Living free of unforgiveness <3
Last night it was so warm and still in the house that I turned the air on for a bit…this morning I switched to the furnace…oh my…tis the season!
This morning I read a section in a book of prayers for your grandchildren about forgiveness. Prayers for them to forgive quickly and sincerely.
With all prayers of intercession for anyone, the pray-er must always bring him or herself under the same prayer.
As I read about the importance for all of us to truly, deeply and sincerely forgive; I felt my own convictions.
One of the Scriptures was Matthew 5:44-45:
I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:44-45 NKJV
This is a teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One I say I follow.
If He is my Leader, then this is my example.
So I have to stop this morning and step back from the culture I live in and the voices inside me and around me that speak a different teaching and really examine my heart.
Do I love my enemies?
Do I bless others when they curse me?
Do I do good to those who hate me?
Do I pray for those who have spitefully used me and those who have betrayed and/or persecuted me?
And by “me” I can tell you that anyone who has done any of the above to any of my people…may as well have done it to me; and better for them if they had done it to me instead of one of them.
So no.
I don’t measure up well.
I carry grudges and ill-will wishes for others who have done any and all of the above to me or to those I love.
So I have to acknowledge that in this teaching, I have missed the mark.
I have sinned.
And in my failing, I fall on grace.
In my confession, I find forgiveness extended to me and thus, I am empowered and equipped to live counter culture and I choose to forgive.
He gives me grace to extend grace.
What an incredible gift He has given to us, His children.
Be blessed today….Let us ask God to call to mind those against whom we still hold a grudge.
Yet again, we can lift up our battered and hardened hearts and ask Him to soften them and shape them even more today into the image of the One who forgave us all.
He is able, even when we are not <3