Forgiveness through Forgetfulnness

Tue Jun 7 09:02:36 PDT 2011

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*

June 7, 2011

 *MANASSEH UPDATE - FORGIVENESS THROUGH FORGETFULNESS - June 6, 2011*

 *1. Matthew 6:14-15 (6:5-15) FORGIVENESS: DOUBLY EMPHASIZED “For if you
forgive :men their :trespasses, your :heavenly :Father will also forgive
you. 17 But if you forgive not :men their :trespasses, neither will your
:Father forgive your :trespasses” (NNT). *Of the 7 component parts of the
prayer Jesus gave His disciples to pray, only *one* is repeated. 6:12 reads,
*“And forgive us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.” *And as
above, it is soberly repeated. Did Jesus mean what He said in this
repetition? Indeed He did! Even people in the world know that they cannot
succeed in business apart from a forgiving spirit! *Hallowed be your :name.*

 *2. Genesis 41:50-51 (41:46-57) FORGIVENESS: BOUND UP IN FORGETFULNESS.
“And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom
Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bore unto him. 51 And
Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For, he said, God has made
me forget all my toil, and all my father's house” (ASV '01). *See what
Joseph says regarding the birth of his firstborn which means
“forgetfulness”. Had not this little son been used of God to help Joseph
forget the bitterness of his past with his 10 half-brothers - ! Fruitfulness
(Ephraim) can *only* follow what our Manasseh has caused us to forget and *
forgive*! This goes along with insights on “Inner Healing”. *Your :kingdom
come!*

 3. Matthew 18:21-22 (18:21-35) FORGIVENESS: UNTO 77 TIMES, NOT JUST 7!
“Then came :Peter *and* said unto him, Lord, how often shall my :brother sin
against me, and I forgive him? until seven times?

*22 :Jesus said to him, I say not unto you, Until seven times; but, Until
seventy times and seven.” *Peter no doubt felt he was being greatly
magnanimous in forgiving up to 7 times! But the 77 times of Jesus - not in
one day could anyone sin that many times against us! Jesus' parable that
follows but emphasizes His point! *Your :will be done, as in heaven, so on
earth!*

 *4. Matthew 18:15-17. FORGIVENESS: IMPLICIT BASICALLY IN THIS TEACHING.
“And if your :brother sin, go, reprove him between you and him alone: if he
hear you, you have gained your :brother. 16 But if he hear not, take with
you one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every word
stand. 17 And if he refuse to hear them, tell the church: and if he refuse
to hear the church also, let him be to you as the Gentile and the publican.”
*The 4-fold steps of handling interpersonal problems in the church are
completely clear here. John Wesley's 70,000 cell group disciples, followed
this completely in all such problems. *This* is the *first* command Jesus
gave to the *church*; and it is probably the command *least heard* and *
followed* in the church! *Our :daily :bread Give us this day.*

 *5. Luke 23:33-34a (23:33-49) FORGIVENESS: THE EXTRAORDINARY ACT OF JESUS
ON THE CROSS! “And when they came unto the place which is called Skull,
there they crucified him, and the male-factors, one on the right and the
other on the left. 34 And Jesus said, Father, forgive them; for they know
not what they do.” *Those who crucified Jesus were Jewish leaders, many of
the Jewish people, Pilate and the Roman soldiers. Did they really understand
what they were doing? No. All of this was in the pre-determinate will and
counsel of God. The Bible says so. *And forgive us our :debts, as we also
have forgiven our :debtors.*

 *6. Acts 7:59-60 (7:54-60) FORGIVENESS: THE SPIRIT OF STEPHEN. “And they
stoned :Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my
:spirit. 60 And he kneeled, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this
:sin to their charge. And when he said this, he fell asleep.” *The spirit of
Jesus on the Cross has carried over to Stephen, one of the first Jerusalem
deacons. Did God hear Stephen's request? Absolutely! Saul of Tarsus, later
Paul the apostle - received grace from the Lord because of this request, for
he was consenting to Stephen's martyrdom! *And bring us not into temptation.
*

 *7. Matthew 12:31-32 (12:22-32) FORGIVENESS: NOT GRANTED FOR HOLY SPIRIT
BLASPHEMY!*

“*Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto
:men: but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. **32 And
whoever shall speak a word against the Son of :man, it shall be forgiven
him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy :Spirit, it shall not be
forgiven him, neither in this :age, nor in the one to come.” *I personally
have come across only one - who I was sure had committed this sin. And when
I confronted him, he agreed, and left. Up to that moment he was seeking to
hinder me from winning a Canadian Air-force lad to the Lord. It was the end
of World War II. *But deliver us from the evil one.*

 *NOTE**: *It might have been thought: If Jacob led of the Spirit by-passed
Manasseh and set the younger son Ephraim ahead of him - then what value is
in Manasseh? *Much* every way. One of the outstanding Judges of Israel came
from the tribe of Manasseh. In Judges 6:15 (6:11-18) we read, *“And he said
unto him, Oh, Lord, how shall I save Israel? behold, my family is the
poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” *This was
spoken by Gideon. True, Joshua out of Ephraim follows closely after Moses -
but nonetheless - Gideon brought glory to the Name of His God, and
deliverance to the people of Israel.

 And when we go back to Genesis and see what Manasseh did for Joseph in
preparing him to forgive his brothers some few years later - then we know
that to be set aside from first place does not mean that God can't use us
usefully in His Kingdom!

 For me - to meditate upon the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:5-15 - and mull
over the repetition of the command concerning “forgiveness” - continues
through the years to mean much to me. May the spirit of Manasseh richly
dwell in us all.

 Though mentioned in other places - it is perhaps fitting to repeat this
aspect of the Lord's prayer: In answer to the request of His disciples Jesus
responds, *“After this manner, pray.” *The word *pray* here is in the
imperative mood. It is a *command*! Then 6 of the following requests are *
likewise* in the imperative mood: *Hallowed*; *Come* Your Kingdom; Be
*done*Your will;
*Give* us this day; *Forgive us* *as* we forgive; *Deliver* us from the evil
one. These are the six double imperatives. But I have omitted the sixth one:
“*And bring us not into temptation or testing.”* This is *not* an
imperative, but a subjunctive. It could loosely be translated - “And Father,
if You can bring me into the image of Jesus without testing like Job -
Please - let it be. However if the *only* way I can be conformed to the
image of Jesus - then bring on any temptation or testing that You deem
necessary for this goal.”

 Serious? Indeed! I have prayed this prayer sincerely on a very few
occasions. God always seems willing to answer this request!

 It is because of the double imperative in the Lord's prayer, that I slip
this prayer as a 7-fold petition for each of us into each of the “Through
the Bible in a Year Daily Devotionals.” I am also including it in these
twelve 1948 Updates for the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 Embryonic Revival
Principles associated with them. I trust this prayer may *daily* be a part
for each one of us in our daily devotions. J.A.Watt

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