Three inner needs

Purple amethyst geode

“God created . . . each of us with three inner needs- needs for love, significance, and security.”- June Hunt

In Chapter 13 (“The Power of the Empty Bag- Fringe Benefits of Forgiveness”) of How to Forgive, June Hunt writes that only God can completely satisfy our three inner needs.  When we are able to recognize our inability to fully satisfy our needs, we can wisely accept God’s perfect provision.  Only God’s perfect provision will bring us God’s perfect peace.

Ms. Hunt tells us that geodes are magnificent crystals capable of forming inside any cavity beneath the earth’s surface.  While the exterior simply looks like a dull, rough rock, a slow and steady dripping of minerals inside one of those cavities, over time, becomes a sea of sparkling quartz.  June describes what it is like to harbor, then release, unforgiveness:

“When you harbor unforgiveness within you, it’s like shutting out the dripping of minerals that can create beautiful quartz crystals.  But when you release your unforgiveness to God and begin to pray for your offender, an amazing transformation occurs- God begins to produce shining character traits in you.”

Because forgiveness is powerful, purposeful, and pervasive, June discusses five benefits we experience when we forgive.  The first is presented today.

1.  Forgiveness leads to better health.  June states  she is amazed how many Christians compare forgiveness to being force-fed a dose of bad-tasting medicine, say castor oil.  Yet, unforgiveness can have profoundly negative effects on the way your body functions.  Forgiveness truly is the perfect prescription for wellness, enabling you to seize God’s gift of abundant life.  Brenda Goodman wrote in Psychology Today:

“If physical exercise had a mental equivalent, it would probably be the process of forgiveness.”

Today’s question: How have you been able to release your unforgiveness to God and satisfy your three inner needs?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “A change of heart”

 

 

Three inner needs

Your most powerful weapon

“Truth is your most powerful weapon.  Pick it up and use it.”- June Hunt

June Hunt concludes Chapter 12 of How to Forgive by discussing the final three letters of her acrostic (F-O-R-G-I-V-E-N) for dealing positively and effectively with guilt.

Verify truth when Satan accuses.  Ms. Hunt states you can count on Satan accusing you.  Accusation is Satan’s favorite weapon.  You must counter Satan by taking hold of truth.  Just as Jesus (in the desert) responded to Satan with the Word of God, you must respond with God’s Word whenever you are tempted to believe God’s forgiveness doesn’t apply to you.

Exchange your life for the life of Christ.  We need to accept the truth that none of us have the strength to live the Christian life without Christ living in us (Galatians 2:20).  June notes that your part is “to let go of your life in exchange for living in the power of His.”

Notice that God brings your feelings in line with the facts when you obey Him.  June describes how perseverance pays off:

“Perseverance in spite of what you feel pays off.  Forgiving others and forgiving yourself- even when you don’t feel like it- guarantees freedom.”

June informs us that the opal is prized for its array of colors inside a single stone.  Yet, an opal is fragile.  It easily can dry out and crack.  Overall, an opal is considered weak.

Ms. Hunt observes that you feel fundamentally weak when you compromise your convictions.  You may feel unworthy of love or unfit to embrace God’s grace.  June explains how light shines brighter in darkness:

“As any jeweler knows, the opal[s beauty is best displayed when placed on a dark background.  When you release your painful rocks to the Master Polisher, a black background will make you shine even brighter.”

Today’s question: Which letters of Ms. Hunt’s acrostic struck a chord with you?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Three inner needs”

Your most powerful weapon

Too good to be true?

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”- Old adage

June Hunt continues her discussion of the acrostic F-O-R-G-I-V-E-N in Chapter 12 of How to Forgive.

Realize that God means what He says.  Ms. Hunt states that “God’s grace is free- and enough.”  But, she adds, that doesn’t mean God’s forgiveness is accepted.  Jaded adults can be suspicious of something “too good to be true.”  June states suffering from prolonged guilt is a sign you haven’t learned to take God at His word.  June encourages you to:

“Choose to believe what God says.  Thank Him for the gift of His Son, who paid for your forgiveness.  Do both, even if you don’t feel forgiven.”

Give up dwelling on the past.  Ms. Hunt emphatically states that yes, God’s forgiveness is too good.  But it’s true!  By clinging to the past and refusing to forgive yourself, you are playing God with your guilt.  You are claiming the right to undo the forgiveness Christ has extended to you.

Invest time in renewing your mind.  June reminds us that the only time we have is the present moment.  The past we feel so guilty about is gone.  The future we worry about is always out of reach. To forgive ourselves, we must be intentional in actively affirming what we know to be true about God’s grace.  In Ephesians 4:22-23 St. Paul reminds us:

“Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds.”

Today’s question: How hard was it to give up dwelling on the past.  What helped you change your perspective?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Your most powerful weapon”

Too good to be true?

Forgiving ourselves

In Chapter 12 (“Buried Under Rocks of Regret- When the Person You Need to Forgive is You”) of How to Forgive, June Hunt states that, surprisingly, forgiving ourselves is not always easy to do.  It may even be more difficult than forgiving others.

Ms. Hunt uses the powerful acrostic F-O-R-G-I-V-E-N to help you deal positively and effectively with y0ur guilt- in the process allowing God to fully apply His completed work of redemption.  “F” and “O” are covered today.

Find the source of your guilt.  True guilt is our friend and a spiritual signal something is wrong, as Ms. Hunt explains:

“True guilt is a spiritual warning.  It tells us our sins are veiling who we are, children of God, and what we’re called to do, reflect His image (emphasis June’s).”

