THE

THREE
MOST POWERFUL

WORDS
Discovering the freedom of releasing the ones who
hurt us.

By Derek Prince
Discovering the freedom of releasing the ones who
hurt us.

By Derek Prince
THE THREE MOST POWERFUL WORDS

Unless otherwise specified, all Scriptures are taken from The Holy
Bible, New International Version 1978 by New York International
Bible Society. All Scriptures marked NAS are taken from the New
American Standard Bible The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962,
1963, 1971, 1973. All Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the King
James Version of the Bible.

2006 Derek Prince Ministries-International

This book is an edited transcript from Derek Prince Legacy Radio, No.
056 "Forgiveness" by Derek Prince.

ISBN 978-1-892283-36-8

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by means of any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher. All rights reserved.

Printed in the USA.

Derek Prince Ministries

http://www.derekprince.org
 CONTENTS

1 The Blessedness of Forgiveness 7

2 The Basis of Forgiveness 15

3 Reconciliation in Two Directions 23

4 The Unforgiving Servant 29

5 How to Forgive Others 37

 1 THE BLESSEDNESS OF
FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness is one of the most beautiful words in
any language.
What makes this such a special and beautiful
word? Well, consider some of the consequences that
flow from forgiveness: reconciliation, peace,
harmony, understanding, fellowship. How badly our
world today stands in need of these things! In
contrast, consider some of the consequences that
flow from our failure to forgive and to be forgiven:
bitterness, strife, disharmony, hatred, and war. At
times it seems as though the entire human race is in
danger of being overwhelmed by these evil, negative
forces. If we are ever to rise above these conditions,
it will only be as we learn and apply the principles of
forgiveness.
There are two directions of forgiveness
represented in the Bible. These two directions are
well portrayed by that great symbol of our Christian
faith, the cross. The cross has two beamsone
vertical and one horizontal. These two beams
represent the two directions of forgiveness. The
vertical beam represents the forgiveness that we all
need to receive from God and that can only be

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 The Three Most Powerful Words

received through our identification with the sacrifice

and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The horizontal
beam represents our relationships with our fellow
men, and it speaks of the forgiveness that in this case
is two way: the forgiveness we need to receive from
others and the forgiveness we need to give to others.
Once again, the only place where we can receive the
grace for that kind of forgiveness is the cross.
The Vertical
Let's begin with the type of forgiveness that we
need and can receive from God Himselfthe
vertical aspect. There is such a blessedness in being
forgiven by God. This is articulated perhaps most
beautifully in Psalm 32, in which David says:
Blessed is he whose transgressions are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man whose sin the Lord does not count
against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
Psalm 32:1-2
In Hebrew this psalm begins with a plural word:
blessednesses. "Oh, the blessednesses of the one
whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are
covered." The implication is that there are
innumerable blessings attached to having our sins
forgiven by God.

8
 The Blessedness of Forgiveness

It is important to see that the Bible does not talk

about a man who does not need forgiveness. The
Bible clearly indicates that all of us need forgiveness
from God. There are no exceptions. In another
psalm, the psalmist says there is no man that does
not sin. We have all sinned. Therefore we all need
forgiveness. It is not a question of whether we need
forgiveness but whether we receive forgiveness.
So David says, "Blessed is the man whose sin
the LORD does not count against him and in whose
spirit there is no deceit."
He is writing about the type of man who has
indeed sinned, but whose sin is no longer counted
against him. Still, one absolute condition for
receiving forgiveness is being absolutely honest with
God. This means not trying to cover anything up,
excuse anything, or hold anything back.
Then David writes out of his own personal
experience:
When I kept silent, my bones wasted
away through my groaning all day long. For
day and night your hand was heavy upon
me; my strength was sapped as in the heat
of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to
you, and did not cover up my iniquity. I
said, " I will confess my transgressions to

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 The Three Most Powerful Words

the LORD"and you forgave the guilt of my

sin.
verses 3-5
I believe when David wrote this he had in mind
the matter of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the
Hittite. It was a terrible situation in which he
committed adultery and then committed murder to
cover up his adultery. David obviously had been like
many of us.
For a long while he had refused to face the fact
of his sin. He tried to ignore it. He tried to pretend
that it never happened. He tried to cover it up. But
all that time he was like a man with a burning fever.
He said, "My strength was sapped as in the heat of
summer. My bones wasted away."
The indication here is that there can be physical
byproducts of holding on to unforgiven sin. A
psychiatrist told me about a lady in one of the
hospitals he attended who was in a hopeless
condition. Her kidneys had ceased to function, her
skin had turned pale yellow-orange, and she was in a
coma, simply waiting to die.
As this psychiatrist walked past her bed one day,
he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to speaknot to
her conscious mind but to her unconscious. Her
conscious mind was not able to receive anything

