Forgive

Bible Matters 515: Forgive

This is lesson 515 in this ministry.  5 is the number of grace, favor.  15 is the number for new direction.    When you seek God’s grace, take a new direction in your life and forgive. 

As you look forward to a life of righteousness, here in God’s earthly kingdom, God is looking for you to live in peace.  Peace with all men as you walk on this earth.  Out of respect for God, respect for others and respect for yourself, you must seek peace.  You cannot love, unless you are in peace.  Your freedom begins when you are living in peace.   Being a child of God, you will have to humble yourself and forgive those that have crossed your path.  Why…for your inner peace.  Then and only then will you’ll be able to live a life of righteous serving God and neighbor and bring kind to one another.

Matthew 5:9 – Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

2 Corinthians 2:7-8 – So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.  Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.

Ephesians 4:32 – And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you

God will send his grace upon you, when you have learned how to forgive.  You can keep that anger within and it will eat you up.   You will not be able to live in peace, when you are full of anger.  That anger may not always be the result of others action, but it may be attributed to your actions.   The devil wants but one thing.  He wants that anger to percolate inside of you until it boils over and for sin to blossom into evil.

Ephesians 1:2 – Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even when in a state of distress, Jesus lived in peace.  As Jesus was approaching the hour of his death, Simon Peter cut off the guard’s right ear, Jesus calmy reached down and healed it. 

Luke 22:50-51 – And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.  And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.

Jesus gave no thought for tomorrow, but to serve God, today.   Take care of today’s evil and your tomorrow will be in the hands of God.

Matthew 6:34 – Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

The ability to forgive is a sign of strength.  Blessed are the meek! 

Matthew 5:5 – Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

When asked how to pray, Jesus gave them the prayer to Our Father.  As God forgives your sins, you are to forgive others.

Matthew 6:9-15 – After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The preponderance of evidence from the testimony of the witnesses, as God forgives your sins, God wants you to forgive those that have crossed you.  If you are having difficulty, then pray!  The ability to forgive, may not always be convenient, but it is the righteous thing to do.

Mark 11:25-26 – And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Luke 11:2-10 – And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread.  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.  And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;  For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?  And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.  I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs.  And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.  For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.

The flesh wants you to judge.  God says to forgive!  Forgive greatly and your sins shall be forgiven greatly.

Luke 6:37-38 – Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:  Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Forgive out of the need for inner peace.  If the offender, repents, then acknowledge their forgiveness.

Luke 17:3-4 – Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him

To God be the glory in all you do, Amen.