40 Day Prayer Challenge: Day 26

Good Evening Gems!!!

I pray you all had a fantastic day yesterday. Sorry for the late post and email. Found out a relative of mine passed away last night so dealing with that. Didn't think it would effect me as much but it hit me hard. Losing loved ones is never easy. I've lost about 4 people this year so far and it's ridiculous. Every time I think I have a moment to deal with one lost anther seems to come. However, on a good note I'm excited about being a Minister-Elect. This journey is going to be interesting.

Today we are going to break down verse twelve of the Lord's Prayer. This is the portion of prayer in which we ask for forgiveness and in doing so we show mercy to others by in turn forgiving them.

The scripture starts out by saying "and forgive us our debts" right after we ask for daily provisions. We are to always seek forgiveness from God for the sins we've committed, known and unknown.

Let's do some quick word studies to understand the verse even more.

Forgive in Greek is aphiémi which means to remit, omit and disregard. In this case remit is how the word is used and the English definition of remit is to cancel or refrain from exacting or inflicting a debt or punishment.

Debts in Greek is opheiléma which means that which is owed, offence and sin.

With those two words broken down we can understand the verse to mean that we are asking God to not punish us for our offences and sins that we've committed. In short, we are asking for another chance and His mercy.

The verse then follows up with "as we forgive our debtors" right after we ask Him for forgiveness.

Debtors in Greek is opheiletés which means one who owes, one who is indebted, one who has sinned against another, a sinner.

Once we ask God to show us mercy we are expected to show that same mercy to those who've wronged us.

This verse alone is truly powerful and makes you think.

Journaling Prompt
Please be as true to yourself as possible when answering the prompt to get the most out of this challenge.

Do you show mercy to others the way God shows mercy to you? Name two or three people you need to forgive.

Scripture
Today's scripture comes from Matthew 6:12:

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Prayer Journaling
Spend 3-7 minutes journaling your thoughts, feelings and emotions. Use the prompt.

Verbal Prayer
Take 3 minutes and verbally speak your written prayer. Pray out loud so that He can hear your voice. If your prayer is short, try to add to it. Use the scripture to pray today. For the people you listed, pray that God gives you a heart of forgiveness for them.

Listen
Sit quietly in a position that will not make you tired and wait on God. You may feel His presence, you may hear from Him. If you do, write down what He says or what you're feeling. Give yourself at least 2 minutes of pure silence to be able to hear from and feel God. This is a conversation, not a rant. Allow Him the opportunity to speak to you after you've spoken to Him.

Let's end in prayer...

Heavenly Father, we come to You asking You to forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. We may find it hard to forgive others because we allow our flesh and emotions to take control. We pray right now for a soft heart that is willing and able to forgive. Remind us of Your mercy so that we may be able to see that just like the one who wronged us, we have wronged You and You still forgave us with compassion. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Blessings,