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 The Blessedness of Forgiveness

from him. He said, "In the name of the Lord Jesus

Christ, I remit your sins." And he wondered
afterwards if he had done something foolish or
whether the Holy Spirit had really prompted him.
To his amazement, about a week later he met the
lady walking down the street in the city, perfectly
healed! One cause of her physical condition was her
unforgiven sins. When her sin was forgiven through
this man's intercession on her behalfwhen her
spirit was clear with Godthe way was open for her
to be healed.
So, David's picture of his condition in Psalm 32
is very real. In the next verses David gives a
personal application to this:
Therefore let everyone who is godly
pray to you while you may be found; surely
when the mighty waters rise, they will not
reach him. You are my hiding place; you
will protect me from trouble and surround
me with songs of deliverance.
verses 6-7
David says, "Don't delay! While you have time,
remember to turn to God and ask for His
forgiveness. Then, when the trouble comes, when
the waters rise, when calamities sweep over your
life, you'll have a hiding place. You'll be kept safe in

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 The Three Most Powerful Words

the hiding place of God."

The prophet Isaiah also has something urgent to
tell us about our need to seek forgiveness from God:
Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call on him while he is near. Let the wicked
forsake his way and the evil man his
thoughts.
Isaiah 55:6-7
There is only a certain period when you can
count on turning to the Lord. After that, it may be
that the Holy Spirit will not prompt you again. It
may be that you will never be moved again. But
there is a moment when God may be found. There is
a moment when God is near. Isaiah says, "Call on
Him while He is near."
This is an urgent matter. If you have unforgiven
sin in your life, now is the time to turn to God. The
New Testament says, "Now is the accepted time" (2
Corinthians 6:2). Now is the time when God will
hear you. Don't delay, don't brush aside the gentle
prompting of the Holy Spirit. Don't fight off that
conviction that He brings upon you. Yield to His
prompting. Call on the Lord while He is near. And
remember the blessednesses of the man whose sins
are forgiven.

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 The Blessedness of Forgiveness

Everyone Needs Forgiveness

Why do we need to be forgiven? Romans 3:23
very simply tells us why we must all seek
forgiveness from God:
For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God.
The word all would indicate that there are no
exceptions there. All of us have sinned. There is not
one righteous. There is not one who always does
good.
You may argue and say, "Well, I've never
committed murder or stolen or committed adultery
or even gotten drunk." Maybe you can even say,
"I've never told a lie." Maybe so, but there is one
thing we all have in common. We have all sinned
and, thereby, fall short of the glory of God.
The essence of sin is not doing some particular
wrong thing. The essence of sin is robbing God of
the glory that is due to Him from our lives. We have
all led lives that robbed God of His glory. We have
all led lives that were far below the level that God
requires. We have fallen short of the glory of God.
And there are no exceptions in this matter. All have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Wherever you may be, remember that the

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 The Three Most Powerful Words

Scripture says to seek the Lord while He may be

found. Call on Him while He is near. Don't let this
day pass until you have sought God for forgiveness.

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 2 THE BASIS OF FORGIVENESS
This issue of forgiveness is of such vital, personal
importance for each one of us, and the basis for
forgiveness is the cross of Jesus Christ.
We can be forgiven only on the basis of what
Jesus did on our behalf. More than seven centuries
before Jesus suffered and died on the cross, the
prophet Isaiah gave us a prophetic preview of what
He was to do and why He was to do it. Although
Jesus is not mentioned by name, all the writers and
evangelists of the New Testament alike concur that
Jesus is the one spoken of herethe nameless
suffering servant of the Lord. In Isaiah 53 Isaiah
describes the suffering death of our Lord Jesus
Christ:
Surely he took up our infirmities and
carried our sorrows, yet we considered him
stricken by God, smitten by him, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us
peace was upon him, and by his wounds we
are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone
astray, each of us has turned to his own
way; and the LORD has laid on him [Jesus]
the iniquity of us all.

