Hello friends and welcome to Fall Camp Meeting here at 3ABN 00:00:48.35\00:00:51.62 in Thompsonville, Illinois, also in West Frankfort, Illinois. 00:00:51.82\00:00:55.33 We're thanking you for tuning in so early. 00:00:55.53\00:00:57.26 It is early in the morning but the Spirit of God 00:00:57.46\00:01:00.48 is flowing and ready to bless your life. 00:01:00.69\00:01:02.82 For the next hour you are going to be blessed by our 00:01:03.02\00:01:05.24 presenter. I'll tell you who she's going to be in a moment. 00:01:05.44\00:01:07.24 But thank you for your prayers and all that you do 00:01:07.44\00:01:09.92 for the continued advancement of the gospel of Christ. 00:01:10.12\00:01:12.97 We'd also like to invite you to come down if you're in 00:01:13.17\00:01:15.00 driving distance. Come to Thompsonville/West Frankfort 00:01:15.10\00:01:18.89 where we can enjoy the Camp Meeting that's started already 00:01:18.99\00:01:21.70 and is going to go through Saturday evening. 00:01:21.90\00:01:23.98 Our presenter today is Cherie Peters. 00:01:24.28\00:01:26.18 She is the... I would say... the founder of the ministry 00:01:26.58\00:01:30.09 Celebrating Life and Recovery. 00:01:30.29\00:01:31.84 And today her message is Celebrating Life for Jesus. 00:01:32.14\00:01:35.58 She's talking about forgiveness, 00:01:35.72\00:01:37.60 the topic that every one of us can learning something about. 00:01:37.81\00:01:40.98 And so stay tuned for the next hour. 00:01:41.28\00:01:43.00 God does have a blessing in store for every one of us. 00:01:43.10\00:01:46.62 If you're watching or listening, 00:01:46.82\00:01:48.27 keep the channel right where it is 00:01:48.47\00:01:50.06 because God is going to speak to your heart today. 00:01:50.27\00:01:52.07 Before we do anything, though, we always like to invite 00:01:52.37\00:01:54.27 the presence of the Lord to be here. 00:01:54.47\00:01:55.84 So bow your heads with me as we go before the Lord 00:01:55.96\00:01:58.78 in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven, 00:01:58.88\00:02:01.34 each one of us has received forgiveness 00:02:01.54\00:02:04.27 and strength as we have followed You. 00:02:04.47\00:02:06.81 Today, Lord, we pray that You will anoint our ears 00:02:07.21\00:02:10.57 to listen, our hearts to receive. 00:02:10.67\00:02:12.88 We pray a blessing, Lord, today on the speaker of the hour: 00:02:13.02\00:02:16.16 Cherie Peters. 00:02:16.36\00:02:17.73 And we ask that You will strengthen her words, 00:02:17.91\00:02:20.21 You will use her as a conduit of blessing. 00:02:20.41\00:02:22.77 And in the process also, Lord, You will bless her. 00:02:23.07\00:02:26.79 So we give this message to You and this time. 00:02:26.99\00:02:29.07 In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. 00:02:29.47\00:02:32.56 You know this song is a song that kind of fits along 00:02:32.96\00:02:35.12 the theme of forgiveness. 00:02:35.22\00:02:36.98 In 2005-2006 when I was going through a particularly difficult 00:02:37.18\00:02:41.32 time in my life, the Lord gave me this song which says: 00:02:41.42\00:02:44.20 "When we wake up sometimes our nights are so difficult 00:02:44.40\00:02:46.80 that we welcome the morning. " 00:02:47.00\00:02:48.85 And the simple theme of this song is: "Lord, 00:02:49.05\00:02:51.58 wherever You find us whatever You want to do 00:02:51.78\00:02:54.48 Lord lead me home. " 00:02:54.78\00:02:56.64 I welcome the sunrise as night turns to day. 00:03:15.21\00:03:21.12 Should I try again 00:03:22.71\00:03:25.46 or turn and walk away? 00:03:25.56\00:03:29.78 The journey to this falling seems so very hard 00:03:30.65\00:03:36.61 yet I'm standing, praying, 00:03:37.84\00:03:41.04 right here in my yard. 00:03:41.24\00:03:44.78 The tears that I shed don't seem like it's worth it 00:03:45.08\00:03:50.97 yet I know You're on Your way. 00:03:53.36\00:03:59.36 Lord, lead me home. 00:04:01.23\00:04:06.16 There's no place to run and hide... 00:04:07.72\00:04:11.85 You know what I keep inside. 00:04:12.15\00:04:16.07 Lord, lead me home. 00:04:16.37\00:04:21.49 I need to find a place to rest 00:04:22.93\00:04:26.53 where life in You is best. 00:04:26.83\00:04:29.68 Lead me home. 00:04:29.88\00:04:34.74 I know I can trust You... 00:04:39.06\00:04:41.79 You never let me down. 00:04:41.99\00:04:45.09 I know that I need You... 00:04:45.39\00:04:49.19 You keep me off the ground. 00:04:49.39\00:04:53.69 Through disappointments You say 00:04:54.19\00:04:58.25 "It's OK. My child I really love you, 00:04:58.45\00:05:03.89 there'll be a brighter day. " 00:05:04.09\00:05:08.23 So I made up my mind to keep on walkin' 00:05:08.53\00:05:14.45 yes, pressing on 00:05:15.76\00:05:18.92 the higher way. 00:05:19.22\00:05:24.45 Lord, lead me home. 00:05:24.95\00:05:30.13 For there's no place to run and hide... 00:05:31.39\00:05:35.56 You know what I keep inside. 00:05:35.76\00:05:39.73 Lord, lead me home. 00:05:40.33\00:05:46.25 I need to find a place to rest 00:05:46.75\00:05:50.37 where life in You is best. 00:05:50.67\00:05:53.39 Lead me home. 00:05:53.69\00:05:57.26 I'm going to trust You ever more 00:05:57.66\00:06:01.14 each day. 00:06:01.34\00:06:05.02 And I'm climbing higher 00:06:05.32\00:06:07.74 as I pray. 00:06:08.24\00:06:14.17 Lord, lead me home. 00:06:16.48\00:06:22.38 There's no place to run and hide... 00:06:23.13\00:06:26.94 You know what I keep inside. 00:06:27.34\00:06:31.19 Lord, lead me home. 00:06:31.49\00:06:37.49 For I need to find a place to rest 00:06:37.79\00:06:41.67 where life in You is best. 00:06:41.97\00:06:44.68 Lead me home. 00:06:44.78\00:06:49.17 I need to find a place to rest 00:06:49.57\00:06:53.20 where life in You is best. 00:06:53.50\00:06:57.94 Lead me home. 00:06:58.24\00:07:04.15 Lord, lead me home. 00:07:04.87\00:07:10.79 Amen. 00:07:19.65\00:07:21.65 Good morning. Good morning. 00:07:28.45\00:07:30.27 You know to me I think that was a perfect song. 00:07:30.37\00:07:32.84 We're going to talk about forgiveness, 00:07:33.04\00:07:34.59 but before we get to forgiveness 00:07:34.69\00:07:36.21 I just have to say that I have never felt 00:07:36.41\00:07:39.57 at home until I joined 3ABN and you guys. 00:07:39.67\00:07:43.98 You know, I just felt like I was welcomed into the family. 00:07:44.28\00:07:47.00 I have been loved ever since. 00:07:47.45\00:07:49.45 So before we talk about what we need to forgive in our lives 00:07:49.66\00:07:52.61 I want to remind you to make sure you thank the people 00:07:52.81\00:07:55.13 that have blessed you, and you guys have blessed me. 00:07:55.33\00:07:57.89 I don't know if I would have survived 00:07:59.34\00:08:01.94 all of the stuff that I had to come through 00:08:02.14\00:08:04.48 had I not been loved by this family. 00:08:04.69\00:08:07.19 Does anybody understand what I'm saying? 00:08:07.49\00:08:09.33 You know, there are people in your life that really really do 00:08:09.53\00:08:12.47 love you and they are powerful. 00:08:12.87\00:08:14.74 So we're going to talk about forgiveness. 00:08:14.94\00:08:16.52 I want to show you a couple things that I learned 00:08:16.98\00:08:21.00 about forgiveness. I have in my family 00:08:21.20\00:08:24.05 I... for some of you you know my history. 00:08:24.25\00:08:27.20 In my family I was born to 14- and 16-year-old addicts. 00:08:27.30\00:08:31.93 My mom tried to self-abort a number of times. 00:08:32.13\00:08:34.55 And when I was born through all of that kind of stuff 00:08:34.85\00:08:38.56 in her mind she was so young that all she could think about 00:08:38.66\00:08:42.15 is I ruined her life. 00:08:42.35\00:08:44.07 "If it wasn't for you, my life would have been fine. 00:08:44.27\00:08:47.21 I would have finished school. 00:08:47.31\00:08:48.68 I would have had a regular thing. 00:08:48.71\00:08:50.19 My goals would have been met. " All that kind of stuff. 00:08:50.29\00:08:52.39 But my mom had five kids before she was 21. 00:08:52.59\00:08:54.79 She continuously had kids. 00:08:55.09\00:08:57.08 My dad was an alcoholic. Even in high school 00:08:57.28\00:09:01.13 he drank too much. By the time I came around 00:09:01.33\00:09:04.04 he was inappropriate in every kind of way. 00:09:04.25\00:09:06.16 Interfered with me physically and all that kind of stuff. 00:09:06.36\00:09:10.41 And so when I was little I remember just kind of 00:09:10.51\00:09:13.71 getting into a place where survival was the only thing 00:09:13.81\00:09:17.10 I could think of, you know? 00:09:17.20\00:09:18.57 And I did that well. I ended up homeless by 12. 00:09:18.60\00:09:21.22 Thirteen years old after a pregnancy of my own, 00:09:21.42\00:09:24.24 after starting drugs on my own, 00:09:24.44\00:09:26.18 I was on the streets of Los Angeles for ten years. 00:09:26.38\00:09:29.05 And then I met God. 00:09:29.91\00:09:32.36 You know, how crazy is that? 00:09:32.66\00:09:34.29 You know what? When I say that... that I met God... 00:09:34.59\00:09:37.09 I met God and I'm in a drug house trying to kill myself. 00:09:37.29\00:09:41.38 "I am done; I don't want to be here. 00:09:41.58\00:09:43.68 I don't like it here... I don't like you guys. 00:09:43.78\00:09:45.81 I don't like... " You know, nobody was safe. 00:09:46.01\00:09:48.56 When you're on the streets as a kid, can you imagine 00:09:48.59\00:09:51.67 who picks you up? 00:09:51.77\00:09:53.26 Do you know what I mean? Nobody was safe. 00:09:53.46\00:09:55.37 The things that I saw... And I've said this before, 00:09:55.57\00:09:58.73 I told someone I wish that I was like 00:09:58.83\00:10:01.09 the homeless people you see in the movies where they have 00:10:01.29\00:10:03.66 a shopping cart and they live under cardboard boxes 00:10:03.76\00:10:06.11 because they looked like they were safer than what I was. 00:10:06.31\00:10:09.16 I was picked up and used and moved around 00:10:09.36\00:10:11.17 and all that kind of stuff. 