The Lord's Prayer Part 6

"And forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us."   Matthew 6:13.  NLT

Our fifth major topic in our prayer outline is:

GOD'S FORGIVENESS - 'AND FORGIVE US,'  You need God's forgiveness and you need to forgive others. Daily set your will to walk in love and forgiveness.

Think about the worst thing that you have ever said or done to someone. As a Christian, did you ask God to forgive you? If you did, He has. Think back to the worst thing that someone did to you or said to you. Have you forgiven them? If you have, then God will forgive you your sins. If you haven't, then neither will He forgive you yours. It cannot be any clearer. It is set in stone and can't be brushed aside. You may say, ‘Yes but you don't know what happened to me, it was awful.' It probably was. But if you don't forgive the person, no matter how awful it was, you will not be forgiven yourself. We can't pussy-foot around with God. He is true and He means business. Jesus Himself said:

'If you forgive those who sin against you, your Heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.'    Matthew 6:14-15

I suppose that we can all think back to the times when we have been devastated by someone when they hurt us so badly. Some people's lives have been ruined to a degree by the volume of hurt that they have suffered. You may be one of these people. Really, the only way forward is to let the hurt go, by forgiving the person who did this to you. What you do, is release the hold they have on your life - your thought life. It will only lead to bitterness, if it hasn't already. Just a mention of that person's name and it transports you back to that time and you re-live what happened. That is no way to live. God does not want that for you; but you have the answer. You must forgive in order to survive. This is God's law. It's hard to believe, but He loves that person as much as he loves you. That's unthinkable to us but it's true. And because of this, you are keeping yourself in bondage to this memory and the hurt it caused. Also, because God wants forgiveness, He can't bless you the way that He wants to until you release that person by forgiving them.

I know its difficult but, as we forgive the other person, we give God the chance to deal with this situation. Don't worry, He will handle the situation for you, but not in the way you would do. He's more loving and understanding and believe me, the person will not get away with it. But that is none of your business. Your business is to forgive and then move on to a better life free from the anxiety of it all.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com