Have you said or heard, "I just don't know how to forgive"? Even though you do know, you simply can't muster up the strength to forgive. You find yourself in a repeated cycle of having to forgive over and over again and it still doesn't seem to take hold.

Forgiveness is an emotion and a conscious decision to wipe the slate clean of the offenses committed against you. When you can't forgive repeatedly and it sticks with you, we need to explore that there could be a deeper issue involved.

Forgiveness is an emotion, but just like with other emotional ailments such as fear, anxiety and rejection, when we don't deal with the feeling, it can become a spiritual stronghold. It is an entryway to demonic infiltration of the soul and spirits of unforgiveness that we can no longer repent of and receive freedom from on our own. It has now become a demon we need to cast out.

There are times our minds can't grasp forgiving. We feel lured and pulled into the same negative scenarios in our thought process. Our brains can't comprehend forgiving and what that will look like. In those times, a mind-binding spirit is seducing you into feeling the entitlement of being owed something from the offender.

Have you experienced simply not being able to let go, no matter how hard you try? It may seem impossible because forgiveness is a choice, but it can also be a demonic spirit keeping us in a place of bondage, bitterness, offense and hatred. When we don't forgive, the enemy wins, and win and enemy don't belong in the same sentence.

I want to encourage you today to go deeper. Ask the Holy Spirit what the root of your unforgiveness is. Seek Him and allow Him to reveal to you if you are just being stubborn, being prideful and feeling entitled to vengeance, or if there is a demonic spirit keeping you in bondage and not allowing you to release forgiveness. Jesus instructed us to forgive repeatedly. Therefore, if we can't do the very thing He taught, let's explore if something else is holding you back from the fullness and freedom in Christ.

Receive further deliverance from unforgiveness and other strongholds in my book, Unshackled.

Listen to my podcast to learn more.

Kathy DeGraw is a prophetic deliverance minister releasing the love and power of God to ignite and activate people, release prophetic destinies and deliver people from the bondage of the enemy. She is the founder of Kathy DeGraw Ministries and Be Love Outreach. Kathy hosts a weekly podcast show called Prophetic Spiritual Warfare on the Charisma Podcast Network. She is the author of several books, including: Speak Out, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan, Unshackled and Warfare Declarations. You can connect with Kathy on Facebook at facebook.com/kathydegraw/ or visit kathydegrawministries.org/.

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