00:10:11.37\00:10:12.74 I saw the worst of the worst addictions. 00:10:12.77\00:10:14.45 So when I finally wanted to kill myself I am done. 00:10:14.65\00:10:17.63 I don't want to take the next breath. 00:10:17.97\00:10:20.80 If could have stopped myself from breathing, 00:10:20.90\00:10:22.62 I would have stopped. 00:10:22.72\00:10:24.09 So I'm in the drug house trying to kill myself. 00:10:24.12\00:10:26.76 I meet God and I am weeping 'cause somehow I know it's God. 00:10:26.96\00:10:30.69 Has anybody met God 00:10:31.09\00:10:32.73 where just somehow you know it's Him? 00:10:32.93\00:10:34.30 Nobody shared it with you; no- body told you what God is like. 00:10:34.33\00:10:37.02 But I feel like God showed up and I feel loved and safe 00:10:37.22\00:10:40.28 for the first time in my life. 00:10:40.39\00:10:42.54 And I just start crying because I am a heroin addict 00:10:42.74\00:10:46.00 by this time. I have teeth missing. 00:10:46.20\00:10:48.20 I don't know how to read hardly. 00:10:48.40\00:10:50.02 I'm a mess and I'm sitting there trying to kill myself. 00:10:50.22\00:10:52.60 And so what are you going to do now? 00:10:52.80\00:10:54.17 I mean, "Why show up now? " is what I was thinking. 00:10:54.20\00:10:56.87 And so I get this sense that He loves me 00:10:57.07\00:11:01.10 and I just stop. "Look at me. 00:11:01.30\00:11:03.46 Look at me. You know, how can You love me? " 00:11:03.66\00:11:06.12 And He said: "I love you. You are My beloved. " 00:11:06.43\00:11:10.51 And I just wept. And then He showed me a picture 00:11:10.71\00:11:13.73 of who I am in His eyes. 00:11:13.93\00:11:16.81 Right? 00:11:17.72\00:11:19.09 And you know, I believe... 00:11:19.33\00:11:20.70 And I can't say I fully saw the picture. I didn't, 00:11:20.73\00:11:22.90 but I felt like I saw everything. 00:11:23.00\00:11:24.98 And you know what I believe He did? 00:11:25.18\00:11:26.90 Showed me a picture the day after resurrection. 00:11:27.00\00:11:29.37 Anybody hear what I'm saying? 00:11:30.57\00:11:32.15 The day after when all of this junk is gone. 00:11:32.55\00:11:36.51 All of our diseases are gone. Agings are gone. 00:11:36.81\00:11:39.88 All our molest and anger and bitterness, 00:11:39.98\00:11:42.19 all of our hatred, all of our damage, all of our hurt. 00:11:42.49\00:11:46.73 All of our addictions are gone the day after 00:11:46.93\00:11:49.28 and we are created in the image of God 00:11:49.49\00:11:52.60 exactly like they were supposed to be: 00:11:52.70\00:11:54.42 just healthy and innocent. 00:11:54.83\00:11:57.64 I cried so hard because I thought I've never been 00:11:57.84\00:12:01.15 innocent... not one day in my life. 00:12:01.25\00:12:03.58 My dad started molesting me when I was 3 months old. 00:12:03.79\00:12:06.15 I don't know what it feels like to be innocent 00:12:06.25\00:12:08.09 but in that place I was innocent and loved. 00:12:08.29\00:12:12.41 And I cried. I thought: "You know what? 00:12:12.61\00:12:14.61 I've never been that. " And you know what God said? 00:12:14.81\00:12:17.76 Not an audible voice but He said clearly 00:12:18.06\00:12:20.67 "I've never seen you any other way. " 00:12:20.88\00:12:23.31 Somebody's got to hear me on that one. 00:12:24.38\00:12:26.31 "I've never seen you any other way. 00:12:26.41\00:12:28.35 You are My child and I KNOW this is you. 00:12:28.45\00:12:31.08 You don't. You've been lied to, you've been hurt 00:12:31.28\00:12:34.15 and I'm going to try to re-establish this in your life 00:12:34.35\00:12:37.19 so that on the other side of this you will know 00:12:37.39\00:12:40.32 that you are a man of God 00:12:40.42\00:12:41.79 and you have the right to stand here and you are created 00:12:41.82\00:12:43.89 in My image and I adore you. " 00:12:43.99\00:12:46.04 And I'm just like... I would do anything. 00:12:46.24\00:12:49.66 And you've got to imagine this: 100 pounds, 00:12:49.86\00:12:52.32 struggling on heroin. I got beat up by some bikers 00:12:52.42\00:12:54.96 and I had a tooth knocked out and all that kind of stuff. 00:12:55.16\00:12:57.68 I'm living in a drug house. I don't have any skills at all. 00:12:57.88\00:13:00.69 I've been on the streets for 10 years... and I believed Him! 00:13:00.79\00:13:04.11 I believed Him. I thought: "If that's who I am 00:13:04.41\00:13:08.17 I will do whatever You ask to get there... just tell me. " 00:13:08.47\00:13:14.14 And man, I had no idea how hard this was going to be. 00:13:14.45\00:13:18.05 When you say to God: "Just tell me... " Whoa-ho! 00:13:18.26\00:13:20.86 So we're going to go on and we're going to look at this 00:13:21.00\00:13:23.09 journey on forgiveness 00:13:23.19\00:13:24.98 'cause that's what He stayed with me a lot on. 00:13:25.18\00:13:27.98 And the first thing He wanted me to know is the level 00:13:28.38\00:13:32.31 of forgiveness that He has towards me. Right? 00:13:32.51\00:13:36.67 And this is going to be a review for a lot of you guys, right? 00:13:36.97\00:13:39.65 And so we're going to go there. 00:13:39.85\00:13:41.22 So I'm going to ask somebody to put one of the slides on... 00:13:41.25\00:13:43.30 the next slide on. 00:13:43.50\00:13:44.87 So the level of forgiveness that God has for us. 00:13:45.06\00:13:48.50 And one of the clearest ways to understand forgiveness 00:13:48.70\00:13:51.29 is to look at how He forgives us. 00:13:51.39\00:13:52.81 I'm just going to read this. 00:13:53.01\00:13:54.38 God chooses to forgive us, right? 00:13:54.41\00:13:56.94 So He chooses to forgive us. Our sins stand in the way 00:13:56.97\00:14:00.54 of our relationship with God and without His forgiveness 00:14:00.74\00:14:03.59 we would be eternally condemned. 00:14:03.79\00:14:06.45 But God verbally shares His desire to forgive us. 00:14:06.65\00:14:10.60 "I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember 00:14:10.80\00:14:13.55 no more. " Right? How cool is that? 00:14:13.66\00:14:17.30 'Cause you know what? In my family 00:14:17.50\00:14:20.07 my grandmother is an addict. 00:14:20.27\00:14:22.43 My uncles are addicts. 00:14:22.53\00:14:24.51 My cousins are addicts. 00:14:24.72\00:14:26.71 My sister is a meth addict that she looks psychotic 00:14:26.81\00:14:30.36 and she looks like a concentration camp victim 00:14:30.46\00:14:32.63 with her... how thin she is. 00:14:32.83\00:14:34.20 My dad died in a crack house molesting young kids. 00:14:34.32\00:14:37.60 He never came out of that. 00:14:37.70\00:14:39.21 My mom is incredible but she hides behind books 00:14:39.41\00:14:42.54 and prescription drugs. 00:14:42.65\00:14:44.02 My other sister has had a porn site on the Internet, 00:14:44.41\00:14:47.77 is a dancer, and sells coke for a living. 00:14:47.97\00:14:50.15 And I come out of that and I'm asking God 00:14:50.35\00:14:53.10 "Can You forgive me? " Can He? Yes. Yes! 00:14:53.30\00:14:57.83 Why does He do that? I don't know! 00:14:58.03\00:15:00.57 I didn't deserve one thing... one thing... 00:15:00.77\00:15:03.77 yet I felt like He lavished me with forgiveness and love. 00:15:03.97\00:15:07.17 I want you to feel safe. I want you to get that. 00:15:07.37\00:15:09.20 The next one I want to talk to you about is God chooses 00:15:09.40\00:15:11.69 to focus on - and this is HUGE - 00:15:11.99\00:15:14.82 God chooses to focus on His desire to forgive us 00:15:15.02\00:15:18.57 rather than on our sins. Amen! 00:15:18.77\00:15:21.42 How... That is incredible! 00:15:21.72\00:15:24.36 He delights in forgiving us so He's going to focus on that. 00:15:24.56\00:15:28.64 He's not going to look out... I used to believe that... 00:15:28.84\00:15:31.24 that every time I did something wrong God checked off 00:15:31.44\00:15:34.61 this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. 00:15:34.81\00:15:37.11 And I thought: "By the end of the day 00:15:37.41\00:15:39.63 I'm overwhelmed. " Not by the end of the year! 00:15:39.83\00:15:43.44 By the end of the day I'm overwhelmed. 00:15:43.64\00:15:45.99 And God just stopped me one time and I don't know how He gives 00:15:46.20\00:15:49.47 these concepts so clearly, but the concept He gave me is: 00:15:49.57\00:15:52.75 "Cherie, I don't have enough pencils in heaven to do that! " 00:15:52.88\00:15:55.62 Amen! "I can't do that! 00:15:55.82\00:15:57.66 If I checked every time someone did wrong on this planet, 00:15:57.86\00:16:01.86 we would run out of people to check with - angels to check 00:16:02.06\00:16:05.53 with - and pencils. 00:16:05.63\00:16:07.10 The only thing we look for 00:16:07.40\00:16:09.28 is whenever you fully understand My love for you 00:16:09.59\00:16:12.49 then we check it. 00:16:12.69\00:16:14.48 I think they got it. 00:16:14.68\00:16:16.33 I think for a minute... for a minute... she actually 00:16:16.36\00:16:20.86 felt loved. She actually saw My heart. " 00:16:20.96\00:16:23.92 And all of heaven waits for that moment. 00:16:24.12\00:16:26.86 They know that we're dust. 00:16:27.16\00:16:28.83 They know that we're made out of sin. 00:16:29.03\00:16:30.44 They know that we're living in this great controversy. 00:16:30.54\00:16:32.83 They know this is difficult... 00:16:33.03\00:16:34.54 especially since Christ came down here and walked it Himself. 