Your Heart Was Never Meant to Be a Prison: Forgiveness Sets Them Free!
Your Heart Was Never Meant to Be a Prison: Forgiveness Sets Them Free
I had a dream.
I arrived at a penitentiary and I could hear the noise of the prisoners from the outside. There were people in a large prison cell with no physical doors, gates, or walls. It was an open air prison.
“Strange,” I thought. “How could this prison hold so many captives with no barriers?”
Then it suddenly occurred to me that the only way for the prisoners to be released from this type of prison was for a loved one to come and get them.
I went to the entryway and asked for my Dad. They called his name, he gathered his things, left the room full of prisoners, and we walked out of that prison laughing — as we always do. We got into my van and drove home.
Then I woke up.
What The Dream Meant
As I lay awake in my bed, the meaning of the dream met me there. It was like being surely and gently awakened, as if someone were wiping your head with a warm rag. I felt a lingering sense of joy from walking out of that prison, laughing with my daddy. My forgiveness towards my dad had been complete. Forgiveness that at first started by faith, now had confirmation from the Holy Spirit that it was finished. When I think of this, I tear up from the deepest well within me.
And then other thoughts occurred…
Who were those people left in that prison? Why were there so many?
And then I knew. Those prisoners are our mothers, our sisters, our brothers, our uncles, our enemies, our great offenders — and most of them are our fathers.
Our heart is not suited to be a prison.
Yet the prisons of our hearts are full. And it’s time to let everyone out.
I’m here to tell you that if you want to be free from the things that have entrapped you (anger, stagination, depression ,and the likes) you have to free those that you have imprisoned in your heart with unforgiveness. Forgiveness sets you free!
Have they wronged you? Yes. Have they withheld from you, hurt you, abused you, and neglected you? Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes.
But what is forgiveness without an offense to cover?
(Friend, I don’t make the rules. I just tell you about them.)
Your own healing and freedom is tied up in whether or not you can forgive. If you want to be a generational curse breaker, you have to forgive those who have wronged you. There is absolutely no way around it. Without forgiveness, your children will inherit these prisons you’ve built — not as a prison warden to lord over those who offended you, but as a prisoner of a worse kind.
Unforgiveness Imprisons Two People
Unforgiveness is a prison to the offender. It is like a judgment against them. Forgiveness is the release of that judgment. It is bondage to live under someone’s judgment — and when that is the case, it wouldn’t matter if the person did all of the right things. You wouldn’t be able to receive it, because the heart of unforgiveness is like rocky ground where even good seeds cannot penetrate. Your judgment can even prevent that person from repenting and having the ability to make amends.
Unforgiveness is a prison to you. It takes work in your soul to keep someone locked up. Unforgiveness breeds anger and bitterness, and exempts you from experiencing the blessings of God. It disrupts your progress and becomes a legal right for your blessings to be withheld.
Let’s Go to the Word
We need to understand that God’s forgiveness is freely available to us. The penalty and cost of forgiveness has already been paid through Jesus.
But if we do not forgive, when forgiveness has been freely given to us, God calls us WICKED.
“You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have compassion on your fellow servant…? And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers… So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” — Matthew 18:32-35 (NKJV)
When we forgive others, we are petitioning God to cleanse us. Because then, and only then,we qualify for forgiveness and to be cleansed of all unrighteousness.
why we need to forgive our Offenders
“Now, regarding the one who started all this — the person in question who caused all this pain — I want you to know that I am not the one injured in this as much as, with a few exceptions, all of you. So I don’t want to come down too hard. What the majority of you agreed to as punishment is punishment enough. Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on the guilt, you could very well drown him in it. My counsel now is to pour on the love.“ — 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 (MSG)
Let’s Hold It Right Here For A Minute
I want us to sit with this, because I had to live this out, and I want to empower you to do the same.
I equate this to someone being literally released from prison. They have served their sentence — years spent in isolation, locked away from the world they once knew, while life just kept moving without them.
And here is the thing, mama. Oftentimes at the end of their sentence, prisoners are released into a world that is drastically different. Imagine being imprisoned in 2000, gathering your Y2K belongings, and walking out 25 years later. The world this person is reentering is light years away from what they left behind. Technology, infrastructure, and even the way people relate to one another has completely changed. The family they are a part of is different too — there are little ones they have never held, loved ones they lost precious time with, and even those they never got to say goodbye to. And listen — this could be true for even a one year sentence. Getting back into society is not an easy feat. IT IS HARD.
The punishment is punishment enough.
So I believe that when someone is released from prison or jail, we should open our arms and help them get back on their feet. Not slap a label on them. Not make them declare “FELON” to every opportunity they seek. Not make it harder for them to find work, make an honest living, and provide for themselves and their families. The punishment was punishment enough. And if a person walking out of jail doesn’t have the dignity of work and the support of good people surrounding them, they may become discouraged. They may lose heart. They may ultimately resort to the very things that landed them in trouble in the first place.
Our job, your job, mama, is not to remind them of what they did. It is to pour love into them and help them become someone who teaches others not to go down that same path. That’s what restoration does. It does not remember the past just to keep somebody bitter. It REDEEMS the past for something better.
And it is the same with releasing the prisoners of your own heart. The anger, the admonishment, the distance — it was necessary for a season. But every season must come to an end. And we must come back to love. Because love is always where God is calling us.
“Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on the guilt, you could very well drown him in it. My counsel to you is to pour on the love.” — 2 Corinthians 2:8-9 (MSG)
Remember — we have the mind of Christ. We are created in the image of God, and we are imitators of Christ. And even HE is angry just for a moment, and He is always ready to forgive.
The punishment is punishment enough.
It’s time to pour out the same love that has been so graciously poured out on us. Its time to release the prisoners of our hearts. Today.
So MAMA — I asked you earlier… who are the people left behind in the prisons of your heart? I think you know who they are. SET THEM FREE.
Need Help Starting? Read this: Forgive Everything! How to Forgive the Deepest Pains
Remember, forgiveness is simply a decision to let God in to do the work. The moment you decide to forgive, your feelings may not change. But the faith goes into action.