Mat 13:14-15 (NIV) In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s HEART has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have CLOSED their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

THEY have CLOSED their eyes: You have had a lot of things hurt your heart. Your heart doesn’t like being hurt and will build up defence machanisms to protect itself. Each time it gets hurt, it develops a new defence against that TYPE of hurtful procedure. Over the years it has produced hundreds if not thousands of protections that have hardened it against these damaging things. Jesus wants to remove them and give you a new way of protecting your heart.

Mat 6:14-15 (NIV) For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. When you expose your heart to events where people hurt you, it puts up a barrier in that area to protect itself. Then when Jesus tries to heal that area, your heart won’t let Him in. Forgiving others removes that barrier so Jesus can heal that area of your heart. If you refuse to forgive that person, it will keep you from getting God’s forgiveness for all your sins.

Mat 5:23-24 (NIV) Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. You won’t remember all the things people do to hurt you in one period of time. Instead, the Holy Spirit will gradually bring people into your mind that have done hurtful things to you. At first you won’t understand what to do and what it means when these memories pop up in your mind.

When someone hurts you, you may try to hurt them back. You may spend time thinking about what to say or do to get even with them. You may immediately retaliate against them and then forgive yourself, justify yourself, explain why you had to do it, or go to your friends and see if you can get them to tell you it wasn’t your fault. Then later when the Holy Spirit reminds you of this event, you may go through the same process of defending yourself. However, He is bringing it to your attention for you to forgive them.

Gradually you will start understanding that the Holy Spirit is bringing these events into your mind so you can use God’s power-forgiveness to forgive them. Then as you keep coming across memories and use God’s power-forgiveness to forgive each and every one of them, Jesus starts healing your heart in these areas. Depending on the amount of people who have hurt you, you may find issues that go all the way back into your childhood. You may be involved in this process of forgiving people for years after you start. The Holy Spirit WON’T flood your life with a bunch of people to forgive. He will just bring them to your attention on a gentle, gradual basis until all have been forgiven. However, if you do start experiencing a flood of people to forgive, that is Satan trying to push you into guilt, condemnation, fatigue, and discouragement. God is ALWAYS gentle and loving in His procedures.

Luke 17:3-4 (NIV) So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” After you have started the process of forgiving people in your past, you will find it necessary to bring this forgiveness system into your current life. It is vital to pray and ask Jesus to help you forgive them immediately. But, if you don’t, get Jesus’ help to forgive them with God’s power-forgiveness as soon as possible. If you have to forgive a person several times, do it. But, if they are being abusive GET AWAY FROM THEM!

Jesus said in Luke 6:37 (NIV), “Do not JUDGE, and you will not be judged. Do not CONDEMN, and you will not be condemned. FORGIVE, and you will be forgiven. A lot of the grudges, desires for revenge, and efforts of getting even come from judging others. If you think you know why people do and say those things they bring against you, if you can CONDEMN them and decide they deserve your feelings, thoughts, words, and deeds against them, it justifies your attitudes and character and they get locking inside you. If you pray and ask Jesus to empower you to not judge or condemn people, it will open a door for you to get insights into what they are going through; that will help you not judge or condemn them.

John 14:27 (NIV) Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your HEARTS be troubled and do not be afraid. If you are working with a person and they do or say something offensive to you, if you have Jesus’ peace in your heart, you will be able to look beyond what the person is saying or doing. Jesus will be able to keep you from being distracted. Instead of you starting to be distracted by what they did, you will stay on target and bring healing to their heart.

Do not let your HEARTS be troubled and do not be afraid: In this verse, Jesus is speaking peace into your heart, which is the seat of your emotions. This sentence, if accepted in faith, gives you the power to not let your HEART be troubled and not be afraid. Once you accept this healing sentence from Jesus, you can start allowing Him to heal every damaged area of your emotions. The walls, the defense mechanisms, the judgements against others, your condemnations of others, and your forgiveness will all be put in their proper places.

Rom 8:26 (NIV) In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Your heart can only communicate with you with feelings. It doesn’t have words; it can’t cry out to God with logic, reasoning, or verbal appeals. So, the Holy Spirit, Who is inside you, comes to its rescue and prays with groans that words cannot express. Since your heavenly Father doesn’t need words, these groanings that words cannot express are completely understood and are addressed as healing in your heart.