I often get asked, “Is forgiveness an event or a process?”  I have to answer that question with YES!  As we teach, and as you’ve read in previous blogs, forgiveness is a decision, a choice, based on an act of your will.  If you are IN CHRIST it is now YOUR nature to forgive.  However, the healing from the forgiveness takes time. In the same way a wound on your physical body needs time to heal, a wound to the heart needs time to heal.  Forgiveness STARTS the healing process.  Once I have forgiven, I must then choose to walk in the forgiveness.  Don’t forget the enemy will come with a vengeance to TRY to keep you in bondage.  He will say, “You didn’t forgive.  You didn’t mean it.  They don’t deserve it!”  But YOU can stand firm in your identity in Christ and say, “Get behind me satan, I have dealt with this!”  Occasionally, if my pain continues to surface, Father may be showing me something else about the situation that I need to release.  Sometimes I see the hurt from a different perspective or Father decides to open my eyes to further consequences from the event that I did not see before.  If that happens, I simply choose to face the pain and forgive again.  Occasionally, Father may lead me to renounce the choice I made to hate or become bitter.  Renouncing is a privilege we have as a child of God and we have the authority in the name of Jesus to renounce the hate and bitterness and receive healing and peace.  I believe we need to say out loud. “I renounce __________ in the name of Jesus!  Let’s take advantage of the rights we have as a child of God.  We CAN forgive, release, renounce and be healed!