00:16:34.74\00:16:38.15 So what they're checking for is when we get it. 00:16:38.35\00:16:40.52 When we can actually by faith step into the fact 00:16:40.62\00:16:44.33 that God loves us with a love that's so huge 00:16:44.43\00:16:47.35 that we could actually change 00:16:47.65\00:16:49.24 our desires, our selves, what we want to do in life. 00:16:49.34\00:16:53.25 All that kind of stuff changes because we feel and experience 00:16:53.35\00:16:56.95 the love of God. That's what they wait for. 00:16:57.15\00:16:58.97 God chooses to focus on His desire to forgive us 00:16:59.17\00:17:01.82 rather than focus on our failures. 00:17:01.92\00:17:03.60 "I, even I, " God says, "am the One who wipes away 00:17:03.80\00:17:07.98 your transgressions for My own sake. " 00:17:08.08\00:17:10.27 "For My own sake. " I love that! 00:17:10.47\00:17:15.34 Nobody's ever done something that cool to me for their own 00:17:15.54\00:17:19.72 sake. Not even my parents. They were just a mess. 00:17:19.82\00:17:23.10 But God says: "For My own sake I'm going to do that for you. " 00:17:23.31\00:17:25.90 "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed 00:17:26.10\00:17:29.53 our transgressions from us. " 00:17:29.63\00:17:32.98 And so we know that, right? 00:17:33.28\00:17:35.43 I mean, everybody is kind of... we've looked at that. 00:17:35.73\00:17:37.95 On the next slide it says: "God also chooses to love us 00:17:38.78\00:17:43.16 in spite of our failures. " 00:17:43.26\00:17:45.90 Anybody want to say "Amen" to that? Amen! 00:17:47.21\00:17:50.23 In spite of our failures. He provides redemption for us 00:17:50.43\00:17:52.74 through His Son when we have a bitter attitude towards Him. 00:17:52.84\00:17:57.63 I can be in the midst... I have heard 00:17:57.93\00:18:00.55 some druggies... And druggies are just weird. 00:18:00.76\00:18:02.94 And I know them. I know a lot of druggies 00:18:03.04\00:18:06.80 and prostitutes and all that kind of stuff 00:18:06.90\00:18:08.48 'cause that's the streets that I came from. 00:18:08.68\00:18:10.77 So I've heard some look at normal people and say 00:18:10.98\00:18:13.91 "Look how lame they are. " 00:18:14.02\00:18:15.52 Are you kidding me? 00:18:15.92\00:18:17.61 You don't have a house to go back to. 00:18:17.81\00:18:20.17 You have track marks all up and down your arm. 00:18:20.47\00:18:24.16 You just ripped off your grandmother's bank account 00:18:24.37\00:18:27.86 and you're looking at this normal couple laughing together 00:18:28.16\00:18:31.49 holding hands like: "Look how lame that is. " 00:18:31.79\00:18:33.45 You know? And that's how we do to God sometimes. 00:18:33.65\00:18:36.35 You know what I mean? 00:18:36.75\00:18:38.12 The God of heaven tries to love us through some stuff 00:18:38.15\00:18:41.11 and we're just like: "You know, I don't need God. 00:18:41.31\00:18:43.41 That's just stupid. I don't need a crutch. " 00:18:43.61\00:18:46.27 And could you imagine God just saying 00:18:46.57\00:18:49.23 "You SO need a crutch! " 00:18:49.43\00:18:51.04 You know what I mean? "You need a crutch, body cast, 00:18:51.07\00:18:53.65 and all that kind of stuff 'cause you're a mess. " 00:18:53.85\00:18:56.03 But you know, we do that with God. 00:18:56.33\00:18:57.89 And God says: "In spite of that I love you. " 00:18:58.09\00:19:01.62 "In spite of that, I am going to step into your life 00:19:01.85\00:19:06.12 and continuously step in front of you until you see Me... 00:19:06.32\00:19:09.76 until you know that My intentions toward you 00:19:10.06\00:19:13.67 are good... are good. " 00:19:13.77\00:19:15.68 I want to look at forgiveness in a different way now 00:19:15.88\00:19:20.12 because this is what got me the most. 00:19:20.32\00:19:23.08 God says... "Do you understand that? 00:19:23.28\00:19:25.25 That that's how much I forgive you? " 00:19:25.39\00:19:27.53 And I'm like: "OK, I get it. That's incredible! " 00:19:27.73\00:19:31.24 And not only that... 00:19:31.44\00:19:33.06 One of my first speaking engagements I'm at 00:19:34.88\00:19:37.32 So. Cal. Camp Meeting, right? 00:19:37.43\00:19:39.45 And I'm scared to death. I'm new and I'm going to So. Cal. 00:19:39.58\00:19:44.38 And there's a few thousand people there. 00:19:44.51\00:19:46.49 And Mark Finley is the other speaker. 00:19:46.70\00:19:48.82 How ridiculous is that? I'm going to follow him. 00:19:49.02\00:19:51.26 You know? And I'm thinking: "I'd better look good. 00:19:52.51\00:19:55.99 I'd better get a cute outfit, you know. " 00:19:56.09\00:19:57.79 So I got this outfit and I'm still scared. 00:19:57.93\00:20:02.23 I look cute as anything. It matches my eyes even! 00:20:02.43\00:20:05.02 But I'm just scared and I'm thinking: "God, who am I 00:20:05.22\00:20:07.80 to follow anybody? " And so all of a sudden it's my turn 00:20:08.00\00:20:10.68 and I'm scared. And I walk up and all of a sudden 00:20:10.88\00:20:14.49 the Holy Spirit just comes and you don't think about 00:20:14.70\00:20:16.37 being scared any more. 00:20:16.47\00:20:17.84 So I'm just saying what I felt like God asked me to say. 00:20:17.87\00:20:20.89 And I get down and this little gay guy comes up 00:20:21.09\00:20:23.74 and he says: "Come here for a minute. " 00:20:23.84\00:20:25.34 And I'm thinking: "What? " 00:20:25.65\00:20:27.61 "No, no, come here for a minute. " 00:20:27.71\00:20:29.08 And I walked over and I said: "What? " 00:20:29.25\00:20:31.59 And he said: "Do you realize 00:20:31.79\00:20:33.18 that your outfit is totally see through? " 00:20:33.28\00:20:35.67 "No I did not! " 00:20:37.81\00:20:39.18 I so did not, 'cause I got out there... 00:20:39.37\00:20:41.76 So I'm like na, na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na 00:20:41.96\00:20:43.78 and I'm doing all this kind of stuff and not feeling nervous 00:20:43.88\00:20:47.29 but I didn't realize it was see-through. 00:20:47.49\00:20:48.86 I knew that God got me that outfit 'cause I got it on sale! 00:20:49.02\00:20:51.59 And I said: "God, You could have told me I needed a slip. 00:20:51.89\00:20:54.34 You just could have told me that. " 00:20:54.54\00:20:55.91 I'm now mad at God. 00:20:56.03\00:20:57.40 So I called the Women's' Ministries leader 00:20:57.50\00:21:00.50 and I said to her: "Excuse me but I have to go up in a minute. 00:21:00.60\00:21:04.37 Can you get me a slip? " And she's like: "Absolutely! 00:21:04.57\00:21:06.93 You so need a slip. " 00:21:07.33\00:21:09.29 And so she's running around trying to find a slip now. 00:21:09.49\00:21:12.27 And I go in my room and I'm praying, but the prayer 00:21:12.30\00:21:15.02 is like this: "God, You knew that it was see-through. 00:21:15.12\00:21:17.83 You could have told me na-na-na-na. " 00:21:18.03\00:21:19.70 And all I heard is: "Aren't you glad that the robe of 00:21:19.90\00:21:22.89 righteousness is not see-through? " Amen. 00:21:23.03\00:21:25.79 And I got it! 00:21:25.99\00:21:27.55 Not only does He forgive us but Christ Himself 00:21:27.75\00:21:30.86 died to cover us with the robe of righteousness. 00:21:31.06\00:21:34.26 Cover us! When God looks at me 00:21:34.46\00:21:36.68 even through this whole sanctification process 00:21:36.78\00:21:38.90 where I'm trying to figure out how not to lie 00:21:39.10\00:21:40.92 and manipulate and do all the stuff I learned so well. 00:21:41.02\00:21:45.06 On the streets if you lie well and you could play someone well 00:21:45.20\00:21:48.23 somebody's going to high-five you. 00:21:48.43\00:21:50.03 "Wow that was good. You got like $1000 bucks from that guy. " 00:21:50.23\00:21:53.10 You know what I mean? And now they say: "Oh don't lie 00:21:53.40\00:21:56.39 and don't steal. " But if you have $1000 00:21:56.59\00:21:59.11 our ministry needs it, you know. 00:21:59.21\00:22:00.93 No I'm kidding. 00:22:01.78\00:22:03.15 So anyway we end up... 00:22:03.29\00:22:05.64 Well you know you have to learn all this kind of stuff 00:22:05.85\00:22:07.51 but in the meantime God says "I will totally put the robe 00:22:07.71\00:22:11.19 of righteousness around you. I will totally cover you. 00:22:11.29\00:22:13.88 You will never have to worry about standing in your own skin 00:22:14.08\00:22:18.67 in your filthy rags any more. 00:22:18.77\00:22:20.89 And I will invite you in front of My Father 00:22:21.09\00:22:23.28 in the Holy of Holies. And you have the right 00:22:23.38\00:22:24.90 to walk in the door because you are My child. " 00:22:25.01\00:22:27.67 Wow! 00:22:28.96\00:22:30.92 I just have to say "wow" to that! 00:22:31.23\00:22:32.88 You know if somebody says "Is that a big deal? " 00:22:33.18\00:22:35.95 you know what? For somebody on the streets 00:22:36.15\00:22:37.88 it's not only a big deal but I cannot shut up. 00:22:38.08\00:22:40.52 I can't stop saying "How cool is that! " 00:22:40.72\00:22:43.63 So anyhow I go back to the thing that God is trying to teach me. 00:22:43.83\00:22:46.98 So then He said... and I couldn't believe He said this. 00:22:47.08\00:22:49.96 Now He says: "I want you to forgive them 00:22:50.16\00:22:52.48 as much as I forgave you. " 00:22:52.58\00:22:54.38 "Oh shut up... there's no way! 00:22:54.58\00:22:57.66 No! No, no, no! That's not fair. 00:22:57.86\00:23:02.45 God, You don't understand. 00:23:02.75\00:23:05.55 You don't understand what it's like to be molested 00:23:05.85\00:23:08.71 since you're a baby. 00:23:08.81\00:23:10.18 I don't know what it's like to be loved by anybody. 00:23:10.26\00:23:13.09 You know, You don't understand: You are the only place 00:23:13.29\00:23:16.17 that I feel safe. 00:23:16.37\00:23:17.74 Right? I mean, how crazy is that? 00:23:17.88\00:23:20.00 If they come up and say 'please forgive me, ' 00:23:20.31\00:23:23.60 I'll say 'yes. ' " 00:23:23.80\00:23:25.17 And He said: "No, no, no... that's not what I'm 00:23:25.45\00:23:27.00 asking you. I'm asking you to forgive them 00:23:27.10\00:23:30.22 at the same level I forgave you. " Amen. 00:23:30.43\00:23:35.44 I just turned my worship music up as loud as I can 00:23:35.62\00:23:38.30 so I didn't have to listen to that silliness. 