“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:” Luke 6:37

“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Mark 11:25-26

While meditating on the most important things that we need the Lord to supply us, my mind kept going back to the one we are going to look at today – a forgiving spirit.

I remember many years ago when after church one night, a person spoke some very unkind words to one of my children.  I was upset and after I went home, I was praying about it.  The Lord impressed upon me to look at it from the other person’s perspective.  If they were anything like me, they were probably feeling very badly about what they had done and wishing they could take the words back.  As I began to pray that the Lord would forgive them and that He would give them peace, I found my feelings changed.  As I forgave them, the peace of God filled my soul.

Because we are human, there are going to be lots of times in our lives that we feel we have been used wrongly, had things said about us that were not true, or been treated in a way we did not like.  It is natural for us to begin to feel sorry for ourselves, to maybe look for some way to get back at the person who hurt us.  But if we can just release that person to the Lord we will feel better about the situation.  Perhaps they did not even realize they had hurt us, but if we just give it to the Lord, He will do what needs to be done in their life.

If we take time to look back at our past, we will realize that the Lord has forgiven us for so many things.  As Jesus taught His disciples to pray in what we know as the Lord’s prayer, if we do not forgive others, how can we expect the Lord to forgive us.  We all make mistakes, we all fail, but when we call out to the Lord in true repentance, His precious blood cleanses us from all our sin.

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19.

Prayer:  Lord, what I need most from you today is a forgiving spirit.  You have forgiven me many times. Search my heart today and show me if there is any lack of forgiveness, that I need to address.  Give me the strength to do what you would have me do.

Devotion by Anne Johnston

 

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