5 Verses to Pray that will Help You Forgive Big Hurts
Wow, I’ve wrestled with this post…
I shouldn’t be surprised, this forgiveness thing is hard.
Something the Lord laid on my heart as I was working on this is the thought that many of us forgive from a “Law” perspective … one that believes “you have to forgive or God won’t forgive you.”
And although, the Bible tells us Jesus said that while He walked among us … I wonder if just maybe we’re missing the point He was trying to make. That from a “Gospel” perspective … it’s a blessing to forgive as we’ve been forgiven.
Believe me, I understand how hard it can be to forgive when the hurt is huge and the consequences lasting.
In fact, I wrote about my struggle – here.
Something I’ve learned about God’s love and His desire for you and me to forgive as we’ve been forgiven is that He is not sitting on His throne holding a big threatening stick over our heads shouting, “You better forgive or else.”
On the contrary, I believe He is a loving Father, who is holding us saying, “Let it go. Let me carry this for you. I love you and I understand your pain but I want you to enjoy all the blessings I have waiting for you when you lay down your burden of anger and resentment.”
I want to pray for us and ask God for His help.
I love that you and I can honestly go to Him with the hard stuff like this.
David wrote…
The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
Psalm 34:17–18
One of the things I’ve always loved about this “man after God’s own heart” is his honesty before God. David poured it all out there trusting that the Lord would help him.
So let’s get honest. If you’re struggling to forgive someone who has hurt you, I’d like to invite you to honestly pray the following and ask God for His help.
I’ve been where you are. I know how hard it is.
But I also know God wants to help…
5 Verses to Pray that will Help You Forgive Big Hurts
Since God chose you to be the holy people He loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s
Colossians 3:12–13faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.
Father, this is hard! I am so thankful for Your forgiveness. In fact, I can’t imagine my life without Your grace and mercy. I know my sins are many and that You forgive me each time I ask.
I don’t want to have a double standard … an I want forgiveness but I don’t want to give it attitude, but Father, You know how painful this is. You know the consequences are huge and lasting. You know my heart hurts.
But I don’t want to live with this bitterness and anger any longer. It’s eating me up inside. Please help me. I need You! Amen.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being
1 Corinthians 13:4–5wronged .
Father, thank you! You are patient and kind and by Your grace, You don’t keep a record of my failures … of the times I’ve wronged You or one of Your children.
I want to love like You! I want to love like Jesus!
Let love be my highest goal. (1 Corinthians 14:1)
And when I’m angry and my heart hurts, Father, help me see You as my loving parent. Help me know how You want to hold me close and calm my fears and frustrations. You don’t walk away during my tantrums but whisper through Your Spirit reminding me of Your faithful presence and love.
Thank you for loving me most when I deserve it least. Amen.
Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.
Ephesians 4:2
Father, this is hard. Humbleness, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness are not things the world affirms right now. Self-righteous anger seems to be the attitude of the day.
But You have called me to be different … to show the world Your love. And that means speaking Your truth with gentleness and respect. That means loving when it’s hard and serving when it’s inconvenient. That means forgiving even when it’s undeserved and difficult.
Help me, Father! I know I can’t love the way You want me to on my own. I need Your Spirit within me guiding and helping … so I can trust and submit to Your will even when it’s hard.
Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.
1 Peter 5:7
Father, Thank you for caring about me. Thank you for caring for me. Thank you for loving and forgiving me.
I don’t want to carry this hurt and anger any longer. The burden weighs me down and robs me of the joy You want for me. I’m ready, Father. And with Your help, I privately offer these words of forgiveness over the person who hurt me.
I have held on to this anger, hurt, and resentment for too long. And because I am completely loved, accepted, and forgiven by God in Christ Jesus, I am able to forgive you, ______________. I choose to forgive you for ______________, and I release you completely. You don’t owe me. I will no longer hold this against you. You are free. I am free.
Thank you, Lord!
The Lord gives His people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace.
Psalm 29:11
Father, now I ask that You will give me the strength to move on from this anger and bitterness. Help me live and enjoy Your peace … fully trusting that I have left this all in Your more capable hands. Help me live each day with restored joy and point people to the amazing blessings You have for them.
Thank you for giving me Your Spirit’s strength to do what I couldn’t do on my own. Thank you for showing me the way to know and experience a peace that only You can give. Thank you for loving me and for never giving up on me. In Jesus name, Amen.
