Sun., Dec. 17, 2017
Bible Reading: Matt. 6: 14-15
Memory Verse: Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. Mat. 18:21-22(RSV)
One night after preaching about forgiveness, Corrie ten Boom recognized that the man approaching her was a former guard from Ravensbruck, the Nazi prison camp where she was tortured and her sister Betsie starved to death. When he asked her to forgive him, Corrie thought about Betsie and felt she could not do it. Nevertheless she knew she must, otherwise everything she’d preached would be meaningless. So she told the Lord, “I can extend my hand, I can do that much but you’ll have to supply the feelings. Taking the man’s hand, she felt God’s power rushing through her, enabling her to wholeheartedly say: “I forgive you, brother.” Corrie never experienced God’s love as intensely as she did that night. Although she’d been badly tortured, she let God heal her, and then went on tohelp others. The truth is that forgiveness is the only way to have peace! {Romans 5:8}
You cannot have a great marriage if you do not learn not only to forgive but also to forget without resentment and grudges. There are no perfect couples. Call him/her sweetie, honey, darling or “love pie”, your spouse isn’t perfect hence he/she will offend and disappoint you painfully some day. But, are you prepared to forgive wholeheartedly? This is the genesis of cracks in most homes which eventually leads to divorce. “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Quote: The weak can never forgive, forgiveness is for the strong – Mahatma Gandhi
Prophetic Decree: Receive the Oil of forgiveness, in Jesus name.
Prayer Focus:
- I repent of any unforgiveness in my heart, in Jesus name.
- Oh Lord my father, touch me with your hands of forgiveness in the name of Jesus
- Power and grace to forgive and forget at all times fall upon my life in the name of Jesus.
- I unloose anyone I have tied in my heart, in Jesus name.
- Holy Spirit, refresh me today, in Jesus name.