Silas
Beloved of All
It is encouraging to hear your desire to forgive as Christ forgave you. That is the very pattern Scripture gives us. We are called to be followers of God and to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us. The call in Ephesians is to be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. When we have truly discovered how much we have been forgiven, how much grace and mercy we have received, our response is to extend that same forgiveness to others. That forgiving spirit is also one of the signs of true conversion and it is vital for the health of your own heart and mind before the Lord.
You are right to take this seriously, because Jesus himself treated it with special seriousness. In the model prayer he taught his disciples, he gave several petitions, but when he finished he stopped to emphasize only one of them. He said if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. He returned to this theme again and again because he knows that an unforgiving heart blocks fellowship with God. Forgiveness does not mean that what was done was not evil, and it does not mean we take sin lightly.
The person you love is not wrong to believe that hell is real. Scripture is clear that it is real, because God is holy and just and he will judge all sin. No one will stand before God on the basis of their own goodness, and the only pardon is through Jesus Christ who is the propitiation for our sins. But the reality of final judgment is exactly why we are told to leave vengeance to God and not hold it in our own hearts. God will do what is right and just. Our part is to forgive as we have been forgiven, trusting his justice and his mercy, and praying that others will come to receive that mercy while there is still time. Forgiving someone does not excuse their sin or remove God's judgment if they refuse to repent. It releases them from our personal vengeance and entrusts them to God.
This is why your prayers for her are so important. Prayer is at its deepest a personal communion with God, and it takes different forms. There is worship and adoration, there is petition for our own needs, and there is intercession where we bring the needs of others before God. True intercession actually begins with God himself putting a love and burden for that person in our hearts. He is the one who moves us to pray. The greatest need for many people is not just a change of opinion but a change of heart, and only God can create a clean heart within us. As David prayed, create in me a clean heart, O God. That is what to ask for, that God would open her eyes to his grace and goodness, that she would see how much she herself has been forgiven, and that through discovering that grace she would come to know his peace and be able to extend forgiveness to others.
Continue to walk in that forgiveness yourself, and keep bringing her before the Lord in quiet, sincere prayer, not to impress others but to seek God himself. Pray that God would reveal his love to her, soften her heart, help her understand both his holiness and his mercy, and give her a willing heart to forgive as Christ has forgiven us.
Join me in prayer for this. Father, we thank you for your great love and for the forgiveness we have received through Jesus Christ. We bring this loved one before you now and ask that you would work in her heart. Create in her a clean heart and renew a right spirit within her. Help her to see the depth of your grace toward her, and by that grace give her the willingness and power to forgive others as you have forgiven her. Draw her into a deeper knowledge of Jesus and of your mercy, that she may know your peace. We entrust her to you and ask that your will be done in her life, in Jesus name, amen.
You are right to take this seriously, because Jesus himself treated it with special seriousness. In the model prayer he taught his disciples, he gave several petitions, but when he finished he stopped to emphasize only one of them. He said if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. He returned to this theme again and again because he knows that an unforgiving heart blocks fellowship with God. Forgiveness does not mean that what was done was not evil, and it does not mean we take sin lightly.
The person you love is not wrong to believe that hell is real. Scripture is clear that it is real, because God is holy and just and he will judge all sin. No one will stand before God on the basis of their own goodness, and the only pardon is through Jesus Christ who is the propitiation for our sins. But the reality of final judgment is exactly why we are told to leave vengeance to God and not hold it in our own hearts. God will do what is right and just. Our part is to forgive as we have been forgiven, trusting his justice and his mercy, and praying that others will come to receive that mercy while there is still time. Forgiving someone does not excuse their sin or remove God's judgment if they refuse to repent. It releases them from our personal vengeance and entrusts them to God.
This is why your prayers for her are so important. Prayer is at its deepest a personal communion with God, and it takes different forms. There is worship and adoration, there is petition for our own needs, and there is intercession where we bring the needs of others before God. True intercession actually begins with God himself putting a love and burden for that person in our hearts. He is the one who moves us to pray. The greatest need for many people is not just a change of opinion but a change of heart, and only God can create a clean heart within us. As David prayed, create in me a clean heart, O God. That is what to ask for, that God would open her eyes to his grace and goodness, that she would see how much she herself has been forgiven, and that through discovering that grace she would come to know his peace and be able to extend forgiveness to others.
Continue to walk in that forgiveness yourself, and keep bringing her before the Lord in quiet, sincere prayer, not to impress others but to seek God himself. Pray that God would reveal his love to her, soften her heart, help her understand both his holiness and his mercy, and give her a willing heart to forgive as Christ has forgiven us.
Join me in prayer for this. Father, we thank you for your great love and for the forgiveness we have received through Jesus Christ. We bring this loved one before you now and ask that you would work in her heart. Create in her a clean heart and renew a right spirit within her. Help her to see the depth of your grace toward her, and by that grace give her the willingness and power to forgive others as you have forgiven her. Draw her into a deeper knowledge of Jesus and of your mercy, that she may know your peace. We entrust her to you and ask that your will be done in her life, in Jesus name, amen.
