Wednesday, Week 12

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
— Matthew 6:13 (BSB)

If you are strangers to prayer you are strangers to power.
— Billy Sunday

Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. May Your kingdom come. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

You have told us by the lips of Him who spoke as never any man spoke, that if we forgive men their trespasses — then You will also forgive us; but that if we forgive not men their trespasses — then neither will You forgive us our trespasses. It is not easy for us to forgive those who have done us hurt. We ofttimes cherish bitter feelings and are not willing to put them out of our hearts. Yet, our Father, we want to be like You, and we are not like You if we are unforgiving. You forgive us not once only — but endlessly. You forgive altogether, putting our sins behind Your back, remembering them no more forever, receiving Your pardoned children back into favor, as if they never had sinned, and restoring them to all that they have lost by their wandering.

Father, teach us the lesson of forgiveness. If others have trespassed against us — help us to forgive them. If they have trespassed against us seven times — help us to forgive seven times, seventy times seven times. Help us to forgive as You do — fully, freely, taking the offending friend back to our heart again, loving unto the uttermost. We desire to obey this teaching. You know how hard it is to do it. Help us, gracious Lord. Soften our spirits and humble us, until we can say from our hearts, "Forgive us our trespasses — as we forgive those who trespass against us." For Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.