The Lord gently said to me one day, “There are still many areas in your heart that hold unforgiveness. You need to forgive deeply in order to soar.”

Later, He showed me the map to deep forgiveness. The kind of forgiveness that transcends the intellect, emotions and even spiritual warfare.

DIFFERENT STAGES OF FORGIVENESS

Stage 1: Intellectual Forgiveness

Where we understand and believe the importance of forgiveness, and we make the choice to forgive even though it still hurts. We choose to obey God, trusting that as we forgive, He will bring healing to the pain in our hearts.

Stage 2: Emotional Forgiveness

As we keep choosing to forgive, the sting of our wound begins to heal, and we can look back on that incident/person and bless them. We can say, like Joseph did: “God was in that and He used it to make me a better person.”  The deeper the wound, the deeper the layers of forgiveness, the longer the process.

Stage 3: Spiritual Forgiveness

There is a real battle in the heavenlies (Ephesians 6:12, Revelation 12:7, Daniel 10:13). Sometimes we need to wrestle for our hearts. The angels and demons battle in this realm, and we must make a choice which side we’ll fight on. James 4:7 says, “Submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” an important principal to remember in this stage.

Stage 4: Supernatural Forgiveness

This is the realm that transcends our intellect (Job 36:26), emotions (Philippians 4:7), and even the spiritual principalities (Ephesians 1: 20-22). This is the level where we find deep, lasting forgiveness and freedom in our hearts.

WHAT DOES DEEP FORGIVENESS LOOK LIKE?

There are some wounds in my heart that don’t hurt that much; little scratches that are soothed with a simple, “I choose to forgive this person”. Choosing to forgive any little offence on a daily basis helps keep my heart clean from the dust of travelling on the road of life.

But there are the deeper wounds. Careless words from a loved one, betrayal by those we trust most, rejection, failure.

These wounds run deep, and I’ve found that all the years of intellectual, emotional, and even spiritual forgiveness haven’t healed those areas of woundedness. They have helped, but not completely.

Deep wounds require supernatural healing.

Healing and surrender are a spontaneous response to His beautiful glory.

We cannot heal ourselves at the deepest, most hidden bedrock of our subconscious. God must take over.

The Lord began to show me that when we pierce through the earthly and spiritual realms (Stages 1-3) in worship, we enter into the place in Ephesians 2:6 where we are “seated with Jesus in heavenly places” (Stage 4).

That’s where the Throne of God is, seated above the earth and the spiritual forces of good and evil.

In this place in the Throneroom, all strife and spiritual fighting cease. The flesh has been laid down, the enemy silenced.

This is the no-war zone. It’s just God, and me. And this is the place where it’s so easy to lay it all down. Before His great throne, it’s so simple to put down all the deep hurts I never even knew I carried. Healing and surrender are a spontaneous response to His beautiful glory.

In this place, we no longer reach up to heaven to change our earthly circumstances. Instead, we are reaching down from heaven to touch Earth. We experience deep transformation because we are living on Earth as it is in heaven.

Those looking to fully forgive, and release the hurts and disappointments you’ve accumulated in this life: Press in to the Throneroom of God. Push through your soul’s fears and worries, push through the enemy’s voice.

Breakthrough is available to you. Come up higher into the holy place.

This post was originally featured on Samantha’s blog.