Forgiveness

Let’s see what Jesus says about forgiveness, starting with the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:12. Forgive us our sins, wrongs, debts, just as we have forgiven and released those who have sinned against us and wronged us, those who are our debtors.

This is such an important topic that it’s the one thing Jesus picks up on from the Lord’s Prayer. He says in Matthew 6:14-15 that if you forgive others their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you don’t then your Father will not forgive your sins.

We receive forgiveness so now we can release forgiveness to others, and as we release forgiveness to others it keeps us in a place where we are forgiven by God.

Jesus makes it clear that our own sins and failures are forgiven, as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us, who have failed us.

Why is this so important?

In Matthew 26:28 Jesus says “this is My blood of the new Covenant which is being poured out as a sacrifice for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

It’s all about relationship – with God and people.

It’s who God is, His very nature is to forgive when we genuinely ask for it. He wants relationship with us, as we do Him.

The basis of our faith is about having forgiveness of our sins.

It’s the Way to be right with God, to know Him, to have that deep connection and closeness with Him, and through that relationship to bless others.

It’s through the blood – this enables us to be forgiven.

Jesus death gave Him the legal right to forgive us, to say in the court of justice in heaven “the price has been paid! Set them free!” Aren’t we glad about that! 🙂

God went to horrendous lengths to give us that forgiveness. It was a slow and painful death of His Son. So we are to forgive and release others, as we saw at the start, it is a commandment. Like the command to ‘love one another’, as this is love in action.

Jesus feels our pain, He’s been there. He’s been betrayed by someone very close. He’s been severely hated and mistreated/abused. So God does know what deep inner hurt and pain feels like! We allow Him to come alongside and remove those arrows spoken to us and the emotional pain of when others hurt us. We can also ask Him to forgive us for when we have hurt others.

We need His help and wisdom to do this, to repent of wrong ways of thinking, for we are children of our forgiving Father God and are being changed by Him to be like Jesus.

We are to shine! To be different! To be humble, to seek others good and best.

It is an upside down Kingdom. It isn’t like the world.

Often the pain comes from our unmet expectations. We have expectations all the time, but others don’t always meet them, because people fail at times. People can make decisions based on selfish ambitions, or self preservation from enemy attacks of fear, worry, doubt etc. Also, other people do not think like us and behave like us. Just because we think something is obvious doesn’t mean anyone else sees what we do.

And all believers are on their personal journey with God, with differing amounts of revelation and understanding. So we need mercy and grace for each other.

Have you been disappointed, causing you to be hurt, upset or angry?

What expectation did someone not meet?

Can you see that they didn’t mean to do this?

Can you see what was behind it? Were they afraid, worried, etc?

You may find this short prayer helpful: Lord Jesus, I forgive ….. for …..

May they overcome ….. so they can be who you created them to be. Thank you Lord. I would love to see them free in this area and look forward to seeing them able to ……

For example: Lord Jesus, I forgive Jane for not doing what she said she would. May she overcome fear so she can be who you created her to be. Thank you Lord. I would love to see her free in this area and look forward to seeing her able to keep her commitments and not allow the enemy to affect her decisions in any way. Amen.