Forgiveness: Why Is It Difficult and Why Should I?

By Mustafa Chikavhu

This book is a powerful tool that speaks directly to the heart of the offended. It is penned with understanding that people are different and react differently to situations. For some, forgiveness takes hours; for some, days; and for some, even years. The writer took his time to explain why people find it difficult to forgive. He also gives excellent examples we can follow of people who forgave both from the Bible and the world today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Mar 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543407082

Mustafa Chikavhu

The writer Mustafa Chikavhu is a man who is very passionate about helping others to forgive. He says Living in bitterness is depriving yourself the joy and happiness that God has meant for you as His child. After going through many challenging forgiveness situations in life, including having to live on the street as a destitute surviving on a single meal a day. A small bottle of juice and biscuits. All because of someones mistake. Staying in a house where he endured emotional and verbal abuse for over a year and couldnt leave because he had nowhere to go. He feels he owes the world a book on why and how people should forgive in order to live happy lives. He is a deacon in Forward in Faith Ministries International and is married to Deaconess Nyasha.

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Copyright © 2018 by Mustafa Chikavhu.

ISBN:              Softcover                    978-1-5434-0709-9

                        eBook                          978-1-5434-0708-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 02/27/2018

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

774427

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

What it is not

What is forgiveness?

Why People struggle to forgive?

Famous examples of people who forgave

Why must we forgive

How to forgive

References

Dedication

I dedicate this book to: my wife Nyasha, all my relatives, members of my church Forward in Faith Ministries International and everyone out there who has challenges with forgiving. It is my prayer that when you read this book, you will be convicted by the Holy Spirit and you will be able to let go of any bitterness that is in you as written in Ephesians 4:32, "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice".

Forgiveness manifests differently for all people. For some it is instant, but for others it is a process. Find out which group you belong to and work it out within yourself. Philipians 2:12 …continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank everyone who contributed towards the production of this book. Firstly, I’d like to thank Dr. Joe Guti who indirectly inspired me to start writing books. One day my Pastor, Pastor Dope came to me and told me that Dr. Joe Guti had encouraged him to put his sermons in books. That prickled me and from that day, I started writing. Which is how we got here.

I also want to thank my wife for always encouraging me. There were times when I felt demotivated but she was always there to remind me that I was born to do this. I could not have done this without her help.

Special thanks to my Grandmother, Ivy Chikavhu for all her prayers and encouraging words and all my family for believing in me. Jackie Tizora for taking time out of her busy schedule to go through my book and edit it. Thank you Trish Mashiri for the cover photo. My Overseers, Baba and Amai Munakandafa, for giving me the opportunity to share the message on forgiveness twice at church which then motivated me to go on and put it in a book.

Above all, I thank God. With all my limitations, He gave me the courage and wisdom to write such a powerful tool for forgiveness. Those who know me personally will understand when I say I am not supposed to be writing books. It is all because of His grace.

Introduction

In 2006 I was staying in Marlborough, a suburb in Harare, Zimbabwe with my aunts, uncles and brother. We were one of the more privileged families in the community because our bread winner, my grandmother, was working in the United Kingdom. So we had the comfort of staying in a fully furnished spacious house and hunger was a word we only heard when visiting other homes. Three years prior, I had encountered a young man by the name Thulani during one of our all night prayer meetings. Thulani was an orphan who, because of alleged abuse, had escaped from a local children’s home - his home for almost five years. Through that prayer meeting we became friends, or more accurately, acquaintances.

I did not know much about him and neither did he about me. Back then cellphones were reserved for adults only, so we would mostly meet by accident. And at one point the ‘accident’ took almost a year to happen. We met one day in town in 2007. I was about to go back home