Forgive & Accept

Matt. 6:¹² “and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. ¹³ And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one”

A peaceful life is an uncommon life, a prosperous life is an uncommon life and a protected life is an uncommon life. Today, our focus is on the keys to peace. The first is Forgive. Matt.18:³⁴ “Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.” This is a man that had  himself been forgiven by the king of what he did wrong.  But the man refused to forgive his colleague for what he did wrong. The king ordered that he was to be tortured until he paid his entire debt, which obviously none of us can pay. Matt.18:³⁵ “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.” The reason a lot of us do not have peace is that we have not forgiven people from our hearts.

The reason you do not have peace is that someone offends you, you claim to forgive but it is not from your heart. Sometimes we just refuse to let people go, we refuse to forgive. God is saying for you to have peace; you must forgive from your heart. A wise man rightly said, “For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of your peace of mind”. Sometimes we feel our anger is justifiable, so, we want to maintain and sustain our anger. We feel we have the right to be angry but guess what? You are trading your peace of mind. Which one is more important to you? Stop trading your peace of mind. To have peace, you first have to forgive.

The second key to peace is, Accept Your Life. A lot of people are swimming against the current, instead of going with the flow because they have refused to accept their lives. We did not choose our lives, but we have to live it. Accept it! In fact, one of the greatest keys to peace is realizing that it is what it is. You did not choose to have xyz but it is what it is, accept it. You did not choose that xyz will happen to you. You never imagined that such a devastating thing will happen to you. Guess what? It has happened, accept your life. I am not saying the situation is right, but I am saying you are right even if the situation is not right. In the sense that God wants you to be at peace. It may not be your fault but just accept it. We do not choose our lives, we live it! The real reason a lot of people are not living their lives is that they want to choose the life they want to live. But heaven is saying, no, you live the life you have been given.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, please help me forgive from my heart and grace me to accept the things I cannot change, in Jesus Name. Amen!