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MEDITATION:

Written by Douglas V. Steere (1901-1995), an American Quaker ecumenist. This is an excerpt from his book “Dimensions of Prayer.”

A discussion of Christian prayer that leaves out the final movement of forgiveness would be a travesty. There is nothing that God cannot heal, and God’s forgiveness is given before we even approach God. Nowhere is this more tellingly described than in the Old Testament story of the father King David weeping over his son Absalom who has perhaps come to his death because he did not believe his father could ever forgive his treason…Forgiveness is a condition in which the sin of the past is not altered, nor its inevitable consequences changed. Rather, in forgiveness a fresh act is added to those of the past, which restores the broken relationship and opens the way for the one who forgives and the one who is forgiven to meet and communicate deeply with each other in the present and the future. Thus, forgiveness heals the past, though the scars remain and the consequences go on…It is taken into the fresh act of outgoing renewal and there it is healed. The whole witness of Jesus’ life and death is to the unfathomable depts of God’s forgiveness. English poet and author William Blake cites the capacity of Jesus to forgive another, and to reenter vulnerably into the deepest relation with another, as the strongest evidence of his being God in the flesh. For only so could someone be truly able to forgive others.

PRAYER:

Written by Debbie Przybylski, founder and director of Intercessors Arise International.

Dear Lord, I thank You for the power of forgiveness, and I choose to forgive everyone who has hurt me. Help me set them free and release them to You. Help me bless those who have hurt me. Help me walk in righteousness, peace, and joy, demonstrating Your life here on earth. I choose to be kind and compassionate, forgiving others, just as You forgave me. In Jesus’ name, amen.