Can I Really Forgive

By Eunice Frimpong

Nearly every soul born of a woman in this world has been hurt by the actions or words of another[s]. Perhaps you might have been physically abused as a child; been raped either by a family member, a close pal or a total stranger, someone who spread vicious and humiliating lies about you, your parents put their own needs and egos way ahead of your basic emotional needs as a child, someone might have sucked the joy out of your life through his or her negative, hypocritical, phony, lazy, selfish, and ill-tempered behaviour, or through decades of an unfaithfulness in marriage, or Perhaps your mother criticized your parenting skills when you thought it wasnt even her style or even your partner had an affair. These wounds can leave you with lasting feelings of anger, bitterness and even vengeance, but if you dont practice forgiveness, you may be the one who pays most dearly. By embracing forgiveness, you embrace peace, hope, gratitude and joy.
To forgive is not that easy, but this book will give you an idea of and the encouragement to remove out areas you cannot forgive that have kept you from enjoying the best that God has to offer you. Learn what forgiveness is and what is not, uncover physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of un-forgiveness and see why God encourages you to forgive others.
I wish you all the best on route to forgiveness. May the favour of God be upon you. Amen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jan 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781496985026

Eunice Frimpong

Eunice Frimpong: Bsc Finance, Money and Banking, MD E & E Travel services Limited. Founder and President of Concerned Christian Ladies of Ghana [CCLOG]. First Lady of Kingdom Life Assemblies of God Church. Aylesbury. United Kingdom. A motivational speaker and Marriage Counselor. Author of “Can I Really Forgive Book”. In this book Eunice uses a simple language as brilliantly as anyone who has ever put pen to paper. There is nothing more characteristic of Eunice than her testing powers against this difficult concept of Who To Call A Friend. The book cautions and provokes the spiritual integrity of the reader while at the same time inspires and encourage the believer to absorb truth in the word of God which drives us to be more careful and wiser in choosing our friends.

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© 2015 Eunice Frimpong. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  01/13/2015

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8501-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8502-6 (e)

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Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter 1   Can I Really Forgive?

Chapter 2   What at All is Forgiveness

Chapter 3   The Sin of Bitterness

Chapter 4   How to Conquer Anger

Chapter 5   Levels of Forgiveness

Chapter 6   How Do I Get to the Stage of Forgiveness?

Chapter 7   Forgiveness as a Key to the Future

Chapter 8   Can I Forgive Myself for Having an Abortion?

Chapter 9   The Starting Point of Forgiveness

DEDICA

TION

This book is dedicated with love to my husband, Pastor James A. Frimpong, who has consistently given me more than I ever wanted to pray about and to forgive of. You have been my back bone and my giant elbow.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

N othing in life is ever successful without the corporate effort of some gifted people who are willing to network and submit their talent, experience and passion for a common goal.

My deepest gratitude goes to Jesus Christ, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace Ephesians 1:7. There Can Be No Forgiveness Except By And Through His Blood. Through his demonstration of forgiveness while on the cross as clearly recorded in Luke 23:34 that Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.

Rev. Dr. Francis Offeh (Head Pastor of Power of Faith Assemblies of God church, Reading UK), you are like my co-writer; I couldn’t have come out with this book without your support.

Miss Catherine Akosua Arko Sikaena, (Salary Loan Manager, Grace Capital Money Lending, Ghana), thank you so much for you availed yourself when I needed someone to go through this work despite your busy schedule.

All those who in diverse ways helped me through your encouragements, advice and also with your prayer support, not forgetting my sweet sister Rita Frimpong and those who are willing and ready to forgive and move on, I say God bless you.

My prayer for you all is that, the Most High God who gave me the vision by in-planting a seed, watered it and has enabled this seed to bear fruit which everyone is now able to enjoy to the fullest, may forever be gracious to you and your family now and forevermore.

FOREWORD

I n Can I Really Forgive the author uses a simple language as brilliantly as anyone who has ever put pen to paper. There is nothing more characteristic of Eunice than her testing powers against difficult Theological terrain of the concept of forgiveness and her simplistic approach to it. Her stated purpose for producing this book is to help those who find it difficult to forgive and forget. The Book has been written in such a way that it is easy to follow and it is written chronologically. Even though the book has been written from a Christian perspective, it resonates for every living being irrespective of religious background. It is also touching to anyone who has that special friend he or she finds it difficult to forgive.

