7 Days of RevivalSample

Loving Jesus is much easier than loving people. Jesus will never let you down, but people constantly do.

Revival means mending the pain of relational brokenness. Sin always separates. It separates our relationship with God, but it also separates our relationships with each other.

Years ago, the mother of one of my youth group students really hurt me. For some reason unknown to me, she lied and gossiped to the point that multiple kids ended up leaving the church. I was angry and stuck in a dark place. I knew I had been wronged and I relived the hurt over and over in my mind. It was only during a time of revival that God dealt with my heart to reconcile that relationship.

Letting go of an offense is not easy, but it is necessary, and it begins in our own hearts. Have we forgiven that person or are we still carrying the burden of their crime against us? Today is the perfect day to let go of the hurt. There are many situations where forgiveness is not deserved, but as Christians, we forgive to the measure that God has forgiven us.

C.S. Lewis reminds us, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” Because God has not held our past against us, we refuse to hold someone’s past again them.

Make the choice today to let it go. This does not mean the relationship is always reparable. Certain hurts call for healthy boundaries, but in forgiveness, the burden of anger, dislike, and bitterness towards the person is released.

In some situations, it is necessary to restore the broken relationship. Maybe there is a loved one you have stopped calling. Call them today. Don’t let the enemy keep the offense in your heart.

God is in the business of reconciliation.

Prayer:

God, I bring my hurt and my pain to you. I am battling unforgiveness, but today I make a decision to let it go. Help me to have a clean heart. I don’t desire to carry offense about what ___{fill in name here}____ did. I forgive that person. Let me be the person who shows Jesus to them in my actions. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.