Devotional Message

Forgiveness is directly connected to our prayer life and relationship with God. It is not a feeling we wait for, but rather a sacred choice we make—one that acknowledges how we all need God’s ongoing forgiveness for our own sins, yet also must extend that same grace to those around us.

What most of us miss is that unforgiveness—holding grudges, nurturing irritation, harboring resentment, clinging to anger—creates a spiritual blockage that affects our hearts, prayers and peace. Each time we withhold forgiveness, we expend immense energy thinking about the offense, replaying scenarios, fighting internal battles, draining ourselves until heaviness settles in our hearts. When we’re spiritually and emotionally depleted, we have less energy for prayer, less capacity for joy, and find ourselves living according to someone else’s actions rather than God’s purposes. Holding grudges ultimately imprisons us more than those who wronged us.

Whenever you’ve been hurt or offended, you must first acknowledge the pain honestly with yourself. Then, you must make the sacred choice to let go. This doesn’t mean excusing harmful behavior or removing natural consequences, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually and energetically severing the cord that binds you to that resentment. While this is among the hardest commands in Scripture, it is also the most liberating.

Here’s the beautiful irony: God has already forgiven all of us. God has forgiven you. God has already forgiven them. So who are we to harbor resentment? Who are we to withhold what God has already freely given? There’s a divine connection between our forgiveness of others and our ability to receive His forgiveness. The moment we release others from the debts they owe us, we experience profound freedom that opens our hearts to receiving God’s grace more fully. In forgiving others, we discover we have set ourselves free.

Let’s Pray

Dear God, I am struggling to forgive this person who has truly wronged me, and it is draining me each day. I am bitter, clinging to anger, and holding a grudge, yet the heaviness of it is pulling me away from you and from living in alignment. So today, please give me the strength to choose forgiveness even when I don’t feel like forgiving. Allow me to experience the freedom that comes from releasing the burden of carrying this grudge and resentment. Show me how to detach and sever the ties that bind me to that story, and give me courage to have any difficult conversations I may need when my forgiveness requires reconciliation. I trust that you will guide me and that you have already forgiven both me and them. Help me see this person through your eyes of grace, and let your love flow through me where my own love falls short. Amen.

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