We will begin to notice some positive changes taking place. It won't happen overnight, but as we spend time with God, several results will become evident in our lives.

We Will Become More Forgiving
We can't spend time with God and not become more forgiving. Because we have experienced the forgiveness of God in our lives, He enables us to forgive others. In Luke 11:4 Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us." (NIV) We are to forgive as the Lord forgave us. We have been forgiven much, so we in turn forgive much.

We Will Become More Forebearing
I find in my experience that to forgive is one thing, to forbear is quite another. Often the Lord can deal with you about a matter of forgiveness, and you can finally get to the point where He has humbled you and forgiven you, so you in turn can forgive that person that He has told you to forgive. But if that person is your spouse, or someone you are with on a regular basis, it's not like you forgive them and they go away. You have to live with them, and the thing that you forgave them for may happen again - and again! Then you find that you have to forgive them over and over, and you might feel like Peter who asked, "'Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you not seven times, but up to seventy times seven.'"Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV)

Jesus was not giving us a mathematical equation. He meant we are to forgive indefinitely, repeatedly, as often as necessary - the way He has forgiven us. And God's continual forgiveness and tolerance of our own failures and shortcomings creates within us a tolerance for the imperfections of others. "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)

We Will Experience Freedom
I remember when I first accepted Jesus into my life. It was so good to know I had been forgiven of the burden and guilt of all my sins. I felt so incredibly free! Nothing compares to the freedom that comes from forgiveness. When we choose not to forgive, we become enslaved to our bitterness, and we are the ones most hurt by that unforgiveness. But when we forgive, Jesus sets us free from all the hurt, anger, resentment and bitterness that once held us captive. Corrie Ten Boom, a Christian who survived the concentration camps during the Nazi Holocaust, said, "Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free, and to realize the prisoner was you."

We Will Experience Unspeakable Joy
The abundant life is only lived as we forgive and forebear with one another. As we do, we experience the joy of the Lord that is not dependent on circumstances but on our reaction to those circumstances. Jesus said on several occasions, "whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:30; 16:25; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24; 17:33; John 12:25 (NIV). Real life, joyful life, abundant life is found only as we choose to forgive and forbear. And the great irony is that when we choose to lose, we win!