Lord, you have said that I cannot expect to be forgiven if I have not forgiven others.

Whoa! Do you really mean that? Yikes, you must mean that, I’ve found it in your Word several times. Hmmm.

But I cannot forgive like you, Lord, you are infinitely more powerful than me. You got a HUGE forgiver, but my forgiver is tiny. I cannot possible keep up with you in spreading forgiveness. In fact, I need you to forgive the people that I cannot forgive. Hmmm. I guess I still don’t understand.

Forgive. I am to forgive. You forgive me, and I am to forgive. If I want to be forgiven, if I expect to be forgiven, if I want my prayers to be heard, then I am to forgive. There’s no way around that, God? Hmmm.

Well, in that case, I guess there is no offense that is more important to me than your blessing. I want to know you, Lord. I want you to hear my prayers, Lord. I want to feel your forgiveness, and I want to be FREE!

I want to be free of the hurt, I want to be free of the offense, I want to be free of any grudge, there is nothing that anyone has ever done to me that is more important to me than … the fullness of my salvation in you, Lord.

I know … that I know … that I know that grace is a free gift. It does not depend on me, and it is not taken from me if I cannot bring myself to forgive. But I want to forgive.

You have forgiven me, and I want others to feel forgiven by me. I want to be free, Lord, I want to be free of holding grudges, and I want to be free of harboring anger and hatred toward others for everything they may have ever done to me.

Holding on … not forgiving, it is just not worth it. Bitterness only entraps me, it stops me, it holds me, and I feel no joy in being bitter, in holding grudges, in withholding forgiveness.

The carnal part of me likes to think that it feels good to hold a grudge against another, but I know in my heart that I want to move on … I want to be free … I want to forgive. I want to be a HUGE forgiver like you, Lord.

I am a forgiving, machine. I am free, and I forgive everyone who has ever wronged me. I forgive everyone who has ever spoken against me, who has ever tried to destroy me with their tongue. I forgive those who have cheated me, stolen from me, I forgive every last one of them.

I forgive those who know me but don’t love me, I forgive them.

I want the blessing of you God on my life, so I forgive.

I want you God, the Almighty One, to hear my prayers, to move mountains for me, so I forgive.

I want to be wise and powerful and humble and rich and generous and loving, so I forgive.

I forgive. I forgive. I forgive.

That’s what I do, I forgive. I love to forgive.

Thank you, Lord.