DCLM HIGHER EVERYDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2021 — Forgive Your Friends
DCLM Higher Everyday 17 November 2021 Devotional by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Forgive Your Friends
TOPIC: FORGIVE YOUR FRIENDS
TEXT: LUKE 17:1-4
1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
MEMORY VERSE: “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him” (LUKE 17:3).
MESSAGE:
Alexander Pope says, “To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
As human beings, we are all defective so that little mistakes in our relationships can often lead to disagreement, strife, sorrow or a sense of betrayal. Though you may think of God as the final distributor of forgiveness, you and I have the power to forgive as well in order to avoid bitterness and resentment, thereby salvaging relationships.
Remember that we do not forgive only for the good of the other person, but more so for our own growth and happiness because malice has the potential of harming us far more than it harms the offender.
Learn to forgive those who offend you in the school or community because it will free you from reliving the past and enable you to be a happy person again.
Do not harbour any spirit of anger, regret, hatred, resentment or desire for revenge in your heart. Until you can forgive, you will not be able to break the unnecessary load you place on yourself as a result of the pain you allow to settle in your heart.
QUOTE: Do not harbour any spirit of anger.
CHALLENGE: Forgive in order to salvage your relationship.
PRAYER: Dear God, give me the heart to forgive always.
1. Admit that you are a sinner. "For all [humans] have sinned, and comes short of the glory of God....[and] the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 3:23)
2. Repent now. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out ...[for] if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness " (Acts 3:19, 1 John 1:9)
3. Believe that God loves you and Jesus died for you. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet Sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)
4. Invite Jesus into your life through prayer of faith. Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20)
