me, Pastor, you're way 22:39 younger than I am, I'm 73, I could be your father. But I need 22:44 your help here. After that topic that challenged me and 22:47 you say that we 22:48 have to forgive like God has forgiven us in Christ. And then 22:55 he said my father is dead but I cannot forgive him. And I said 22:59 why? He said he started to beat my brother. My brother was 19, I 23:05 was 17. When he was beating him so hard and I was crying because 23:08 he beat him for over five hours. He tied him somewhere and he 23:15 found a way to cut that rope and he left the house. When he left 23:20 the house, now I'm 74. I've never seen my brother ever. 23:23 (Wow) My father died. I hate my father. Those were his words. 23:29 And until today I know that I cannot allow that hatred to make 23:34 to prevent me from being saved because it's sure Pastor, it's 23:39 sure. I won't be saved. And people don't understand that. 23:42 You understand that. Your salvation is at stake right 23:47 there with that thing about forgiveness. And Satan gets us 23:52 so busy talking about every other things, but that is 23:57 important. This is so crucial. And that's why in Malachi 4 24:02 verse 6 and I want you to read this with me. And he will turn 24:06 the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the 24:12 children to the fathers lest I come and strike the earth with a 24:17 curse. (Wow) And that curse is that when we are not whole, when 24:24 we are not complete we cannot produce a healthy family, a 24:30 healthy environment. And this man will change my life because 24:33 after we prayed and I told you Idalia, we cannot have 24:38 forgiveness 24:40 without the Holy Spirit. (That's right) It is a gift of God. And 24:43 I went on my knees with him and I said let's pray. And I said, 24:48 God may the Holy Spirit come now and give him the gift of 24:52 forgiveness if we ask for that. Because the gift of love we can 24:57 receive it. You cannot love without forgiveness. You have to 25:03 forgive and now he started to cry. He wept on his knees with 25:07 me. And he said I feel light. He said, Pastor, I am free I feel 25:13 light. I am light. I forgive the memory of that pain. And he 25:18 hugged me. Now on my way from that seminar watch this. The 25:23 Holy Spirit spoke to me and said Nathanael, why you just helped 25:28 someone to be free and your own father, you have not forgiven. 25:32 Because my father left my house while I was still in the womb. 25:37 I have never met him. I never met him until I was 12. When I 25:41 met him at 12 it was just for 30 minutes. And then the next time 25:46 I will hear from him it was... This is something God wants to 25:51 remove that curse, that curse that is spoken of in Malachi 4 25:56 verse 6. While I'm driving back it was a four hour journey. I'm 26:01 coming from Montego Bay driving back, now the Holy Spirit said 26:09 you set this man free through Me, but what about you? Have you 26:14 forgiven your father. I said, I don't hate my father. He said, 26:16 No, I don't want that indifference because 26:19 guess what the opposite of love is not hatred. You cannot see 26:26 hatred. You see indifference because I was indifferent. I 26:29 could not even call him Dad. I always call him by the name my 26:34 mother used to complain about the person who left us, 26:36 who abandoned us. He bought houses for all the children. He 26:41 was living in Canada, I was in Haiti. And then He said, you 26:46 have not let go of that and I started to cry. And watch this. 26:51 As I reached the house, I was living in a new home, nobody 26:56 knew my phone number, I don't know how he got it, through who. 26:59 The phone rang, it was the time, it was not cell phone time, it 27:03 the time of house phone. And as I reached I put my luggage, I 27:09 was still crying, my eyes were still red (and the phone is 27:14 ringing) the phone is ringing. Guess who is calling? My father. 27:16 After about 18 years I have 27:20 not seen the man, talking to him He said it makes me feel warm 27:26 in my heart to hear your voice my son. And notice that guy said 27:34 I was not his. And now it's because the Holy Spirit hit me 27:38 at that same time and said, You have to let go. But what I did 27:42 not tell you on my way in that same bus, on that bus, I said 27:47 God have your way. He said if you want my way say in your 27:51 heart, I love you Dad. I said, no, I can say I love you Niquel 27:54 which is his first name but I cannot go and say I love you Dad 27:58 And He said you have to let go. And then I let go. I cried the 28:02 most and I said I love you Dad. And that was the result. So the 28:06 Holy Spirit united our hearts at that time and that was the 28:10 defining moment for me to know God is behind that thing. 