Day 6 - Prayer Journal: Pardon Me

Scripture

"And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. " - Luke 11:4

A week ago, I spent the day at the lake with some friends. Three of them climbed into an empty boat and navigated the waters heading south. As they rowed the boat, seeking adventure, three fish jumped into the tiny boat, while water splashed along for the ride. My adventure seeking friends captured the fish and some of the water from the lake and put them in a ziploc bag. After they returned to the dock, one of the guys showed all of those who had stayed on land his catch for the day. When I asked him what he planned to do with the innocent creatures, Wes told me that he was going to release the fish back into the water. I was surprised; I had assumed that he would have kept them as a souvenir or added them to his daughter's fishbowl. Another friend asked him why he was letting them go. Wes shared that the tiny fish were helpless and defenseless against him; he reminded us that the fish had only done what they knew to do, but he had the power to choose to free them in spite of the fact that they had made a wrong choice by landing in the boat.

That made me think about how Jesus treats us. Even when we make the wrong choices, He has the power to free us by forgiving us. We, in turn, have the ability to be Christ-like when we act as Wes did. We must choose to free others who make the wrong choices and land in conflict or hurtful situations toward us. The scripture says that we are forgiven with the same measure we forgive others. It doesn't depend on whether or not people deserve forgiveness or not, whether they are sorry and ask for forgiveness or not, we must choose to forgive because Jesus loves and forgives us.

Focus

• In your journal, ask God to forgive you for any wrong actions or thoughts that you may have or had in the past that you may have forgotten to repent.
• After yesterday's journal, you may have discovered areas that your heart had deceived you. Things you once saw one way may be clearer to you today or you may have realized that you were wrong in thinking certain things. Either way, if God revealed beliefs that you once had that you realize now you were wrong, pray for forgiveness.
• Have you believed things about someone else because your heart led you to wicked thinking? Write a prayer of asking for forgiveness.
• Are there people who actually wronged or hurt you and are in need of your forgiveness? Write a prayer asking God to strengthen you to release them from wounded thinking /feelings and choose to forgive them, even if they don't really know or deserve it.
• Pray and ask God to deliver you from the temptation to treat people the way they may deserve to be treated and instead ask Him for the power to treat them the way He would.

You may not realize how empowering forgiveness really is. Most people that hurt you either don't remember or were not walking with Jesus so they only did what sinners know how to do - the wrong thing! People who have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour are blinded to the love of God. That means they don't know how to really love you the way God does. So you may have been placed in their path to show them how God loves people in spite of whether they deserve it or not. We know they need to be forgiven and loved because that is what each of us discovered we need from Jesus. Plus, the Bible says it is more of a blessing to give rather than to receive. So go ahead and get your blessing!

Remember

You can pray or write any way the Lord leads you. If you don't think there is anything that you need to forgive or be forgiven for, just ask God to reveal how He sees things and see what He answers.

I am so blessed to find out how many of you have shared the prayer journal challenge with others, that is love in action.

If any of you are confused about the prayer journal days, let me explain. One night when I attempted to post the website was down by the company so I was unable to post a journal. I simply choose to make it up the following day, and to not confuse you I did not post two. If you journaled on your own on that day, then today is your day 7. If you stayed with my format, today is your day 6. Either way is okay, God knows what we have need of and whatever He led you to do is fine with me.

Some one asked why I called it a challenge; I felt the Lord was leading us to challenge ourselves in prayer. I believe that these journal entries are stretching our prayer lives, our thinking, our fellowship or witness to others, and many blessings that God has yet to reveal. It is not a competition but a personal intimate prayer experience with you and God. I only ask that if you have praise reports please share them so others' faith may be stirred because some of our participants are new to waiting on God.

Be Blessed!