DAY 7: Pardon June 7, 2015

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved,

put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness,

longsuffering; bearing with one another,

and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another;

even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do."

(Colossians 3:12-13, NKJV)

MORNING DEVOTION - "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee..." (Psalm 63:1)

Scripture Reading: Mark 11:24-26

Jesus sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane as He labored in prayer over the path He would have to tread in the coming hours to obey the will of the Father. This is the reason He had come: to fill that terrible gap and repair that awful breach between holy God and sinful man. It was sin that drove the dividing wedge and separated man from his once perfect union with the Father. Oh, how the Father must have loved those walks in the garden with His most beloved creatures. But then the enemy slithered in like the snake he is, and stole their innocence. That ole' deluder Satan opened their eyes to things they were never meant to see. How vile his tactics are even today as he works relentlessly to rob children of their innocence; even their lives. So back to the garden our Great Mediator had to go, to crush the serpents head under His feet, once and for all. Sweat beaded like drops of blood upon His forehead, which was now hard as flint, as He focused on the task before Him. Jesus was determined to go to the cross, and crossover to the grave, to rescue mankind from eternal separation from the Father. He alone understood the depths of that impossible separation, and nothing would stop Him from bridging the gap of that great divide.

God knew our greatest need was a restored relationship with the Father; a possibility only if our righteous Judge would pardon our case (Psalm 82:8; 2 Timothy 4:8)). We are all sinners. We all stand before Holy God guilty and unable to pay the penalty for our great debt of sin. He had every right to turn a deaf ear to our excuses, and slam the gavel of judgment on our mountain of sin. Yet He chose, instead, to pay the fine Himself; a mountain of debt so great it could only be covered by blood - the blood of innocence that had been stolen - redeemed only by One who had no sin. The Judge of the earth called forth His Son Jesus to suffer the penalty mankind deserved. In humility and obedience to the Father, Jesus laid down His life in our place. He poured out His blood in a once for all final sacrifice. Our sin debt was paid in blood, and our guilt and shame was washed away; He redeemed us from the grave, and washed us white as snow. We now stand before the Judge forgiven; sentenced to a life of love. All that is required is to humbly accept with grateful hearts this extraordinary gift we will never have to repay, and repent and receive the restoration we need; or suffer the consequences of refusing and rejecting His merciful judgment.

The choice to believe and accept "is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). Our Righteous Judge wielded His power and brought down His mighty gavel ruling on our behalf: FORGIVEN! How then do we withhold such mercy from others, especially those we claim, or have claimed, to love?

Heavenly Father,
Woe to me for I am a sinner,

unable to stand in Your presence.

You have lifted me out of the miry clay

and given me a firm foundation to stand upon.

Forgive me, that I, knowing how much better it is to give than to receive,

have accepted your priceless gift, and yet have at times withheld it from others.

Forgive my debts as I have forgiven my debtors

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

The Lord's command is to "love one another" (John 13:34), for "Love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8), and "It keeps no record of wrongs" (1 Corinthians 13:5b); however, it is not true love if one harbors unforgiveness in the heart. True love forgives again and again (reference Matthew 18:22). Our sin-debt is astronomical, we could never repay it, yet God has forgiven us an impossible debt that has grieved Him greatly. Why then do we expect others to pay for the pain they have caused us? How can we expect to receive such forgiveness from God, if we harbor an unwilling spirit of forgiveness towards others. God searches our hearts, and He knows what we are holding over others is only hurting ourselves more deeply, because it is keeping us separated from the One who loves us most (reference Psalm 7:9). Pray today for those you have harbored unforgiveness towards. Pray sincerely for those who have wounded you, whether intentionally or ignorantly, asking the Lord to reveal His love to them so that they also will learn how to love others as He loves them. Ask the Lord to give you His forgiving disposition so that you will be free from the need of protecting yourself or wanting to see the offender suffer as you have. Pray also for those you know who have been hurt deeply by others, especially by people who have professed to love them, and who live constantly in that place of pain. Ask God to penetrate their hearts with His pardoning love so that they can offer up the fullness of God's forgiveness and receive for themselves His love and blessings. Let us remember that apart from the love of God we cannot know what true love is, nor love others as we should. May we dwell in His love so we can forgive others as He has forgiven us.

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AFTERNOON DEVOTION - "Evening, and morning, and noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17, KJV).

Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:21-35

Our righteous Judge has forgiven us our sin-debt. In His great mercy, He has removed our shackles and set us free "To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8b). We cannot bring a sacrifice to God apart from obedience. When the Lord said, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Samuel 15:22b), He was expressing what is acceptable to Him: only an offering of mercy and love, extended to others, whether they are an enemy or a friend, will do (reference Matthew 5:44). "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32).