00:23:38.50\00:23:40.54 I'm just like: "How can I listen to that? " 00:23:41.87\00:23:44.25 So it takes me so long to get it and I finally get it. 00:23:44.45\00:23:47.82 And I hope... God - through the death of Christ - 00:23:48.12\00:23:53.06 forgives us, right? 00:23:53.26\00:23:54.63 So here's God. Here's the death of Christ. 00:23:54.68\00:23:58.30 And here's me... free on the other side. 00:23:59.39\00:24:01.84 Not only free, but totally without my stuff. 00:24:02.04\00:24:06.40 I can walk away from every lie that's ever been told me. 00:24:06.60\00:24:10.31 "I'm worthless. " "I'm the problem. " 00:24:10.52\00:24:12.53 "I'm not loveable. " "I'm somehow defective. " 00:24:12.73\00:24:14.68 All of that kind of stuff. 00:24:14.88\00:24:16.25 "No one will ever really like you 00:24:16.33\00:24:18.35 if they knew who you were. " All of those lies 00:24:18.39\00:24:20.18 that have been told to me all my life. 00:24:20.39\00:24:22.23 "You ruined my life. Your mother doesn't even love you. " 00:24:22.43\00:24:25.46 "Your dad's a molester. " I mean, all of those things. 00:24:25.66\00:24:27.90 I can walk away because of the death of Christ. 00:24:28.01\00:24:30.59 It's just incredible! 00:24:30.89\00:24:32.42 So now He says: "I want you to be right here 00:24:32.62\00:24:35.08 In the forgiveness thing for you I want you to be right here 00:24:35.28\00:24:37.96 and the person that damaged you is right here. 00:24:38.47\00:24:44.43 And I want you to choose to be behind them 00:24:44.66\00:24:48.49 on your own cross and die yourself 00:24:48.69\00:24:51.38 and set them free. " 00:24:51.68\00:24:53.74 Amen. 00:24:54.04\00:24:55.41 I didn't say "Amen. " 00:24:55.50\00:24:57.31 I said: "That's not fair! " 00:24:58.40\00:25:00.45 You know, when He says "carry your cross" 00:25:00.65\00:25:02.38 what does that mean? 00:25:02.48\00:25:03.98 "I don't want them free. 00:25:04.18\00:25:06.13 Can we just have them suffer a bit first? 00:25:06.33\00:25:10.58 You know, can we just do a little bit? 00:25:10.78\00:25:13.47 You know, remove a leg or something? I don't know 00:25:13.67\00:25:17.26 what You would do? " 00:25:17.36\00:25:19.34 I'm not sure and so I'm thinking 00:25:19.54\00:25:22.72 so now that's the reality of our human condition. 00:25:22.92\00:25:26.01 I really can't and don't want to 00:25:26.31\00:25:29.55 let them off the hook. 00:25:29.75\00:25:31.80 And God says to the extent that I can't do that 00:25:32.00\00:25:35.79 I'm actually damaged and He can't get through that damage. 00:25:35.99\00:25:40.77 Right? And I'm thinking: "Yeah but but but but but... 00:25:40.97\00:25:44.63 And you know, I just don't get it. " 00:25:44.93\00:25:47.18 So one time what He did which I thought was incredible 00:25:47.38\00:25:50.22 is He... I was in Australia. 00:25:50.42\00:25:53.38 And I'm with a girlfriend. 00:25:53.58\00:25:56.07 And man, she's watching right now so I want to say 00:25:56.47\00:26:00.78 "Hi Dani. " But I'm with a girlfriend 00:26:00.88\00:26:03.47 and I just had met her. She's depressed and suicidal 00:26:03.67\00:26:08.78 and she's having all these problems. 00:26:08.88\00:26:10.25 Incredible woman of God. 00:26:10.33\00:26:11.70 Incredible ministry, but she just got slammed with a lot 00:26:11.73\00:26:14.08 of things. But I go over to her house 00:26:14.18\00:26:16.77 and has anybody heard the thing about feral children? 00:26:16.97\00:26:20.73 Have you ever heard that term? 00:26:20.93\00:26:22.30 Her children are feral... wild. 00:26:23.02\00:26:25.87 Um, out of control. 00:26:26.27\00:26:27.96 I'm sitting there talking to her. 00:26:28.72\00:26:30.42 She's talking to me full attention 00:26:30.72\00:26:33.18 and her two-year-old has got a bag of cheese 00:26:33.39\00:26:36.47 and he's... shredded cheese... and he's going like this 00:26:36.67\00:26:39.62 and it's flying all over the house 00:26:39.65\00:26:43.09 and she doesn't blink an eye. 00:26:43.81\00:26:45.73 She's just talking to me. 00:26:45.93\00:26:47.30 And I realize she's got probably a dissociative disorder 00:26:47.33\00:26:50.34 'cause she does not even see what he's doing. 00:26:50.54\00:26:52.36 Her other son is a little bit older. 00:26:52.56\00:26:54.73 Sticks a metal piece of toy with some dough on it 00:26:54.93\00:26:58.71 in the microwave. 00:26:58.91\00:27:00.34 And now there's fire, smoke coming from the microwave. 00:27:00.54\00:27:03.82 And everybody is screaming. 00:27:04.02\00:27:05.80 Her daughter comes over. She wants something from her mom. 00:27:06.01\00:27:08.55 Grabs her face and says: "Mom, Mom, Mom " 00:27:08.76\00:27:11.46 and tries to turn her face. 00:27:11.59\00:27:13.06 Well her face does turn but her eyes are still looking at me 00:27:13.26\00:27:16.06 and she's talking. 00:27:16.36\00:27:17.73 And I'm thinking "This is just crazy! " 00:27:17.92\00:27:20.45 And I'm trying to just say... How do you say to someone 00:27:20.65\00:27:23.48 "I think your kids need a little attention. 00:27:23.68\00:27:25.75 You know, I'll be good. Just go deal with that and come back. " 00:27:25.96\00:27:29.49 And I'd just met her so I didn't want to say anything yet. 00:27:29.93\00:27:32.45 And then she looks at me real serious 00:27:33.82\00:27:35.57 and she says: "Cherie, I'd like you to pray for me 00:27:35.78\00:27:39.21 for an anointing. I'd like to go into ministry. " 00:27:39.42\00:27:42.68 And I'm thinking: "Really? 00:27:44.78\00:27:47.92 'Cause this is your ministry and you're not... 00:27:48.12\00:27:52.66 Let's pray for this. " 00:27:52.86\00:27:54.23 And so I go in the room just trying to escape. 00:27:54.36\00:27:56.45 They're rebuilding their house or it's a fixer-upper house. 00:27:56.65\00:27:59.16 There's no doorknobs on any room. 00:27:59.37\00:28:01.49 So now I'm in my room with no doorknob 00:28:01.69\00:28:04.17 and her kids come over and jump over me on the bed. 00:28:04.27\00:28:06.83 Jump on the floor. Run around, jump over me 00:28:07.03\00:28:08.86 on the bed. On the floor, run around. 00:28:08.96\00:28:10.33 They do that about five times. 00:28:10.36\00:28:11.73 I'm really good. 00:28:11.76\00:28:13.13 I pretended I was asleep the whole time 00:28:13.16\00:28:16.21 'cause I think eventually they're going to get tired 00:28:16.41\00:28:18.04 of jumping over me, right? 00:28:18.14\00:28:19.53 So they did that about five times. 00:28:19.64\00:28:21.22 Thought maybe I'm dead so they left. 00:28:21.33\00:28:22.90 And so then a little while later she talked about being anointed 00:28:23.10\00:28:27.40 for ministry again. And then God told me: 00:28:27.50\00:28:29.32 "Are you going to tell her the truth? 00:28:29.42\00:28:30.79 Are you going to talk to her about all this? " 00:28:30.82\00:28:33.50 And so I went out and I said: "This breaks my heart 00:28:33.70\00:28:36.55 but you need to be anointed as a mother. 00:28:36.75\00:28:38.90 You need to be prayed for as a mother. 00:28:39.11\00:28:40.66 This triggers every single thing I've ever had to go through 00:28:41.07\00:28:44.10 in my life and nobody saw me. And you're not seeing your kids 00:28:44.20\00:28:46.96 and this is really damaging to you and them. " 00:28:47.17\00:28:49.34 And at one point... Do you know that for a lot of people 00:28:49.54\00:28:51.94 they would kick you out of their house if you said that to them. 00:28:51.97\00:28:54.57 You know what I mean? She could have kicked me out 00:28:54.78\00:28:56.25 of her house. She could have got angry. All that kind of stuff. 00:28:56.35\00:28:58.61 But what she did instead: started crying and said 00:28:58.81\00:29:01.47 "Please, let's pray about that. " 00:29:01.67\00:29:03.37 And so we prayed about that. 00:29:03.57\00:29:04.94 And it was really intense, it was really sad. 00:29:04.97\00:29:07.09 We cried together. And now I have to get ready 00:29:07.29\00:29:09.45 because I have a speaking appointment. 00:29:09.55\00:29:10.92 So I go into the shower, get ready. 00:29:10.95\00:29:12.98 I'm coming out and all of a sudden God says: 00:29:13.18\00:29:15.72 "Do you know that was your mom but she had five kids? " 00:29:15.92\00:29:18.51 And all of a sudden I saw my mom 00:29:19.56\00:29:22.07 in a totally different way. 00:29:22.28\00:29:24.14 She was trying to survive with a man that was alcoholic 00:29:24.34\00:29:28.46 and not there for her. She had one child after another 00:29:28.66\00:29:30.76 from the time she was in her early teens. 00:29:30.86\00:29:32.67 She was molested before then and had all that issue. 00:29:32.87\00:29:35.83 And I thought: "God, I forgive her. 00:29:36.03\00:29:38.17 I am so sorry for what she went through. " 00:29:38.37\00:29:41.04 And when I got home I got to tell her that. 00:29:41.24\00:29:43.31 I got to tell her "I want you to know 00:29:43.51\00:29:45.58 that I choose to forgive you. " 00:29:45.79\00:29:48.80 Right? And everything in me 00:29:49.10\00:29:51.90 started to heal in a different way. 00:29:52.20\00:29:54.61 Amen. So it's really interesting when God says 00:29:54.81\00:29:57.66 "I have to get to the point where you could forgive 00:29:57.86\00:30:00.25 the people around you. " Now He goes from... 00:30:00.35\00:30:03.00 And now my mom is free, right? 