The Madness of Unforgiveness: Forgiveness Doesn’t Equal Forgetting
Release Date: 04/01/2025
Revival: Children Often Lead the Way
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick A revival known as the “Children’s Prayer Revival” was ignited around December 28, 1707. The location was near the border of Poland and Czechia in an area where evangelical worship had been outlawed. Boys and girls, ages 4-14, assembled in the open fields outside the town to pray. They would sing hymns, read Psalms, and close with a blessing. Church leaders were furious that prayer was taking place outside the church building, yet it was as if nothing could stop these children from assembling to pray. One father, concerned about his children defying the church and...
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Revival: It Leads to Social Reforms
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick True revival awakens a heart for the least and the lost. Historically, revivals have occurred during times of cultural darkness. England, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, had plunged into moral decadence. Drunkenness was rampant and gambling so pervasive that historians described the nation as "one vast casino." Tickets were sold to public executions as entertainment. Many children died in workhouses. Conditions were dismal all around. Amid this degradation, increasing numbers of British grew rich on the African slave trade, causing one Anglican bishop to remark...
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Revival: It is Characterized by Repentance
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick The First Great Awakening in America was ignited around 1730 by a scholarly New England minister named Jonathan Edwards. From there, a series of revivals rapidly spread, bringing about the most significant social upheaval to occur prior to the Revolutionary War. The dramatic, impassioned preaching of England’s George Whitfield fueled these revival fires as he passed through the colonies. The strategic discipleship methods of John Wesley, also from England, extended the revival’s power and impact in early America. The widespread salvation of unbelievers (that extended...
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Revival: It All Begins with Prayer
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick Fervent, persistent prayer always precedes revival. Revival historians consistently point to what is sometimes called extraordinary prayer. This is united, persistent, and frequent prayer…often for extended periods of time. The Moravian Revival of 1727 started as a 24/7 prayer meeting that lasted for over 100 years. A group of humble, simple servants who were hungry to see God move. This same Revival gave birth to the most wide-reaching global missionary movement in history. The Moravians’ fervent prayer deeply affected the personal faith of John Wesley, who said...
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Revival: What is Revival?
A Moment of Hope
by Marilynn Chadwick The dictionary defines “revival” as “coming back to life” or “increasing in strength or intensity.” An Emergency Room doctor might revive a patient whose heart has stopped. While the word “revival” doesn’t appear in Scripture, “revive” does. Psalm 85:6 says, “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” Isaiah 57:15b says, “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Clearly there are...
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His Final Words: The Goodness of Friday
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Jesus’s final words came on the heels of two very important days that we in the Christian faith know as Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. What made Friday so good? Because the cross secured our eternal life forever! Thursday and Friday paved the way for Jesus’s last words to be released in power, precision, and purity…paving the way for a future and a hope for all who put their trust in him. Jesus was arrested at midnight in the Garden of Gethsemane. Note that in that moment, he could have called down a legion of angels (600 to be exact!) to help him. But he didn’t. He...
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His Final Words: Victory in Gethsemane
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Over the past couple weeks, we have been looking at some of the significant final words that Jesus spoke on the cross. But for the next two days, I want to go back a few days and look at the last hours in Jesus’s life before he went to the cross and died. In church history we refer to today as Maundy Thursday. This was the day that Jesus celebrated his last supper with his disciples from probably around 6-10pm. They shared a long meal together, a Seder/Passover meal. Jesus’s patience, long-suffering endurance, and compassion is seen as he washed the disciples’ feet...
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His Final Words: “Into Your Hands, I Commit My Spirit”
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick When someone is about to die or is approaching the end of life, he or she usually shares words that are full of perspective, insight and purpose. There is something about nearing the end of the road that provokes people to say what they wished they had always said and to communicate things they may have missed the opportunity to communicate. Jesus’s final words held the most significant meanings in all of history. We are looking at some of his final words. Here is what he said in Luke 23:46, “Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.” Notice that Jesus acknowledged...
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His Final Words: “It Is Finished”
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Final words. Defined as “the final things said in an argument or a discussion.” I love to think about all of the final words that Jesus spoke as he put an end to the argument of who would end up having the victory between him and Satan. Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection settled the discussion once and for all when he took back the keys that Adam relinquished in the Garden of Eden. And now, because of the victory on the cross, he holds those keys forever (Revelation 1:18)! The finality of Jesus’s victory is shown in these final words in John 19:30, “It is...
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His Final Words: “I Thirst”
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Have you ever spent the day at the beach on an especially hot summer day? Splashing through the waves for hours? After so much time in the salt, sand and sun, it is very common to feel very thirsty. Did you know that some of Jesus’s final words in John 19:28 were, “I thirst”? I love the depth of this phrase. Jesus was most likely physically dehydrated. He probably had not had anything to drink for more than 18 hours. His last liquid was most likely at the Last Supper the night before. But he was probably also spiritually thirsty for all God was about to do! Think about...
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There are so many layers to forgiveness. It takes practice, patience, and a deep pursuit of abiding in the presence of God.
While forgiveness is radical, it’s not careless. God’s heart in teaching us forgiveness is for our good. It’s not to make us a doormat to other people’s poor treatment of us. It’s to set our hearts free from the prison that unforgiveness wants to hold us in and to keep us from the madness it creates!
With that said, forgiveness does not equal forgetting.
Sometimes we wrongly think that in order to forgive, we must forget. That only if we have completely forgotten something could there possibly be evidence of true forgiveness. But that’s just not realistic! Not only is that the antithesis of how humans are hardwired to think and feel, I don’t believe it’s biblical.
The Bible talks repeatedly about remembering and the power of memory. Psalm 103:2 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” God gave us a memory for a reason. In fact, he encourages us to recount and remember things God has done for us. To remember all of his past victories. If God did it once, he can do it again! So, why would he give us a memory if he expects us to completely forget our pain in order to forgive?
I think there’s another reason God gave us the gift of painful memories: so we don’t get hurt again! He wants us to learn from our past situations and to grow in wisdom. If you have ever had a child touch something hot, he or she will usually never touch it again. Our memory often helps protect us from future pain.
Remember, we are commanded to forgive. That’s not optional. But God keeps the memory of the past alive within us for many different reasons, I think. First, to constantly remind us of God’s grace, which takes us back over and over again to the cross. But secondly, to keep us from going back to the source of the pain. He wants to keep us out of toxic relationships. He wants to remind us of the kinds of people we should not trust. He wants to show us the kind of people we want and need in our lives.
Forgive, but never forget! By forgiving, you are set free. But by remembering, you will learn a lot of valuable truths that you would never know without God’s gracious gift of memory.