February 11, 2021

 Topic: Prayer and Praise

A Very important element of prayer: Thanksgiving and Confession

Ps 51

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion. 

Mt 6:12

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

The greatest blessing we can give is forgiveness. Secondly the greatest gift we can receive is forgiveness. 

It has happened to us all. For one reason or another we all have hurt someone. That is never God's will. He desires we walk in his commandments but sometimes we go astray. When this happens the most blessed thing you can do for yourself and the other person is apologize. It also feels good when that person accepts your apology and move on. On the other hand others have hurt us. It is punishment to keep bringing it up and punishing the person. At what point is it ever over?

Thankfully God forgives and never brings it up. He does not punish us because of our sins but he truly forgives. 

The Side of forgiveness most people focus on:

The other person did not apologize or you feel like they are not sorry enough. They did not dance and fall on their knees and beg you. Guess what you don't need an apology to forgive. Forgiveness means you fee yourself from the offense. Stop bringing it up. Each time you think on it or speak on it in your heart you want to punish the person. Then that leads to mistreating the person. What have  you become? Guilty too. There is no way to treat that person right. God has not given us permission to punish others for their sins.  

I know there are some people who are not sorry or those who refuse to repent but if you truly take a look at that person that is a hard hearted person and guess what life is misery in that condition. When you do wrong it feels good to get it off your chest and throw it in the ocean. 

To be an open and honest person means we have a mind of thanksgiving and confession because when you do it you learn that God cares about you. Confession feels good and it is more about being honesty than it is about feeling bad. People who refuse to repent live lies and they are never happy. People who punish other people have to keep on punishing them and guess what they become the guilty party and the devil tricks them out of their blessings. The greatest gift you can give and receive is forgiveness. Lastly after you punish them you will not feel any better. Sometimes people spend years being angry and you will never feel better. I wonder why God tells us to forgive. Punishment is a dead end street and only the bitter live on it. 

When you are quick to forgive and quick to repent we live a long and blessed life. 

Have a great day!