Forgiving Prayer

Have you ever been disappointed in someone you considered a good friend. They did something I felt (and still feel) was totally wrong and it was hard for me to get over. I knew that I needed to forgive them and let it go, but it just kept nagging at me like the pain of a thorn.

I began to quote any and every scripture I could remember to keep from holding a grudge, probably made a few up. I did this for quite a long while, but it seemed when I stopped reading scripture, I got mad all over again.

While I tried to forget what happened, it kept playing out in my head over and over again, I shared it with a close friend and a relative, but got even angrier - it was like every time I told the story, it was like it just happened all over again. So I decided that I needed to stop talking about it because that was not helping me.

Have you experienced anything like this? Maybe it wasn't a friend, perhaps it was a sibling, a co-worker, a neighbor or even someone at church. Whoever it was, they crossed you in some form or fashion and raised your blood pressure. Or as we would say got on our last nerve, what ever that meant. You found yourself on this never ending cycle of anger because you could not let it go.

I started to realize that forgiveness is very hard in our own power... and at some point, the Holy Spirit took over and convicted me, and I took it to God in prayer ...and yet again, God’s amazing ability to bring an inner peace in the midst of any situation, started to bring peace to my situation.

Prayer is by far the greatest weapon we have. Prayer causes you to change your perspective on things.

In the mist of prayer, God reminded me of the countless times I had turned my back on Him. The many times I had disappointed Him. Yet, not once has He held back his forgiveness towards me.

He also reminded me that no one except Him is flawless, and yet I must not put people on a pedestal or expect them to never let me down. Yes, we expect certain things like respect from our friends, however at some point; we have probably all disrespected someone we cared about. How is it that we expect people to always be willing to forgive us but when the tables are turned - watch out! It’s my way or the highway.

Through prayer, I realized it was alright for me to be hurt by the situation, but why was I still dwelling there, God healed my wounds and gave me the courage to step out and not allow my situation to dictate my mood, attitude or behavior towards the person who offended me.

There is something to be said about the power of prayer ...next time I won't wait so long to use it!