Walk the Walk
Whether you are a new believer, a long-time believer or a pre-believer this podcast is for you! Walk the Walk will help answer some questions you may have. I will talk about the Bible...and what it means to me. Not only will I share, but guests will be invited to share their own stories on how God is moving in their lives. You will be encouraged, uplifted and hopefully you will want to seek God to be a part of your life. You are welcome here.
Walk the Walk
Genesis 37:5 - Journey Towards Spiritual Healing: Embracing Forgiveness and Grace Through Jesus’ Sacrifice
Have you ever wondered if you could truly forgive someone who caused you deep pain? In this thought-provoking episode of Walk the Walk, we explore the profound power of forgiveness through the biblical story of Joseph from Genesis 37 and 5. Despite being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, Joseph rises to a position of power in Egypt and chooses to forgive those who wronged him. We also draw a powerful parallel to a real-life tragedy where Amish families forgave the man who killed their children, highlighting how forgiveness can bring inner peace and spiritual well-being. Reflecting on Jesus' ultimate act of forgiveness on the cross, we challenge you to reconsider your stance on forgiveness, even when it seems impossible.
Moving into our next chapter, we delve into the spiritual practice of praying for forgiveness and grace. Reflecting on Jesus' teachings, we emphasize the importance of offering forgiveness, even when it is not sought by others. This conversation underscores personal growth and the need for a heart free of bitterness, filled with love and compassion, mirroring the forgiveness Jesus demonstrated. We also seek divine guidance to forgive those who have wronged us and to seek forgiveness for our own sins. This episode aims to inspire you to cultivate a forgiving heart, drawing strength from the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, encouraging a path towards spiritual healing and personal growth.
Hello and welcome to Walk the Walk. Today's scripture comes from Genesis 37 and 5. Joseph had a dream and when he told his brothers, they all hated him. Now this is just a small part of this whole story of Joseph and Joseph's story. I could do a podcast for a year just on the different things that happen within this scripture, but today I want to focus a little bit on forgiveness.
Speaker 1:Now, first of all, let's understand about Joseph. Joseph had many brothers and was loved dearly by his father, kind of like, you know, a parent has a favorite child, and not like I love you more than my other children, but there's just something about one child, or maybe two of your children, that you just kind of lean to a little bit. You maybe identify or they identify more with you. So just keep in mind that this is not about, oh, I love this child more than you, my other children. It's not that. It's about just being able to identify more or relate a little better to one of your children, but that's, again, not the topic or the focus of this podcast. Now, joseph was deeply loved by his father, and probably more so than normal maybe, but it angered the brothers. There were several of the brothers, and so Joseph really couldn't win favor among his brothers, and so they hated him, to say the least, because they sold him into slavery. Now this is an issue of where they sold their brother into slavery. What the devil meant for evil, god turned into good for the entire family. Now, again, when I say Joseph was sold into slavery and his brothers hated him so much that the father mourned, because they even made up a story that the brother was killed. They took his cloak and gave it to the dad and showed him, like look, he's dead and gone. And the poor father was like, oh my God, my beloved son. But this is not the end of that story. Now Joseph found favor of the Pharaoh that he was sold into slavery to. Now, while he was in slavery there, he went through some troubling times, but he came out ahead, so much that eventually his brothers found out where he was and well, they didn't know exactly. That was Joseph, the brother that they sold into slavery. But eventually that came out and it was to their good that he had found favor with Pharaoh. But what I want to focus on is forgiveness when the brothers finally found out who Joseph was. Joseph could have had so much power given to him by the Pharaoh that he could have destroyed his brothers, but he didn't. He took care of his family and because of the power that he had, he took care of them. And I think about that for those of us.
Speaker 1:You know, there are people out there who say I will never forgive you, never. And that's so amazing to me. And I'm not going to discount the fact that some people have gone through horrendous things with other people and I can understand why you might say I can never forgive you. And we all understand the whole premise behind forgiveness is not about letting somebody off the hook. It's kind of letting yourself off the hook, off of living and reliving the whole thing that what somebody did to you or somebody that you love. And I think I've shared this story before.
Speaker 1:Several years ago in Ohio there was an Amish family Actually there were several families while their kids were in school, a man came in there and killed all the kids. It was brutal, it was horrendous, it was an unforgivable sin that this man committed. But the Amish families, the parents, immediately, within hours, they extended forgiveness to the person that killed their children. They didn't say oh, that's okay, you're off the hook, go and live your life. They said, no, we're off the hook, you're not going to let us lead or live in this moment forever. We forgive you. God will deal with your punishment, but I'm going to live with a heart of forgiveness, still painful as it is.
Speaker 1:I forgive and that's what Joseph did. He forgave, he had the opportunity to punish his brothers in a heartbeat. But what the devil means for evil, our nature is to get revenge. Revenge is mine, sayeth the Lord. And people have taken their own lives because of what other people have done to them.
Speaker 1:It's tough. It's tough to be a forgiving person, especially when you have so much pain inside of you. But I want you to consider something. And again, I'm not telling you that, oh, forgive, do it Even if somebody does something horrible to your child. I'm saying I know it's challenging and I know it's painfully difficult, but I want you to think about Jesus hanging on the cross and he said forgive them, for they know not what they're doing. And he said forgive them, for they know not what they're doing.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine, hanging on a cross, the painful, what Jesus went through, how painful it was Dying on a cross for people like you and I, still in the midst of our sin. People went over and spat on him, cursed him while he was hanging on the cross, and he still extended forgiveness. Forgive them, god, for they don't know what they're doing, boy tough. So the next time you say I will never, never forgive, I want you to think about that. If jesus said the same thing, what would our life look like today? We would all probably end up in hell. But jesus died on the cross for us, to save us from that horrible, horrible death.
Speaker 1:Let's pray, jesus, guide me. Guide me where I need to offer forgiveness. Let me live with a heart of forgiveness, because some people don't want it, but I have to be able to offer it. It's about me, not about them. Help me to remember that you died on the cross for me while I was deep in sin. You even asked for forgiveness for my behavior. That probably didn't deserve it, but you did it for me. You died for me and I thank you for that. Do not allow me, father, to have a bitter heart. Do not allow me to have bitter words, but allow me to have bitter words, but allow me to have the words of a love, like you. Forgive me, father, for all my sins and help me to forgive others who sin against me. In Jesus name I pray Amen.