[00:00:00] Welcome to Forgiveness Power with Don Gossett, sharing with you the Bible principles of Bold Bible Living. How to achieve health, prosperity and personal victory through the power of the living word. And now, to help us do so, here's radio teacher and friend Don Gossett with Forgiveness Power. Thank you, Mike O'Dell. I want to share with you one of the most important Bible principles I know. That is the significance and the great necessity of forgiving one another.
[00:00:30] Now, let me tell you a very moving story. In our crusades in South America, we've had many delightful times of meeting many people who were there. Of course, we were ministering in the church called Waves of Love and Peace, which has 150,000 active members. And every service was attended by multiplied thousands of people who received our ministry.
[00:00:56] Well, the lady who served as one of our interpreters or translators was a pencil-thin lady named Myrta. And she was so very effective in her ministry. Myrta is 35 years old and she teaches English in her home city there of Buenos Aires, Argentina. But she is also on the staff of this Waves of Love and Peace Church.
[00:01:22] And Myrta, however, shared with me one day a very traumatic experience as an amazing testimony of the grace of God. Myrta's mother had abandoned her when Myrta was 16 years old. So Myrta's father and mother then divorced. The mother's name was Nora. And Nora, the mother, had taken a certain drug that was supposed to help her lose weight and get thin.
[00:01:48] This drug, however, had adverse effects, causing her to become mentally unstable. It was then that Nora became obsessed with the desire to have Myrta's 11-year-old daughter, Maria, as her own. One day, Nora came barging into Myrta's home, demanding, I want Maria to be mine. Give her to me now. When Myrta refused her mother to give up her daughter to her,
[00:02:17] Nora became very angry. Obviously driven by evil spirits, Nora reached into her purse, grabbed a gun, and shot her daughter Myrta in the back of the head. Miraculously, the bullet crashed through to the skull, and then went right out through the top of her head. Myrta lay there on the floor in a heap of blood. Equally amazing was how her faith in God enabled her to call out to the Lord for His help.
[00:02:46] And instead of dying from being shot at close range, Myrta arose and walked out of her home to be taken by the medics to the hospital. Myrta was hospitalized within a few weeks, recovered completely from the bullet wounds. The mother, Nora, was arrested by the police and taken to jail. There in the Buenos Aires jail, Nora cried out to God for mercy and received forgiveness from the Lord.
[00:03:13] And the saving grace of Jesus enabled her to become a born-again Christian by the Spirit of God. When Myrta was discharged from the hospital, she learned of her mother's decision to receive Christ as her personal Savior and Lord. And Myrta decided to go to the jail to see her mother. With tears, Nora embraced Myrta and cried her heart out,
[00:03:37] telling her daughter how Jesus had forgiven her for the wicked attempt to kill her daughter Myrta. Then, through beseeching, tear-filled eyes, Nora pleaded with Myrta, Can you ever forgive me for what I have done? Myrta then shared with me how that the most incredible peace swept over her soul. Almost beyond comprehension, Myrta felt a deep spirit of forgiveness flooding her heart. She said,
[00:04:05] Yes, Mother, I do forgive you. I do forgive you. Myrta and Myrta grabbed each other. Their bodies shook and trembled as they realized what God's amazing grace had done in their hearts. Unconditionally, Myrta forgave her mother for the attempt to kill her. At Myrta's trial for the attempted murder, Myrta was in the courtroom in loving support of her mother. She hoped for Myrta's acquittal.
[00:04:33] The judge, however, pronounced Nora guilty of attempted homicide and sentenced her to an institution for the criminally insane. After serving one year behind bars, Myrta was declared sane in her right mind. She was released from prison. Immediately, Myrta came to the church, the ways of love and peace. The church where Myrta serves as a valued staff member.
[00:04:59] And Myrta and Myrta enjoy a happy, healed relationship as a mother and daughter. Myrta is permitted to see her two granddaughters, Maria and Natalie, Myrta and spend sweet social times with them. Myrta's husband, Mario, also has forgiven Nora for her attempt to kill his wife. And Myrta explained to me, While Mario has forgiven my mother, he doesn't fully trust her. She's not permitted to care for our daughters alone.
