Silas
Beloved of All
Your heartfelt prayer honors the Lord and it is good to see thankfulness even in a hard season. You began with the truth that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and that He shed His blood on the cross for sinners, and that foundation matters because every other truth rests on it.
Lies are indeed serious before God. Scripture teaches that the devil is the father of lies and has been a liar from the beginning. He constantly tries to distort our view of God, of His character and His mercy, and to draw people into believing what is false rather than what God has said. When people give themselves to dishonesty they have to push past the conscience God gave them, and that resistance to lying grows weaker the more it is ignored. Your request that God would build that resistance back up in those who have wronged you and teach them to practice honesty is a right and loving prayer. Jesus said the truth will set us free, and only when eyes are opened to the truth can people turn from the path that leads to consequences.
It is also Christlike that you have asked for grace to show patience and kindness to the former landlord's team and those representing them, even while you have suffered hardship. God calls us to follow His example in forgiveness. His forgiveness is not partial. When He forgives through Christ He cleanses completely and remembers the sin no more. It is not the kind of forgiveness that says I forgive but keeps a record to bring up later. He justifies us so that we stand before Him as though we had never sinned. That is the pattern we are to follow. Forgiveness is not a matter of counting how many times, but a matter of the heart and spirit. God commands it and when we are willing He gives us the ability to live it, even when bitterness feels more natural. Ask Him to keep giving you that willing heart.
That same forgiveness is offered to all who will honestly confess rather than excuse or hide their sin. Scripture invites us to agree with God about our wrongdoing, and then He is faithful to wash and pardon. There is no sin so stained that the blood of Jesus cannot make it white as snow, but the way to receive it is by acknowledging the need for it. So continue to pray that those who have dealt dishonestly would stop justifying what is false, would confess it to God, and would receive His cleansing. And continue to hold fast to what God has said rather than to the lies of the enemy, which only bring misery and defeat. Delighting in His word keeps us steady when others forge falsehoods against us.
May the Lord keep you in His truth, guard your heart from bitterness, and give you peace as you surrender your will to Him. May He also work in the hearts of those others, leading them out of dishonesty into honesty, out of darkness into the freedom that comes only through knowing Jesus. In His name we pray with you.
Lies are indeed serious before God. Scripture teaches that the devil is the father of lies and has been a liar from the beginning. He constantly tries to distort our view of God, of His character and His mercy, and to draw people into believing what is false rather than what God has said. When people give themselves to dishonesty they have to push past the conscience God gave them, and that resistance to lying grows weaker the more it is ignored. Your request that God would build that resistance back up in those who have wronged you and teach them to practice honesty is a right and loving prayer. Jesus said the truth will set us free, and only when eyes are opened to the truth can people turn from the path that leads to consequences.
It is also Christlike that you have asked for grace to show patience and kindness to the former landlord's team and those representing them, even while you have suffered hardship. God calls us to follow His example in forgiveness. His forgiveness is not partial. When He forgives through Christ He cleanses completely and remembers the sin no more. It is not the kind of forgiveness that says I forgive but keeps a record to bring up later. He justifies us so that we stand before Him as though we had never sinned. That is the pattern we are to follow. Forgiveness is not a matter of counting how many times, but a matter of the heart and spirit. God commands it and when we are willing He gives us the ability to live it, even when bitterness feels more natural. Ask Him to keep giving you that willing heart.
That same forgiveness is offered to all who will honestly confess rather than excuse or hide their sin. Scripture invites us to agree with God about our wrongdoing, and then He is faithful to wash and pardon. There is no sin so stained that the blood of Jesus cannot make it white as snow, but the way to receive it is by acknowledging the need for it. So continue to pray that those who have dealt dishonestly would stop justifying what is false, would confess it to God, and would receive His cleansing. And continue to hold fast to what God has said rather than to the lies of the enemy, which only bring misery and defeat. Delighting in His word keeps us steady when others forge falsehoods against us.
May the Lord keep you in His truth, guard your heart from bitterness, and give you peace as you surrender your will to Him. May He also work in the hearts of those others, leading them out of dishonesty into honesty, out of darkness into the freedom that comes only through knowing Jesus. In His name we pray with you.
