(lively upbeat music)
- Hey, I'm Terri Savelle Foy your cheerleader of dreams.
Today I wanna address something a little more serious
than my normal, cheerful podcast
but I promise it will produce cheerfulness (laughs)
in your life and it has to do with potatoes.
I'll explain.
First, I wanna address the question,
is this why your prayers aren't being answered?
Whether it's a prayer for healing in your body,
a promotion at work, for your business to grow,
to have children, to get married,
no matter what you're believing for.
I've found out that this will stop your prayers
from being answered.
By the way, I wanna say thank you so much
to all of our subscribers
for being so supportive of this channel.
And you know, I do my best to put some work in,
to try and bring you something of value
to help you live your dreams.
If you haven't subscribed, I wanna ask
if you would do that for me real quick.
That means so much to us.
It just, sorta gives me a little thumbs up
to keep putting these little videos together.
So would you push the play button and be a subscriber?
And if so, thank you from my heart.
Okay, let me tell you a little story I heard years
and years ago from Joyce Meyer.
She talked about how a teacher did an experiment
with her students one day using potatoes.
She had every one of the kids bring a clear plastic bag
and a sack of potatoes to school.
Well, for every person that they would refuse to forgive
in their life experiences,
they were told to choose a potato,
write the name of the person on it
and the date of when the hurt happened
and then put it in the plastic bag.
Now, some of the bags were really heavy
and then they were told,
"You have to carry this bag everywhere you go,
for one solid week."
When they went to bed at night,
they had to put it in the bed, (laughs)
in the car seat next to 'em, next to their desk.
Well, just the hassle of lugging this heavy bag
everywhere they went, made it clear
what a weight we are carrying spiritually,
when we hang onto hurts and pains.
And of course, naturally the potatoes started to rot
and turn into this nasty slime.
Well, it was such a great metaphor
for the price we pay when we keep our pain
and how disgusting it is to God
and it makes everything in our live stink.
Well, Joyce said,
"The next time you decide you can't forgive someone,
ask yourself, 'Isn't my bag heavy enough?'"
Well, you can tell from this teacher's example
that unforgiveness is the topic today
and it's one of the major things that can stop your prayers
from being answered.
Now, before you stop watching this video
let me tell you a story that marked my life forever.
My dad told me about this experience he had,
where a friend of his,
this lady was in a hospital dying of cancer.
Well, she and her husband were partners
with my dad's ministry and the husband called my dad
and asked if he would please fly to their state
and pray for his wife.
She was literally on her deathbed.
So my dad agreed to go up there, pray for her healing.
But before he went, he asked the Lord,
he said, "Lord, is there anything you want me to tell her?"
Well, when my dad got to the hospital,
the Lord spoke to my dad and said,
"Tell her if she will forgive her husband,
he'll heal her of the cancer."
Well, apparently the husband had an affair years ago.
He had repented, they've gotten back together.
So my dad leaned down to this lady and he said,
"The Lord told me that if you'll forgive your husband,
you'll be healed of cancer
and you'll walk out of this hospital."
She looked right at my dad,
looked at her husband and said, "I will never forgive him."
Wasn't long after, she died.
And you might even think, "That's not fair!"
But here's what I've discovered,
forgiveness doesn't make them right, it makes you free.
Hang on to that quote.
You know, I have it memorized because it set me free.
In fact, many times, you know, we quote that scripture
in Mark 11:24 that says, "Whatever you desire
believe you've received it when you pray."
But the very next verse,
it talks about how...
Well, actually starts with the word "And"
which is a conjunction, meaning the sentence isn't over.
Keep reading, there's another key to success coming.
And here it is, it says, "And whenever you stand praying,
if you find that you carry something
in your heart against another person, release him
and forgive him, so your Father in heaven will release you
and forgive you of your faults."
This is really serious to God.
You know, I thought it was interesting how it says,
"If you carry something in your heart."
Just like the potatoes being carried and weighing you down.
You know, one translation of forgive means to drop it.
(Terri laughs)
You know, I would never by any means say that this is easy,
but it's worth it.
In fact, in your free download
that I've put together this week,
I listed the very scriptures that I had
to literally make myself read out loud to help me forgive.
And I got these ingrained in me
because every time a painful memory would come up,
which happen a lot,
I would force myself to speak these scriptures out loud
until God's word healed every wound, every painful memory
and it set me free to live my dreams.
I want that for you.
More importantly, God wants that for you.
So I want you to click the link in the description
of this video and get this powerful list of scriptures
to help you break free from the pain of the past.
Okay, another story I remember, was a friend of mine,
who was believing to have children
and she could not get pregnant.
Well, someone close to her said,
"I feel like you need to forgive your mom."
Well, her mom did horrible things to her.
Some of the worst things I've ever heard.
The type that make you go, "Come on, Lord,
she has (laughs) every right to stay mad."
Again, forgiveness doesn't make them right,
it makes you free.
Well, she chose by faith to say, "Lord, I forgive my mom
and I will never bring it up again."
She has six beautiful children today.
I'm just trying to point out why your dream could be delayed
after you've asked God.
You're taking the leap of faith, you're preparing
and it's still not happening.
You know, God's word, this is one of my favorite scriptures,
it says, "Do not remember the former things
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I'm doing a new thing,
and now it's shall spring forth."
See, God wants to do a new thing
but you gotta let go of the old things.
And you've probably heard me tell the story
of, when Rodney and I separated,
we were on the verge of a divorce.
Even though I wanted a divorce
and truly thought, "This marriage is hopeless, it's over."
I still knew this concept of forgiveness
and I needed God to forgive me for stupid things I had done.
So I knew I had to choose by faith to forgive Rodney
but it was hard.
You know, I remember, like it was yesterday.
I picked up a photo of Rodney and me
and I covered his face with my hand.
I didn't even wanna look at him.
(laughs) This is sad.
But I began praying, walking around in circles,
in my den, in my kitchen.
It was step one in forgiving
and I began to do that daily, over and over.
I would make myself pray over that picture
and I would read this list of scriptures out loud
and I seriously had to make myself do this.
And I'm so glad I did
because gradually I began to move my hand
and look at him and pray.
Finally, I could actually say, "In the name of Jesus
I choose as an act of my faith to forgive my husband
and I choose to forgive myself."
And that's all I could say.
It was hard enough, you know,
just to get myself to say those words, it was painful.
My flesh didn't like it at all, but I knew I had to forgive.
And as I began praying over that photo every single day
and speak these scriptures out loud,
something began to change, me, (laughs)
in time the anger started to turn to compassion
and God began to heal me from the inside out.
And I'm convinced I would not have this ministry today
and all the amazing opportunities
that God's brought into my life,
had I not chosen to forgive by faith.
And I want that for you too.
So when you're alone with God, right there in your house,
your apartment, your bedroom, your car,
wherever you need to be to get alone,
just lift those memories up before the Lord
and pray these scriptures, pray them out loud.
And I'm telling you, God can heal every wound in your life.
He can set you free to live your dreams.
So don't waste another day holding onto the past.
You know, I almost forgot to say that Rodney
and I have been married now 31 years.
Thank you, Jesus.
But you know, I love this quote by Robert Kriegel.
He said, "The only way to move into the future
is to let go of the past."
Forgiveness doesn't make them right, it makes you free.
So be sure and click the link in the description.
Get your free download of powerful scriptures
to help you release the past and embrace your dreams.
(lively upbeat music)
And I'll be cheering you on to live your dreams.