Friends, I’ll admit there have been times I have needed these prayers desperately. Today, by God’s grace, all is forgiven.
But I’m always mindful there is a real possibility that I will know this fight again in the future. So, I’m bookmarking these prayers to be ready and armed the next time I’m hurting and find it hard to forgive.
And just maybe … even if you can say along with me, “by God’s grace, all is forgiven,” you may want to bookmark it too. Because the battle is real!
But…
God is always gracious … willing to hold you close, hear your honest heartfelt prayers, and He will help you forgive just because that’s how much He loves you!
God truly knows how much unforgiveness hurts us. I think one of the sayings (I don’t remember where or when I first heard it.) that really made me think about what unforgiveness does is, “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Unforgiveness can be toxic. Thanks for this Deb!
Oh forgiveness, it’s most definitely a beautiful word when we are the recipient and when we are the ones needing to forgive it may not feel like we are the receipent but we actually are. Of course I still have to be reminded of this too. Harboring resentment is truly a miserable feeling. Have to let it go. Only by God’s hand can we ever truly do it. Thank you Deb, again 🙂 always encouraging
We win when we forgive yet at times it still seems so difficult to do. I have had to forgive some mighty BIG things in my life. At first in reading this, I thought oh I have this one down, but then God revealed I have a long ways to go.
I find the little things I need to forgive seem to be the hardest and hold me back. I am praying your prayer tonight. Thank you,
Maree
It’s hard to forgive when we equate “justice” with our holding on to the memory of a wrong that’s been done–as if our letting it go means that the person is getting away with something.
It’s only when we trust God with justice that we can forgive with peace in our hearts.
Not forgiving others only poisons our own souls. Wonderful prayers and reflections today, Deb!
Blessings!
Oh Deb, I’m so amazed by God’s forgiveness, so humbled by my own unwillingness to forgive fully, and so grateful that God continually guides and offers forgiveness even then. Thank you for this beautiful prayer. May I always be a river of that grace. Thank you, for featuring ‘What Does Living Look Like to You?’. I pray it will be blessing to others.
Good morning, Deb.
Thank you. Other principles/quotes from you list of “25 Ways to Love Yourself God’s Way. “Be honest with yourself and others,” and accept what you can’t change. “Love you Lady! God bless you and Keep you.
Be Kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in
Christ God forgave us. Ephesian 4:32
Great topic Deb and I appreciate you sharing honestly about it. I also value your consideration of why we are to forgive- because of the blessing of it, not merely from the obligation of it.
Oh Deb! How I needed this post today!!! THANK YOU!!!
Amen, Deb!
This is such great advice.
Sure do appreciate you!
Colossians 3 is one of my favorite verses and daily I praying for humility to clothe me. Pinned to share with our Living Our Priorities community.
For me the hardest things to forgive are those that keep happening. I love my husband with all my heart even after 27 years, and I want to have a forgiving spirit toward him, but he continues to do and say things that hurt me.
It is only with supernatural help we can forgive when the wound is deep. Thank you for a good word today. laurensparks.net
I take a lesson on forgiveness from my Amish neighbors. Their forgiveness is immediate and sincere. It was a long hard lesson for me to learn that holding a grudge hurt me far more than the person I held a grudge against. Letting go of the grudge allows God to begin healing your heart!
Deb,
I found your last statement comforting today, “God is always gracious!”
We are in the middle of one of those life situations where God’s graciousness is so very comforting at the moment.
Blessings,
Jennifer
I know how hard it is to say out loud that your forgive someone. Saying their name and what they did and that you forgive them is really difficult. I’ve had to say it to myself several times before when I was having a really hard time forgiving someone.
It’s hard, but we can do it. These verses and the Bible really help. We just need to know that God has all in his hands and it’s not our problem anymore when we had it over to him.
That is what ultimately brings me peace. I give it to God and let him deal with it/care about it.
And I thank God, and move on.
Amen, Jo Lynn! It’s not our problem anymore once we surrender it to Him. It is His peace that passes understanding. And I am so thankful for His gracious gift! Blessings!
Deb, these verses are a reminder that our Heavenly Father truly loves us. Your prayers also provide a way to jumpstart our own prayer life.
Love this line, Deb: Something the Lord laid on my heart as I was working on this is the thought that many of us forgive from a “Law” perspective … one that believes “you have to forgive or God won’t forgive you.” That’s really good food for thought.
Thank you for these prayers. I’m sure we all have those hard things to forgive, and this list will help a lot of people.
Great post.