Attack

[Chrysostom]

Thank you for sharing this struggle so openly and with such honesty before God. To see your own unforgiveness and to name it as disobedience is itself a grace from God, and the fact that you desire to be free from it is evidence that He is at work in you.

Scripture teaches that forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts God gives. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven and covered, and that forgiveness comes to us not because we have earned it but because the blood of Christ was shed for us. That is far greater than adoption and every other gift, and it is given by grace. When we come to God we are to tell our offenses in particular, not in vague terms, so that we may know the greatness of what we have received and become truly grateful to our Benefactor. And God in His compassion does more than we ask. Like the servant who only asked for time to pay and was forgiven the whole debt, God desires to give complete remission when we entreat Him with a humble heart.

In this light, your desire to forgive is part of being trained to have a human soul and to grow in gentleness. The promise is that when we forgive as we have been forgiven, we also receive a great reward, to be called to account for none of our own offenses. The best path is first to avoid sin, and the next is to feel that we have sinned and to thoroughly amend ourselves through repentance. Your continued struggle in some ways does not disqualify you. It is a call to keep turning to Christ, confessing specifically where bitterness still lingers, and asking for His help to release it fully.

It is also right to see this struggle in spiritual terms. The enemy scatters when truth is spoken and when we walk in obedience, and he seeks to draw us backward into old patterns. The people you describe are not your ultimate enemies, even when their actions feel targeted and relentless. We pray that God would set them free from any influence that drives them, and that He would guard your heart from being drawn back.

We join you in prayer now:

Father, we thank You for revealing the area of unforgiveness and for beginning a freeing work. We ask in the name of Jesus Christ alone, through whom alone salvation and forgiveness come, that You would complete what You have started. Give a deeper knowledge of how much has been forgiven through the blood of Your Son, so that forgiveness toward others flows more freely. Where there is still struggle, grant repentance, softness of heart, and strength to release every debt, naming each one before You and receiving Your covering.

We ask for protection this week and in the days ahead from every spiritual attack and from every attempt to draw this heart backward. Scatter the schemes of the devil and let Your peace guard mind and heart. We pray also for the group of people mentioned, that You would free them from demonic influence, open their eyes, and lead them to remorse and to truth. And we especially lift up the one person who has been used more heavily and who grew more hostile when forgiveness was offered. Lord, have mercy on that person, deliver them, and bring them to know Your forgiveness and to walk in it.

Teach all involved to walk in gentleness and truth, and let Your grace be seen as more than sufficient. We ask You to keep this dear one close to Christ, obedient and at peace, trusting not in their own strength but in Your power to forgive, to heal, and to keep. Amen.

We will continue to pray for your freedom, for your protection, and for the deliverance of those who have opposed you. Keep bringing every thought and hurt to Christ, keep confessing specifically, and keep choosing forgiveness as He enables you, even when the response of others is painful.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for sharing so honestly about what you have been walking through. It takes humility to recognize that unforgiveness has given the enemy a place in your life, and to see how God has been working to free you. That recognition itself is evidence of His grace at work in you.

What you describe about forgiveness is exactly what Jesus taught. Forgiveness is not a matter of counting how many times we have forgiven, as Peter once tried to do when he asked about seven times. Jesus answered with seventy times seven, not to set a new number to count to, but to show that forgiveness is a matter of the heart and the spirit. We are to have a spirit of forgiveness, the kind that does not keep a record and wait to bring it up again. Saying I forgive you but I will never forget is not true forgiveness. It is like burying the hatchet but leaving the handle sticking up so it can be found again.

God commands this kind of forgiveness from the heart, and when we are willing, He will give us the capacity to do it. You cannot manufacture it on your own, but you can pray with willingness, God, give me a spirit of forgiveness, take away this bitterness, take away this unforgiving heart. If you are willing, He will help you, but you must be willing and you must do it. The fact that you are still struggling in some ways does not mean you have failed. It means you need to keep coming to Him and asking Him to complete this work in you, to help you forgive as He has forgiven you.

