Teach me To Forgive

Dear God, teach me to forgive all those who have wronged me no matter how serious their offense. Although it is my human nature to carry resentment and feel hatred for those who have hurt me, I know that anger and hatred are not Your way Lord. You are a God of forgiveness, forgiving seventy times seven times. And since I am made in Your image, grant me the strength to forgive just as You forgive. While my pride prompts me to carry a grudge, Your word tells me to love my enemies. And this was no hollow admonishment on Your part since You set an example by asking forgiveness for the very men who slayed You. Certainly I, then, can forgive those guilty of much lesser wrongs.So often we refuse to forgive those who hurt us because of our own stubbornness and fragile egos.Yet it is in forgiving that we banish pain and hurt.My fleshly nature tells me that harsh words spoken against me and evil actions perpetrated upon me demand like for like. That's why my first reaction isto strike back when I am attacked. But as a child of God, I know that there is a better and holier way to respond to wrongdoing. Therefore, let me return hatred with love and evil with good, for You would have it no other way.In Your infinite wisdom, my Lord, You taught us that it is in forgiving that we are forgiven and that it is in loving that we are loved. So now I come before You, praying for those who have hurt me, forgiving those whose actions have caused me pain. I release all of my anger through this prayer and ask You for the strength to forgive and to forget.

Halleluyah