Forgive

By Joyce Webb 2024

 

Forgive—Jesus said that we must forgive others—-if we want to be forgiven by God.

Matthew 6;14-15 “For if ye forgive men their trespasses (sin),—-your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses,—-neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.”

Mark 11:25-26 says the same thing.
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If we want God to forgive us of our wrong doing and sin—-then we have to forgive others of their wrong doing and sin against us.

This can be a very hard thing to do !!

Sometimes, a person has hurt us so deeply—that it takes years, and years to overcome the feelings it has caused.

Some hurts have been tragic. Some have hurt our bodies. Many have hurt our hearts, minds, emotions.

What they have done can not be forgotten completely.

Jesus did not say we have to “forget” what they did. It will never go away out of our mind completely.

Some people have used the sentence—”Forgive and forget”.

Forgetting completely does not happen.
However, the memory of it can become less and less painful. It can become something that we think about only rarely.

There is a Bible verse that says that “as far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our sin (trespasses) from us.” Psalms 103:12

There are verses that say that God will not remember our trespasses (sin) —-when He has forgiven us.

God chooses not to remember. He will not bring it up to us again or hold it against us.

That is what Jesus is telling us —-that we should do— to those who have hurt us.

It is not that what they have done is erased and wiped out of our mind.

We choose not to remember. We choose not to hold it against them.

We will not bring it up to go over it in our mind again. We will not speak of it again.

When someone has hurt us so deeply—-it is hard for us to forgive them. We may think it is impossible.

In our own strength—it probably is impossible.

But because we want God to forgive our sins—–we make a choice—a decision—to forgive them

We choose not to bring it against them.

We choose to give that hurt—-that thing they did—we give it to God—for Him to take care of.

Our thoughts of anger, hate, bitterness—will lessened—-and heal.

God will take care of that person—in what ever way God chooses.

We may wish that God would punish them and not show them mercy or grace.

That is up to God.

We need to remember that—at times—-we have hurt others—-and we need mercy and grace.

We need —-God’s mercy and grace—- for our own sins.

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Here is a prayer that you can pray —and God will answer it.

“Jesus, I read in the Bible that I must forgive this person—-if I want you to forgive me.

I want you to forgive me of my sin—-because I want to go to heaven.

I do not know how I will be able to forgive what this person has done to me.

It is such a deep hurt. It has left an awful mark on my mind, heart and body.

I do not seem to be able to get over it.

The thoughts of it —-are too heavy for me to carry. I want to give you all the memory of it. I want to give you all the thoughts and feelings I have about it.

I give them to You to carry for me. I can not carry these terrible memories by myself.

I want to obey Your Word to forgive. I do not know how I can do that. Please help me.

I give you permission to bring me to a place—-where I can say—I forgive them.

Bring me to a place in my mind—where I can say—I will not bring this up against them again.

Bring me to a place—where in my mind—I can let you take care of them— for what they did to me.

Bring me to a place—where I am not thinking of how I can pay them back.

Bring me to a place—where I am no longer angry and bitter and have hate—about what has happened to me.

I put what they have done to me—–into Your hands. You carry it for me.

Help me heal. Help me forgive. Amen.
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God will take that burden from you. He will gently lead you into a place that you will be able to heal —-and you will be able to let go of the feelings of anger, hate, bitterness, etc. that you feel when you think of that person.

God will take care of dealing with that person.

God will take care of you —-and bring you to a place of healing.

Jesus was serious when he said that we must forgive others—if we want God to forgive us.

This is not an “option”—meaning something you have a choice about.

This is a command. A rule.

If in your heart—-you are willing—to obey what Jesus said. If you want to have forgiveness for yourself—-you must forgive others.

God will help. The Holy Spirit will lead you gently and heal you.

You must be willing to open your heart to the Holy Spirit and follow what He is teaching you.