During the last three weeks, I’ve been writing about forgiving others. In this final devotional for this series, I’m listing all eight steps together. Step One: Acknowledge. In your journey to forgive someone, acknowledge that you have been hurt and express it to God. Step Two: Admit. Admit that you are angry toward or resent…

A final step in forgiving others is praying God’s blessing on those who mistreated you – affirm. Jesus instructed us, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28). Old Testament Job was a righteous, wise, wealthy, respected leader in his community. Yet calamity struck his herds, house, and family. Then…

Forgiveness can be an ongoing process. When we have forgiven someone for an offense, sometimes our feelings return. A wound from the past can remain sensitive. I’ve noticed three ways for handling lingering forgiveness issues and learning to abide in my forgiveness – the place of the will, a lie of the devil, and a…

When someone has wronged us, in our process of forgiving them, we also relinquish the outcome of our forgiveness. We relinquish and abandon the way we think and feel about how everything should turn out. We give it up to God. And we relinquish and abandon our anger, resentment, revenge, gossip, pride, retaliation, prejudice, unkindness,…

Letting go of past hurts can be difficult. Yet in forgiving others, the time comes to act: Making a decision to obey Christ. Putting all our anger and resentment behind us. Forgiving the offender. Leaving the offense in the past. Forgiveness is not based upon whether the person deserves forgiveness. It is based on what…

In forgiving others, we acknowledge our pain. Admit our anger or resentment. Accept our responsibility. Then ask for forgiveness. We say some of the ten hardest words in the English language: “I am sorry. I was wrong. Will you forgive me?” We don’t defend ourselves or blame the other person. Rather, we take responsibility for…

Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). In forgiving others, we acknowledge before God that we are experiencing the pain and hurt done to us. We admit that we are angry toward or resent the ones who wounded us. We also stop blaming others…

In forgiving others, after we have acknowledged the pain and hurt done to us, we then admit that we are angry toward or resent the person who wounded us. When wounded, we react to protect ourselves. Sometimes we lash out in a fit of anger. Sometimes we withdraw behind a wall of resentment. Sometimes we…

God calls us to forgive others to the same depth he forgives us. “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32). How could we possibly do that? We weren’t born with a generous and gracious attitude of forgiving others. We learn it when we’re…

I recall in growing up a frequent family prayer was for the Lord to “lead, guide, and direct” us. As children we were no doubt just parroting the words somewhat mindlessly. Nonetheless, we somehow recognized the need for God’s continual guidance. “Lord, guide me.” “Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake…