Learning how to forgive ourselves

Joyce Meyer: We all desire to enjoy our lives and not feel guilty all the time. One major key to achieving that is learning how to forgive ourselves. That’s next on “enjoying everyday life.”

Joyce Meyer Online: Thank you for being with me today for “enjoying everyday life.” So many people suffer from past mistakes, and while we need to learn from our bad choices, we cannot allow them to torment us. Here today to discuss how to forgive ourselves totally is author and pastor, Dr. R.T. Kendall. You’ve written another wonderful book. I’ve read many of your books and enjoyed them all, but this one is called “how to forgive yourself – totally.” Is that a wide-spread problem — holding unforgiveness toward ourselves? Do a lot of people have that problem? And why is it so important that we forgive ourselves?

R.T. Kendall: I had no idea that I was going to strike oil with this book. I wrote it for myself. I needed to do it. I just shared, and as I wrote the book, I was just cleansed as I wept. Then when I sent the book to my friends — the manuscript — just to help me… I sent it to a dozen people; without exceptio19n they all came back saying, “this book has helped me. I didn’t know I had the problem.” So, is it widespread? Yes. I preached on this in Durban, South Africa a few weeks ago to 2,000 people. Eighteen hundred stood at the end of the sermon and declared that they had to forgive themselves, and did so. Wherever I go, this is the problem. Of course, the reason is that the devil loves it when we are living in condemnation. He will exploit it. I’ll tell you something: When you don’t forgive yourself, you are helping the devil do his job because he is called in Revelation, chapter 12, the accuser of the brothers. So when you’re accusing yourself, the devil can just kind of go on vacation; you’re doing his job for him. So we are commanded to do it.

Joyce Meyer – Now I’m conscious of it and that’s what I think I can share from a witnessing standpoint with someone else: “Hey, watch your language.