Keys to Kingdom LifeSample

Forgiveness is the Key to the Father’s Heart

There are many believers who love God but who are also holding a spirit of unforgiveness or offense against someone in their hearts. But Messiah Jesus is teaching us that if we hold on to unforgiveness and offense, we can’t touch God’s heart the way we have the potential of doing.

Jesus said, “When you pray, pray in this way: ‘Father, forgive us our trespasses as we have forgiven those who have trespassed against us.’”

Yeshua said, “I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20). God wants to come in, but unless we open the door and receive Him, Messiah Jesus can’t enter. He chooses to respect our will.

Perhaps you think you’re not carrying a terrible spirit of unforgiveness. Yet if you really search your heart and think about it, there may be people in your life that you have not forgiven and are holding some type of ill will against. You have what I call an IOU spirit. By that I mean someone in your life hurt you in some way, and because they hurt you, you want to see them hurt.

But Jesus said, “When you pray, pray in this way: ‘Father, forgive us our sins even as we have forgiven those that have trespassed against us.’” Yeshua even went on to say, “If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:15).

I know forgiving others isn’t easy, but let me share with you something that helps me. I imagine Messiah Jesus on the cross.

I see Him with His arms open wide, dying on the cross for our sins. I see the people on the ground laughing and jeering at Him, the ones who spit on Him and pulled out His beard. Yet on the cross, Yeshua looks up to the Father and says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (See Luke 23:34.)

Jesus saw those who mocked and scorned Him down on the ground below, living in total ignorance of what they were doing, and He responded to the wrong they’d done to Him by saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

What I’ve found is that if I don’t keep my eyes focused on Jesus and instead look at the person, I may fall into offense again because I’m focusing on how the person hurt me. But when I keep my focus on Yeshua, I’m able to release the person with the same forgiveness Jesus released when He died on the cross.