Peter asked the Lord, "How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?" Jesus responded with the parable of the unmerciful servant to help His disciples better understand that forgiveness, like love, has no limits. God, who holds nothing good back from His children, desires that they, likewise, would hold no good thing back from anyone. "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you" (Matthew 6:14). Forgiveness is a tremendous gift, for it not only releases the one who has sinned, but it frees the one who has been wounded. "Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" (v.33).

Because we have been forgiven much, we must come before our gracious heavenly Father each day and ask forgiveness for those sins that hinder our relationship with Him. Unforgiveness towards others is a great hindrance to our prayers, because we our disobeying His great command "to love one another" (John 13:34). When we hold back forgiveness from others, we hold back God's answer to our prayers. "We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does His will" (John 9:31). God closes His ears to the prayers of the wicked and disobedient (reference Proverbs 1:28; Isaiah 59:1,2; Jeremiah 5:25). "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18); but His ears are open to "hear the prayer of the righteous" (Proverbs 15:29)

Heavenly Father,
Forgive me for each sin

that hinders my fellowship with You, and

blocks the flow of communication

between You and me.

Cleanse me from the inside out,

so that the purity of the inner life

flows freely out of me in the form of

mercy and forgiveness

to those around me.

In Jesus' Name. Amen

When we forgive others, as we have been forgiven in Christ, we give them what we have received from the Lord. To hold back this gracious and merciful gift from anyone is to mishandle the great treasure we have been given. We must take time each day to allow the Lord to examine our hearts and reveal to us those areas of sin and unforgiveness that we need to confess to Him, so that the line of communication between us and Him is opened wide and clear. In order for that to happen our relationship with others must also be clear. We cannot expect to achieve success in our prayers when our heart is not right towards another. True love for God is expressed in a heart that loves and forgives others. The great law of God's kingdom is love. Disobedience to His highest law is the great cause of our weakness in the Church. This afternoon ask the Lord to reveal those broken relationships that are hindering deeper fellowship and communication with Him. Ask Him to fill your heart with His all-powerful forgiving love and to cleanse you of your unforgiving heart so that His forgiveness can flow through you to others.

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EVENING MEDITATION - "...and on His law he meditates day and night" (Ps. 1:2)

Scripture Reading: James 5:16

We were created to be in an intimate relationship with holy God. Sin became the separating force which destroyed our once perfect union with our heavenly Father by disconnecting us from the Head, which is Christ, and therefore bringing weakness upon the entire Body. Repentance and forgiveness are the great healers that will bring restoration and wholeness to the Body. "Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed" (v.16a). The Lord desires that we not only find healing personally, but also, corporately as the Body of Christ. The lack of unity and forgiveness in the Church has left His Body weak and unattractive to the watching world (reference Isaiah 58:4). "When I called they did not listen; so when they called I would not listen" (Zechariah 7:13). Obedience to His command to love and a willingness show His mercy and justice in the world will touch the heart of God and move His hand. "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16b). Our heavenly Father went to great lengths to bring restoration and healing to His Body, by reconnecting us to our rightful Head; but we keep it infected and ineffective with our unconfessed sin and unforgiveness. Our Savior does not want us to experience the pain of separation from the Father, but our continual disobedience keeps us separated from receiving answers to our prayers (reference Micah 3:4); answers that are vital to the work of God's Kingdom. May we take the medicine He has prescibed and sincerely confess our sins and pour out His compassion, mercy, and grace on others so we may experience the healing and restoration we desperately need as a Church in this hour.

Heavenly Father,
Help us, O God our Savior,
for the glory of Your name;

deliver us and forgive our sins,
for Your name's sake.

Why should the nations say,
'Where is their God?'

We are the sheep of your pasture,
we will praise You forever;

from generation to generation
we will recount Your praise.

(Psalm 79:9-10, 13)

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

As we come before the Lord in prayer this evening, let us take the time for proper confession after we have spent time praising His name; remembering that God is purifying us and making us holy each day as we seek Him in His Word, and as we wait upon Him in prayer. The more time we spend in His holy presence, the more our desire will be to "be holy, as [He] is holy." Let us pray for the entire Body of Christ to submit to God's great remedy and allow Him to show us the breach in our relationships which have caused a breach in our relationship with Him. May our great Teacher teach us how to forgive so that we can experience restoration and healing, and become a unified, whole and healthy Body through which God can channel the fullness of His saving and redeeming grace to the world. We must never forget that we, ourselves, are debtors, and that the Lord's great labor of love afforded us His forgiveness. May we share this with those He has entrusted to our care, by not withholding from them the great mercy, love, and forgiveness we have received from our heavenly Father through His Son Jesus Christ.

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"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined!

For I am a man of unclean lips,

and I live among a people of unclean lips,

and my eyes have seen the King,

the LORD Almighty."

- Isaiah (6:5)

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