Bible in One Year: Monday, December 14, 2009 (Rev 13 - Rev 15) Memorise: "And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him" (Matt 18:34) Read: Luke 16:19-25 19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Another lesson from the story of the unmerciful servant is that the unforgiving is handed over to tormentors. "And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him" (Matt 18:34). The presence of an unforgiving spirit releases a type of smell that attracts wicked demons. So at the end, the unforgiving fellow becomes an annex of Satan's evil headquarters. No wonder good things coming the way of such a fellow are immediately diverted. Luke 16:24 says, "And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame". There is a link between the one in hell fire and the one in unforgiveness. They are both under unquenchable torment. In fact, if you want to have a foretaste of hell fire, harbour an unforgiving spirit against someone and you will experience hell. The tormentors in hell will be assigned to torment the fellow. It can be a terrible experience! A man had one daughter and he carefully nursed her as she was a replica of his late wife. When the lady was to be married, he told the young suitor to treat her well because she was his only treasure. A week into their marriage her husband started to beat her. On one occasion, he shot her and nearly killed her. Her father became terribly bitter. Suddenly, this aged father began to swell. He went for medical check up but the doctor could not diagnose what was wrong with him. Yet the problem persisted. He attended several crusades where he was prayed for without solution. One day, he went to meet a man of God to pray for him. Just before he prayed, God revealed the cause of the problem to him. The man of God asked him to go and reconcile with his son-in-law so that he could recover from his strange sickness. He obeyed. He got to his son in-law's house and asked for forgiveness. As they embraced each other and both began to weep, suddenly they heard a sound: the old man's wedding ring dropped to the ground and that was the end of the sickness. Are you holding a grudge against someone? At the end of the day, you are only troubling yourself. You will lose all your joy, peace and rest. Are you not tormenting yourself instead of the person you are holding a grudge against? Stop holding yourself back. Release that fellow who offended you today. The unforgiving are living in a mini hell! ACTION POINT: You should forgive, not because you want to, but because you need to. Without forgiveness, you cannot access Heaven.