“Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.’”
--Luke 17:3-4
Over the last few days we have talked about dealing with anger and bitterness. And if this is a problem in your life, the antidote is the power of forgiveness. So how do you discover this power?
First, you must admit the bitterness in your heart. Now, I know this is a problem for a lot of people. We call it everything else. We try to justify it. As I’ve mentioned before, Hebrews says this thing of bitterness is a root. And the problem with roots is that they’re invisible. Roots of bitterness are deep down within, so you have to find the root and then dig it up.
Second, ask God to help you to freely and fully forgive others. You say, “But it’s so hard, I just can’t do it!” You know, I don’t often feel like forgiving. That’s why we need faith to forgive, to do it anyway in obedience.
Third, accept God’s plan. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good….” God uses the troubles, sorrows, heartache, and pains in our lives to shape us, to make us more like Him, and to grow our character.
I think the greatest definition of forgiveness I’ve ever heard is this: “Forgiveness is giving up my right to hate you for hurting me.”
It’s my prayer that you will give God room to make this happen in your life today!
Forgiveness is giving up your right to hate someone for hurting you.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.”
Luke 18:2–5
In his sermon on importunity in prayer, Andrew Murray noted that God’s way of working in our lives is patterned on His creation. Murray said, “All nature has been so arranged by God that in sowing and reaping, as in seeking coal or gold, nothing is found without labor and effort. What is education but a daily developing and disciplining of the mind by new difficulties presented to the pupil to overcome? The moment a lesson has become easy, the pupil is moved on to one that is higher and more difficult.” The illustration Jesus used to teach the importance of faithful and persistent prayer was that of a judge who cared only for himself, and not for the cases brought before him. This of course is nothing like God, but it does teach a lesson.
If even a hardhearted judge, without any concern for the needs or claims of others, could be moved to action by the repeated pleas of a powerless widow, how much more readily and willingly will God respond when His beloved children cry out to Him for help? It is true that He does not always answer our prayers immediately, but that is not because of a lack of either the will or the resources to help. Instead He knows that our faith needs to be strengthened through times of adversity, and that if we receive an answer after prolonged prayer, we will appreciate it much more when it comes.
Today’s Growth Principle:
Prayers according to the will of God should never cease until the answer we are pleading for has come.
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