Power of a Praying Woman 10/17/06 9:02 AM Page 49
Lord, Help Me…
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most of us would never be able to do it. We can forgive no matter what the other person does. Sometimes incidents happen in our lives that are so devastating we can go for years without realizing the depth of the bitterness we have because of it. Sometimes we don’t forgive ourselves for things we’ve done, and so we give ourselves a lifetime of punishment for whatever we did or did not do. Sometimes we blame God for things that have happened. Ask God to show you if any of these things are true about you. Don’t let unforgiveness limit what God wants to do in your life.
Whatever It Takes
Four hundred and ninety times! That’s how many times we have to forgive a person. Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21-22). You may be able to think of someone you have to forgive 490 times a day, but the point is that God wants you to forgive as many times as it takes. He wants you to be a forgiving person. Jesus told the story of a man who was released from a large debt by his master. But he turned right around and made his own poor servant go to prison for not paying him a small debt. When the master heard about this he said, “I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” The master was so angry that he delivered that man to the torturers until he paid all that was due to him. Jesus said, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses” (Matthew 18:32-35).