00:30:03.10\00:30:05.23 To the extent that she's free. I mean she's got her own 00:30:05.43\00:30:07.43 stuff that she's got to work out with God 00:30:07.53\00:30:09.26 but she doesn't have ties to me. 00:30:09.46\00:30:11.35 I'm not demanding her to be anything other than she is. 00:30:11.45\00:30:14.70 I'm not demanding any more that she love me 00:30:14.90\00:30:16.51 even though I would love for her to love me. 00:30:16.61\00:30:18.26 But I don't think she's capable. I think her wounding is intense 00:30:18.46\00:30:21.88 and unless God brings some big changes I don't know if we'll 00:30:21.98\00:30:24.33 ever have that in this lifetime. 00:30:24.43\00:30:25.91 But she's free from that. 00:30:26.11\00:30:27.48 The alternative to doing that with my mom 00:30:27.60\00:30:30.52 is I could sit with the anger, 00:30:30.72\00:30:33.36 the bitterness, the hatred, 00:30:33.56\00:30:35.51 the unfairness - all that stuff, 00:30:35.71\00:30:37.54 I could carry that the rest of my life 00:30:37.64\00:30:39.27 or I could forgive her. 00:30:39.58\00:30:40.95 So then He goes to my dad. 00:30:40.98\00:30:42.36 "I want you to forgive your dad. " 00:30:42.46\00:30:43.97 Are you kidding me? My dad died in a crack house. 00:30:45.16\00:30:48.38 I was actually at 3ABN when my dad died 00:30:49.16\00:30:51.53 and John Lomacang and Angie came over to minister to me. 00:30:51.73\00:30:54.65 I was a wreck. 00:30:54.85\00:30:56.22 I was a wreck because I believed somewhere in my life 00:30:56.25\00:30:58.52 my dad would get well and would come and ask me to 00:30:58.72\00:31:00.85 forgive him and be a father. 00:31:00.95\00:31:02.83 But he died in his disease and that will never happen 00:31:03.03\00:31:05.39 and I was just a wreck. 00:31:05.49\00:31:06.86 And so God says: "I want you to forgive your dad. " 00:31:06.89\00:31:09.30 And I'm like: "I can't! I can't. " 00:31:09.50\00:31:14.11 And finally He said: "Think of your dad as a baby, 00:31:14.14\00:31:19.46 a little baby, before anybody damaged him 00:31:19.66\00:31:23.61 to the point he can molest his own children 00:31:23.75\00:31:25.66 and say out loud 'I forgive you as a baby 00:31:26.67\00:31:30.25 for whatever will happen to you in your life 00:31:30.35\00:31:32.51 that you will do this to all of your children. ' " 00:31:32.71\00:31:34.98 And I turned that over to God. 00:31:35.28\00:31:37.73 You know? I'm not saying I have to reconcile... 00:31:38.84\00:31:40.82 any of that kind of stuff. 00:31:40.92\00:31:42.29 I'm just saying that I'm turning that over to God. 00:31:42.32\00:31:44.37 God died for me. He's asking me to forgive my dad 00:31:44.57\00:31:47.91 and He's asking me to turn over that stuff to Him. 00:31:48.01\00:31:50.16 So I did that. The next slide I want you to see 00:31:50.36\00:31:53.05 is a really powerful slide. 00:31:53.26\00:31:55.30 And it's going to give you an example of an event. 00:31:56.92\00:32:00.89 And I made the example of the event by just putting 00:32:01.09\00:32:03.91 a block of color, right? So the block of color 00:32:04.01\00:32:07.10 is... and you see it on the left hand side of your screen. 00:32:07.30\00:32:10.76 The block of color is the event. And we're going to say 00:32:10.96\00:32:13.51 the block of color is one of the times that my dad 00:32:13.61\00:32:17.21 interfered with me in a sexual way. 00:32:17.41\00:32:20.36 Right? It could be anything. 00:32:20.56\00:32:23.89 Like for you it could be abandonment, sexual abuse, 00:32:24.09\00:32:26.36 physical abuse, divorce. 00:32:26.57\00:32:28.29 It could be that you got ripped off out of work thing. 00:32:28.49\00:32:30.62 It could be that... whatever it is for you. 00:32:30.82\00:32:32.69 But the event is considered that block. 00:32:32.89\00:32:35.29 Most people when they think about forgiveness 00:32:35.49\00:32:38.58 they will think about going to the event 00:32:38.78\00:32:40.89 and saying: "I forgive my dad for this. " 00:32:41.09\00:32:44.28 And then a week later all of it comes back up, right? 00:32:45.00\00:32:49.97 And they say again: "I forgive my dad for this. " 00:32:50.17\00:32:53.20 And about a week later or a day later it comes back up 00:32:53.50\00:32:56.63 or I'm believing the same thing. 00:32:56.77\00:32:58.15 And I think that that's where we get forgiveness mixed up. 00:32:58.35\00:33:01.37 What I believe God taught me through a lot of processes 00:33:01.57\00:33:04.45 is that when the devil strategically does something 00:33:04.66\00:33:07.76 in your life that trashes you... 00:33:07.86\00:33:09.61 And I think it is... You know, we've got the great controversy: 00:33:09.92\00:33:14.10 either it's God or the devil. 00:33:14.20\00:33:15.57 And I think for all of our abuses, all of our junk, 00:33:15.62\00:33:18.02 when we act out with our addictions, when we get lost 00:33:18.12\00:33:20.60 in sexual sin and all that kind of stuff, the devil 00:33:20.70\00:33:22.91 tragically or strategically comes against you. 00:33:23.01\00:33:26.56 So when the devil does that 00:33:26.76\00:33:28.13 he sets up schemes in your life. 00:33:28.26\00:33:30.42 The Bible talks about to fight against the schemes 00:33:30.62\00:33:32.78 of the devil. Don't fight against the devil... 00:33:32.88\00:33:34.82 that's God's job. 00:33:34.92\00:33:36.29 The scheme that he set up in my life when I was molested 00:33:36.32\00:33:39.27 is that I didn't feel worth anything. 00:33:39.37\00:33:41.10 I didn't feel protected. 00:33:41.13\00:33:42.64 I didn't feel like anybody could be trusted. 00:33:42.84\00:33:44.84 And all of those are schemes. 00:33:45.04\00:33:46.41 So each of the things that came off that event 00:33:46.44\00:33:48.41 are all various schemes in my life. 00:33:48.61\00:33:50.86 The next event sets up those same schemes usually. 00:33:50.96\00:33:53.64 I get in a relationship that falls apart. 00:33:53.84\00:33:56.78 I don't feel like I'm loved. 00:33:56.98\00:33:58.35 I don't feel like anybody can be trusted. 00:33:58.38\00:33:59.98 I feel worthless. All that kind of stuff. 00:34:00.19\00:34:02.06 So the schemes are set up. Whose fault is the event? 00:34:02.27\00:34:05.38 Whose fault do you think the event is? 00:34:08.11\00:34:10.03 Satan originally... but it's my dad's fault. 00:34:11.68\00:34:14.12 My dad molested me. 00:34:14.33\00:34:16.33 But whose fault are all the schemes? 00:34:16.63\00:34:19.39 Mine. I choose to believe lies 00:34:20.50\00:34:24.36 that interfere with my life. 00:34:24.57\00:34:26.51 And God says: "When you bring all of that to Me 00:34:26.71\00:34:29.88 I will heal you... not only of the event 00:34:30.08\00:34:32.97 but all the schemes that you live with every day - 00:34:33.17\00:34:36.05 all the lies that the devil has told you every day - 00:34:36.15\00:34:38.26 all the lies that you tell yourself because you become 00:34:38.46\00:34:41.01 your own perpetrator... and I'm done. " Amen! 00:34:41.11\00:34:44.28 Christ died to set me free. 00:34:44.38\00:34:47.29 Literally. I am free. 00:34:47.50\00:34:49.89 So what I want to do with this is I want to say 00:34:50.09\00:34:52.27 "You know what, God? I forgive my father 00:34:52.47\00:34:54.36 for all of the abuse in my life. 00:34:54.56\00:34:56.70 I forgive him from the sexual abuse. 00:34:56.90\00:34:58.35 I forgive him that he was so messed up. 00:34:58.45\00:35:00.93 Something happened to him where he could not even be 00:35:01.13\00:35:03.69 around children. He was just a mess. 00:35:03.79\00:35:05.95 I forgive him for that... AND 00:35:06.15\00:35:08.68 I want You to forgive me for my insecurity, 00:35:08.99\00:35:12.58 my sense of worthlessness, 00:35:12.69\00:35:14.31 my bitterness, my anger. " 00:35:14.51\00:35:16.31 I mean all of that kind of stuff. So I'm really taking 00:35:16.41\00:35:18.78 a number of things to God with the forgiveness process... 00:35:18.88\00:35:21.71 I'm not just taking one. 00:35:21.91\00:35:23.31 Does that make sense? 00:35:23.51\00:35:24.88 And if I don't... If I don't take the schemes, 00:35:24.91\00:35:27.98 the Bible calls them "schemes or strongholds, " 00:35:28.19\00:35:30.45 right? And does anybody know what a stronghold is? 00:35:30.65\00:35:33.96 So a stronghold a lot of times people look at it as a fortress. 00:35:36.14\00:35:39.89 Right? So it's this fortress. 00:35:40.19\00:35:41.93 It's this building; it's this castle, right? 00:35:42.13\00:35:44.88 And the one that taught me this stuff is an attorney 00:35:45.91\00:35:49.76 and a pastor. And he said: "The devil 00:35:49.96\00:35:53.69 can be in your life on the ground that you give him. " 00:35:53.89\00:35:57.76 He just wanted to get an analogy. 00:35:57.96\00:35:59.98 "On the ground that you give him. " 00:36:00.18\00:36:01.55 So if you give him anger either God's going to stand 00:36:01.58\00:36:06.23 on that ground or the devil. 00:36:06.33\00:36:07.70 Who's going to be more comfortable? " 00:36:07.73\00:36:09.36 The devil. Anger, hatred, all that kind of stuff. 00:36:09.96\00:36:13.21 So you give him that ground. 00:36:13.24\00:36:14.82 Is that ground light or dark? 00:36:15.02\00:36:16.91 Dark. Dark. 00:36:17.11\00:36:18.53 So now let's imagine that you have that fortress. 00:36:18.83\00:36:21.73 The fortress creates shadows 00:36:22.03\00:36:24.32 and the devil gets to hide behind the shadows. 00:36:25.02\00:36:27.80 And the fortress is made up of the lies that you believe. 00:36:28.51\00:36:32.58 So the devil can hide behind the lies I believe 00:36:33.56\00:36:37.80 and I build them myself. 00:36:38.66\00:36:41.17 He can't build them. 00:36:41.37\00:36:42.74 He doesn't have the power to build them. 00:36:43.07\00:36:45.06 God never gave him that. 00:36:45.26\00:36:46.63 I have the power to say "yes" or "no" to truth or lies. 00:36:46.66\00:36:49.82 And God says: "When you say 'yes' to lies 00:36:50.02\00:36:52.20 you give the devil access. You give him a foothold. 