THE PRAYER OF RELEASE

‘Forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.
Matthew 6:12 (NLT)

WHY MUST I RELEASE THOSE WHO’VE HURT ME?

I. BECAUSE GOD FORGIVES ME

‘All have sinned yet now God declares us not guilty of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ who freely takes away all of our sins.’

‘You are a God of forgiveness, always ready to pardon, gracious and merciful and full of love.’

‘Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.’ Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)

II. BECAUSE RESENTMENT IS SELF-TORTURE

‘To worry yourself to death with resentment, it would be a foolish, senseless thing to do.’
Job 5:2

‘Some men stay happy until the day they die… others have no happiness at all; they live and die with bitter hearts.’ Job 21:23-25

III. BECAUSE I NEED FORGIVENESS EVERY DAY!

‘And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.’ Matthew 6:12

HOW DO I RELEASE MY HURT?

I. LEAVE IT TO GOD

‘…Never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it…’ Romans 12:19 (LB)

II. I HEAL IT WITH GRACE

‘Be careful that none of you fails to respond to the grace which God gives, for if he does there can very easily spring up in him a bitter spirit which is not only bad in itself but can also poison the lives of many others.’ Hebrews 12:15 (Ph)

‘Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so we would stop living for sin and start living for what is right. And you are healed because of his wounds.’ I Peter 2:24

III. I NAIL IT TO THE CROSS

‘We know that our old life died with Christ on the cross so that our sinful selves would have no power over us and we would not be slaves to sin.’ Romans 6:6 (NCV)

‘He cancelled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross.’ Col.2:14 (NCV)