Praying For The Gift Of Forgiveness

This is Darren Kuhn with the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we search the ancient paths to find ways that God brings light into a dark world and helps set men free from the struggles that we all face on a day-to-day basis. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it.

Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. So, what a treat we have for you today on Encouraging Prayer. I know I'm excited to see where James takes me on this, because I sure could use it.

We're going to be praying for the gift of forgiveness. Like, wow, I need a lot of help with this one, James. I really do.

Don't we all? That's why it's so good to talk about this, Robby, because, you know, so many people struggle with forgiveness. And I'm not just talking about those situations that are, you know, horrendous that we hear about on the news.

It's just the day-to-day things, you know, the everyday snubs, the situations in relationships that can happen in the home or in the workplace. And, you know, you need to forgive, but you find it hard to do so. And this is where I've discovered in my own life, and I know so many have as well, that the ability to forgive others is a gift that God will give us if we ask Him for it. You know, David, all the way through the Psalms, just continued to lean on God, like, I can't do this, help me, help me.

And wow, what a great idea. I mean, because we know we need to do it, but I, man, a lot of times, I really, really—and I know in my own heart, I'm struggling right there. Yeah, I think David probably needed to lean on God a little more for forgiveness at times as well, you know, because you think about it, he wasn't able to build the temple because he had shed too much blood.

And you have to wonder, but you know, if you think about this, we absolutely have to ask for this gift, because Jesus is very clear. Let's make no equivocation on this. He says in Matthew 6 15, if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

And last time I checked, I've never heard anyone make that their life burst. Yeah. However, I, you know, it's certainly in the Lord's Prayer, right? I mean, you know, for those of us like me who pray a couple times a day, you know, it's kind of a reminder right there, kind of a kick in the ribs, actually.

Yeah, yeah. Forgive us our debts or our sins as we forgive. In other words, just like we forgive, those who sin against us, our debtors, our trespassers, however you want to put it, you're right.

That's where it's going. And that's also one of the reasons why we don't want to pray the Lord's Prayer too quickly, you know. If we're saying something like, Lord, I want you to forgive me, just like I forgive others.

No, I actually, I know this may sound strange, but it's not unusual. There's been a couple times this week I spent an hour, at least, on the Lord's Prayer, trying to make sure that I actually prayed everything that was involved in my idea of what that was, especially on this particular line. Like, where is it, Lord? Where? Show me.

Where do I need to go there? Because I'm with you. I need that gift. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I, you know, if I think about what I would be like if I didn't only have the gift of God's forgiveness in my heart and life, but if I, you know, if I didn't ask for this gift, I'm, oh my goodness, you know. The closest thing I can think of is Captain Ahab. You know, you're a Star Trek fan, you know, the wrath of Pa, and he quotes Captain Ahab right before he's, you know, to go to his death out of spite, you know. But the first time that I really understood this concept was from Corrie Ten Boom, and, you know, you recall her and this incredible woman.

Yeah, I mean, she just had this amazing ministry, and she had been, you know, in a concentration camp with her sister, and her sister never made it out of the concentration camp. And she tells this story—I'd love to just read it, because it says so much about it, this gift of forgiveness. So could I just jump in the back?

Please, please. Okay, here we go. So here's the deal. She is speaking years later, okay? After all of this has occurred, the Second World War is over, I think this is probably maybe 15 years later, and she is speaking to a church group, and this man is in the group. So as she's speaking, you can only imagine that moment. Yeah, well, I've seen her interviews and how dearly she loved her sister, and how she—this particular man apparently was quite brutal to her sister.

Yeah, right. And so, you know, he comes up to her beaming and bowing, and he says, How grateful I am for your message, Freudlein, to think, as you say, he has washed my sins away. I mean, that had to be like a gut punch, you know? And then she says, His hand was thrust out to shake mine, and I, who had preached so often to people about the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side. Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them.

Jesus had died for this man. Was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, Forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile. I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing.

Not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again, I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.

So notice she had to ask twice. So then she goes on, As I took his hand, the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder, along my arm, through my hand, a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on his. When God tells us to love our enemies, he gives, along with the command, the love itself. Isn't that an amazing thing?

Wow. Well, you know what jumps out at me is that she didn't get it immediately. And like Elijah, she stood up and looked around for a cloud coming up over the ocean. And so she went back down to pray again. And that's really hopeful for me that like, wow, you don't feel it, but that doesn't mean that she still continued to pray and looked for that cloud. And that to me really makes that story magical. Yeah, yeah. And you might have to ask seven times, like Elijah did. You know, I think he was a little late, actually.

But he went back, you know, sent a servant back seven times. It just seems like, we need a prayer here, James. Let's go there, Father. Help us. Help us to be like you, to have your heart in this world. We can't do it. We can't do it unless you give us the strength that, oh, we praise you that you do.

So help us to ask. Help us to be obedient in this, our beautiful Savior who has forgiven us. It is in your name we pray. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.