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 The Three Most Powerful Words

Isaiah 53:4-6
That is the basis of God's forgiveness. It is
forgiveness that does not compromise His justice.
God's justice was fully and finally satisfied because
Jesus took our iniquity, our rebelliousness and all
our guilt.
Isaiah emphasizesas Paul does in Romans
3:23that none are excluded from the need of
forgiveness. "We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way." Again, it is
not exactly some terrible crime we may have
committed. It does not say we have all committed
murder or eaten too much. It says we have gone
astray. We have turned to our own way. We have
been rebellious. We have been self-pleasers. We
have lived by our own standards. We have robbed
God of His glory. All of that is summed up in the
one strong word of Scripture: iniquity. But, thank
God, the Lord laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all.
The Hebrew word that is translated "laid on
him" is very vivid. It means "made to meet together
on him." All the sins, all the guilt, and all the
burdens of all men, of all ages, of all races, past,
present and future, came and met together upon the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ as He hung on the
cross. He did not die for His own sins. "He was

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 The Blessedness of Forgiveness

pierced for our transgressions," Isaiah says. "He was

crushed for our iniquities." "The punishment that
brought us peace was upon Him."
Pay special attention to how close healing and
forgiveness are. Many times people who are seeking
healing really need forgiveness before they can be
healed. Isaiah says, "The punishment that brought us
peace." We see again that the consequence of
forgiveness is peace, because Jesus was punished for
our sin because He took our place. God offers us
peace and reconciliation.
Can You Earn It?
In Romans 4 Paul bases his teaching on the
experience of Abraham, the great forefather of the
Jewish people of Israel. He points out that Abraham
did not earn his relationship with God. He was
justified because he believed, not because of what he
did.
What then shall we say that Abraham,
our forefather, discovered in this matter? If,
in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he
had something to boast aboutbut not
before God. What does the Scripture say?
"Abraham believed God, and it was credited
to him as righteousness." Now when a man

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 The Three Most Powerful Words

works, his wages are not credited to him as

a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the
man who does not work but trusts God who
justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as
righteousness.
verses 1-5
If we lead perfectly good lives then we would
have received the reward of righteousness as a due.
But Paul says because none of us has led perfectly
good lives, we cannot claim it as a due. We have to
receive it out of God's graciousness as a gift. Paul
goes on to quote the words of David from Psalm 32.
David says the same thing when he speaks of the
blessedness of the man to whom God credits
righteousness apart from works. That means we
cannot earn it. There is nothing we can do to get it.
"Blessed are they whose transgressions are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man
whose sins the Lord will never count against him."
Blessed words, "Never will our sins be counted
against us." Paul continues:
Yet he did not waver through unbelief
regarding the promise of God, but was
strengthened in his faith and gave glory to
God, being fully persuaded that God had
power to do what he had promised. This is

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 The Blessedness of Forgiveness

why "it was credited to him as

righteousness."
The words, "it was credited to him"
were written not for him alone, but also for
us, to whom God will credit righteousness
for us who believe in him who raised Jesus
our Lord from the dead. He was delivered
over to death for our sins and was raised to
life for our justification.
verses 20-25
The essence of receiving this forgiveness is
having unwavering faith that God will do what He
has promised to do. We have to believe those two
aspects of the crossthat Jesus died as the penalty
for our sins and was raised again to bring us
justification.
Justified is one of those technical, theological
words that calls for a little explanation. We are
justified through faith and the death of Jesus on our
behalf. I have always described justified as being
"just-as-if-I'd" never sinned. Because when all my
sins are forgiven, I am reckoned righteous with the
righteousness of Jesus Himself.
Complete Forgiveness
One of the most wondrous aspects of God's

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 The Three Most Powerful Words

nature is that when He forgives, He does not

partially forgive. He totally forgives. Micah states
this beautifully:
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin
and forgives the transgression of the
remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay
angry forever but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us; you
will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all
our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:18-19
Isn't that beautiful? Everything that we have
ever done wrongeverything that could ever make
us feel guilty, every accusation that the enemy could
ever bring against usGod treads them underfoot
and then hurls them into the depths of the sea.
Someone remarked once that when God casts
your sins into the sea, He puts up a notice that says,
"No Fishing!" Don't ever try to go back and resurrect
something that God has buried. If God has forgiven
you, you are forgiven. There are no questions. God's
forgiveness is total. In Isaiah God speaks to His
people:
"I, even I, am he who blots out your
transgressions, for my own sake, and

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 The Blessedness of Forgiveness

remembers your sins no more."

Isaiah 43:25
When God forgives us, He blots out the record.
It is clean. It is just as though the thing that has been
forgiven had never taken place. Not only does He
blot out the record, but He blots it out from His own
memory. He says that He will remember our sins no
more.
God does not have a bad memory, but He does
have the ability to forget. And when He forgives, He
forgets!

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