28:15 God wants it. I could not have started a family. I could not 28:17 relate to my own son today if that did not happen. We need... 28:21 Because you give what you have And guess what, now when I go 28:25 to seminars or preach in Canada, as you know we travel around the 28:29 world with this ministry, guess who is in the audience proud to 28:33 say, this is my son and we are taking pictures every time. For 28:37 my birthday, every new year we talk and we talk and I love him 28:42 and if you are listening now Dad, I love you, and it's all in 28:46 the past and God has turned my heart to love you and to cherish 28:52 everything I have and this has marked my ministry and 28:56 it has been going 28:57 around the world with that ministry of reconciliation. 29:00 When you shared the story about the monster-in-law you know, I 29:08 thought mmm let me ask Dr. Gracia did he ever have a moment 29:13 when he had to learn to forgive somebody, if you had been hurt. 29:18 And just now you just shared that. So from experience because 29:24 textually we can share so many things, right? But when it's 29:29 experienced it's a totally different level, a totally 29:32 different level. 29:33 And deeper than that is that sometimes you don't even know 29:36 you hold grudges. You think that mutually God is not with that. 29:40 It's when you can say literally I love you and how do you know 29:44 you love that person. When you can pray for all the blessings 29:47 for that person. (Amen) Not the type of prayers of David, God go 29:50 get them for me, no not those David prayers. The prayers what 29:55 you want for yourself, for your own family, for your children, 29:58 for that same enemy, that same person who hurt you, can you 30:02 pray genuinely. Not because you want oh if I pray for that 30:07 person and I will get whatever I pray for him. (Right) No, no, no 30:11 not even for you. That blessing you receive, that's when you 30:15 know you have forgiven. When you can do that, when you can 30:21 genuinely say I love you. Because we have been riding on 30:24 neutral and neutral is I don't hate him but I have nothing to 30:28 do with him. God said you have to love even your enemy. There's 30:32 room even if your spouse is a pain in your life God says even 30:39 to love your enemy. So we are so comfortable to say that I 30:43 don't have anything against him but that's indifference. Because 30:47 if you just say, I don't hate him, if he has a need I will do 30:52 something. What is your word? If he has a need. That means I'm 30:56 over there so I'm the better person. I will condescend and 31:00 help him. No! no, no, no. You have to even the person who has 31:04 hurt, and that's why the verse says if someone has something 31:09 against you, you go to him. You don't have to be in that 31:13 position where, okay, you hurt me, I'm the better person and 31:19 I'm condescending to you. No, no no. It's about to let go and let 31:23 God and just like Christ did it He became just like us and 31:28 through the incarnation we see the best act of humility and of 31:34 love and of forgiveness. And that's very important. 31:36 Amen Hallelujah. That's beautiful. You know all this is 31:40 truth being spoken but it is so difficult to do because we're 31:45 prideful. You know pride keeps us from accepting that we've 31:49 done wrong, from accepting you know I'm the one that needs to 31:53 go and take that step, the first step. No, let them come to me, 31:56 they offended me, they know what they did. Or you know, I don't 32:02 hate them but they can just stay in their lane and I'll stay in 32:05 my lane, right? 