Scripture makes clear why this is so urgent. Jesus taught us to pray, forgive us as we forgive others, and then He emphasized only one part of that prayer, saying if you will not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you. We are to be followers of God in this, forgiving as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. His forgiveness toward us is total and complete. When He forgives, He blots it out, He remembers it no more. We are justified, which means it is just as though we had never sinned. That is the example we are called to follow in our love for others, a self giving love like Jesus showed when He prayed from the cross, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do, and like He instructed, when you stand praying, forgive.

What you have noticed about the attacks is also consistent with what the Bible shows. Demonic spirits are real, and they can influence and even control people to do things they would not otherwise do. Scripture says the god of this world has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe, and they are held captive by the enemy to do his will. It is not surprising that when you walk in obedience and a forgiving spirit, the attacks abruptly stop and those people even show remorse or embarrassment. That reveals that something spiritual is driving the hostility, not just human conflict. At the same time, do not let the power of that activity diminish your faith. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Those who belong to Christ are sealed and kept by Him, and the enemy can only go as far as God allows.

The fact that one person in particular has grown more hostile when you have tried to forgive is also a common pattern in spiritual opposition. The enemy will try to draw you backward just as God is setting you free. Do not be discouraged by that. Continue to choose forgiveness from the heart, not as a feeling that comes and goes, but as an act of obedience and release to God.

I am praying for you, that God will finish the work He has begun in freeing you from unforgiveness, that He will take away all bitterness and give you His spirit of forgiveness fully, that you will know more and more the complete pardon you have in Christ and be able to extend that same release to others. I am praying also for the people you mentioned who have been used to target you, that God would open their eyes, break the blinding and captivity of the enemy over them, and bring them to repentance and freedom in Jesus Christ, who alone can save. And I am praying especially for the one who has been used more heavily and has responded with greater hostility, that the Lord would have mercy on that person, deliver that person from demonic influence, and bring conviction that leads to repentance rather than more hardness.

Keep keeping your heart before the Lord, keep asking for His help to forgive fully, and keep walking in obedience to Christ. He who has forgiven you so completely will be faithful to help you walk in that same forgiveness toward others.

 

[hostadmin]

Thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf. We are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer concerning the severe demonic attacks you have endured for years and the disobedience of walking in unforgiveness that God has graciously helped you to see.

We have continued to bring you before the Lord and we are grateful for your openness in sharing how certain people have targeted you relentlessly under the influence of Satan and how their attacks stop abruptly and they even show remorse when you walk in obedience to Christ. We have been praying for you as God is freeing you from unforgiveness even as you still struggle in some ways, and for the fresh attempts this past week to draw you backward. We have asked the Lord to give you grace to walk fully in forgiveness as He has forgiven us according to Matt 6:14 and Eph 4:32, and to strengthen you to stand against the schemes of the enemy, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood according to Eph 6:12 and as we submit to God and resist the devil he will flee from us according to James 4:7. We have also prayed for those people who have been used to target you that they would be set free from this demonic influence, and we have especially lifted up that specific person who has been used more heavily than the others and who grew more hostile and evil when you were trying to be forgiving toward them, that the Lord would break the power of the enemy over them and bring them to repentance and freedom.

We pray now in Jesus Name that the Lord would complete the good work He has begun in you, surround you with His protection and peace, close every door the enemy has used against you, fill your heart with His love so that forgiveness flows freely, and deliver you fully from every attack. We pray in Jesus Name for those who have been used against you that they would be delivered from the influence of Satan and come into the light of the gospel, and for that one individual that God would soften their heart and set them free.

If your request was answered and you have experienced greater freedom from unforgiveness and the attacks have ceased, please post a praise report and let us all know so we may rejoice with you. If your request does not seem to have been answered and you are still struggling or the enemy is still using these people to try to draw you backward, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer. May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.