While the world over needs PRAYERS for restoration, healing, food, clothing, shelter, and endless are the afflictions, the PRAYERS the world MOST needs are those which lead us to PRACTICING LOVE, FORGIVENESS, CHARITY, and all which is right, just, and good---
Point blank, IF we LOVED as *GOD* has taught us, the world would be a much different place, as in that LOVE are all the principles such as forgiveness, charity, compassion, and what is right, just, and good, WHICH OPTIMIZE! So let us PRAY that others can PRACTICE LOVE, FORGIVENESS, CHARITY, mercy, and all which is right, just, and good, THAT it becomes the thread which binds us together, IN THE LORD...
THE LORD says that IF we expect HIM to forgive us, we MUST forgive others. This has DEEP, and useful roots for this time, through eternity; it is sound, and solid, and makes perfect sense, even though it is one of the MOST difficult things for us to do! When we PRACTICE forgiveness, we are setting a standard for our own souls, and are ridding of poisons left behind in the wake of what suffering others bring us! This poison is the result of HARBORING negative feelings, and resentments for what they have done, and is NOT a *GODLY* response to what the world brings to us! ALL will bear thorns in their sides; our SIN was the thorn in the side of CHRIST JESUS, the Disciples, and Apostles, each had their thorns to bear, and down it goes through each of us. These thorns PROVE us; they TEACH us, and they have the power to either, STRENGTHEN us, or DESTROY us! If we CHOOSE to FORGIVE, to LOVE, to live in CHARITY, which is GENEROSITY of body, mind, and spirit, we can OVERCOME the dire effects of these thorns, and like our LORD SAVIOUR, be VICTORIOUS OVER them...
We ask that *GOD* forgives us, and yet, we do not care to forgive others; a HARD lesson for us to embrace, and to correct, but one which we MUST! The reason I say to PRACTICE such is because the more it is practiced, the more it opens up to understanding, and the more it melds with our very character, and behaviours!
Human Forgiveness---In the Lord's Prayer, receiving forgiveness from God is joined to forgiving others ( Matt 6:12 ; Luke 11:4 ). Jesus' parable of the unmerciful servant makes the point that human beings are obliged to forgive because God has forgiven them ( Matt 18:23-35 ). God's forgiveness is actually said to be conditional upon forgiving others ( Matt 6:14 ; 18:35 ; Mark 11:25-26 ; Luke 6:37 ). Jesus says that there ought to be no limit on the number of times that one should forgive another so long as the offender repents and asks for forgiveness ( Matt 18:21-22 ; Luke 17:3-4 ).
As believers, our relationship with God is restored, but what about our relationship with our fellow human beings? The Bible states that when someone hurts us, we are under an obligation to God to forgive that person. Jesus is very clear on this point:
MATTHEW 6:14-15...
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Refusing to forgive is a sin. If we receive forgiveness from God, we must give it to others who hurt us. We cannot hold grudges or seek revenge. We are to trust God for justice and forgive the person who offended us. That does not mean we must forget the offense, however; usually that's beyond our power. Forgiveness means releasing the other from blame, leaving the event in God's hands, and moving on.
We may resume a relationship with the person if we had one, or we may not if one did not exist before. Certainly the victim of a crime has no obligation to become friends with the criminal. We leave it to the courts and to God to judge them.
Forgiveness goes WAY deeper than that of those who do, or don't do something to us; it spans into areas of prejudice, bias, and even religion! How so? Well, instead of hating someone for their very heritage, for their traditions, for the colour of their skin, through to the very ways they were raised in, which might not correlate with us in various ways; tolerance, and understanding, found in forgiveness, allows the
FACT that *GOD* causes
His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the
righteous and the unrighteous (MATTHEW 5: 45), thus EACH has purpose TO HIS WILL, and OVER which HE, ALONE is ultimately, JUDGE. In other words, much about others, especially those foreign to us, should not trouble us, or entice us to think, act, or react against them, instead, we are taught to PRAY for them, and offer respect to ALL, as much as is feasible! That some only give respect to those like themselves, Christians are to go farther, and give respect to all; we must never limit our respect, as it is our DUTY to desire, and aim at, and press towards perfection in grace and
holiness. And therein we must study to conform ourselves to the example
of our heavenly Father, 1Pe 1:15,16. Surely more is to be expected from
the followers of Christ than from others; surely more will be found in
them than in others.
I have learned valuable lessons about forgiveness, and HAVE always been able to forgive! Forgiveness does not imply that we are to deny what is wrong, nor anything of the sort, instead, forgiveness allows for the certainty that NONE, NOT ONE is without sin, or without err, and so on! It is about the TRUTH that *GOD* CREATED ALL humans, and EACH works according to HIS WILL, be that end POSITIVE, or negative, as EACH person, good or bad, BRINGS something to another, by way of lessons, experience, and other criteria which shapes the good, and snares the bad! It is a reckoning that while I was not worthy of THE LORD'S forgiveness, IN LOVE, HE offers it to me, died for my sins, and is teaching me to take the HIGH road, paved by HOLINESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS, and LOVE! YES, some of the things people of this world do are absolutely horrendous, and more than extremely difficult to forgive, but in the sight of THE LORD, there is no partiality, sin is sin, transgression is transgression, and IF HE, of PURE HOLINESS can find it in HIMSELF to forgive most sin, then we too, should extend HIS GRACE, for when we are ONE WITH HIM, GRACE becomes one with us! Such a most baffling area of understanding, and yet, LOVE holds the soundness of such within it's realm, offering us the ability, and capacity to embrace, and utilize it's GENIUS, *GOD*!!!
YES, we should PRAY that ALL people LEARN to live in LOVE, FORGIVENESS, CHARITY, and ALL which is right, just, and good, for FROM such understanding, COMES the WISDOM to always think, act, and react ALIGNED to THE LORD, and to what is OPTIMAL FOR our own good, and that of others! May *GOD* BE with us all!!!
REV. LWINSOR © 2014
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS
And it is TRUE, SO many DON'T know, DON'T understand what they do....
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