40 Days of Prayer - Day 13

Day 13: Forgive One Another  

PRAY
Ask God to identify the presence of unforgiveness in your life.  Confess the sin of unforgiveness. Ask God to produce in your life a humility that honors Him.

Read Ephesians 4:25-32
 
And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving  one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

One thing we all have in common is that we have all been hurt by other people. Others have said or done things that have hurt us.  Sometimes we have been hurt by what someone failed to say or do. The issue in life is not “will we be hurt” but “how will we respond when we are hurt by others?”  

The Scripture passage for today sites several possible responses that often accompany the hurts we encounter: anger (verse 26), bitterness, wrath, malice (verse 31).  When we identify these things in our lives we are challenged to “remove” or “put away” these things. In place of these responses we are called to choose the response of forgiveness.  

Forgiveness is the way God has chosen to relate to us.  Forgiveness is the way God encourages us to relate to each other. Forgiveness means we treat the person in the future as if they had not hurt us in the past.  Forgiveness involves refusing to relate to the person out of anger and bitterness.  Forgiveness means we choose to extend grace to the person who hurt us.

Have you harbored anger, bitterness, wrath or malice toward someone in your church or in any other aspect of your life? Take time today to confess your sinful response to that person.  Choose with the help and grace of God to forgive that person.