Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, May 23rd.

Do you struggle with holding on to resentment when others hurt you?

Today, we'll be challenged to confront an unforgiving spirit.

Stay with us for more on forgiving one another.

An unforgiving spirit is the primary cause of many of our health hazards, much of our unanswered

prayer, many of the feelings of stress that you and I experience. An unforgiving spirit is the primary

cause for lack of peace, a lack of joy, poor relationships. Underlying many of God's

people's basic problems is this feeling or this sensitivity of an unforgiving spirit. Somehow

we just can't seem to forgive because of the way we've been treated. Now, in the book of Ephesians,

the first three chapters, Paul deals with who we are in Christ and all the wonderful, marvelous

blessings that are ours because of our relationship to him. And in the fourth chapter,

he begins that chapter by saying,

therefore on the basis of who we are, this is the way you and I should walk as believers.

And he comes to the fourth chapter in the 31st verse, and listen to what he says. He says,

let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice,

and be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God and Christ has also forgiven you.

Now, you and I agree that sometimes it may appear to be hard to be forgiving toward others.

But listen to what he says. He says,

let all bitterness be put away from you. So the first thing I want us to discuss in this message is this.

And that is the root of our unforgiving spirit. What is the root? Look in verse 31. Let all bitterness.

Therein lies the root cause of all unforgiveness.

That's interesting.

...