32:07 And I don't hate them and that's the temptation. At that time the 32:10 energy and I'm not into New Age when I say energy. I'm talking 32:15 about the love that we need to...And God...Why would you 32:21 think 1 Corinthians 13 says even if you give your body to be 32:24 burned, burning is a terrible thing. So even if you would burn 32:30 that means you still don't love. What it means by that? You can 32:36 still do things out of duty but your heart is not in it. So if 32:42 your heart is not in it it's because you have not forgiven 32:45 So you are nothing. So it's nothing even if you burn 32:49 yourself or something just for the cause or he's my husband, 32:54 she's my wife, had to do it, yeah, my children, your heart is 32:57 not in it. You're praying I could get out of it. God says I 33:02 want your soul, God wants all of you to say yes, just like Jesus 33:07 said yes forgive them. At that point He was saying I love you 33:11 that same words that did not accept me, I love you just as 33:16 you are. 33:17 And the past is the past. 33:19 Exactly. It's not easy, but when the Holy Spirit comes to you 33:23 that's why if you want to forgive, I'm talking to you now, 33:26 you've got to be specific and say God give me that heart to 33:30 forgive. And there's a way to... Some of us may need some 33:35 conditions. You maybe want somebody to come and ask you for 33:38 forgiveness so you can forgive. Pray about it. Be specific in 33:44 your prayers. Ask God, God can you show him how the hurt has 33:50 reached to me. Because some people don't even see it. Maybe 33:54 they may go to the barbershop. Or they may go to some other 34:01 program or watching a show and somebody say Oh that's how I 34:04 hurt the person. And if that is important to you but you don't 34:07 need the person to ask you for forgiveness in order to forgive. 34:11 I'm going to share your website We're going take time later on 34:15 in the program. We just have a few minutes left but your 34:18 website is GraceConnectionFamily.org 34:24 and they can just navigate your website and also contact you 34:27 through that. Because we want to empower our friends, our 34:34 neighbors, ourselves and this is our resource that the Lord has 34:38 provided through your ministry Your ministry Grace Connection 34:43 grew out of you serving some elders of the church, yes, 34:50 pastors of the church recognizing that just because 34:53 you are a pastor does not mean that you're not hurting. So you 34:58 tended to the hurt, you tended to those pastors to try to bring 35:02 reconciliation in those homes. And probably there were ill 35:09 congregations because if the home is not healthy nothing is 35:12 healthy right in your circle of influence. So you were impressed 35:18 by the Lord to found this Grace Connection Ministry. So now 35:26 we've talked about the in-laws the son, the daughter-in-law 35:28 we talked about a daughter, we talked about a father, how they 35:34 reconciled. Sometimes we do need to talk about those real life 35:41 points like forgiveness or hurt and problems before we can even 35:47 understand the seminars you were trying to give about the final 35:54 events. So let not anything exist between me and the Lord. 36:00 So that is a stumbling block, if you will. This is how I'm seeing 36:05 it or digesting this. That was a stumbling block for this family 36:10 but once that block was moved and the distraction was taken 36:15 not to undermine that. That is a very valid thing to go through 36:21 But there is a life to come. We are not of this world, pilgrims 36:29 in this world. So we are getting ready for the world to come. 36:32 So thank you very much for sharing the importance of 36:39 accepting I'm hurt and I need help and I want to be reconciled 36:45 So now what is the next step? 36:48 After you do that you have to, by faith now, act on it. You 36:56 become a new person as God taught you but now you have to 36:59 give a chance. It's the application. This is how we 37:05 apply turn the other cheek, to be vulnerable. There is a level 37:09 of vulnerability, we have to do. If you risk nothing, you have 37:15 nothing. The seed for every relationship is forgiveness 37:20 because we will hurt each other. Especially in the marriage 37:23 relationship. And we have couples who say I would never 37:26 forgive her, I will never forgive him. But when we 37:29 realize...I've had couples, people who cheated on each other 37:34 and they have made it through. And I have one of the best stories 37:41 through this ministry. I don't want to call the name but that 37:44 person lives in America. After a very terrible hurt recurring 37:48 pain and guess what happened. I was teaching in Orlando, 37:53 