While true guilt is based on specific sinful actions, false guilt causes a deep sense of unworthiness.  We perceive ourselves as basically defective and can’t stop blaming ourselves.  False built is toxic.  God’s purpose for guilt is for correction and building up.  God’s purpose is not to destroy your heart or cripple your soul and spirit.

Own responsibility for your sin.  Once you’ve identified the source of your guilt, the next step is to repent and confess the offense.  In Why Forgive?, Johann Christoph Arnold wrote that “guilt works in secret, and it loses its power only when it is allowed out into the open.”

June adds that if guilt feelings persist after you have confessed your sins to God and accepted His forgiveness, it could be that you need to repair the damage caused by your offense in order to be completely free.

Today’s question: Has “forgiving ourselves” been a personal issue for you following your vocation loss?  What has  helped you deal positively and effectively with your guilt?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Too good to be true”

Forgiving ourselves

The faith factor

As June Hunt concludes Chapter 11 of How to Forgive, she discusses the faith factor as it relates to dealing with suffering.  Ms. Hunt states that whether we succeed in turning blame and bitterness into healing and hope “depends on our willingness to exercise our faith in God, to trust Him, even when we must draw upon every ounce of energy and hold on to the thinnest of threads.”

June notes that sometimes we need to take the apostle Paul’s comforting words of Romans 8:28 by faith:

“We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

It is possible we may never understand God’s higher purpose for our suffering or get to see our pain bear fruit.  As the author points out, that’s easy enough to say when you’re at a safe difference from suffering.  In other words, it’s easier to recite Romans 8:28 than to apply it.

Ms. Hunt emphasizes the importance of our attitude toward God when we’re in the midst of suffering:

“Blaming God for our suffering looks back and focuses on our pain.  Trusting God looks forward and focuses on His plan.”

Diamonds, the hardest know natural substance in the world, take years of intense pressure and high temperatures for the carbon to transform itself into a beautiful, valued gem.  Similarly, the Master Jeweler preplanned how He will use the heat and pressure of injustice in your life- unless the rugged rocks of resentment in your heart interfere with His handiwork, stalling the process of transformation.  June adds:

“As you dig deep to remove those rocks and hand them to the Redeemer, He will cut and craft them into dazzling diamonds.  They then become a shining testimony of His purpose through pain- no longer do they remain diamonds in the rough.”

Today’s question: How does the faith factor support your response to the pain and suffering of your vocation loss?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Forgiving ourselves”

The faith factor

Holding God responsible

“Holding God responsible for our pain is as unproductive as it is unwise.”- June Hunt

June Hunt begins Chapter 11 (“Blindsided by a God-sized Boulder: ‘Oh God, How Could You Do This?’ “) of How to Forgive by noting that the vast majority of wounded people don’t allow their bitterness to consume them.  However, many people are deeply embittered.  They harbor sustained anger toward God.  This anger is fed by the belief that God could have or should have shielded them from devastating adversity.

In subtle or overt ways, wounded people are holding God responsible.  As Ms. Hunt notes, to view God as cruel and unjust “drains our lives of hope and leads to deep despair.”  June adds that the main reason we think this way is rooted in misunderstanding the purpose of life.

Our contemporary culture is one of comfort and a sense of entitlement.  We believe happy, healthy, prosperous, and cushy lives are our birthright.  While it is not inherently wrong to live that way, the problem arises when comfort becomes the ultimate goal of our existence.  C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that comfort never was meant to be our purpose:

“Comfort is one thing you cannot get by looking for it.  If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will get neither comfort or truth- only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”

Although researchers have discovered that “pain is the gift no one wants, pain is a vial to recovering from our wounds as well as avoiding worse ones.  If pain didn’t really hurt, we’d simply ignore its message and miss its refining effect.  In other words, pain has a higher purpose.

Suffering never is in vain.  It produces endurance, character, hope, and love (Romans 5:35).  Even the smallest step away from resentment is a step toward God’s freedom.

Today’s question: Have you ever found yourself holding God responsible for your vocation loss?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The faith factor”

Holding God responsible

Prayer redirects our hearts

“Prayer redirects our hearts- we focus on the need instead of the fault.”- June Hunt

“Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”- Matthew 5:44 (NKJV)

In Chapter 10 (“Breaking the Power of Your Pelter- Praying for Those Who Pelt You”) of How to Forgive, June Hunt states that the Greek word agape, translated “love” in Matthew 5:44, intrinsically means “a commitment to seek the highest good of another person.” Ms. Hunt defines what it means to pray for our offender’s highest good:

“We pray not that the Lord will prosper that person, but that He will cause growth and maturity.  We pray that whatever prompted our enemy to harm us- pride, arrogance, selfishness, deceit- will be addressed by God in His way and in His time.”

June compares our enemies to geodes- rough and rugged on the outside with no apparent beauty, yet containing beautiful crystals on the inside.  God knows the potential that lies within our enemies.  Over time, something extraordinary may be created.  Ms. Hunt goes on to discuss two benefits of praying for our enemies:

1.  Prayer insulates us from bitterness.  June states that when you consistently pray for your offender’s spiritual growth, change occurs within your heart.  Praying for someone consistently provides an added benefit- you develop compassion for that person.  Ms. Hunt explains:

“Through prayer, the Holy Spirit softens the hardened pieces of our hearts, hatred is turned to love, the bitter is turned to sweet.  We begin to see our enemies through God’s eyes.”

2.  Prayer allows us to be controlled by the Spirit, not the offender.  By refusing to pray for our enemy, we give power to that person.  The offender continues to control what we do.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can experience tremendous freedom when Christ controls our thoughts and actions.

Today’s question: How might June’s statement that “prayer redirects our hearts” transform your view of your wounders?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Holding God responsible”

Prayer redirects our hearts