[00:05:29] Sadly, Myrta's father, Raphael, is a different story. He steadfastly refuses to forgive Nora. He explains, After all, Nora forsook murdering me years ago. And now she tried to kill my darling daughter. Well, perhaps in time, Raphael too will allow God's grace to work in his heart. So he'll be able to forgive Nora for what she's done. And when I interviewed Myrta down there in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
[00:05:59] she was a part of our team that traveled with our family and my team throughout the countries of Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. And we became aware of what Jesus' grace enabled this unusual lady to endure. Her husband Mario had only become a Christian sometime before. And for the first 14 years of their marriage, Mario was a drug addict.
[00:06:26] But when under the heavy influence of drugs, Mario once became violent and dangerous. And Myrta told me, she said, because of his bondage to drugs and his influence upon his life, I slept with a knife under my pillow so I could be prepared to defend myself when he came home during the night high on drugs. I never knew what he might do. Thank God Mario was saved by faith in Jesus Christ and is no longer a drug addict.
[00:06:55] In that great church of 150,000 members, only a few can speak English. And Myrta is one of those who can. As she served as my personal translator for my family and me, she also interpreted my daughter's messages to the vast audiences. Myrta is a vibrant example of Jesus' forgiveness power, the supernatural enabling to forgive all offenses,
[00:07:22] even when a bullet was fired into her head at close range. Well, this ranks as one of the finest stories of the grace of forgiveness I've ever encountered in all my travels. And as we've gone back to Argentina for our different ministry times, it's been with the knowledge of God's great grace that we can proclaim God's word, the source of true forgiveness power.
[00:07:49] Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 verses 14 and 15, For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And also we read in Matthew chapter 18 verses 21 and 22, Then came Peter to Jesus and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times?
[00:08:19] Jesus saith unto him, I say unto thee, not until seven times, but until seventy times seven. And then we read in Luke 17, 3, Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. And in Mark 11, 25, And when you stand praying, Forgive if you have ought against any, That your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
[00:08:46] And then in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 31 and 32, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, Even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Now forgiveness gives the blessed Holy Spirit access to do his healing restorative work.
[00:09:12] I'm humbly grateful the Lord has allowed me to learn the connection between unforgiveness and sickness early in my ministry. For when I began to travel with the evangelist William Freeman in his great crusades, They were attended by thousands of persons. After a few years of working with him, Brother Freeman asked me to become the afternoon speaker to prepare people to come for the healing prayer.
[00:09:37] And I would deal with the issues of their lives that could hinder them from receiving healing. And one of the most potent was the fact of people having unforgiveness in their heart, And the fact that they were sick people who I was dealing with, How they had a great host of areas of unforgiveness, malice, ill will, grudges, bitterness, hatred in their hearts toward others.
[00:10:02] Well, it was a gracious working of the Holy Spirit to give this truth to people, That then they could make a decision to receive Jesus' forgiveness personally, And then forgive those against whom they had ought. These are principles I'm going to share as I continue on this series of forgiveness power. I want to assure you, my beloved friend, that God wants you to forgive all who have offended you, who have hurt you.
[00:10:28] You may feel justified by the feeling of unforgiveness toward them because they have hurt you deeply. But Jesus wants you to know how important it is. He said when you stand praying, forgive if you have ought against any, That your Father in heaven may also forgive you. But if you don't forgive those against whom you have ought, Neither will your Father in heaven forgive you. So this is high importance in the realm of Christian living,
[00:10:56] Is the necessity to truly forgive. I will tell you more about this subject as I continue on this theme. But right now comes that time when I want to say thank you that pray for this ministry, And thank you that financially share with us our responsibility of making Christ known. And Mike O'Dell will give you our mailing address. But now, please join me as we praise the worthy Lord,
[00:11:23] The wonderful Lord who has done so much for us. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah.