Re-Center Around God
Matthew 6:15
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
~ Jesus, Sermon on the Mount
Pondering Point
As we prepare to review the topic of forgiving of others, let’s pray:
Abba Father, help us through any bitterness, pain, disappointment, and grief that may surface in this spiritual exercise. Bring healing to wounds whether they are recent or decades old.
Bitterness can't withstand the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
~ Alex Nsengimana
Review
Do you have relationships in which you have been withholding forgiveness or love? Have you been nurturing resentment or bitterness? Are you setting healthy (or unhealthy) examples for those watching you? Are you nursing a grievance rather than overlooking it or addressing it? Are you being hurt by someone else's choosing to not forgive you?
Repent if Necessary
Ask for the Spirit’s help to forgive if you are finding it difficult – and ask God to change your heart of unforgiveness. Remember that forgiveness is a choice you make under the power of the Spirit. If you are being treated poorly by someone choosing not to forgive you, ask God for assistance in how to manage this and not return evil with evil.
Return (as necessary)
Offer a prayer of forgiveness for each situation in which you are harboring bitterness, anger or resentment. Do not be afraid to ask for help. Consider a key friend or ally that you trust with your struggle or pain and ask for their prayers for or even with you to get through this critical area.
Sermon on the Mount Podcast
Episode 23
What Forgiveness Is and Isn't
(Lord's Prayer Pt. 4)
The second half of the Lord’s prayer contains four requests on behalf of the person praying. The second personal request is for God to forgive us. But forgiveness is not just a transaction between individuals or between God and humans. Forgiveness plays a central role in the arrival of God’s Kingdom. In this episode, Jon, Tim, and Michelle explore what forgiveness is, what it isn't, and what it looks like to set each other free.
https://bibleproject.com/podcast/what-forgiveness-and-isnt-lords-prayer-pt-4/
Micro-Meditation
Psalm 139:13-18
- For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb. - I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well. - My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. - Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. - How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them! - Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
Read the verses of the Psalm.
Mark the words or phrases that catch your attention.
Meditate: talk (or better, write) with God about those words. Ask Him to impress things upon your heart and mind; expect responses.
Teaching or Command of God
Isaiah 43:1
- But now, this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
The Promise
Isaiah 43:2
- When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
Pondering Point
You know loving parents like to watch their children – even before birth, like with the 4D in-utero pictures. But God was WAY ahead of them – YAH-WEH ahead of them in celebrating and loving His kids.