God Help Us Forgive

Take hold of the Lord and Let Him change you from within. Through Him, you will develop a heart to not judge others any longer for their sins they committed in the past. It may have been difficult at the time to take in but your life in Christ has made you a better person.  With that in mind, I Corinthians 5:17  says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. Along with,  Philippians 3:13-15 Amplified Bible (AMP) : “…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us who are mature [pursuing spiritual perfection] should have this attitude.

Christian Evangelist Nicky Cruz, tells us Nothing stirs God’s heart more than a humble heart and a merciful spirit. God responds to mercy, because it is through compassion that we fully come to know Him. This is the defining quality of a true follower of  Christ. We are never closer to the heart of God than when we are forgiving someone. And we are never farther from it than when we are holding a grudge.-Nicky Cruz

Jesus gave us the ultimate example of how to forgive when he willingly hung on a cross to offer us forgiveness for our own sins. He spoke the powerful words, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34 NLT) This unfathomable demonstration of sacrifice showed how important it is for us to forgive. Yet we still struggle with it. So how can we forgive someone in our prayers and know we truly mean it with our hearts?

Colossians 3:13 says, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” The words Paul shared with the church in the verses that follow can serve as instruction when we pray to forgive those who hurt us. Forgiveness is hard. But with God’s Word as our guide, we can learn to forgive even in the deepest places of pain. We can fully release the hurt and move forward with a newfound compassion for our offender.

Have you struggled to forgive that person who hurt you? Here is a prayer for forgiving them. Let’s join together in prayer with these words to our Heavenly Father. May they help us offer the gift of forgiveness today.

Forgiveness Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for forgiving us of our sins and the work of the Holy Spirit changing us deep with. You have given us a second chance for a new life in Christ!  By, your precious Holy Spirit, help us daily to have a compassionate heart like yours. May we be quick to forgive and slow to judge others in our pursuit to become more like you in our everyday lives. May we extend the same grace and mercy to others as you so lavishly, gave to us.

Precious Father, we realease any bitterness, anger, malice, judgements and unforgiveness from our hearts  today  towards  those who have offended us.   We make a conscious decision to give up our rights to retaliate or cause them pain to allow room for you to vindicate us God.  Lord, help us to fully release the hurt,  letting go our past as we focus forward on the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  May our in-inward attitude match our out-ward confessions. We thank you and give you praise, in your Son Jesus Name

Amen!

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