Praying the Scriptures

A collection of prayers found in the Bible for you to use every day

by Pastor Pete Beck III

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Praying for patience with people

 

²¹ Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
Matthew 18:21-22 (ESV)

Forgiveness is sometimes more of a challenge than we might expect. Let me give you a couple of examples.

 

If you believe someone has forgotten to pay you back $100 you loaned them years ago, you may forgive them the debt without ever bringing it up to them. However, if you overhear them telling another person how you are a weak person and a dope, an easy mark, and how funny it is that you never asked for your money back, you have quite a challenge confronting you if you are to forgive that.

If someone acts harshly towards you, you may forgive them because you can mark it off to their having had a bad day, perhaps. But if this harshness happens every week over several years, what will you do then?

I believe the challenge of forgiving the continual offender is behind Jesus' command that we forgive without limits in the above passage. We sometimes think we have reached "the end of our rope" with people, but that is where the fruit of the Spirit can really grow in our lives. Longsuffering or patience can only be manifested when it is needed, or as Graham Cooke teaches, "The fruit of the Spirit can only grow in poor soil."

 

If we loose patience with others and terminate our showing forgiveness to them for their recurring sins, we tell God that we want Him to do the same to us; and, that is not a message we should be sending. Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant. He was turned over to the tormentors for not showing mercy in the way he was shown it. Forgiveness is easy. If it were, no one would struggle with obeying God. Forgiveness is very costly. It cost Jesus His life, and it costs us our pride. Only humble people can forgive. Below is a prayer for God's help in the matter.

 

Father, forgive me for the pride that makes me think I have the right to refuse to forgive! I acknowledge that I am in continual need of your mercy towards me. Keep me from becoming hard hearted and arrogant. Give me a heart of compassion towards others and a greater revelation of your Fatherly mercy towards us all. Jesus paid the price to satisfy your demand for justice; so, I can let people go from mine. You are the only Judge who matters, and you will make sure that everything is handled correctly. That is not my concern. Holy Spirit, I ask you to develop the fruit of longsuffering in my life.  Amen!

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