00:36:52.30\00:36:55.37 You give him the ability to come into your life. 00:36:55.57\00:36:57.86 If you feel you're worthless and you're a creation of God, 00:36:58.06\00:37:00.48 you're beloved by God, then the devil has lied to you. 00:37:00.58\00:37:04.11 And there's something here that you need to bring to God. 00:37:04.31\00:37:06.56 And I started to look at God: "OK... what is it? 00:37:06.76\00:37:09.18 I'm just going to bring everything... 00:37:09.38\00:37:11.07 I'm going to bring everything. " 00:37:11.37\00:37:12.74 And I want to give another demonstration to make it easy. 00:37:12.77\00:37:14.99 Lemuel, if I wrecked your car outside... if I just ran into it 00:37:18.52\00:37:24.00 accidentally today... And so I ran into your car 00:37:24.10\00:37:27.72 and you came in and said: "Did you just run into my car? " 00:37:28.02\00:37:32.37 And I'm like: "Well yeah, sorry. " 00:37:32.67\00:37:34.49 "Well do you have insurance? " 00:37:34.69\00:37:36.11 And I'm like: "Oh yeah yeah. " And then I leave. 00:37:36.31\00:37:40.26 And I go back home and you call me. 00:37:40.46\00:37:42.37 "Were you going to like show me the insurance card? " 00:37:42.57\00:37:45.04 And I'm like: "Yeah, yeah, sometime you know. " 00:37:45.44\00:37:47.77 And then a week or two passes. I really need... 00:37:47.97\00:37:50.59 I need to file a full report. I need that number 00:37:50.79\00:37:52.88 and all that kind of stuff. 00:37:52.98\00:37:54.35 Then you find out that not only do I not have insurance 00:37:54.38\00:37:56.57 my name's not Cherie. 00:37:56.67\00:37:58.26 I lied about everything. 00:37:59.29\00:38:00.86 I don't have insurance; I have no money. 00:38:01.26\00:38:03.67 I'm never going to fix his car. 00:38:03.87\00:38:05.68 So five years... Let's say he takes me to court. 00:38:05.88\00:38:08.58 Five years he's tried to get some money to pay for his car. 00:38:09.45\00:38:12.61 After five years what do you think he should do? 00:38:13.57\00:38:17.29 Fix his car and go on, right? 00:38:20.44\00:38:24.00 And it's not fair that he has to do that. 00:38:24.13\00:38:26.18 But just fix your car. He's been angry for five years. 00:38:26.48\00:38:29.49 He's been trying to get at me for five years. 00:38:29.69\00:38:31.52 He's been trying to make it right for five years. 00:38:31.72\00:38:34.20 He's called Danny. 00:38:34.30\00:38:35.67 "Danny, you've got to make her pay me. " 00:38:35.80\00:38:38.96 He's called everybody but nobody can do anything 00:38:39.06\00:38:41.89 and he's just been keyed up trying to get this. 00:38:42.09\00:38:44.00 And finally if he's going to have a life at all, 00:38:44.30\00:38:47.32 if he's going to get back to himself at all, 00:38:47.52\00:38:50.03 he's going to have to say: "I am going to take that 00:38:50.13\00:38:53.09 responsibility myself. I'm going to pay for the debt 00:38:53.19\00:38:56.43 that she owes me and then I'm going to surrender that 00:38:56.63\00:38:59.78 to God and I'm going to get on with my life. " 00:38:59.88\00:39:02.04 So nobody's saying this is fair. 00:39:02.24\00:39:04.26 Nobody's saying that God Himself is even going to forget this. 00:39:04.46\00:39:07.19 He's going to deal with it His way, 00:39:07.39\00:39:09.07 but I can no longer carry this debt. 00:39:09.28\00:39:12.11 If I had to imagine my father's debt to me in money 00:39:12.31\00:39:15.25 it would be trillions of dollars. 00:39:15.45\00:39:16.99 But I'm going to forgive him for the pain that he has 00:39:17.91\00:39:20.19 caused me. And I'm going to turn that over to God 00:39:20.30\00:39:23.18 and say: "Forgive me for my bitterness and my anger 00:39:23.39\00:39:26.42 and that root that has taken a part of my life 00:39:26.45\00:39:29.57 and destroyed me almost. 00:39:29.77\00:39:31.47 And I'm going to ask You to pull that root 00:39:31.67\00:39:33.58 and give me peace. " 00:39:33.68\00:39:35.87 And the Bible says: "A peace that passes all understanding. " 00:39:36.17\00:39:39.13 And when we get that - not only peace but joy... 00:39:39.43\00:39:42.15 When all of a sudden I get that and some of you may feel that 00:39:42.35\00:39:45.15 today even as we talk about this concept you feel lighter. 00:39:45.35\00:39:48.57 All of a sudden it's like "You know what? 00:39:48.77\00:39:50.65 I am going to get out from underneath that for the first 00:39:50.85\00:39:53.10 time in my life. " Whether it's an ex or whether it's parents... 00:39:53.20\00:39:56.31 You know, raise your hand if you have anybody that 00:39:56.51\00:39:59.04 that's out to lunch in your family. 00:39:59.24\00:40:00.66 You know, I could say that around the world... 00:40:02.56\00:40:04.59 just about every hand goes up. 00:40:04.69\00:40:06.24 There's always somebody. 00:40:06.34\00:40:07.71 Raise your hand if you have anybody obnoxious that you 00:40:07.74\00:40:09.72 work with... unless you work here. 00:40:09.82\00:40:11.96 No. So it's like everybody has that. 00:40:12.78\00:40:16.60 And so God says: "You know you've got to keep doing this. 00:40:16.80\00:40:20.03 You've got to forgive. " 00:40:20.13\00:40:21.50 There's something that Satan does that he is really good at: 00:40:21.53\00:40:24.67 he lays traps for us. 00:40:24.88\00:40:28.68 In the Bible there's a word called scandalon. 00:40:29.76\00:40:32.62 And it's like scandalous, you know, offense. 00:40:32.83\00:40:36.04 You get all these kind of root words from that. 00:40:36.24\00:40:38.70 But you just imagine like a big trap... a bear trap. 00:40:38.90\00:40:41.80 Do you put a bear trap in the middle of the room? 00:40:42.21\00:40:45.26 No, you hide it, right? 00:40:46.23\00:40:47.96 And so he hides it. 00:40:48.17\00:40:49.54 And let's say he hides it where you won't necessarily 00:40:49.72\00:40:53.38 think it's going to come from, where it's going to be. 00:40:53.58\00:40:56.15 And somebody says something to you 00:40:56.35\00:40:59.02 that's offensive or hurts your feelings 00:40:59.22\00:41:01.17 and you get offended, all you've done is put 00:41:01.37\00:41:03.61 your hand in that trap. 00:41:03.71\00:41:05.08 And until you deal with the offense you are caught. 00:41:05.17\00:41:09.68 Does that make sense? 00:41:10.08\00:41:11.51 You are caught. And then you end up going to the next person 00:41:11.81\00:41:15.50 with your anger. You may be only talking about what they did 00:41:15.70\00:41:19.04 but now everybody's got their hand in this 00:41:19.24\00:41:21.73 and the offense gets bigger. 00:41:22.03\00:41:23.89 And it's being able to say "Is there any way 00:41:24.09\00:41:26.34 that as a woman of God as a man of God 00:41:26.54\00:41:28.58 that I can actually believe God when He says the devil 00:41:28.78\00:41:32.26 has this strategic plan to keep us offended. 00:41:32.46\00:41:35.74 To keep us off kilter. 00:41:35.94\00:41:38.37 To keep us attacking and hurting each other 00:41:38.47\00:41:40.93 with all of these offenses that build up. 00:41:41.13\00:41:43.10 Is God true when He says that's his plan? 00:41:43.13\00:41:46.15 And the only way to be free from that is accept 00:41:46.35\00:41:48.57 the blood of Christ and walk away from that. 00:41:48.67\00:41:51.01 I am free and I choose to forgive you. Amen. 00:41:51.82\00:41:55.46 I choose to... 00:41:55.66\00:41:57.46 and I know that you're never going to ask me. 00:41:57.76\00:41:59.37 My mom has never said: "I'm sorry that I don't love you. " 00:41:59.57\00:42:02.20 Ever... and she may never. 00:42:03.23\00:42:05.11 But I choose to forgive her. 00:42:05.41\00:42:07.67 What's really interesting about all of that whole kind 00:42:07.78\00:42:12.53 of process is that once you get on the other side of that, 00:42:12.63\00:42:15.61 once you get to a place where you say 00:42:15.81\00:42:17.97 "You know, I get it and I'm not going to walk around with that" 00:42:18.17\00:42:22.13 is I can have somebody come right up to me 00:42:22.34\00:42:24.77 and say something - right up to me and say something... 00:42:24.97\00:42:28.20 Like there's a girl in this church I went to 00:42:28.30\00:42:31.53 a while ago. How do you tell stories when people know you? 00:42:31.83\00:42:35.59 It's like she's saying: "Oh she's going to tell that story 00:42:35.69\00:42:37.93 again. " But there's a girl that... 00:42:38.03\00:42:39.83 And she would come up and I don't know why 00:42:40.03\00:42:42.80 but she would love to say stuff like: "You know I saw you 00:42:43.00\00:42:45.57 on 3ABN last night. Boy that shirt looked awful on you. " 00:42:45.67\00:42:49.86 And I'm thinking: "What shirt? " 00:42:50.53\00:42:52.66 And I'm trying to think of what shirt, and she said: 00:42:52.96\00:42:54.73 "And you know when you said this 00:42:54.93\00:42:56.83 that didn't go with anything. " 00:42:57.03\00:42:58.80 You know what I mean? 00:42:59.10\00:43:00.47 And ask she is talking I just want to punch her. 00:43:00.57\00:43:06.10 And I don't know if you're allowed to do that as an 00:43:06.60\00:43:08.24 evangelist, you know, but I wanted to. 00:43:08.34\00:43:10.51 And I'm thinking: "You're in recovery. 00:43:10.71\00:43:13.18 Put your hands down. " And so I'm trying to be nice 00:43:13.38\00:43:16.60 and so I do the Biblically right thing: 00:43:16.90\00:43:19.47 I pray about it. She keeps doing it. 00:43:19.67\00:43:23.16 And then I decide to talk to her privately. 