“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors.” – Matthew 6:12 (AMP)
There is a popular saying that, ‘to err is human, to forgive is divine.’ A couple of weeks after I began to oversee a group of believers, in our early morning prayer meetings as we scheduled to meet, the Lord gave me a prayer point while ministering one day.
Commonly, when praying or leading people to pray, after the prayers of thanksgiving, the next thing is to ask for the forgiveness of sins from God but this time around, the Lord added a second part to that prayer for forgiveness, and it goes thus: “Lord, forgive my sins and HELP ME TO FORGIVE THOSE WHO HAVE SINNED AGAINST ME.” As simple as that prayer might be, it yielded amazing results because months later, I began to receive personal testimonies of how some of the people were able to forgive people they’ve thought they would never forgive.
The teaching on forgiveness of sins is one of the themes of Scripture which must not be joked with. The journey of any Believer starts from such person receiving forgiveness of sins from God. Now, in a daily walk with the Lord, Christ is teaching that for a believer to receive forgiveness for his errors in His relationship with God, he also must forgive his fellow humans who have sinned against him, which one must say that, many times, it’s not easy, no matter who the offender is.
One of the things which hinder answers to prayers is unforgiveness. There is no way you will be on earth and you won’t be offended by people but Christ is teaching that you must forgive them if you would receive forgiveness from God. And stated above, truly, one of the prayers you should pray as a disciple is that the Lord will help you to forgive those who err against you, no matter how painful what they did to you is. Cultivate the habit of forgiveness and allow the Holy Spirit to help you as you willingly let go of offences. Blessings.
Practical Application: Take some good time to pray that the Lord will help you to forgive those who offend you in any way.
Confession: I receive forgiveness from the Lord daily and I also forgive the errors of people against me. I do not hold any grudges against anyone. The Holy Spirit works love out inside of me and I express this love to everyone around me.
Related Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35
Bible Reading: Matthew 18
