Holy Spirit: Listener, do not grieve about those times in the past when you failed to show love to those whom you truly did love. You had not been born again at the time which I brought to your mind this morning as you stood at the Lord’s Table; at that time the only love that you had to offer was your human love, and that is never sufficient. Only when My Love flows through you can you truly love, and even then your humanity, your flesh, all too frequently impedes that flow. In the situation which you remembered this morning, and which you have remembered many times over the years with deep remorse, the other person needed more love and understanding than you had to give. There are other instances which I am bringing to your mind even as you type this message, occasions after you were saved, when you were either blind to the needs of someone or failed to respond with My Love because your response was shaped by negative emotions… anger, resentment, impatience. Listener, I know that this is painful for you to hear and to remember, and much more painful to share with others, but someone, someone besides you needs to hear this message, to experience the healing of memories which I have prepared for you and for them today. Even when you know that you have been forgiven and healed of the negative emotions, the memories remain and are painful because you have not forgiven yourself. My Word tells you that you are not to judge others; you are also not to judge yourself. This is the reason why I brought these incidents to your mind this morning. The enemy has tormented you with these memories; when I heal them his condemning whispers will no longer affect you. Remember, when you hear a condemning voice, it is not My Voice. When it is necessary, I convict to bring you to repentance, to turn away from what is harmful for you and inconsistent with who you are in Christ, but I never speak in condemnation to those who are Mine, neither before nor after that person becomes aware that he is Mine. Now, about the healing of these memories; the process is both simple and complex. I cannot do it for you, but I can help by making you aware of what is needed and what has already taken place. Three elements or actions are involved. The first one has already taken place. Your failures to apply the balm of Love to those who needed it were forgiven at the Cross. Second: In your case, Listener, most of the memories which give you such pain involve persons who are with Me now, and they have already forgiven you. You and others, whose failures to love hurt persons still living on earth, must ask their forgiveness. You are not responsible for their response to that request, but you are responsible for making the request. Finally, the most difficult step…you must forgive yourself. I cannot do this for you, but I can help you to do it; in fact, this message is a part of My helping you to forgive yourself. I am not suggesting that you forget your failures, but remember that both you and the other person had needs which neither of you could fulfill. When you humbly acknowledge your past failures to love and ask me to Love through you, then those memories will be healed completely. Shalom. And now the Listener must speak: As I was posting this message and completing the final proof, I stopped and tried to forgive myself. And I could not. Then the Holy Spirit told me that failure to forgive myself had resulted in greater bondage than the failure to love. So I asked Him to help me. I do not have words to express His answer. He did not speak, but my heart was flooded with an indescribable rest. My thanksgiving also cannot be fully expressed in words, but My God Who is Love knows my heart and knows my gratitude.
