The Power of Unforgiveness

*If you've not read my last post, "The Power of Forgiveness" please read that first.*

Several years ago I was part of a group that was praying for a gentleman who had cancer.  The power of God was very evident as we prayed for him and we were all very hopeful that this dear man would be healed.  The Lord had instructed his wife not to use any of the traditional medicines and she was obeying and feeding him with all organic, healthy food.  His doctor was also a believer in Christ and was monitoring his cancer and obeying the Lord.

So I was heart-broken when after praying for several months I received a call during the middle of the night that this dear man had gone home to be with Jesus. 

After we had celebrated his life and laid him to rest, I went to Lord one day and asked, "Why?"  "Why, God, when we had literally felt Your Presence, obeyed what You told us to do, and believed You so completely? Why, when I know it's always Your will to heal, why did this man not receive healing?"

And I heard one word from the Lord.  "Anger."  

I kept this to myself and just continued to give my heart to the Lord, thinking about what He had said. 

One day, a couple of months after this, the man's widow called me.  And in the course of our conversation, she asked me, "Do you know why he died?"  And I carefully and kindly shared with her what the Lord had told me.

She surprised me by saying, "You know, that's true. He was very angry at his mom. Whenever she would leave, he would tell me that 'his skin crawled' whenever she touched him."

God's Word tells us that we are judged according to the way we judge others. It also tells us that we must forgive.

So, I want to propose to you a thought.  

I believe that this man's unforgiveness was the thing that stopped him from receiving the healing that God is always willing to give.  But I want to take it even further than that.  I believe that this anger and unforgiveness could have been the very 'root' of the cancer.  This anger could have been the sin that gave the cancer legal access to him.

Healing and salvation are synonymous. Did you know that the literal meaning of the name 'Jesus' is "He heals/He saves?"  

Some people are troubled by the story of Job.  But I am always comforted by it.  
Satan comes before God and has to receive permission before attacking Job. God follows His own legal system and there was a sin in Job's life that gave the enemy legal access to him.  We find that in Job 3:25, Job says, "For what I fear has come upon me, and what I dread befalls me."  Even though Job was a righteous man, He feared that he would lose it all.  And through that fear, he opened the door for the enemy.

Sin opens the door for the enemy.  But even more than that, unforgiveness and bitterness can literally make us sick.

I want to propose that if this is the cause for the illness that even as we forgive, we are healed. As we release our judgment on others, we stop the judgment on ourselves. As we walk in love, we open our hearts to receive the healing love of God.

I have been really surprised by some people's reaction to this thought.  Some people would rather choose to believe that it's not always God's will to heal than take some responsibility for their illness.  I have seen people become very offended over this thought.  But then I have to realize that it may be an offense that has caused their illness in the first place.

I want to be sure and say that this is NOT THE ONLY REASON for illness.  I want to be sure that I don't cause anyone to ever look at someone who is really sick and think, "They're really a sinner." Because there are other reasons for illness. One is the food we eat - or the food we don't eat - that greatly weakens our immune system.  

Another is the 'curse of the generations.'  The Word tells us 'that the sins of the father are visited on the next generations.'  

Scientists and doctors call this 'heredity.'  This is another subject, but the Blood of Christ has the power to break this curse. I believe that when we receive salvation, our DNA is changed.  I'll try to write more on this subject another day.

We each need to seek the Holy Spirit for the root of sickness.

We need to understand that anger and judgment and unforgiveness are sins and will destroy us.  God tells us never to let the sun go down on our anger.  Over the years, anger becomes bitterness and bitterness and love cannot co-habitate. 

Forgiveness is a choice we make.  God will do the rest.

love and blessings~

"Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions." Mark 11:25  

The Seven Types of Blood that Jesus Shed

Several years ago I read a wonderful book by Ana Mendez Ferrell called,

"Eat my Flesh, Drink my Blood." 

Ana and her husband have received wonderful revelation from God about the power of the blood of Jesus by fasting, praying and taking communion.  

As it's Good Friday, I want to share her amazing insights with you.  Below is an excerpt from her book about the blood of Jesus that was shed for our salvation - 
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Page 66 of "Eat My Flesh, Drink My Blood" (pictures from the movie, "The Passion of the Christ"

The Finished Work is Revealed in Each Way the Blood Was Shed

Each one of the seven parts of Christ's suffering in which His blood was poured out are doors to hidden mysteries that open and reveal themselves in fellowship with His blood   The cross in an infinite paradise of blood droplets, each one full of light and revelation. It is the entrance to the Heavenly City, to the dwelling places of the  Spirit and to celestial places.
Thousands of experiences of deep knowledge and revelation are before the believer who finds this master key, and dives into this river of light.

The Blood in the Sweat of His Forehead

Victory over all pain and suffering of the soul is found in those drops in the sweat of His forehead.  The power that submits our will to that of God is found there.  We can drink of those same drops, and make any desire that opposes God to submit to Him.  These are drops of blood that take us to unprecedented level of intercession.  They attract God's angels to help us  die to ourselves and assist us in passing tests of purification that, without His blood and His angels, would be impossible to get through.

Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done...And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.  Luke 22:42;44

The Blood that Flowed from the Slaps and Blows that Disfigured His Face

The blood that flowed from the slaps and blows that disfigured Jesus' face fives us triumph over pride and vanity, and rescues us from the yoke of reproach and rejection.  It gives us the power to endure when people humiliate and mock us.  It allows us to be like Him during the loss of our reputation.  It helps us to see the celestial and divine side found when the beauty within us has been destroyed in order for His beauty to shine through our being.  When the soul and the spirit are full of this beauty, men's words no longer matter.
Many times, God has asked me to love thosee who hae destroyed me with their mocking and reproach.  Drinking this blood has strengthened my heart in order to love and love and love again, where natural man no longer has that capacity.

Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, and said, "Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?"  Matthew 26:67-68

...They humiliate Israel's king, slapping him around like a rage doll.  Micah 5:1b

Just as many were astonished at you, My people, so His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men.  Isaiah 52:14


The Blood Shed When Pieces of His Beard Were Pulled Out

His beard speaks of the priesthood. Through this blood we reclaim the lost priesthood that permits us to minister before His presence.  It is from Jesus' beard that His anointing descends upon His entire body, as it occurred with Aaron, the high priest.

It is like the precious oil upon the head, coming down upon the beard, even aaron's bread, coming down upon the edge of His robes.  Psalm 133:2

I gave back to those who strike Me, and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.  Isaiah 50:6

The Blood Shed During the Whipping that Tore His Back

We drink the victory over all disease in our physical body as we drink this blood.  Just as Jesus took away our sins, He suffered in order to carry in His body all our sickness and pain. Jesus was never sick while He was on the earth.  He was a man without sin, and this protected His body so the devil could not touch Him.  satan can only touch fallen nature due to sin.  The prince of evil wnated to destroy Jesus with all kinds of sickness, but he could not.  When He was on the cross, Jesus covered Himself with sin.  This attracted to Himself all sickness and He carried it to death, through His own death.  This is one of the most powerful things that happened at Calvary and that gives us the possibility of living a life full of health.  It would be difficult for a body continually washed with the blood of Jesus to become sick.  God is calling us in this genereation to enter and possess all that Jesus did for us through His sacrifice.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ouselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.  Isaiah 53:4-5

When my husband and I are attacked in our physical bodies, instead of running to the doctor, we cling to thepower that is in the blood and in the flesh of Jesus.  We look at His wounds and His shed blood and we decree, believing with all our hearts that these wounds were not in vain for us.  He gave the death sentence to all sickness, and we should believe it and drink in that blood our won victory over all sickness.

The Blood Produced by the Crown of Thorns

This blood crowned Him as King of kings and Lord of lords.  It gave Him the victory over the devil's empire. He conquered the government of the earth.  This gives us the position of kings and the ability to govern with Christ.  This blood conquered strongholds in the spiritual world and in the mind of man.  By drinking this blood, we conquer our thought life so we can have the mind of Christ.  We appropriate for ourselves the conscience of Christ.
Jesus the man believed everything that was written about Him.  He knew that everything He was in His spirit had to invade His entire human nature until He became the Christ in His whole being.  He trained His mind to be subject to His Spirit in order for Him to see Himself as He really was. He was Christ, the Son of God. Likewise, through fellowship with His blood, we allow the truth of who we are to penetrate our mind, until we literally become everything that is written about us. 

...We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (through the weapons of the  Spirit). 2 Corinthians 10:5b (paraphrased)

And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.  Matthew 27:29-30

The Blood Shed from the Wounds Caused by the Nails

From this blood we obtain triumph over iniquity, over sin, over the twisted, crooked way of our footsteps.  This blood opens the way of righteousness, restoring the paths of our destiny.  It open roads to carry the Gospel where there is no path or any way to get there.

...By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the man, as He will bear their iniquities. Isaiah 53:11b

For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity. Isaiah 59:3a

It is the blood that also heals the earth contaminated with our iniquities.

On earth you weigh out the violence of your hands.  Psalm 58:2b

The Blood Shed from His Side When Pierced by the Spear


Fellowship with the blood of Jesus is going to allow us to know Him intimately.  It will begin to transform us so that we are able to penetrate the most sensitive parts of His heart.  This is one of the greatest privileges to which a human being can aspire.  God will only open this part of His being to those He considers to be His bride.  His bride is the one who desires Him above all.  She goes wherever He goes.  She follows Him because of Who He is, and not becuase of what He can bless her with. 
John was the only disciple who had the grace to arrive at this depth.  He loved Jesus more than the others. He followed Jesus to the cross, while the others hid for fear of losing their own lives. The fear caused by the Roman army didn't matter to him. He just wanted to be close to his beloved; with his presence and with his eyes John wanted to the message, "You are not alone; I'm with You to the end. If being here will cost my life, with pleasure I'll die at Your side."

When I take Communion, many times I meditate in each one of these ways in which His blood was shed, and I make them mine.  In the cross there is so much richness. There are doors to inexpressible encounters with God.

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I shared the link to Mrs. Ferrell's book above.  

love and blessings~

I'm linking up with:
Imparting Grace