00:43:23.46\00:43:26.45 "Do you know every time you see me you kind of put me down? 00:43:26.75\00:43:30.41 And you know I've got all these issues 00:43:30.61\00:43:32.36 and it just triggers that. Can we when we see each other 00:43:32.46\00:43:36.17 just talk about what's happening right now? " 00:43:36.37\00:43:37.92 And we'll pause a bit. 00:43:38.12\00:43:39.94 "Like why? Are you insecure? " 00:43:40.14\00:43:42.15 I'm like: "No, just stop. " 00:43:45.47\00:43:48.41 And so then the next time the Bible says you go to 00:43:48.61\00:43:51.19 the pastor and her, and I did that. 00:43:51.29\00:43:52.86 And then I prayed about it and prayed about it. 00:43:53.06\00:43:55.49 And God... He's so fun! I love Him. 00:43:55.69\00:43:58.17 He said: "Just tell her never to talk to you again. " 00:43:58.37\00:44:00.63 Like really? 00:44:01.95\00:44:03.32 So I told her that: "Just don't ever talk to me again 00:44:04.08\00:44:06.40 because we just can't work this out and I don't know 00:44:06.61\00:44:08.28 what's going on but it is just hurtful. " 00:44:08.38\00:44:10.33 And you know, I think sometimes God does that. 00:44:10.53\00:44:12.53 Work on forgiveness but you don't have to have relationship. 00:44:12.73\00:44:15.17 But now when she does talk to me and she does approach me 00:44:15.37\00:44:18.49 and it is hurtful - 'cause I found out she does that 00:44:18.52\00:44:20.66 with a lot of people and it is hurtful - 00:44:20.86\00:44:22.76 as she's talking do you know what I say? 00:44:22.96\00:44:25.58 "Dear Father, I choose to forgive 00:44:26.63\00:44:30.97 for hurting me in the way she does... 00:44:31.17\00:44:34.64 for her talking negative about me. 00:44:34.84\00:44:36.35 I triggers my insecurity and it makes me feel like 00:44:36.55\00:44:39.25 I'm worthless. And what if I am a fraud and what if 00:44:39.45\00:44:41.97 I really don't deserve to be standing here. 00:44:42.07\00:44:44.81 What if I'm not good enough? 00:44:44.91\00:44:46.28 And I choose to pay for the pain and the consequences 00:44:46.48\00:44:49.57 that she is causing me right now. " 00:44:49.67\00:44:51.47 And she's still talking. 00:44:51.67\00:44:53.13 "I choose. I ask You to break any stronghold 00:44:53.33\00:44:56.59 or any scheme that the devil's trying to set up 00:44:56.69\00:44:58.50 right now. Forgive me for my bitterness and my anger 00:44:58.70\00:45:02.12 towards her right now 00:45:02.32\00:45:04.55 and bless her. " 00:45:07.15\00:45:08.82 She stops talking... I feel like gold. 00:45:09.12\00:45:13.40 Do you know what I mean? 00:45:13.60\00:45:14.97 I walk away just feeling like I have never felt better. 00:45:15.15\00:45:18.83 And she just nailed me again but I don't have to carry that 00:45:19.03\00:45:22.21 any more 'cause I choose to do what God says, 00:45:22.31\00:45:25.95 I choose to forgive her. 00:45:26.05\00:45:28.31 Men: raise your hand if you've ever thought about doing that 00:45:28.81\00:45:31.44 with a spouse. 00:45:31.54\00:45:33.25 You know what I mean. In the middle of their craziness... 00:45:35.15\00:45:38.00 Poor Brad. You know, he's married to me. 00:45:38.30\00:45:40.56 I'm ADD; I'm flaky; it's all that kind of stuff. 00:45:40.76\00:45:45.49 But in the middle of them saying something crazy, 00:45:45.89\00:45:49.98 in the middle of them telling you what else you did wrong 00:45:50.28\00:45:54.07 or whatever, I choose to forgive Brad. 00:45:54.27\00:45:59.01 You know, for saying this. Causing me to feel like 00:46:00.17\00:46:03.31 somehow I'm not good enough and I choose to... 00:46:03.51\00:46:06.22 And Satan uses the same strategies with you. 00:46:06.32\00:46:08.47 Once you figure out what the strategy is in your life... 00:46:08.67\00:46:10.84 He doesn't do a lot of different things 00:46:11.04\00:46:13.52 'cause this works with you. 00:46:13.72\00:46:15.67 When somebody does that worthlessness with me 00:46:15.87\00:46:19.22 that works... and so he tends to go with those things. 00:46:19.32\00:46:22.75 But I choose to forgive him 00:46:22.95\00:46:24.68 and I choose to turn that over to You. 00:46:24.88\00:46:27.21 Any root of bitterness that's starting right now, 00:46:27.41\00:46:29.32 anything that's starting in my life right now 00:46:29.52\00:46:31.35 because of what was said I choose to give it back. 00:46:31.45\00:46:33.46 And if it's appropriate I'll talk with Brad about it 00:46:33.66\00:46:35.77 or he'll talk with me about it. 00:46:35.87\00:46:37.52 But it's an incredible place to be that I know 00:46:37.72\00:46:40.50 that if I don't do that - even leaving it for a day or two - 00:46:40.70\00:46:44.44 those roots... Does anybody garden? 00:46:44.64\00:46:47.26 How long does a weed take to grow? 00:46:47.46\00:46:49.46 I mean, man, plants take forever 00:46:49.76\00:46:52.04 but weeds are up the next day. 00:46:52.34\00:46:54.20 Do you know what I mean? So you just start pulling them up. 00:46:54.40\00:46:56.71 You know if you go around and walk around the parking lot here 00:46:56.91\00:46:59.51 you will see weeds that have taken asphalt up. 00:46:59.71\00:47:03.17 Do you know what I mean? 00:47:03.47\00:47:04.84 You've got to deal with it right away. 00:47:04.92\00:47:06.83 And you've got to choose to forgive... even if the other 00:47:07.03\00:47:09.31 person never even gets it. 00:47:09.41\00:47:11.23 It's not about this. We're at the end of the great controversy 00:47:11.43\00:47:13.54 and it's about connecting with God 00:47:13.74\00:47:15.31 and connecting with each other on a real sense. 00:47:15.51\00:47:18.11 I love the fact that we are in a place where God says 00:47:19.12\00:47:23.89 "I want to teach you this more than I want to teach you 00:47:23.99\00:47:27.34 anything else. " We have incredible stuff to learn. 00:47:27.54\00:47:30.48 We have incredible revelation stuff. 00:47:30.68\00:47:32.52 We have incredible things about end times. 00:47:32.63\00:47:35.06 We have incredible health message stuff. 00:47:35.26\00:47:38.39 We have incredible stuff but do you know what? 00:47:38.59\00:47:40.66 If we don't forgive, does any of that matter? 00:47:40.79\00:47:43.90 Any of it? 00:47:44.88\00:47:46.45 And please hear me. "Without love you are... " 00:47:46.65\00:47:50.39 nothing. You know what I mean?- 00:47:50.59\00:47:52.81 If I don't receive the love of God, I can't fully understand 00:47:52.91\00:47:55.60 the gospel. And if I don't give the love of God, 00:47:55.70\00:47:57.90 I can't fully understand what it means to connect 00:47:58.00\00:47:59.90 with my brothers and sisters. 00:48:00.00\00:48:02.12 And so God says: "You know what? 00:48:02.32\00:48:03.69 The core of our spiritual growth, the core of our 00:48:03.82\00:48:06.20 recovery, the core of healing, 00:48:06.30\00:48:07.74 is that I get this forgiveness thing. " 00:48:07.94\00:48:09.56 And what I really love and you're going to see this 00:48:09.87\00:48:12.60 on the graphic, but what I really love about this 00:48:12.70\00:48:16.25 next thing is I could have put a billion scriptures up. 00:48:16.35\00:48:19.60 I literally could have went one after another. 00:48:19.80\00:48:21.70 But what I'm going to do is I put twelve 00:48:21.90\00:48:24.53 because I just like the fact that the Bible uses all these 00:48:24.63\00:48:27.90 numbers that mean something. 00:48:28.10\00:48:29.79 But if I decide to live in a way that forgiveness 00:48:30.00\00:48:34.99 is who I am, that I'm going to walk in forgiveness 00:48:35.09\00:48:38.32 and I'm going to do that as much as I can 00:48:38.52\00:48:40.89 'cause sometimes we do it really well and sometimes we don't, 00:48:41.09\00:48:43.87 but that's my goal... the Bible says there's some promises 00:48:43.90\00:48:47.01 that go with that. And I love the first one. 00:48:47.11\00:48:50.45 The first promise is I will experience peace. 00:48:50.65\00:48:53.00 How cool is that? 00:48:54.56\00:48:56.05 And I don't know if anybody... Does anybody want peace? 00:48:56.45\00:49:00.92 I'll experience peace... and that's in Psalms. 00:49:01.02\00:49:05.58 I'll experience joy. 00:49:05.68\00:49:07.38 When we get unburdened, 00:49:07.78\00:49:10.22 when we get that stuff lifted from us, 00:49:10.42\00:49:13.77 when I'm not demanding that someone make it right with me 00:49:13.97\00:49:17.26 or I'm not looking at trying to get someone else to see 00:49:17.37\00:49:20.27 how wrong they were and all that kind of stuff, 00:49:20.47\00:49:22.56 when I get out from underneath some of that kind of stuff 00:49:22.76\00:49:24.95 I find peace. 00:49:25.05\00:49:26.42 When I forgive people for the abuses 00:49:26.45\00:49:28.28 and the molest and not loving me 00:49:28.48\00:49:30.14 I find peace 'cause I'm not demanding that they know 00:49:30.34\00:49:33.24 anything. I'm now asking God to bless them. 00:49:33.34\00:49:35.90 'Cause what's really weird with forgiveness 00:49:36.10\00:49:37.96 and I guess it's the same with God 00:49:38.17\00:49:39.77 is when you forgive somebody love wakens up for them 00:49:39.97\00:49:43.32 sometimes. And not with somebody that's really unsafe 00:49:43.42\00:49:46.07 so don't hear that, but with people in your life 00:49:46.27\00:49:48.78 that sometimes it's just that love wakens up. 00:49:48.88\00:49:50.83 And I think that that happened with Christ and God and with us 00:49:50.93\00:49:54.02 and with - you know - us and Him. 00:49:54.12\00:49:55.76 The third one is I will have guidance in making my decisions. 00:49:55.96\00:50:01.32 You know, if I'm making my decisions 00:50:01.62\00:50:03.79 through anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, 00:50:03.99\00:50:06.24 who's guiding me? 00:50:06.44\00:50:07.92 You know, I'm being guided actually by the devil himself. 00:50:08.98\00:50:11.85 You know, or it's demonic. 