My Favorite Verses - Vol III (Aug 16 to Nov 16)

John 20:22-23 … Receiving the Holy Spirit
(10/28/2016)
“He breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you Forgive the
sins of any, they are Forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are
retained.” ~ Jesus Christ (John 20:22-23)
It is extremely important to keep in mind here that Jesus was a firm & indeed
an avid believer that every one of us was just as innately “holy” as he was
choosing to be during his ministry (see John 12:44-47) – that we all contain the
Holy Spirit within us at all times (see John 14:20), that we all have within us the
“breath of God” (see John 14:26), that we all had the power to forgive others their
trespasses against us – thereby freeing them to “become saved” by doing the same
(see Matthew 6:14-15 & Mark 11:25).
Just as important, this passage makes it equally clear that it is we who retain
the sins of others when we refuse to forgive them the same – that it is we who
retain the pain and the anger and the resentment and the shame – and that it is we
who actually imprison those others in their sins by refusing to use our power of
forgiveness to open for them a doorway of atonement; by denying them
unconditional Love – the same denial from their youth that inspired the feelings of
low self-worth that inspired their transgressions against us in the first place.
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