Florida through that same ministry and it was about 37:56 forgiveness. And somebody who divorced their husband two years 38:00 after and God has blessed us. We have had to remarry seven 38:05 couples. That's perfection. Ohh! Praise the Lord! 38:08 And I want that to help us to continue to add more. And this 38:11 couple is not even added to the list. What the wife said...I was 38:20 teaching on the Hosea story and I said there will be always a 38:25 Gomer in your life, someone who does not deserve your love. 38:28 But go and get that person back. And I was saying some may not 38:33 be the Gomer. It could be go get your Gomer because that was what 38:39 God did in that story, that Hosea, to go back for her after 38:49 all she did. And usually, this is what happens? People pity us and 38:54 say, oh you don't deserve that, let her go or let him go. After 38:57 all you have done. That's the vulnerability that is needed. 39:00 And we did the very same thing to Christ. And God wants us to 39:05 do that and that person who hurt you that much is damaged and in 39:10 the story of Jacob and Esau, Esau could only forgive when he 39:17 could see the brother the way God saw him. You need to ask God 39:22 to help you see the person as God sees the person who hurt you 39:27 And how God sees the person is a damaged person. When Jacob 39:30 could reveal himself as broken. That's what the angel did when 39:35 that part was broken and he was walking in a way crippled and he 39:41 said but that man is crippled. I cannot fight him. So it's the 39:45 same thing. Emotionally you're dealing with somebody who is 39:48 crippled, somebody with damage. Somebody who has a handicap. 39:51 So how could you resist that? You just have to love that and 39:55 accept that. And guess what? That lady after two years of a 40:00 divorce heard that tape and just went...Because I have also a 40:05 YouTube channel this is the same name, Nathanael Gracia, Grace 40:13 Connection...and she was watching it on YouTube and said 40:17 I have to reconcile. And they got remarried over. So God has 40:22 has blessed us. We have seven couples through this ministry 40:26 who were divorced and one of them for seven years was 40:29 divorced. And then God has brought us. We conduct seminars 40:34 annually. With COVID that was different. We are ready. May God 40:37 forgive us for not doing that. But in person there's something 40:42 and we have one in Georgia, in Atlanta, Georgia this year and 40:46 it's every year the last week of October. I've had people who 40:51 came with their divorce paper to the seminar say since I already 40:55 applied to come I don't want to lose my money, I came. And at 40:58 the end of the day with tears on the third day they are 41:03 tearing up in my presence the divorce papers because they 41:07 realize it was bigger than the marriage, it was about them, 41:10 about God and them, about them and their God, their salvation. 41:16 This is what God wants so we can remove that curse that would 41:20 create that emptiness in the life of the children. And 41:24 sometimes people say if I'm suffering I have to be happy. 41:27 Who said you have to be happy? You need to live with purpose. 41:32 With the meaning, we were created for holiness. We were 41:36 not created for my own fulfillment. Show me, somebody 41:39 who is about his own fulfillment and I will show you somebody who 41:42 is on crack, who is on cocaine, because I'm fulfilled right 41:45 there. But somebody who will say I will delay that gratification. 41:50 I will forgive now. Guess what? You will reap the reward of 41:55 being saved and that peace that passeth all understanding, 41:59 because you would have missed heaven because you choose not to 42:05 benefit from that. Because your own forgiveness has a condition 42:09 and it's so simple. Not simplistic. I have to let love 42:14 fill my heart. Because we cannot live without love. And another 42:19 time we'll talk about the power of love. It's bigger than that 42:23 and the signs of love and how love also can heal. It's a 42:28 different topic but we'll talk another time about that. 42:31 This is wonderful. I love the topic. I love the topic of 42:36 family. You've touched a lot of bases. I'm not going to go into 42:40 my story but I did have an experience of a sibling that 42:45 didn't talk to me for 12 years. But I didn't know why but then 42:51 he got sick and he needed a kidney. I'm like well I'm an 42:54 organ donor so he can have my kidney. So lo and behold the 42:58 Lord blessed and you know I said no strings attached. You can 43:03 have the kidney. So he had the kidney. So you know we all have 43:07 our own journey. But we not all seek the help that we need. 43:12 Sometimes it is looked down to seek some professional help 43:18 to help your marriage. Go to a counselor. Oh, we're Christian. 