Engaging With God In Forgiveness

Matthew 6

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread,

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

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 

15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Debts

Debtors 

Romans 3:23 — For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

We are chargeable with debts—debts of every description: original, imputed, inherent; [and] actual, debts of omission and commission, of ignorance, infirmity, and deliberate wickedness, without limits and without number.

— Herman Witsius

95% of my clients have unresolved guilt. 

1 John 1:8-9 — If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done. 

Colossians 1:13-14 — God made us free from the power of darkness. And he brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son. The Son paid the price to make us free. In him we have forgiveness of our sins.

The voice of sin is loud, but the voice of forgiveness is louder.

— Dwight L. Moody

We do not really know how to forgive until we know what it is to be forgiven.

— Thomas Merton 

One-Sided Forgiveness 

Two-Sided Forgiveness 

Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.

Ephesians 4:32 — Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

— C.S. Lewis

Genesis 45 

1 Joseph could not control himself any longer. He cried in front of all the people who were there. Joseph said, “Tell everyone to leave here.” So all the people left. Only the brothers were left with Joseph. Then he told them who he was. 

2 Joseph continued to cry, and all the Egyptian people in Pharaoh’s house heard it. 

3 He said to his brothers, “I am your brother Joseph. Is my father doing well?” But the brothers did not answer him because they were confused and afraid.

4 So Joseph said to his brothers again, “Come here to me. I beg you, come here.” When the brothers went to him, he said to them, “I am your brother Joseph. I am the one you sold as a slave to Egypt. 

5 Now don’t be worried. Don’t be angry with yourselves for what you did. It was God’s plan for me to come here. I am here to save people’s lives. 

Joseph excused the Egyptians. 

Joseph called them close. 

Joseph asked that his brothers wouldn't be angry with themselves. 

Genesis 50:20 — You tried to harm me, but God made it turn out for the best, so that he could save all these people, as he is now doing.

Joseph acknowledged that God was working in and through his life experiences.