16th January 2021
THE MODEL PRAYER OF FORGIVENESS
David Abankwah
READ: Proverbs 28:13
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
-Matthew 6:12 | NKJV
Among all the commandments of God, the only commandment with promise is honouring those in authorities in the Lord. The promise is that, if you do so, you will live long and it will be well with you too. Among all the model prayer points Jesus Christ taught us, the only prayer point with a condition is the prayer of forgiveness. If you can pray for God to forgive you of all your sins, then, you first have to settle any offensive issues you have with all people or what all people have against you. Many believers spend time praying to God for Him to forgive them their sins but their hearts are full of bitterness against one another. If you don’t forgive others their sins but God rather forgives you your sins, wouldn’t God be biased?
That is why before God can forgive you of all your sins, you first have to let go the sins people have committed against you, otherwise you are wasting your time praying for forgiveness. Jesus Christ paid all our debts on the cross but the only debt He left, was the debt of love. Paul stressed on in Romans 13:8 that, OWE NO ONE ANYTHING EXCEPT TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. No matter the offence someone has committed against you, it cannot supersede the offence you have committed against God. From your childhood till now, if you are to gather the sins you have committed against God, do you think if it were you, you could have forgiven someone who did those things against you? No!
But God forgave you on the cross and He expects you to do same for others. If you find trouble forgiving others, go by the favourite saying of Jesus Christ on the cross: ‘FATHER FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.’ The sin the person has committed against you, he or she doesn’t know what he or she did because there was someone behind that operation and that someone is the devil. No one can commit sin without the influence of the devil and his cohorts. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden before their fall, they wouldn’t have committed sin if Satan didn’t go there. Even though God banished them from the Garden, He was aware they didn’t know what they were doing.
If your enemy knows what sin can do to him, he wouldn’t have offended you deliberately. It is only love that can make you make such an excuse for your enemies and forgive them from your heart and not from your mouth. Forgive and forget about it and move on. If you think you can’t, confront the person and explain the matter and settle it. Don’t keep it in your heart and laugh with the person knowing at the back of your mind that, you haven’t forgiven the person. Cholerics will always show off their anger when things are not right but phlegmatics can keep things cool as if everything is alright which is not. It is better to walk with an unmasked enemy than to walk with a masked lover. It is only the Lord who can expose such people when you pray.
•| Prayer Diary |•
Lift up prayers for the power to overcome the hurt of offences and the power to practise righteous life always without offending others in the name of Jesus Christ.
Quote
The only model prayer with a condition is the prayer of forgiveness.
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© 2021 David Abankwah
David Abankwah 