JAN 6, 2020
Bible Reading: Matthew 18:21-35
Memory Verse:Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matthew 18:22 (NIV)
Many people are hurting. The Church of God must preach about healing in all ramifications – healing in your body, healing in your spirit and emotional healing. To maximize the best of God for your life in Year 2020, you must develop a greater capacity to forgive and forget other people’s wrong. Infact, you must learn to forgive beforehand. A married sister was kidnapped. Her bank account was emptied. Against the instruction of the kidnap leader, one of the kidnappers raped her.
Miraculously, God delivered her. As she narrated her ordeal to the police and the press, I was shocked when she said she has already forgiven him as a practicing Christian. What? That’s not all. In another case, on CBN news, a societal man killed the son of a particular woman and buried him in the septic tank. It is thought that this will bring a change in his financial fortune. I watched as the mother of the deceased cried in sorrow but made a shocking statement. “I will still have to forgive him as Christ forgave us”, she said. She must have known that he who forgives frees himself from further emotional torture. Many with smiling faces are bleeding on the inside.
We all need emotional healing. One way to this is towing the path of forgiveness. Sir/ma, why file-in those divorce papers? You say due to “irreconcilable differences” with your spouse. Really? Have you forgotten the biblical injunction? Read Matthew 18: 21-22 again. The Bible says we can divorce our spouse on the premises of adultery (Mat. 5:31-32). However, the same Bible says we should forgive 70 X 7 times. This is not a contradictory statement. God is indirectly saying, YOU CAN INCREASE YOUR CAPACITY TO FORGIVE. Listen friend: Your personal peace with God and with yourself is more important than any issue. Let go, let God. Expand your capacity to forgive.
TELL SOMEONE ABOUT JESUS IN YOUR OFFICE, SCHOOL, OR WORKPLACE THIS WEEK.
Quote: Let go, let God. Expand your capacity to forgive.
Prophetic Decree: I pull down the stronghold of unforgiveness in your heart.
Prayer Focus
1. Thank you for challenging me today with your Word.
2. Holy Spirit, I am not sufficient of myself, please help me to forgive, in Jesus name.
3. I release (mention the name of the person) from the prison in my heart, in Jesus name.
4. I command restoration of anything I have lost due to unforgiveness and bitterness in Jesus name.
5. I command every door that has closed up against me due to unforgiveness to open now, in Jesus name.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Job 10-13