When You Need Reliable Help to Forgive & Be Forgiven
What do you do when you need help to forgive someone, or when you feel unworthy of receiving forgiveness?
Have you ever struggled with guilt and shame over past sins? Are there things you’ve confessed and repented that continue to eat at your heart?
Maybe the sin wasn’t your own. You prayed and said you forgive the person whose sin upended your life. But the enemy is still using your pain to say—if you haven’t forgotten, you haven’t forgiven.
If either or both of those scenarios define your situation, hold John’s words close to your heart and praise God…
I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He Himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
1 John 2:1–2
If the sin gnawing at you is yours, trust that when you took it to the cross in repentance, Jesus took it from you. He sacrificed Himself to pay a price we couldn’t pay. And He took that payment to the Father on our behalf.
And because Jesus sacrificed Himself for the sins of all the world, you and I can take our pain caused by other people’s sins to Him as well. We can confess our heartache and ask Him to heal us. Jesus is our reliable helper in forgiving and being forgiven.
Those are two of the “burdens” our Lord and Savior was talking about when He said…
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew 11:28–29
He invites us to surrender our burdens and take His yoke, because when we are yoked to Him, we are connected to His love, peace, and power.
Through our faith relationship with Jesus, we can fight the enemy’s taunting with the TRUTH! We live with the assurance that through Jesus, we are forgiven and have what we need to forgive.
The enemy loves it when we are burdened by guilt and/or bitterness. He works overtime to keep us burdened with weighty emotions that keep us from living the life Jesus died to give us.
But our Defender is our Advocate. When we are yoked to Him, He willingly stands before His Father and says, “This one is mine.”
Don’t doubt or worry. Through Jesus, we can be assured the Father forgives us. And through His Spirit, we have God’s grace, mercy, and love. We have what we need to forgive others.
Let’s pray…
A Prayer of Thanks for Forgiveness
and Help to Forgive
Father, when the enemy taunts me and tells me that I’m unworthy of Your love and forgiveness, I’m tempted to agree. I know the things I’ve thought, said, and done, things that You call sins. I know how I’ve failed to love as You command.
I know I’m guilty, and honestly, I don’t deserve Your mercy and grace. But that’s the meaning of those words. Not giving me the punishment I deserve, and giving me the clean slate I don’t deserve.
I’m humbled and overwhelmed with gratitude! Jesus came to save us all, and generously offers to help us carry our burdens. When I am burdened by guilt, the Spirit tells me to repent and give it to Him. When I’m carrying bitterness, the Spirit says, “Let it go and give it to me. I will give you my peace.”
Jesus is the Advocate, who pleads for us. And when we KNOW, LOVE, and TRUST in Him, You give us the Spirit of Truth! Please help me. I need the Spirit to help me forgive those who hurt me. I need His assurance that I am forgiven through Your love.
I thank and praise You, Father. You knew everything I would ever need and lovingly provided it. Your grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9), and Your mercy is full of compassion (Psalm 86:15). You are love!
Thank you for forgiving me through Jesus. Please make me loving and forgiving like Him. Amen.
Here are two of my favorite quotes about being forgiven…
“After grief for sin there should be joy for forgiveness.” ~ A. W. Pink
“God forgets your confessed sins; so should you.” ~ Woodrow Kroll
And a couple about forgiving others…
“When you choose to forgive those who have hurt you, you take away their power.” ~ Unknown
“Forgiveness breaks the bitter chains of pride, self-pity, and vengeance that lead to despair, alienation, broken relationships, and loss of joy.” ~ John MacArthur
By God’s grace, you and I are forgiven. With God’s help, we can be forgiving.
May we faithfully pray and trust God to give us everything we need to love and forgive like Jesus.
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Amen 🙏
As we have been forgiven, Lord, help me to readily forgive myself and others. Blessings, Deb!
I’m joining you in that prayer, Martha! May we all forgive as we are forgiven by God. Blessings and HUGS!
Thank you from the bottom of all our hearts, Deb! Reading all your replies, it is so obvious that we all need you and so appreciate all the timely counsel and ministry you share with us! Even when we don’t get to reply too often anymore! But love everyone here!!
Thank you, Kathy! We love hearing from you when you feel up to it. Know we’re praying for you. Thank you for you kindness today. God bless you abundantly!
Thank you Deb for today’s devotional and thank you Jesus! I have struggled with quilt about something I did that broke God’s heart. I know I’ve been forgiven but it is still hard to forget. I know that’s it’s the enemy at work in my head so I pray every day for help in forgetting and letting go.
I look forward to receiving the emails every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. You’re devotionals are so timely for what I may be dealing with and for what it going on in the world around us. God’s peace to you!
Thank you so much, Judy. I am blessed by your encouragement. I think most of us have something or several somethings that the enemy continues to bring up to make us feel guilty. Praise God, He says that He removes our sin as far as the east is from the west. I’m trying to remember to take my guilt to my Savior immediately and praise Him for all He has done for me. God bless you mightily.
Thank you for your ministry
It soothes my soul and strengthens my resolve to thank the Lord daily for his love for me
Stay well, God bless!!
Thank you for your kindness, Angelo. I feel so blessed to be able to share my love for the Lord in this space and I’m especially thankful for readers, like you, who visit often. God be with you and bless you!
This is much needed by me, and I am going to sit and reread it again. I have struggled with some bitterness toward a person in my family and I question my forgiveness of them because of this. This post has given me much to think about and to ponder.
I appreciate your wisdom and guidance. I appreciate you.
Sue
Sue, thank you for your faithful encouragement. I’m praying that God will bless you with His peace as you walk this path. It’s hard when the pain has been life-changing. I’m so very thankful that He invites us to bring that pain and leave it with Him, as often as needed. Blessings and HUGS, dear friend!