43:22 We're not going to go to a counselor. Go to a psychiatrist 43:24 or go somewhere. Get the help that you need and a lot of times 43:28 we damper it and we put it on the side and say Oh yeah, we 43:32 forgave each other. But again for the next meal you slap the 43:36 slab of problems on the platter you're serving your husband. 43:39 Everything he's done or the wife everything she's done and you 43:45 just keep going back like you know and not getting past that. 43:51 So that is also a problem that we face as human beings. So the 43:57 healing needs to come and it has to be total because the past is 44:00 the past. You cannot have this for a snack or dessert on a 44:04 future day. I mean I'm not the expert but you know that's what 44:08 I'm thinking. 44:09 You're right about that. We have to take action and that action 44:13 needs the power of the Holy Spirit because of the knowledge... 44:16 Knowledge is not wisdom. It's knowledge applied that is wisdom 44:21 If I don't apply it I'm not wise and I went and studied 44:26 psychology. I got a masters degree in counseling psychology 44:29 with family therapy just to heal the wounds like my mom that I 44:33 love dearly. And 3ABN did a tribute for my mother two years 44:38 ago the whole network and I'm so grateful for that. My mom 44:42 passed. I love her so much but when I was growing up I became 44:46 at the age of eight and nine a counselor for my mom because she 44:51 was so much in pain. The pain that my father had inflicted 44:54 through the divorce and how things went and then I developed 44:59 that and then I went to study just to know how to deal with it 45:03 But it did not help. The knowledge did not help 45:05 You need a person. That person is Jesus. And how that person 45:09 can be in your heart to teach you is through the Holy Spirit. 45:12 The Holy Spirit taught me because Jesus is love. 45:17 Definitely, it's love incarnate. When you have Christ in your 45:21 heart through the Holy Spirit you can do it. I can do all 45:23 things through Christ who strengthens me and we doubt Him 45:27 We may have the knowledge but we will still have conflict, we 45:32 will still do the wrong thing but with Jesus in our hearts 45:37 it's possible. I'm saying to you I'm saying to you it's possible. 45:43 You can forgive, you can love again, you can reconcile unless 45:47 the curse come. May love be with you. 45:51 Amen, amen. Thank you, Dr. Nathanael Gracia. He is the 45:57 founder of Grace Connection Family Ministry and we're going 46:01 take a break. We're going to share the contact information 46:04 for his office for his ministry, your ministry. You can recommend 46:10 for your friends to visit that website. If you know a family 46:14 that is struggling and can use some help or maybe you're 46:19 interested in inviting Dr. Gracia to your community 46:22 It doesn't have to be a church, right? It could be a theater 46:25 somewhere and have the whole community come and be blessed. 46:30 Because many people are hurting and we want to present Jesus' 46:36 love, the Healer, and the Maker. So I hope you have something to 46:41 write with. If not, like my husband, John Dinzey says just 46:45 take a picture of the screen and that way you have the contact 46:49 information and you will not lose it. So Dr. Nathanael Gracia 46:54 He is available for seminars anywhere in the world. So, please 47:00 make note of that and have him in mind... presented to your 47:03 church board, so you can have him in your community. We will be 47:08 right back. 47:10 If you would like to contact or know more about Grace Connection 47:13 You can do so in the following ways: You can write to them at 47:16 1301 Shale Way, McDonough, GA 30253. You can call them at 47:24 678-558-5061 You can visit their website at 47:36 GraceConnectionFamily.org or send them an email at 47:45 NathanaelGracia@gmail.com |
Revised 2022-08-22