Eunice managed to bring this piece of work into fruition in spite of her demanding role as a wife and a co-pilot of a Minister of God in charge of a thriving church in Aylesbury; UK coupled with her other social and charitable responsibilities.

The way the author handles this slippery and delicate issue of forgiveness and the joy of discovering what she could do with the Biblical understanding clearly overwhelmed more practical considerations. Readers are indeed pulled into the pool of forgiveness by the author’s description of practical examples. Hard hearted people and those who find it difficult to forgive and forget find themselves melted away to the full realisation that they have indeed been transformed by the message in this book by the grace of Jehovah God.

Rev. Francis Offeh, Ph.D, MBA, PgDMS, BA (Hons)

Senior Pastor

Power of Faith AoG Church

Reading, UK

Chapter 1

Can I Really Forgive?

N early every soul born of a woman in this world has been hurt by the actions or words of another[s]. Perhaps you might have been physically abused as a child; been raped either by a family member, a close pal or a total stranger, someone who spread vicious and humiliating lies about you, your parents put their own needs and egos way ahead of your basic emotional needs as a child, someone might have sucked the joy out of your life through his or her negative, hypocritical, phony, lazy, selfish, and ill-tempered behaviour, or through decades of an unfaithfulness in marriage, or Perhaps your mother criticized your parenting skills when you thought it wasn’t even her style or even your partner had an affair. These wounds can leave you with lasting feelings of anger, bitterness and even vengeance, but if you don’t practice forgiveness, you may be the one who pays most dearly. By embracing forgiveness, you embrace peace, hope, gratitude and joy.

It is not uncommon for Christians to have questions about forgiveness; it doesn’t come that easily for most of us. It is our natural instincts to recoil in self-protection when we have been injured. We don’t naturally overflow with mercy, grace and forgiveness when we have been wronged.

When you are not able to forgive those who have hurt you in the past, it is you who rather turn your back against your future. When you get to the stage of forgiveness that is the beginning of walking forward. I can't get over how powerful this last statement is:

I understand and agree with the idea that forgiving others is more about your peace of mind than it is about their feelings. You don't have to make it known to those who have hurt you that you have forgiven them.

The issue here is trying to go above the hurt, but when you get to a place in your heart and mind where the hurt is no longer holding you back from fully caring for others and allowing yourself to be cared for by others.

Maybe complete forgiveness is impossible in some cases. Maybe the sort of hurt that you have met is so bad that you will suffer to some degree until you die because you will always be angry at the people who hurt you.

To forgive is not that easy, but this book will give you an idea of and the encouragement to remove out areas you cannot forgive that have kept you from enjoying the best that God has to offer you. Learn what forgiveness is and what is not, uncover physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of un-forgiveness and see why God encourages you to forgive others.

Jesus Christ taught us how to pray; in Matthew 6:9-13;

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be your name.

Your Kingdom come,

Your will be done, on earth as in heaven

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom,

the power and the glory are yours.

Now and forever. Amen¹.

I would like to crave your indulgence on the fifth request, which in the Lord’s Prayer, is Forgiveness. Jesus knew that we would stand in need of forgiveness every day and so we pray, "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us."

From the Lord’s Prayer, it’s evident that we ask for forgiveness every now and then from our Father in Heaven and we continue to say as we forgive those who sin against us. This makes it an obligation to forgive others because we also sin against God and ask for His Forgiveness.

Listen to a story my friend once told me about human beings and our relationship with each other. It’s about a woman who lives alone and doesn’t go anywhere and how God reacted to her prayers;

Here is a story of an old woman who lives alone, without anyone to communication with, she goes to her upper room every day for prayer and she prays the Lord’s Prayer, "Forgive us our sins as we also have forgiven those who have sinned against us. The Lord God heard her prayers and murmurs, Oh dear! How could I forgive her sin since she lives alone and doesn’t commit any sin against others?"

Human beings are relational beings and that is the way God made us, to Live and relate with others, this is a very important role in human life. One of our purposes in life is to relate with others. If we kept to ourselves so that we would not commit any sin against others we would not be living out our purpose in life, and in life there are many life issues that arise when relating with others.

Anger and guilt are common issues that we deal with regularly.