00:50:12.15\00:50:13.78 If I'm making my decisions spiritually with forgiveness, 00:50:13.98\00:50:17.05 God is guiding me. And the Bible's real clear about that. 00:50:17.25\00:50:19.97 It's that He can't guide our revenge 00:50:20.07\00:50:22.76 but "turn to Me in this area and I will guide you. " 00:50:22.96\00:50:26.52 Has anybody forgiven somebody 00:50:26.73\00:50:28.10 and then all of a sudden you run into them 00:50:28.16\00:50:29.53 and God gives you exactly what to say 00:50:29.63\00:50:31.61 and it's like this anointed meeting? 00:50:31.71\00:50:33.46 You just think: "How did that happen? 00:50:33.66\00:50:35.41 It was better than I could have expected it to be. 00:50:35.61\00:50:38.63 How could? " All of a sudden you walk away and you feel 00:50:38.83\00:50:41.54 that reconciliation has happened and it's not because 00:50:41.64\00:50:43.61 of something that you said. God just made that happen 00:50:43.72\00:50:46.81 because your choice to forgive them 00:50:47.01\00:50:48.43 and to approach them differently. 00:50:48.63\00:50:50.30 He says: "I will give you guidance. " 00:50:50.41\00:50:52.82 "I will prosper you. " 00:50:54.71\00:50:56.60 Does that mean money? 00:50:58.43\00:51:00.01 Not necessarily... 'cause people really get that 00:51:01.27\00:51:04.16 mistaken view of prosperity. 00:51:04.36\00:51:07.10 Doesn't mean money. 00:51:07.30\00:51:08.67 But you know what? I went from being unhappy 00:51:08.70\00:51:10.73 and wanting to kill myself most days 00:51:10.83\00:51:13.28 to celebrating my life. 00:51:13.48\00:51:15.41 Do you know what I mean? 00:51:15.72\00:51:17.09 And if you asked me: "Do I feel like my life is prosperous? " 00:51:17.16\00:51:20.52 I would say "absolutely! " 00:51:20.72\00:51:22.23 And I love it and wouldn't trade it for anything. 00:51:23.09\00:51:25.90 And so just being able to say is that God says: 00:51:26.10\00:51:28.16 "I will prosper you... " what- ever that means for His glory. 00:51:28.26\00:51:31.35 The next one is I will experience security. 00:51:32.39\00:51:35.63 I love that. 00:51:37.24\00:51:38.61 I've been insecure my whole life. 00:51:38.69\00:51:40.61 One time I was in the middle of doing a presentation. 00:51:41.01\00:51:45.05 Everybody else had Ph.D.'s and all kinds of stuff. 00:51:45.25\00:51:47.91 I don't have anything. 00:51:48.11\00:51:49.78 I'm honored that you even let me come up and teach 00:51:50.08\00:51:53.59 'cause that's an incredible thing. 00:51:53.79\00:51:55.16 But I don't have anything, and I was being insecure 00:51:55.19\00:51:57.06 about that. And I asked God. I said: "Where do I go 00:51:57.16\00:51:59.71 when I'm in the midst of this insecurity? 00:51:59.92\00:52:02.80 Where do I keep going? " 00:52:03.00\00:52:04.37 And He showed me a time when my dad 00:52:04.40\00:52:09.28 was going to molest us kids he would put us all together 00:52:09.48\00:52:13.09 and go get drunk and then come back. 00:52:13.19\00:52:14.61 We would just have to wait for him. 00:52:14.81\00:52:16.34 And everybody knew what was going to happen 00:52:16.54\00:52:17.91 and we would wait. 00:52:17.94\00:52:19.31 And sometimes we would just wait in the tub and just wait. 00:52:19.34\00:52:21.67 And I just felt at one point 00:52:21.97\00:52:24.07 that Jesus said: "Can I take you out of the tub? " 00:52:24.27\00:52:28.96 You know, I just felt a sense that His hand came down 00:52:29.26\00:52:32.29 and He said: "It's time to get out of the tub. 00:52:32.49\00:52:34.59 You don't have to go back there any more. 00:52:34.69\00:52:36.42 You're not going to be injured any more. 00:52:36.72\00:52:39.29 I AM protecting you. 00:52:39.49\00:52:40.86 You are walking in this. It's not the same any more. " 00:52:41.03\00:52:44.58 And I think that as we get the gospel 00:52:44.78\00:52:46.82 and some people haven't gone through that much damage 00:52:47.02\00:52:49.15 but some of us have, and God says: 00:52:49.35\00:52:51.47 "You're not there any more. Grab My hand 00:52:51.57\00:52:54.37 and stay with this. Forgive them. " 00:52:54.57\00:52:57.60 And I got out of the tub. I remember just in my mind 00:52:58.50\00:53:01.37 that I never went back there again. 00:53:01.57\00:53:03.91 Like if you talk to me now I just feel... 00:53:04.12\00:53:07.22 I don't feel like that I'm all that or whatever but 00:53:07.36\00:53:10.81 I just don't crash and burn as much as I used to 00:53:10.91\00:53:13.51 just because I think that God's got my hand in His hand. 00:53:13.61\00:53:19.56 Just an amazing thing. 00:53:19.76\00:53:21.19 Six says: "I will give you wisdom. " 00:53:21.59\00:53:24.08 I love that. 00:53:25.24\00:53:26.61 You'll gain favor from others. 00:53:27.75\00:53:29.86 If I'm in a relationship with you and you know 00:53:30.16\00:53:33.17 if I mess up I'm going to come back and say: 00:53:33.37\00:53:35.28 "Forgive me. " If you mess up, I'm not going to 00:53:35.49\00:53:38.18 make it this huge deal. I'm going to forgive you. 00:53:38.38\00:53:41.10 Do you know what I mean? You just gain favor from each other 00:53:41.30\00:53:43.92 because people start to be able to trust who you are. 00:53:44.12\00:53:46.42 I will experience God's provision for my needs. 00:53:48.73\00:53:51.43 Seven, I love that: My children will experience 00:53:51.63\00:53:54.08 God's blessings. I love that. 00:53:54.19\00:53:57.22 I will never be forgotten. 00:53:58.14\00:53:59.78 Through this whole thing you know? Eternity comes... 00:54:01.01\00:54:04.99 all of that kind of stuff. 00:54:05.19\00:54:06.56 God says: "I think of you more than the grains of sand 00:54:06.59\00:54:10.06 on the planet. " 00:54:10.26\00:54:12.14 I'm in the heart of God; I'm in the thoughts of God. 00:54:12.84\00:54:15.36 I'm in the thoughts of people around me that love me. 00:54:15.66\00:54:17.85 All of that kind of stuff. There's something about 00:54:17.96\00:54:20.45 someone walking in the light of God and the Spirit of God 00:54:20.65\00:54:23.33 is they won't be forgotten. It's not the same. 00:54:23.53\00:54:26.18 And it's just like the Bible just promises that. 00:54:26.38\00:54:28.73 And "You'll have a sure reward. " 00:54:29.13\00:54:31.00 There's really some incredible blessing 00:54:31.20\00:54:33.85 when we get the forgiveness thing. 00:54:34.05\00:54:35.68 But what the Bible says: "If you can't forgive them 00:54:35.88\00:54:38.77 I can't forgive you. " 00:54:38.97\00:54:41.65 It's really the core of this whole thing. 00:54:41.85\00:54:45.15 I have a friend of mine that wrote a book called 00:54:45.35\00:54:47.04 Every Heart's Cry. 00:54:47.14\00:54:48.51 And she says in the Garden of Eden 00:54:48.70\00:54:50.77 we were disconnected. We were disconnected from God. 00:54:52.12\00:54:54.71 Right? And then we were disconnected from each other. 00:54:54.91\00:54:58.24 And the only way to change that is for us to 00:54:59.32\00:55:02.16 receive the forgiveness that God gives us 00:55:02.26\00:55:04.21 and reconnect with God 00:55:04.44\00:55:06.69 and then forgive each other and reconnect with each other 00:55:06.89\00:55:10.08 and the whole great controversy is dealt with. 00:55:10.38\00:55:13.34 Disconnect trashed us 00:55:14.34\00:55:16.52 and reconnection is going to heal us. 00:55:16.82\00:55:19.78 And not superficially. I can't do this 00:55:19.98\00:55:23.44 with just a mask on. I can't do this and just pretend. 00:55:23.64\00:55:26.51 I have to ask God with everything in me 00:55:26.71\00:55:29.58 "Teach me how to forgive. " 00:55:29.79\00:55:31.54 "Teach me not to hold a grudge. " 00:55:31.74\00:55:33.42 "Teach me not to be walking around with offense 00:55:33.62\00:55:37.44 and bitterness. " Because I want to be an incredible woman of God 00:55:37.54\00:55:41.04 filled with love... and safe 00:55:41.24\00:55:43.28 and I know that you want that for yourself. 00:55:43.38\00:55:45.94 I want to just say again it was incredible to be here. 00:55:46.14\00:55:48.61 I love 3ABN. Homecoming is great. 00:55:48.81\00:55:52.52 You guys have saved my life. 00:55:52.72\00:55:55.18 When I talk about the family of God and the fact that 00:55:55.38\00:55:59.80 ever since I walked into this ministry 00:56:00.00\00:56:03.59 that I have been loved by you guys all over the world. 00:56:03.79\00:56:06.38 I just got back from Australia and Kenya and Moscow 00:56:06.78\00:56:11.72 and Thailand and all that kind of stuff 00:56:11.85\00:56:13.42 and everywhere I go there's 3ABN family 00:56:13.52\00:56:15.54 that love and support this ministry. 00:56:15.74\00:56:17.45 And when you love and support this ministry 00:56:17.65\00:56:19.65 you love flaky people like me that stand up for the first time 00:56:19.85\00:56:23.44 and say: "What can I do for God? " 00:56:23.54\00:56:25.10 And so I just want to say thank you for that. 00:56:25.30\00:56:27.78 And I want to ask you today as you go through the day 00:56:27.98\00:56:31.86 at Camp Meeting and you see these incredible speakers 00:56:32.06\00:56:35.00 that are here and you hear the music that is here 00:56:35.20\00:56:37.19 is that think to yourself: "Is there anybody 00:56:37.39\00:56:39.84 that I need to forgive? " 00:56:40.04\00:56:41.41 "Is there anybody I need to let go of 00:56:41.47\00:56:43.38 and finally surrender that to God? " 00:56:43.58\00:56:45.25 And if someone comes to your mind, 00:56:45.45\00:56:47.35 do it. OK? 00:56:48.63\00:56:51.85 Amen. Thank you so much. 00:56:52.35\00:56:54.74 And always remember that God is crazy about you. 00:56:55.04\00:56:58.83 Me too. And I just want to say one more thing. 00:56:59.13\00:57:03.51 I really wouldn't be here without you... 00:57:05.12\00:57:07.27 so thank you. 00:57:07.47\00:57:10.20