SELF FORGIVENESS:
The Key to Continuing Your Reign
By: Cheryll D. Cooks, Minister

If you ever take on the awesome and inspirational task of reading the bible, you will come across a million stories of love, war, life, death, magic, good and evil. Whether you take the bible literally or as some kind of interpreted guide of lessons to help you throughout life, there is a lot to be learned from reading its words. As I think of the term “Marching Forward”, it brings to mind one of the many stories of King David. King David was favored and blessed by God as we all are. The Lord provided him with a powerful kingdom because he abided by God’s laws and loved God wholeheartedly. But as we know, no man is perfect and King David faltered and failed within his lifetime as you and I will and have. Though highly respected and considered a man of God, King David allowed the lust of a woman (Bathsheba) to cause him to plot and have her husband killed so that he could marry and have her for himself. This angered the Lord greatly. Now we know that in life there are consequences for our actions whether our choices are good, bad or accidental. In King David’s case, his consequence was the death of his first child with Bathsheba. You would think that such a devastating blow would surely ruin the almighty King David of Israel. Now comes the admirable action of King David that is something we can all learn from. King David admitted and understood the fault of his sin. What he did next is what so many of us have trouble doing after we experience self-inflicted failure. King David mourned, forgave himself, and marched forward! For in his lifetime there was still a kingdom to be ruled and work to be done. Despite letting himself and his God down, King David picked himself up and moved on. His weaknesses and faults as a man were not enough to deny his greatness as a man, warrior and a king.

The example of King David is one that should be applied to every man and woman. I often look back over my life and cringe at the many horrible decisions I’ve made along the way. What I had to learn over the years was to accept the fact that I am human and mistakes are inevitable no matter how hard I try not to make them. But how blessed are we to be afforded the grace and mercy of God? Through prayer, repentance and a desire to be better, God strengthens our hearts and forgives us every time. Things tend to get tricky when it is our time to forgive ourselves and march forward past our tribulations. How many people do you know, if it isn’t you that dwell on their mistakes and beat themselves up for it? To a certain degree depending on the magnitude of our errors regret is understandable, but what we must see is the bigger picture. We are all favored and blessed in the eyes of the God. You can’t change the past and time will fade the scars of our shortcomings. So many of us kill ourselves internally and hinder blessings and progress because of our own fears. To not be willing to forgive yourself is nothing more than a type of false fears Satan plants within us to deny us rule over our domain. Imagine the time wasted wallowing in self-pity. Imagine the setback and difficulties we place upon ourselves that do nothing but damage everything around us. Being able to bounce back and move on is imperative to those who seek to fulfill their destinies and carry out good will in their lives. Just like King David, if we believe that the merciful love of God is powerful enough to restore and forgive us then it is almost laughable that we are not able to press on and exonerate ourselves. For there is no greater love, joy, vengeance, forgiveness, grace or mercy than that of the Lord.

Every one of us on this earth has a purpose. We all have a lifetime of winning, inspiring and growing to do. From this moment on, make up your mind that you will not deny or slow your maximum experience of life because of your unwillingness to march forward past your troubles. How else are we to become humbled and learn to appreciate the things we are given in life without losses and failures? Most of us have parents, spouses, children, friends and family who depend on us to rise above our imperfections and play our part in keeping our kingdoms up and running. There is so much to look forward to in life, so many people to meet, so many places to go and so many things to accomplish. If you happen to stumble along the way, remember the power and greatness you possess. Remember your responsibility to smooth things over with God and then remember your responsibility to forgive yourself and march forward so that you can get back to your reign of love and life.